by M.M. Shelley
Chapter Nineteen – The Wrath of Pele
Tatiana and Kye made there way up to G’s house. Kye saw Kana’i approaching them. “What’s up?” Kye asked his cousin.
“She wants to see you,” he said. He was referring to Pele.
“Who wants to see Kye?” Tatiana asked confused.
Kana’i looked at his cousin as he waited. Kye told Tatiana that he would call her later. Tatiana wasn’t satisfied with that. She asked again who it was that wanted to see Kye.
“Pele,” he said.
During the course of their discussion, Pele had grown impatient for Kye to come as he was called. Instead, she decided to go to him. They heard Pele before they saw her.
“Kye,” She had shouted from the top of the road.
It had been some time since Kye had laid eyes on his grandmother. The last time he saw her was the night she had killed his parents. What brought her this time he wondered.
Pele had joined them, holding her hands out to Kye. Kana’i watched as Kye ignored their grandmother’s gesture. Kye needed to be more respectful. Kana’i would talk to him about this at another time.
“It’s been some time, Pele.” Kye said, Tatiana noticed that he didn’t seem over-joyed to be seeing his grandmother. She wondered why.
“Kana’i told me about the trouble you had on the island.” She said, as she took his face between her hands, her bracelets tinkling as she moved.
“Not much trouble.” He said, as he removed her hands from around his face.
“I came to offer my assistance.”
“It’s not needed.”
“Of course you need it, I’m your grandmother. You always need your grandmother.”
“Kye will be happy for whatever you offer Pele.” Kana’i said. He looked none to happy at the rejection he witnessed from Kye to Pele.
“No, Kana’i is mistaken, Pele. I want nothing from you.” He took Tatiana’s hand to lead her around Pele, who was blocking the road leading to G’s house.
“What is this about?” Pele asked. Her voice stopping their departure, “Why do you speak to me in this way?”
Turning back to his grandmother, he reminded her of the night she came to take his family away. Kana’i stepped between Kye and Pele. He knew what happens to those who spoke out against Pele.
“You were a small child Kye. What would you have me do?” she said not sounding at all angry.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked. He had not expected Pele to respond with that.
“You were a very small child Kye.” She repeated.
Kana’i stepped forward, “Kye just let it go.”
“No.” He hadn’t bothered to look at Kana’i as he spoke.
“I didn’t want you to remember what happened that night, but I had no idea you harbored all this hate for me.”
“Remember what? What didn’t you want me to remember?”
“I had the ability to turn your mind from what happened that night, so I did what any grandparent would have done.”
“Kye just let it go. Why relive what happened?” Kana’i knew what it was that Pele had done. Yet he didn’t think his cousin would be ready to hear it.
“What don’t I remember?”
“It wasn’t me who took your parents that night, Kye. It was you.”
Kye didn’t believe what she said, he remembered that night. He remembered everything that happened. Pele was the one who took his parents.
“It was the first time you had every wielded fire. You were so young. You were four years old. I hadn’t expected you to come into your powers so soon. Yet you did. I felt you use them that night, I was very surprised. By the time I arrived, the fire had already started and I saw you standing in the middle of the flames. I pulled you out of the house before it collapsed on you.”
“No, that’s not how it happened.” Kye moved from Tatiana and away from Pele.
“Kye,” Tatiana tried to reach out to him, yet he pulled away from her touch.
“I turned your memory. I made you remember what happened that night differently. I could not bear for you to live with what you had done. It was an accident.”
Kye glanced back at Pele. He finally believed that what she told him was true. “Why would you do that to me? Why did you play with my mind!”
“You were so young, Kye. It’s what your parents would have wanted me to do.”
“I thought it was you who took them. I hated you all these years!”
“I’d rather you had hated me then to blame yourself.”
“No, I should have known.”
“I will not apologize for what I did. I did right by you and you’re parents. It was an accident Kye.”
