Fic: Epistrophe sta asteria (2/14)
Back to part 1 / Back to Masterpost
Hellene sighed happily, not quite awake. Clearly the previous night’s worship had indeed been found splendid by her Mother, for not only was she calm and content, but she also felt a pleasant warmth and quiet happiness.
With a smile, she recalled the activities that had gone on for most of the night before realizing that the warmth she felt was neither from an internal source nor from a divine one, but instead from the sleeping form of the man from the previous night under her.
Shifting so she could lift herself up for a moment, she took some time to admire his features. The absence of his strange clothing left for her observation bare sun-kissed skin on a slender yet muscular frame. He was indeed attractive, and she shivered lightly as she felt the faint stirrings of the Call again.
Shifting again and freeing her hands so they could gently trace patterns along his upper arms, she took a moment to silently give thanks that this strange yet beautiful man had been hers to lead in worship for a night. It wasn’t often that her Mother bestowed such a wonderful gift upon her, and she had no intentions of letting such a gift go by unnoticed and thereby seeming ungrateful for it.
Thanks given, she turned her attentions once more to the man underneath her as he shifted, murmuring in his sleep. Smiling, she kissed her way along the curve of his shoulder, pausing only when he mumbled a single word: “Bones...”
Frowning and wondering what he was dreaming of that he would speak of bones, Hellene pulled back slightly. He was a strange man, no doubt, this man of the stars, but some things were too strange to be excused by even his long travels.
Before she could contemplate for long, though, he was awake and grinning up at her. “Well, that was quite a night,” he murmured, his hands tracing lines of gentle fire up her sides.
“Mm,” she agreed lazily, arching into his touches. Surely she had enough time for a little more of this before her duties recommenced.
He smiled that smile of his that had not failed yet to make her shiver, flipping them over as his mouth traced down her neck. “Think we could make it an equally spectacular morning?” he asked before gently biting down on her collarbone.
Hellene moaned softly and nodded, legs spreading in anticipation. Surely her Mother would appreciate an addition to the worship they had already done, and she was eager to serve.
Instead of instantly becoming one with her as most other worshippers had done, though, he instead chose to continue tracing down her body with his lips, pausing when he reached her breasts. “I apologize for not doing this last night,” he murmured against one of them as she squirmed and her back arched. “I was... distracted.”
“It is understandable,” Hellene murmured as she swept her hands down the planes of his back. “The Call that brought us together was a strong one, demanding we be one quickly. Now there is time.”
“That there is,” he agreed as he continued his way down. She gasped when he suddenly licked up one of her thighs, approaching but never quite reaching her core. “Time for all kinds of things I should’ve done.”
Hellene gasped and writhed as he continued to tease her, the pleasure that would be sent to her Mother building more with each expert flick of his tongue and movement of his fingers. “Please,” she managed, instantly disliking the whining tone to her voice. “If we do not become one it will only be my pleasure included in the worship.”
He smiled and shifted up, and then they were one.
This was one of the greatest feelings Hellene had ever known, to be one with another in worship. Now, however, she realized this particular time had surpassed all of the others. Clearly the two of them worshipping was something her Mother had truly wanted.
Now the pleasure that was building encompassed both of them, and they shook with it as they moved together, wrapped around each other until she was no longer certain which limb belonged to whom. Eventually, though, it had to reach its peak, and they both lifted it to Lady Aphrodite with their voices as they slowly relaxed onto the mattress.
Smiling lazily, Hellene reached up to touch his cheek. “You have a strange combination of eyes and hair,” she remarked. “I am surprised you were led here. Most with your coloring are led quite quickly to Zeus.”
“Mmm, let’s not question why I’m here,” he murmured into her shoulder. “Not right now, anyway.”
Hellene smiled. He was absolutely right; now was not the time for such things.
~*~
Even as Jim smiled, enjoying a lazy few more minutes in bed before getting up to face the day, he couldn’t help but wonder why he’d dreamed of Bones for the first time in months.
