"That can’t be... I mean, she’s..."
Hermes recalled the face of the little girl he used to play with. She has gentle, downturned eyes with light freckles sprinkled on her pale skin. She was tiny, even for girls her age.
She had always been a bookworm, perhaps due to the environment she grew up in. Her parents were studious and her mother was a meteorologist who liked studying the skies.
But she was less interested in the scholarly side of literature compared to the artistic side. She liked reading fiction and would sometimes write poetry about the beauty of the most irregular things, like a puddle she saw in the playground or the mandible of a stag beetle.
She was always sensitive to little things, especially people’s emotions.
One time, after playing with some other kids in the neighborhood:
"I think the girls in school don’t like me." Aphrodite said.
Little Hermes frowned. "Why? They seemed to like talking to you though. And they braid your hair and play dolls with you, right?"
"That’s different from liking. That’s more like tolerating." She fiddled with some grass, trying them into knots. "It’s not just girls, to be honest. Even guys find me weird. I can see it... Everybody finds me strange, but at the same time too boring to actually be interested."
Hermes couldn’t stand it, hearing her talk about herself like that.
"Hey, don’t be a bully to my friend!" Hermes insisted. "The Aphrodite I know is really cool! She’s not boring or weird at all!"
Aphrodite stopped fiddling, and then...
Some small rain drops fell on her tiny hand. It took Hermes a while to realize that it wasn’t raining, and that it was actually tears.
He had never seen Aphrodite cry before.
She was always quiet, and didn’t show her emotions much. Her smile was always light, like the Mona Lisa’s.
So to see her cry all because he defended her...
Elder Thales spoke up, snapping him out of his reverie. "You see, Aphrodite is not actually born as a male or female. He was born with both traits. They call it ’intersex’, and he is not the only one in this world with this condition. The doctors thought that perhaps it was genetic, or the cause of radiation from his mother’s visit to the rift for her studies."
Hermes’ eyes widened, while Magni did not show any sign of shock at all. He was respectfully keeping quiet, letting them have their moment.
"When Aphrodite reached puberty, his male traits became more evident." Elder Thales sighed. "His parents didn’t want him to be the subject of ridicule or gossip. And so they have him stay here, like a caged bird."
Hermes suddenly felt bad. "So that’s why... But they didn’t tell me. She— He didn’t tell me."
"He has his reasons. It’s better if you ask him yourself." The elder told him.
Hermes went downstairs with his head down. He felt guilty, as he should have checked in more with his friend. The longer he thought about it, the more he realized the signs.
The reason why Aphrodite doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere, or that people found him strange even when they’re being nice to him...
"Aphrodite." He called out.
The man at the counter just looked up at his book, his expression unreadable. "Yes?"
An awkward silence passed.
Even Magni who was as dense as a rock could sense the tension, and so he busied himself with reading a book titled ’Why Humans Lie’.
Hermes couldn’t stand the distance anymore. He rushed in and gave his old friend a hug.
Aphrodite’s eyes widened, his mask falling a bit. "What... are you doing?"
"I missed you..." Hermes held him tightly. "I wanted to see you but... I thought you didn’t want to see me. That you didn’t want to be friends with me anymore. I never knew it was actually because of... something about yourself that you couldn’t change."
Aphrodite gently pried himself off Hermes. "I don’t want to be pitied."
"It’s not pity." Hermes insisted. "It’s..."
’I understand you.’ Was what he wanted to say. ’You were born with something that you didn’t ask for, forced to keep secrets about yourself. I know that feeling.’
Aphrodite suddenly said. "What do you mean?"
Hermes blinked. "What do I mean by what?"
".... Nothing." He closed his book and adjusted his hair. "I have something to do... Excuse me."
"Wait, Aphrodite!" Hermes grabbed his arm.
His childhood friend just turned expressionlessly to him. "Yes? Also, I just go by Aphro now."
"O-Oh... Aphro. Sorry." Hermes let him go. "I... I also have something to do. But can we talk after? I want to catch up... To know how you’ve been. And then maybe we can... I don’t know, read books together? Or stroll by the park? And your poems—"
Aphro raised his hand. "I’m sorry. But I’d have to decline. I’m no longer the same person you knew before."
Hermes’ expression fell as Aphro went to a room, closing the door without even looking back.
"Woooh, Brother." Magni eventually spoke up, closing his book roughly with a poof! "That must be really disheartening. But do not give in! I sense that your old friend hides more beneath his self-isolation. Just give him some time."
"Yeah... I guess that’s fair. We just saw each other again after many years... Things have changed." Hermes said.
He went back upstairs to talk to Elder Thales about what he was really here for.
"Elder..." Hermes called out.
"Oh? Did you speak with Aphrodite?" Elder Thales looked at him with his milky white eyes. "How was it?"
"It didn’t go as I expected." Hermes scratched his head.
"Ah, expectations are the root of all frustrations." Elder Thales said. "I have stopped having expectations and just followed the flow of the river we call life."
"Then... Is that why you still raised me despite where I came from?"
Elder Thales does not seem surprised that Hermes asked this. "Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. You are a gift to our village, Hermes. A gift by the gods."
"A gift?" Hermes clenched his fist. "And was it also a gift that I am a monster who can steal powers by consuming others?"
He felt the beast slowly waking up within him as he got more upset. "How much do you actually know!? How much does everyone in this village know!? Why did you let me live a lie that I’m just normal!?"
He gripped Elder Thales this time, who remained calm and regarded him with that same look.
The look of an affectionate family member, or a teacher.
Forgiving even for the worst offenses.
"Perhaps it would be better for you to see it yourself... The day we found you."