Kye noticed how Kana’i stood there in silence. He asked his cousin, “Did you know?”
“Kye, it happened a long time ago. Just let it go.”
Kye grew tired of hearing Kana’i repeatedly telling him to let it go. It hadn’t been his parents. He took a swing at him, aiming for his chin. They were on the ground fighting. Kana’i was quick to gain ground. He charged at Kye. Pele intervened, ceasing the fight with her command, “Enough of this!” She stood between them, “I will come and talk to you another time, Kye. I will leave you now.”
Kana’i was not finished with his cousin but he would honor his grandmother’s wishes. “Your lip is bleeding.” With that said he ran down the road. He would burn off the energy in the waves. It was a good night to surf.
“Kye?” Tatiana called him back to her, “Kye, will you walk me home?” she asked. She didn’t want to leave him alone and thought the walk may clear his mind from whatever he was thinking. She didn’t like the look on his face.
Wiping at his face, he agreed to walk her home. It was when they came to the road that opened to G’s house that Kye came to a stop. He pulled Tatiana into his arms. As he looked into her chocolate brown eyes and she gazed up into his, he leaned down to kiss her lips. He pulled back. His hand cupped her face and with a brush of his thumb on to her cheek he turned to leave.
Tatiana watched as he walked away down the path. When she entered the house, she called out for G. She found G working in her office. She was arranging flowers in a vase. G asked her if she had heard anything from Grasiella.
Tatiana shook her head, saying no. Tatiana told her grandmother that she had learned Eros had left the island. G was not surprised. She knew that Eros, who was the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, only ever concerned himself in his own needs.
“He is the son of Aphrodite?” Tatiana asked, sitting on the edge of G’s desk as she watched her grandmother fiddle with the flowers in the vase.
“That he is. His story is quite humorous; although I’m sure it’s not humorous to him.”
“What do you know about him?”
“Oh, the story is no secret. He fell in love with Psyche, who had two sisters, none of them equal to her beauty. No man on earth could draw the attention of Psyche. No man on earth had what she was looking for. Aphrodite, who heard of Psyche and had heard that she had rejected all her suitors, sent her son Eros to make her fall in love. This would make things right again as far as Aphrodite was concerned. Aphrodite had no idea that her son would fall in love with Psyche the moment he laid eyes on her.”
“He did? He doesn’t seem like the type who would fall madly in love with anyone.”
Laughing her grandmother continued, “Well he did, yet he knew that if Psyche were to see his handsome face, then she wouldn’t love him for who he was. She would instead only love what she saw, so he devised a plan and had her whisked away to his castle to marry her.”
“He lives in a castle? That’s crazy!”
“This was a long time ago. Now may I go on with the story? Yes, it was a magnificent castle, but he would not reveal himself to her there and would only come to her at night when all the candles were blown out. Psyche’s sisters came to visit with her one day and upon seeing that their sister lived i
n a castle, they grew jealous, convincing Psyche that her husband was a monster, a great beast.”
“Beauty and the Beast, G?” Tatiana interrupted, rolling her eyes.
“Yes just like that,” answered G, not to be deterred. “The sisters told her that when her husband came to her that night, to be ready with a knife so that she may stab him in the heart. Psyche did not want to do this, but she soon believed the tales her two sisters were filling her head with. That night, when her husband came to her and after he fell asleep, she lit a candle so that she could look at him, but unfortunately for her the wax dripped onto her husband, who woke. Seeing the dagger in her hand, he left her. Carried away on the night’s air, Psyche had at last seen her husband. She saw that he was the most handsome man ever created and not a beast.”
“That’s such a sad story, G.”
“When Aphrodite heard what Psyche did she hit the roof. She made it very difficult for her. It did turn out all right for the two of them. They worked out their issues and are still together.”
“They were separated again, which was why Eros came here to Kauai, he was looking for her.”
“I suppose he was.”
Tatiana had a far away look in her gaze as she thought about the story of Psyche and Eros.