Then again, maybe it wasn’t such a mystery, after all. Hellene looked exactly like her, from the warm hazel eyes with green and gold happily intermingled to the brown curls he’d always imagined were as soft as Hellene’s felt.
He sighed, forcing the thoughts from his mind for the moment. It wasn’t fair to Hellene to compare her to someone who’d been missing for three years and was probably dead, even if the comparisons were easy to draw. Besides, Bones would never have let her hair get as long as Hellene’s was--she had always cropped it short above her shoulders, while Hellene’s curls tumbled down her back--and their ways of speaking were completely different.
Finally Hellene stirred beside him, stretching languidly. “I am certain my Mother will find that most satisfying,” she murmured.
“I know I did,” he replied, grinning. It was true; he rarely spent his nights accompanied these days, hadn’t for a long time. Not since...
But he’d promised himself he wouldn’t think of that, and he wasn’t going to start now. Not when another girl was here with him. “So, what’re you up to this morning?” he asked instead.
She smiled. “Well, most of the day is spent preparing the temple for nightly worship. However, I lead prayers in the sanctuary in...” She sat up and then stood, walking to her window and peering out of the gauzy curtains that separated them from the world outside as Jim took a moment to admire the soft curves of her bare form. Then her eyes widened as she noted the time. “Two stairs ago.”
“Stairs?” Jim asked, confused.
She nodded, gesturing him toward the window. As he gently pressed up behind her, she spoke again. “In front of you is the Temple of Zeus, Father of All. As the shadow of the temple passes over those stairs, it marks our time. Two stairs is quite a long time to be late by.”
It still made little sense to Jim, since he had no idea how much time passed during what she called a ‘stair’, but she seemed distressed by it. “Then I should be going?”
“I am certain you have things that need done as well,” Hellene replied as she quickly got dressed, tugging on a robe of some sort.
He did. There were reports that needed going over, people who needed to be met, and a ship that needed to be run. However, he still couldn’t help the desire to stay a few more moments in this warm and inviting room, preferably with the woman who had brought him here in the first place, but even more preferably with...
No. She was gone. As it were, Hellene was gone as well without so much as a goodbye, hustling off to do whatever work needed done around the temple. Sighing, Jim pulled his own clothes on before walking out into the hallway and realizing he had no idea how to get out.
As another priestess walked down the hall, he stepped forward. “Excuse me,” he started, “but I don’t know how to get back to the street.”
The priestess looked up at him, eyes a flat brown in comparison to Hellene’s, and smiled. “You were the first to enter last night, were you not?”
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“You were with the High Priestess?”
“Yes,” came his response as he remembered that Hellene had told him as much.
“Consider yourself fortunate to have had such a rare chance to do worship with the Head of the Temple,” she advised. “Hellene takes few worshippers these days, preferring instead to direct the proceedings from the outside.”
Now that he knew what worship consisted of Jim had to fight away the image that accompanied those words, certain it wasn’t what the priestess had meant. “I know just how lucky I am,” he answered. “And I’m also lucky to have found you here, since I have no idea where I actually am.”
She smiled. “This hall leads to the exit of the temple.” She then proceeded to walk down it as Jim followed, automatically learning the route in case he had to travel it again before remembering that he was most likely not ever going to return.
Before long, Jim once more found himself on the outside of the temple looking in. It still looked as nondescript as ever, but with the knowledge of what lay inside Jim had to wonder if it had really been as good an idea as it had seemed to go inside. Sure, there hadn’t been any actual harm in it, but the place was unlocking memories he’d hidden away for a long time and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
Sighing, he started to walk down the street toward the meeting place in town. The ambassador he had just dropped off was holding a celebration for both the end of his reign as ambassador and the start of that of his successor. It was only polite that he show up and both congratulate the man he had escorted and meet the man he was probably going to be bringing back to Earth once his days of leave were up.
