Once upon a time in Sparta

In the dark air, there was a gentle breath, and the warm skin and flesh touched each other.

Castor woke up earlier than he thought.It was so dark at dawn, it was some kind of strange world, and the air was so cold.

His mind wandered, and his thoughts were full of strange things.He remembered that the poet said that male cats would use mating/mating to confirm their status, that brothers of male lions would strengthen their intimacy and alliance with lions through mating/mating, and said various anecdotes in nature.A variety of exotic values ​​and measures, and behaviors, between different species.Such a strange world.

At this time, the poet who told him those stories had already left for a long, long time.

He felt thirsty, so he got up and went for water by impression.

"Castor?" Polydoces' voice was sleepy, "Why do you get up so early?"

"It's okay, I'll just drink some water." Castor replied, touching the cold water glass.He drank water and lay down again.

After a while, Polydoces' voice sounded again in the darkness.

"Castor?"

"Ok?"

There was a rustling sound in the darkness, and the flesh leaned closer.

"Why did you wake up so early? Are you feeling unwell?" He paused, "Or are you unhappy? It feels like you're not very happy."

"It's nothing."

"You sound cold," said Polydoces cautiously.

"It's really nothing." Castor smiled, but couldn't see it. "I've always been. You know that."

Polydoces embraces his brother.

"I love you very much, Castor," he repeated.

Castor looked at the darkness, and the void in the darkness.

"Love is a luxury, Polydoces," sighed Castor. "I realized that a long time ago."

"At that time, I was really naive. Because of my low self-esteem, I asked my father if you were the son of Zeus. I didn't realize how embarrassing this question put my father in."

"That is nothing at all," said Polydoces, "I have no other brothers."

"No, listen to me. Polydoces, that's not the question at all."

"At that time, I was angry and humbled. But at a certain moment when I looked at the sky, I felt that the whole world fell silent. Everything solidified, everything took their shape, and the order under the surface of everything was working. That It’s an indescribably strange feeling. It’s as if I’ve suddenly glimpsed the world behind the mask. It’s not the knowledge I learned every day, but another kind.”

"That feeling was fleeting. But something really changed me, completely changed. I suddenly realized that everything should be the way it is, and there is no need for injustice. And love is something that is not shared between everyone. No obligation. Mother is not obligated to love me, and neither are you. Nobody owes anything. Every human being is alone in itself."

"Come on, Castor," said Polydoces sadly. "I love you."

"I know," Castor replied, "it's just..."

"We are twins. And no matter what happens, I will always be with you."

"It's unrealistic. You don't have to be. We are two separate entities. You will earn the honor of your blood, and you will have plenty of things to do. You are the Son of God, your Father's will is inviolable."

"When we brought Helen back yesterday, I heard them discussing that the throne of Sparta will be inherited by Helen's husband-in-law." Polydoces said softly, "Helen is the one who the gods really value and respect. The one to watch. Theseus, mortal so beloved by Athena, who robbed so many women, Ariadne and Phaedra of Crete - son of Zeus, daughter of the glorious King Minos Antiope of the Amazons, descendant of Ares. But we brought back Helen. I don't think it was possible by our efforts alone. The gods had other, really important plans for Helen. "

"That doesn't mean the gods will forget you."

"But at least they won't pay too much attention to my every move. What I want to do will not be too restricted by the so-called fate." Polydoces kissed Castor's lips. "Complete happiness belongs to the gods alone, and mortals will not be allowed to have it as they do. That is a transgression, and Nemesis, who watches over mortals, will destroy it as much as injustice or blasphemy. We are only allowed There are bad or mixed fortunes. So at least, be merry while you can."

"That's right." Castor embraced him.

He was thinking that human life is short, and eternal love does not seem to exist for God.The pain of Hera, the Queen of Heaven, is that she embraced and believed in such an ideal.Love is like the clouds in the sky, they come and go, and they are not qualified to ask anyone.

Such a thing does not exist.

Then he inevitably thought of the poet, and what the poet said.

