The Ambassador of Athena

When I woke up I prayed that it has all been just a dream and I lay in my bed in the motel on Ithaca. But as soon as I opened my eyes I and found myself staring at a fish and ship mobile slowly spinning around. I sat up and examined the room. The furniture was simple, a drawer, a book shelf, a chair in a corner, a picture of a sailing ship on the wall, and a desk under the window. And sitting at the corner of the table was…
“Palla” I said, mildly astonished. I’ve seen too many things the last day to be surprised. And since she was Annabeths mother and a goddess my astonishment didn’t grew any bigger.
She wore her usual Jeans and t-shirt, together with a broad smile on her face.
“Nice to see you again too, by the way” she said and rose. After she sat on the edge of the bed she continued. “I came here to make sure I am the first one to talk to you after you wake up, my hero. First of all I have to admit that I haven’t been honest to you. This is not my true form, my true form is…” Her clothes changed and she wore the clothes and armour she had on Mount Athos again. Her spear and shield were leaned against the bed, the shield thankfully facing the wall. I knew the story about the Aegis-shield and the face of Medusa imprinted on it. I cleared my throat. “You are Athena, the goddess of wisdom, crafts and craftsmanship. Like the real goddess from the tales.”
She nodded. “Yes, you are true. You seem to cope well with the fact that I am not what I seemed to be. Maybe you have heard too much the past few days.”
I laughed sharply. “You could say that, yeah. But I have one question: Why?”
Athena’s clothes changed back to normal and she folded her hands.
“You see, gods have always been known for falling for mortals, some more often than others, some less. Not many mortals catch my attention. You are… something special. You see, I am the goddess of wisdom, I know where intelligence concentrates in a person, but that’s not all. You always were above average, but nothing that would catch my attention. What makes you special is not your intelligence; it’s your wit, your way of thinking. This and your ability to see through the mist, the power that hides everything supernatural from the mortals, made you catch my attention. When I heard about the topic of your presentation I had to see you.”
I must have looked pretty shocked and terrified too, because Palla quickly comforted me. “Oh, don’t worry; I’ve decided not to turn you into a rodent or a plant. I watched your presentation, and I have to admit you were right, at least in some points. If you’d knew the whole story you may not think this way, but all in all your presentation showed a part of me that I hate to admit it exists the self-loving, egoistic part that likes winning and hates loosing. I’ve turned Arachne into a spider, which was a great mistake, later on she took revenge and kept my sacred statue hidden for centuries and killed several of my children. I should have admitted that she was equal to me, and nothing would have happened. Your presentation really impressed me; it had proper argumentations, and your ideas about better decisions I could have made really impressed me.”
Then she did the last thing I expected: She blushed.
I was speechless, but I managed to say: “Thank you.” After a few seconds I continued. “It’s nice to get such a compliment from a goddess, but I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that you really hit on me. The goddess of wisdom. Like an actual goddess.”
Athena laughed. “Well, even though I am a maiden goddess I still fall in love sometimes. And sometimes the result are children” I tried to say something but she cut me off. “No, we will not have children; our encounters were never that close. I am still a maiden, the way I get… pregnant is… more difficult. But I still have children like Annabeth and Johanna, your former girlfriend.”
Now that hit me hard. I had no time to think about it, but now it seemed logical that the goddess of wisdom was the mother of the wisest girl I’ve ever met. She was brilliant, a genius, much smarter than me. Normally that would have annoyed me, but with her it was different. I’ve loved it when she corrected me, or told me mathematical jokes, or showed me difficult equations. It also explained why she has been half the summer holidays away, now I realised she was at the camp, training to kick ass.
Palla smiled at me. “But this is not why I came to you. I came to you to tell you the following:
You are the descendant of the most famous mortal hero of ancient times, one without godly parents, the conqueror of Troy, the lord of Ithaca…”
It took me a bit till I solved that riddle, but when I did I was – again – speechless.
“You tell me that my great-great-great-great-great-whatever-grandfather is Odysseus, like, the guy with the horse, and his travel, like, the real Odysseus?” I asked, my voice shaking. Palla nodded.
“You are a descendant of Telemachos, and you are the latest figure in the game of the fates. When it comes to your part in this story you will know what to do, even if you now have no idea what to do.”
My face must have slipped again, because Palla laughed again.
“Oh, don’t worry, I will guide and assist you, like I did with all great heroes in the past. I’ve let down some recently; I also have a feeling that you will need me in the future. “
She rose again, and her armour reappeared.
“I have one last present for you.” Athena said “If you are willing to accept this gift I will make you my ambassador, the ambassador of Athena. It will open doors for you, and it will allow me to help you more directly. So, do you accept the blessing of Athena and become my ambassador, the ambassador of wisdom.
I rose too, now sure what to do. I have accepted the fate of never having a normal, boring life again at the moment I entered the Nautilus, and this was just another step deeper.
I kneeled down in front of her and said: “I accept your blessing, Mylady”
Athena laid her hands on my shoulders, and my right one suddenly started to burn. After the goddess took her hands away I rolled up my sleeve and looked at the shoulder. An owl was burnt into it, like a tattoo. It looked exactly the one on the Greek one-euro coin.
“Prove yourself worth, my dear.” Athena said and kissed me on the cheek. Then she just disappeared and left me with my thoughts.

Notes