Atalanta

by Jennifer Saint

‘Impressive,’ he said. He smiled. ‘Is there nothing you can’t do better than anyone else?’ I laughed. ‘Maybe not.’ Peleus hauled himself to his feet and marched away. His friends followed him, tight-lipped and frowning, but others clustered around me, generous with their praise: Orpheus, Euphemus and Idas most sincerely so. I basked in their celebration. I wondered briefly where Meleager had gone, but I was too elated to think more about it. I felt like my cheeks would split from smiling. I had spent so much of the past few weeks hoping that Artemis couldn’t see me, that her eyes wouldn’t fall upon me, that she might have forgotten she had sent me and turned her attention to other matters. But this, this I wished she could see. I had done this on my own, and I had done it for every nymph I’d shared the forest with.