When he reached the end of the street, he looked back. From this point of view he could see all of the temples, from the golden splendor that he now recognized as the temple of Zeus to the nondescript temples that must have been built to lesser gods in their hierarchy. However, his eyes were still drawn to one in particular.
He turned around, starting to walk again. It had definitely been a bad idea to go into the temple, and a worse to stay as long as he had.
However, even as his memories stirred, he knew he would come back the next night.
~*~
Three Years Ago
Jim froze in shock as the communication ended. Lena was missing? Not only that, but she’d been missing for two days? How the hell had something like that slipped by without him noticing? Sure, they’d both been busy, but they’d always made time for each other before.
Except that ever since coming back after what had been unofficially named the Narada incident he’d been ignoring her infrequent comms and the one time he’d managed to comm her she’d been in the clinic. At the time he’d thought that she didn’t really want to hear from him, not after the look she’d had on her face when she came back to the room she’d been letting him sleep in only to find him dreaming about her. Now...
Now he seemed unbelievably childish, even to himself. Maybe it was that phenomenon he’d always heard about before, the one about hindsight and perfect vision, but he couldn’t help the thought If I’d just answered one of her comms, maybe this wouldn’t be happening now.
He shook his head, trying to dislodge the thought. It wasn’t helping. Just then, he wasn’t sure if anything would help.
Maybe it was some kind of sick joke. Maybe it was just something the upper levels were doing to see how well he’d hold himself together in a situation like this.
All right, so maybe that one was a bit far-fetched. But it didn’t seem unreasonable to Jim that maybe Lena had gotten sick or something, just a cold but enough to skip work and classes, and simply forgotten to call in sick before locking herself in her room.
He’d go check. He’d hack his way into her room, like he’d done a million times before. She’d be there, like she always was, and she’d laugh at him for having been worried about her at all. Maybe they’d head out to the bar and have a few drinks.
Maybe he’d finally have the guts to tell her he was in love with her, now that she’d almost vanished.
On to part 3
Hellene sighed happily, not quite awake. Clearly the previous night’s worship had indeed been found splendid by her Mother, for not only was she calm and content, but she also felt a pleasant warmth and quiet happiness.
With a smile, she recalled the activities that had gone on for most of the night before realizing that the warmth she felt was neither from an internal source nor from a divine one, but instead from the sleeping form of the man from the previous night under her.
Shifting so she could lift herself up for a moment, she took some time to admire his features. The absence of his strange clothing left for her observation bare sun-kissed skin on a slender yet muscular frame. He was indeed attractive, and she shivered lightly as she felt the faint stirrings of the Call again.
Shifting again and freeing her hands so they could gently trace patterns along his upper arms, she took a moment to silently give thanks that this strange yet beautiful man had been hers to lead in worship for a night. It wasn’t often that her Mother bestowed such a wonderful gift upon her, and she had no intentions of letting such a gift go by unnoticed and thereby seeming ungrateful for it.
Thanks given, she turned her attentions once more to the man underneath her as he shifted, murmuring in his sleep. Smiling, she kissed her way along the curve of his shoulder, pausing only when he mumbled a single word: “Bones...”
Frowning and wondering what he was dreaming of that he would speak of bones, Hellene pulled back slightly. He was a strange man, no doubt, this man of the stars, but some things were too strange to be excused by even his long travels.
Before she could contemplate for long, though, he was awake and grinning up at her. “Well, that was quite a night,” he murmured, his hands tracing lines of gentle fire up her sides.
“Mm,” she agreed lazily, arching into his touches. Surely she had enough time for a little more of this before her duties recommenced.
He smiled that smile of his that had not failed yet to make her shiver, flipping them over as his mouth traced down her neck. “Think we could make it an equally spectacular morning?” he asked before gently biting down on her collarbone.
Hellene moaned softly and nodded, legs spreading in anticipation. Surely her Mother would appreciate an addition to the worship they had already done, and she was eager to serve.
