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Pallas Athena (

polymetis) wrote in

nevermore_logs,
@ 2021-01-11 17:03:00

WHO Athena and Guanyin
WHEN Friday, January 8, afternoon
WHERE Flushing Chinatown, Queens
WHAT Wisdom seeks an audience with Compassion
WARNINGS Talk of death

Boba was not Athena’s personal cup of tea; the drinks were too sweet for her liking and she couldn’t abide the texture of the chewy tapioca pearls. But the Bodhisattva Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy, Lady of Compassion, She Who Hears the Cries of the World, was apparently partial, so when she had proposed they meet at a bubble tea shop near the community centre where she volunteered in Flushing Chinatown, Athena had accepted.

Guanyin was rugged up against the cold in a jade green peacoat. Real jade adorned her ears, small studs carved in the shape of lotuses. She set down her tea as Athena slid into the booth, causing the black tapioca pearls shift and resettle at the bottom of the milky drink. “Athena,” she smiled. “It’s been some time. I haven’t seen you since… was it San Francisco? The oughts?”

“Too long,” Athena agreed, her own smile a touch rueful. “I should have reached out when I moved back to Manhattan.”

“What made you reach out now?” There was no blame or suspicion in Guanyin’s voice, only quiet curiosity.

Athena laced her fingers before her on the table. “I have a favour to ask.”

“A favour?” This earned a slight tilt of the head, though Athena noted Guanyin didn’t look overly surprised, which she supposed was fair. Guanyin was kind and open of heart; she didn’t feud with other gods, didn’t participate in their squabbles and cared little for petty political games. No doubt many immortals tended to forget about her until they needed something from her.

“I’m trying to help a mortal, my niece, who is afflicted with a deathbed curse. The caster was an Olympian, and the curse is both powerful and aggressive. She will die, in great suffering, if it isn’t lifted.”

Quiet horror rippled across the calm of Guanyin’s face. “The caster can’t be persuaded to withdraw it?”

If only it were that easy, Athena thought grimly. “He is… unreachable at present. Even if he wasn’t, it’s doubtful he would back down.”

Guanyin’s lips formed a bitter twist. “Gods and their pride?” She knew far more than she wished to about heavenly egos; her own pantheon was full of them.

“Something like that,” Athena agreed. She held Guanyin’s gaze, her eyes as grey and impenetrable as the sky outside. “None of us have the power to break through a curse like this. But you do.”

The bodhisattva stilled. “Athena…”

“You have the strength of true worship behind you, the prayers of millions. Your power dwarfs his.”

Guanyin looked pained. “You know what I’m going to say.”

Athena did. She waited, nonetheless, silent and impassive. Guanyin bit her lip.

“What you’re describing is… truly terrible. It’s a horror no person should suffer. Of course I would help her.” She spoke carefully. Guanyin did everything with care. With each word, though, a taut line of worry was deepening between her usually serene brows. She was working her way up to the ‘but’. “But… the kind of power that would be needed to shatter that curse, one laden with the full weight of an Olympian’s death… Yes, I could do it, but at the expense of hundreds of others. Those millions of prayers – people cry out to me in their need, Athena. You would ask me to ignore them all. I can’t do that.”

Athena exhaled softly. “I know.”

“But you still ask?” No blame, still.

“You are Compassion,” Athena said, with an apologetic shrug. “I had to try.”

Guanyin leaned back from the table, conflicted emotions warring across her face. As wise as the bodhisattva was, and she had wisdom to rival Metis, she was at her heart the priestess who had poured all of her hundreds of lifetimes of karma into hell in a stunningly idealistic attempt to free every soul from torment. She had learned to be patient and strategic through long, crushing experience, but when she looked suffering in the face, even if she could not help, she could never turn away from it. That was why Athena asked, knowing full well she was taking advantage of Guanyin’s expansive heart in doing so.

“…I can take her pain, for a spell,” Guanyin said at last, looking troubled. “If it becomes bad. I did the same for a friend recently. And if she needs… somebody else to sit by her side, a protector or a listening ear, I can do that. I know it’s not much.”

“It’s something.” Not the cure they were seeking, but if the curse couldn’t be lifted… Athena suspected that Marcella would need all the mercy she could get. “Thank you.”

Guanyin simply inclined her head. “You know my words. Tell her. If she speaks them, I’ll come. In the meantime… for the sake of your niece, I suggest you find this Olympian.”

She was right, unfortunately. Apollo was the cause of all this; he was the one Athena needed to be speaking to. But where in the hells was he?

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