“Why do you love them so, sister?” A soft voice came from behind Eos that told her that her sister approached. That suspicion was confirmed when she felt a hand slipped into hers, and give a gentle squeeze. The duo stood at the edge of what appeared to be a shimmering pool of silvery liquid, contrasting brightly with the soft light that bathed the whole scene. If one looked closely enough, however, one would be able to see what the sisters were so fixated upon; Tithonus, in one portion of the puddle, and Cephalus in the other.

They were the latest objects of Eos’s affection, both mortal, and it worried her sister. Eos’s response likely wouldn’t give Selene any satisfaction. “Because they’re...they’re beautiful and delicate and destructible.” It sounded more vicious than she’d intended, and it almost made Selene recoil. She snatched her hand away from Eos and drifted around the pool, to observe one of the men as opposed to the other.

She couldn’t see what was so fascinating about them. In fact, she could hardly tell the difference between them! On Olympus and wherever else she encountered a god or goddess, Selene could see their aura; feel the vibration of their presence and identify them merely from that. Sight and physical appearances could be misleading, and thus were unreliable and unnecessary. One could not conceal ones aura, nor their vibration.

However, with mortals, Selene could see nor feel neither of these things, and it made her uncomfortable. She had to rely solely on her judgement of body language and facial features and the sort, something no goddess would be good at unless she spent a lot of time around mortals. That was Eos. Eos was fixated upon them; she was known to kidnap them, injure them only to nurse them back to health, abuse her powers to cripple them so they couldn’t leave her. That is, until she became bored of that one in particular. She was far more cruel than her sister Selene, and even their brother Helios. Selene feared her sometimes, but she was her older sister – she had to trust her nonetheless.

“I still do not understand,” Selene told her, and Eos shook her head.
“I’ll show you,” was her response, and she seized her sister’s hand again, against the other’s will. Selene found herself feeling heavy suddenly; heavy and constricted, and then suddenly liberated with the bizarre sensation that she was falling into a bottomless pit. When she landed, Eos was no longer by her side, and the goddess was left to fend for herself; abandoned on earth by her very sister.

-

She wasn’t of this world. One look at her would tell that. It could be the way she looked around; her brown eyes were opened wide, and she blinked more frequently than was normal. Did the warm evening air sting her eyes? She certainly wasn’t used to this form. It was certainly an experience, perhaps shedding clarity on the situation. Did Eos love earth and humanity so because of the experience?

She seemed to have forgotten a pair of shoes, for she wandered barefoot, though that was largely concealed by the draped robe she wore. It was stark white, contrasting brightly with her bronzed flesh in the moonlight. It bore many pleats and folds, with silver accents in some lush, unnamed fabric. Was it even of this world?

Much about her bade that question. From those ethereal eyes to her garb to the hair that tumbled down her back and shoulders like some dark waterfall. She wasn’t of this world. She was Selene, goddess of the moon, and she tried to hold onto that as she tried to find her way. She rarely took on an earthly form, much preferring to be close to other celestial bodies – as well as her siblings.

Eos and even the Olympians indulged so in mankind, procreating with them and causing trouble and whatnot. And when it came to gods and goddesses, residents of Mount Olympus were the most revered of them all. Even Almighty Zeus seemed unable to resist the charm and fragility of human women. In a sense, Selene made the descent to earth to see what the gods’ love affair with earthly delights was all about. She still did not understand, perhaps because she was too preoccupied with finding her way home.

She had descended by a body of water whose name she didn’t know. Her first act had been to crouch by the shore and dip her fingers into the cool liquid, dark with the fall of night. Spending a moment fascinated by the water, she elected to move on. Drifting away from the shore, she walked the coarser sands of the beach until she encountered a gated community of some sort. This late, it was no surprise it was nearly deserted. She was frightened but fascinated, and all she wanted was to find Eos – Helios even, though she knew he wasn’t on earth but on a journey of some kind – and return to the Heavens.

Perhaps this was their idea of a joke; it wouldn’t be the first time her siblings had played a joke on her. She was the flightier of the two of them, dreamy and inconstant; not easily angered, and they took advantage of it. Perhaps they were behind this gate! With that thought in mind, a barefoot Selene drifted towards the gate and bade it open. Evidently, such an ability did not work where she was now. She bade – no, pleaded – that it open one more time, to no avail. Her experience on earth was not starting off very well.

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