What are you, nameless wanderer.

However, that kind of love without choice is also terrible.Maybe even that is not love but something else.Because love is a free bird.

May we love each other, and at the same time stop loving.

Many times, Polydoces actually didn't know what Castor was thinking.Castor's little head was filled with all sorts of outlandish ideas, and he looked pensive and slightly melancholic, but not clever in the usual sense.

Everyone felt that Castor was inferior or admired by his elder brother.He used to think so too.But when he really got close to Castor, he found that his perception of the world was extremely weird.Perhaps the poet who left long ago bears a large part of the responsibility.

But this didn't stop him from loving Castor, and it didn't stop Castor from loving him.

What more could you ask for.

After finally returning triumphantly from Athens, the maid served him in the bath, and that face always reminded others of their fate.Especially now.

The maid was the princess of the city-state that the king of Sparta conquered when the poet first came.The sister of the princess who kidnapped him and committed suicide.

He had wanted to go to her in order to know more about the poet.She told him something else that changed his view of the world just as profoundly.

"You want to know about him?" said the woman. "My sister likes him very much. Always clings to him and wants him to tell her fresh stories. But I don't know him very well."

She was spinning in her room at that time, looking haggard and yellow.

Listening to the woman's words, he felt that what had happened was happening again.His brother was as enamored of the poet as her sister.And neither he nor she knew the poet.The only difference is that the woman will not be jealous because her sister likes the poet, but just looks at her sister happily walking around the poet with a smile.Since then, he has been aware of his subtle possessive desire for his younger brother, and when he grows up, it develops into another deeper emotion.

"I don't care because it's useless. And why do you want to know him?"

Polydoces opened his mouth, but didn't know how to answer.So he moved on to other problems.

"Your sister likes that poet."

"So she ran in front of him and committed suicide." My sister replied blankly, walking around beside the loom, busy and neat. "My mother died. Because she was queen, her country was gone, her husband and son died. My sister died because she was too young and proud to accept the cruelty of fate."

Polydoces wanted to ask, what about you, why did you choose to survive.But such words are not suitable for export.

"I guess you want to ask me why I chose to survive." The sister said indifferently, "Yes. My husband died too. My son, who was so young that he was still in your arms, was thrown from the city wall by you. I fell to my death. The pain the gods inflicted on me was great, but as long as I live, I must live. This is what my nanny told me."

"She said that she was originally a princess of another city-state. Later, she was abducted and sold as a slave. Europa was abducted by Zeus because of her beauty. People only sing about such things. But what happened to my nanny is The real face of this era, those things happening everywhere. Wasn’t Dionysus, the god of wine, once regarded as a child of a rich family, taken away by sailors, and wanted to sell in a distant place? And most of them encountered this All are not gods, and there is no power to escape. Even if you are already a princess and prince, even if you are born in a wealthy and happy family and fall into the dust, it is just a moment and an easy thing. Looting other people's wealth, a moment of nobility Becoming low. That's the norm in this day and age, and we just have to live with it."

"Polydoces." His name came out of her lips, with a hint of playfulness. "Son of Zeus and Leda. Brilliant demigod. You are much luckier than others, you will not stumble, slip, and fall in the dust on the road of life/. You are favored by the gods, all The gods have predestined glory for you, and you are destined to get good fortune and fame. But even for those famous heroes, how many of them ended well? The gods will not allow mortals to be completely happy."

Then one day, Theseus, the hero of Athens, snatched away their sister Helen, daughter of the great god Zeus.

Only then did he truly feel the terrifying meaning in that woman's words.

As the dead little princess said, this is a cruel generation, full of miserable misery and bad luck.Pleasure is fleeting, an irresistible spider's thread.Happiness is a more luxurious thing, and even God may not always have it.

After taking a shower, he got dressed and walked to his room.His steps gradually quickened, and at last he began to run.His magnificent cloak with gold buckles fluttered behind him like the wings of a bird.

He wanted to find Castor, to hug him, to tell him that he loved him very much.