Atalanta

by Jennifer Saint

He laughed again. ‘Not necessarily, no. But you were chosen by Artemis to join this voyage; do you feel safe knowing that she watches over you?’ ‘It’s not like that – not completely, anyway,’ I said. I saw what he meant, that he had no more guarantee of safety than I did. ‘She rescued me as a baby. I was left on the side of Mount Parthenion to die.’ I glanced at him to see how he reacted. His eyes were warm with sympathy, inviting me to go on. ‘She has her sacred animals in the forest and they do as she commands. It pleased her to have me taken up by a mother bear and raised with her cubs for a time. When I was no longer a baby, her nymphs took charge of my education. The bears never harmed me, and when they left me, she made sure I was cared for by the nymphs. But I learned to defend myself. In the forest, it’s the only way to survive.’ I thought of Arethusa, and Callisto. ‘If you make a mistake there, you bear the consequences. It’s the natural order of things.’ Even if that mistake was simply to trail your fingers in a river or stay out in the woods after dark, I didn’t add.