Instead of instantly becoming one with her as most other worshippers had done, though, he instead chose to continue tracing down her body with his lips, pausing when he reached her breasts. “I apologize for not doing this last night,” he murmured against one of them as she squirmed and her back arched. “I was... distracted.”
“It is understandable,” Hellene murmured as she swept her hands down the planes of his back. “The Call that brought us together was a strong one, demanding we be one quickly. Now there is time.”
“That there is,” he agreed as he continued his way down. She gasped when he suddenly licked up one of her thighs, approaching but never quite reaching her core. “Time for all kinds of things I should’ve done.”
Hellene gasped and writhed as he continued to tease her, the pleasure that would be sent to her Mother building more with each expert flick of his tongue and movement of his fingers. “Please,” she managed, instantly disliking the whining tone to her voice. “If we do not become one it will only be my pleasure included in the worship.”
He smiled and shifted up, and then they were one.
This was one of the greatest feelings Hellene had ever known, to be one with another in worship. Now, however, she realized this particular time had surpassed all of the others. Clearly the two of them worshipping was something her Mother had truly wanted.
Now the pleasure that was building encompassed both of them, and they shook with it as they moved together, wrapped around each other until she was no longer certain which limb belonged to whom. Eventually, though, it had to reach its peak, and they both lifted it to Lady Aphrodite with their voices as they slowly relaxed onto the mattress.
Smiling lazily, Hellene reached up to touch his cheek. “You have a strange combination of eyes and hair,” she remarked. “I am surprised you were led here. Most with your coloring are led quite quickly to Zeus.”
“Mmm, let’s not question why I’m here,” he murmured into her shoulder. “Not right now, anyway.”
Hellene smiled. He was absolutely right; now was not the time for such things.
~*~
Even as Jim smiled, enjoying a lazy few more minutes in bed before getting up to face the day, he couldn’t help but wonder why he’d dreamed of Bones for the first time in months.
Then again, maybe it wasn’t such a mystery, after all. Hellene looked exactly like her, from the warm hazel eyes with green and gold happily intermingled to the brown curls he’d always imagined were as soft as Hellene’s felt.
He sighed, forcing the thoughts from his mind for the moment. It wasn’t fair to Hellene to compare her to someone who’d been missing for three years and was probably dead, even if the comparisons were easy to draw. Besides, Bones would never have let her hair get as long as Hellene’s was--she had always cropped it short above her shoulders, while Hellene’s curls tumbled down her back--and their ways of speaking were completely different.
Finally Hellene stirred beside him, stretching languidly. “I am certain my Mother will find that most satisfying,” she murmured.
“I know I did,” he replied, grinning. It was true; he rarely spent his nights accompanied these days, hadn’t for a long time. Not since...
But he’d promised himself he wouldn’t think of that, and he wasn’t going to start now. Not when another girl was here with him. “So, what’re you up to this morning?” he asked instead.
She smiled. “Well, most of the day is spent preparing the temple for nightly worship. However, I lead prayers in the sanctuary in...” She sat up and then stood, walking to her window and peering out of the gauzy curtains that separated them from the world outside as Jim took a moment to admire the soft curves of her bare form. Then her eyes widened as she noted the time. “Two stairs ago.”
“Stairs?” Jim asked, confused.
She nodded, gesturing him toward the window. As he gently pressed up behind her, she spoke again. “In front of you is the Temple of Zeus, Father of All. As the shadow of the temple passes over those stairs, it marks our time. Two stairs is quite a long time to be late by.”
It still made little sense to Jim, since he had no idea how much time passed during what she called a ‘stair’, but she seemed distressed by it. “Then I should be going?”
“I am certain you have things that need done as well,” Hellene replied as she quickly got dressed, tugging on a robe of some sort.
