Who: Cassandra (thehorseisalie), references to several Trojan War characters What: Mortal men are shorter lived and no better than gods When: Throughout Cassandra's life Where: Troy, Mycenae Notes: Part 2/3 of in-flight writing. Rambling and pretentious/obscure references. Cf Business as usual & A day inside my head.
A woman who will not (who cannot) love a god is still the daughter of a man. She is still a daughter of the land, one of the fifty lovely princesses who walk Priam's palace. And Priam is a king, and kings need allies. And allies--well, allies need securities. Allies need gifts. Allies, often, are men.
She may rant and rave at times, but when the mad humors do not strike her she is as precious as the others, with a head to match her looks. They court her as they court the king's goodwill, protection and treasure. She does not comment; when her head denies her heart, she knows she must settle for less, yet she also knows that settlement will never come to pass. Coroebus and Othryoneus are doomed from the moment her brother touched Eris's apple.
With Polyxena, she becomes a gift again. An offering. An appeasing plea. Compensation, the pillar hopes. However, they cannot compensate for the thunderer's divine daughter and they will not appease a man's greed. No compensation but a world razed to the ground.
Daughters, mothers, sisters of Troy. No longer compensation, no longer appeasement. She is ransacked goods, a path many years in the making. She cannot love him; her heart lies in the ashes of the temples, either at the feet of the sky-statue of the goddess or in the single shadow inside the temple of the sun. Somewhere. She would not look for it even if she could.
She loves the boys. Twin sons of a shattered twin half, born to the killer of her world. They, too, will pass on--a future awaits the four of them: a knife (one, two, three blows), an ax, the ferryman.