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The Maiden's Adventure |
Persephone wanted to know what it would be like to fuck a man. She slipped away while Demeter was napping after a long bout of lovemaking. The elder goddess had lush black eyebrows like Persephone's, and a few of the Olympian hangers-on had started some nasty rumors that the two goddesses, so different in age, were actually mother and daughter. They knew better than to say this openly, for Demeter had the strength of the Earth and all growing things, and packed a mean punch.
Persephone knew who could help her in her quest, and set off to find that particular crevice in the rocks that would lead her to the Underworld. Once inside the cave, she entertained herself during the long, sloping walk through pitch black by singing a tune Apollo had taught her.
Creaky old Charon was rowing his boat toward her side of the bank as she reached the river Styx. She caught a knowing gleam in his eye while he wordlessly loaded her up and paddle back toward the opposite shore. She began to feel nervous when she realized she would be making her way through the tormented souls of this domain for the first time unaccompanied. But when she alighted on the bank, she saw approaching her a cloaked shape she recognized.
"Hades!" she cried. He let his hood fall back to reveal the chiseled, dark features of the most intriguing of the Olympians. He welcomed her and led her down the path to his palace.
Seated next to him on the huge throne, Persephone drank the wine he offered.
"I sensed that you needed me," Hades began, breaking the silence.
"There's something I want you to teach me," she admitted, blushing slightly.
After an awkward pause, she went on, exasperated. "There's no need for us to be so melodramatic. I want to know what it's like to fuck a man. So, I thought you would know better than anyone--"
She hesitated, afraid she might have offended the Lord of the Underworld.
Hades smiled broadly, a lively gesture in this still place. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. I suppose I should have expected a few loose tongues after a feast to impinge on my discretion. And I suppose everyone must have guessed by now about me and Hesphaetes."
Finally at ease, Persephone leaned against him companionably. "If you could show me what to do, there's a prince in Crete I've had my eye on."
"I think I know who you mean. In that case, that get-up will never do," he said, pointed at her flowing gown. "I'll loan you something of mine. But first--"
Hades grabbed her, suddenly imposing as he carried her roughly over to his bed. Just before he threw her down amid the tousled blankets and stray pieces of leather, he winked at her reassuringly. He then proceeded to show her things she had never suspected, in her innocence, about the male body.
Often he produced beautifully illustrated parchments, seemingly from thin air, when she had questions about the functioning of this and that. She found that Hades' lean muscles and sprinkling of dark hairs were not really so different from Demeter's fertile belly and thighs, and that fucking a man was more a question of differently applied leverage than anything else.
Flushed with her newfound knowledge, Persephone could barely wait to dress herself again, this time in Hades' dark cloak and other men's accoutrements. Hades arranged for her transportation to Crete, where she could experiment on the unsuspecting mortal.
Meanwhile, Demeter had grown restless waiting for her lover to return. In her anxiety, she could not achieve the proper state of mind to grow plants. All around her, the growing things withered as Demeter paced and fretted. She called for Hermes, but he had not detected any sign of the Maiden, wrapped as she was in the cloak of Hades. Demeter was inconsolable.
Persephone arrived at the Cretian Prince's palace and ingratiated herself among the Prince's groupies. There was a hunt that day, and Persephone outshined them all with her hunting skills, gained from many an early morning hunt with her ex-lover, Artemis. With some sleight of hand, she managed to revive and free all the creatures she took down, keeping only a large boar, who had reached the end of his life and was ready for sacrifice.
At the grand feast that night, the Prince toasted his new friend, He-Persephone, and she caught that certain gleam in his eye whenever he looked her way. She was careful to ply him with just enough alcohol to relax him, but not so much as to turn him to jelly. When the various revelers had gone on their way or fallen drunkenly asleep by the fire, Persephone led him off to his princely bedroom.
Hidden in the pocket of Hades' cloak was her secret weapon: a perfectly smooth oblong of ivory and some cleverly forged leather straps - no doubt Hesphaetes' work. To the Prince's delight, Persephone had learned her lessons well and proceeded to give him the night of his life, one he would remember to his dying day and boast about endlessly, much to the annoyance of all his future lovers, male and female.
Disappearing before morning, Persephone returned her borrowed gear to Hades and left him smirking in his dark domain. She walked back up the path from the Underworld, belting out a ribald hunting song that would do credit to Artemis the Huntress herself.
She had to search for a long time to find Demeter. The elder goddess was sitting alone on a desolate mountaintop.
"I'm back," she whispered.
"Yes," Demeter replied calmly.
"You knew, then?"
"How could I not? I, who have been with you so long, could sense you peaking in pleasure, even so far away as you were."
"Oh."
"I decided I needed some time alone, anyway. The demands of growing things are so draining, and I wanted to contemplate myself and the vast knowledge I have acquired through the ages."
A long silence.
"And I see you have discovered some of the mysteries of the universe yourself," Demeter went on.
"Well, you see, I wanted to learn--"
"I know. Who do you think taught Hades?"
Sometime soon after that bonding moment between the two goddesses, Persephone found herself burying her face in the folds of Demeter, smelling fresh earth.
copyright 2005
Aire Celeste
Norell |