He did. There were reports that needed going over, people who needed to be met, and a ship that needed to be run. However, he still couldn’t help the desire to stay a few more moments in this warm and inviting room, preferably with the woman who had brought him here in the first place, but even more preferably with...
No. She was gone. As it were, Hellene was gone as well without so much as a goodbye, hustling off to do whatever work needed done around the temple. Sighing, Jim pulled his own clothes on before walking out into the hallway and realizing he had no idea how to get out.
As another priestess walked down the hall, he stepped forward. “Excuse me,” he started, “but I don’t know how to get back to the street.”
The priestess looked up at him, eyes a flat brown in comparison to Hellene’s, and smiled. “You were the first to enter last night, were you not?”
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“You were with the High Priestess?”
“Yes,” came his response as he remembered that Hellene had told him as much.
“Consider yourself fortunate to have had such a rare chance to do worship with the Head of the Temple,” she advised. “Hellene takes few worshippers these days, preferring instead to direct the proceedings from the outside.”
Now that he knew what worship consisted of Jim had to fight away the image that accompanied those words, certain it wasn’t what the priestess had meant. “I know just how lucky I am,” he answered. “And I’m also lucky to have found you here, since I have no idea where I actually am.”
She smiled. “This hall leads to the exit of the temple.” She then proceeded to walk down it as Jim followed, automatically learning the route in case he had to travel it again before remembering that he was most likely not ever going to return.
Before long, Jim once more found himself on the outside of the temple looking in. It still looked as nondescript as ever, but with the knowledge of what lay inside Jim had to wonder if it had really been as good an idea as it had seemed to go inside. Sure, there hadn’t been any actual harm in it, but the place was unlocking memories he’d hidden away for a long time and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
Sighing, he started to walk down the street toward the meeting place in town. The ambassador he had just dropped off was holding a celebration for both the end of his reign as ambassador and the start of that of his successor. It was only polite that he show up and both congratulate the man he had escorted and meet the man he was probably going to be bringing back to Earth once his days of leave were up.
When he reached the end of the street, he looked back. From this point of view he could see all of the temples, from the golden splendor that he now recognized as the temple of Zeus to the nondescript temples that must have been built to lesser gods in their hierarchy. However, his eyes were still drawn to one in particular.
He turned around, starting to walk again. It had definitely been a bad idea to go into the temple, and a worse to stay as long as he had.
However, even as his memories stirred, he knew he would come back the next night.
~*~
Three Years Ago
Jim froze in shock as the communication ended. Lena was missing? Not only that, but she’d been missing for two days? How the hell had something like that slipped by without him noticing? Sure, they’d both been busy, but they’d always made time for each other before.
Except that ever since coming back after what had been unofficially named the Narada incident he’d been ignoring her infrequent comms and the one time he’d managed to comm her she’d been in the clinic. At the time he’d thought that she didn’t really want to hear from him, not after the look she’d had on her face when she came back to the room she’d been letting him sleep in only to find him dreaming about her. Now...
Now he seemed unbelievably childish, even to himself. Maybe it was that phenomenon he’d always heard about before, the one about hindsight and perfect vision, but he couldn’t help the thought If I’d just answered one of her comms, maybe this wouldn’t be happening now.
He shook his head, trying to dislodge the thought. It wasn’t helping. Just then, he wasn’t sure if anything would help.
Maybe it was some kind of sick joke. Maybe it was just something the upper levels were doing to see how well he’d hold himself together in a situation like this.
All right, so maybe that one was a bit far-fetched. But it didn’t seem unreasonable to Jim that maybe Lena had gotten sick or something, just a cold but enough to skip work and classes, and simply forgotten to call in sick before locking herself in her room.
He’d go check. He’d hack his way into her room, like he’d done a million times before. She’d be there, like she always was, and she’d laugh at him for having been worried about her at all. Maybe they’d head out to the bar and have a few drinks.
Maybe he’d finally have the guts to tell her he was in love with her, now that she’d almost vanished.
On to part 3