Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 1

"It's time to create new dreams and nightmares." Morpheus' voice sounded gravelly beside Teleute. A dry branch cracked underneath her foot, before she climbed over a fallen tree. Dream, or Morpheus, as others called him, seemed to glide over it. No masking as a human, while alone with his Sis, apparently.
"Uh-huh. Lots of work ahead, I presume?" Teleute tried to sound conversationally, but was curious about the real reason why he had so gladly accepted her unusual invitation to spend a day with her in ancient Greece. Her brother Dream was neither the small-talk, nor the visiting kind of person. But maybe Mnemosyne was right in her suggestion. She was the goddess of time and remembrance, and had a gift of seeing happy circumstances in the near future. Teletue trusted her that the suggestion had been for something good.
Her brother probably just needed a day off, or would hopefully open up during their time together, for a helping hand or good advice. But who was she kidding. Her brother wasn't also the opening up kinda type.
They walked- or rather, he glided, and she sauntered along the path to more civilized areas - out of woods they had used to appear in privacy. A choir of crickets, hidden under the blanket of dry pine needles, sang their lazy afternoon song, while the sting of eucalyptus permeated Teleute's senses.
Dream shrugged. "Yes. It's been a while since I had to make changes. Humans are so easily to content." His wide black coat billowed behind his black boots, his paper-white face was the usual mask of serenity as he walked on, down the soft path, looking straight ahead.
Her brother couldn't even admit he was asking her for help. "So you need a muse." Teleute stated.
"No." Dream stopped and looked at her with his deep black eyes. "This is not a fancy poem or a play."
So serious. Everything was, as always, an important affair. Nothing her brother could handle lighthearted. Teleute evaded a low hanging branch, and wiped a bead of sweat from her face, before the salty taste could start a war with the eucalyptus taste in her mouth.
"I tried everything. They look fake." Dream stood there, palms up, like a statue, the only visible motion being the wind playing with his coat and a few strands of his black messy hair caressing his cheek. How she would love to just mess with his hair. But her brother wasn't the cuddly kind.
"What do you mean? Dreams are supposed to be fake, right?" Teleute shrugged, and walked on. After all, they didn't have all day. A man was needing her down at the temple grounds. And a woman was waiting for her, because she needed to know something.
"A good dream and a good nightmare are indistinguishable from reality, at the beginning." As always, his voice sounded like it was etched in stone. "I teach them to become surreal towards the waking, so people get out. But dreams and nightmares alike, need to feel real, in order to teach their lesson. Not like those Greek tragedians, whose attire and bad acting is more tragic than the play itself."
Teleute nodded. She had never thought about it like this. Maybe she, too, should visit him in his realm, to understand the nature of Dream's work. These visits could expand their horizons. Sadly, both had a large amount of responsibilities, and there was just not enough time for too much fun.
"So you seek inspiration, but not a Muse." Teleute accelerated her pace, with the temple walls already shining though the trees. Her brother would keep up with his long legs. Their steps left the crunchy forest soil to walk on a firmer path. Trees gave way to the gate to the temple grounds.
Dream's coat had changed to a black billowy Greek himation, its cowl partially hiding his high cheeked full-lipped handsomeness. His steps fell heavier, more human-like, as a part of his masking: Dream's way of blending in with the society he was currently being in. It was never good for an Endless to stand out in the living world.
Teleute changed her usual attire with a snap into a turquoise peplos and straightened her ankh-necklace. Time to make good for something, she had let slip the last time she had been here, basically her purpose on earth. Blend in, get there, then comfort and escort out. She steered them along a bustling temple path in the direction of the baths. "What kind of dreams are you planning on creating?"
"This is my problem," Dream sighed, as he evaded two giggling girls, carrying a large basket filled with dirty linens, who hurried back towards the temple gate. "Old dreams, for example, ones about hunt, have become less necessary, since people started holding kettle. From time to time I need to create new dreams with a more suitable purpose."
"Watch it, Malakaff!" A burly guy shoulder-bumped Dream, who didn't even bother to look up, after being called a cocksucker.
"You gotta make em reffpekt you, eh? Show them who'ff boff!" Burly guy said to his scrawny companion.
"You may be right, Pal, respect is earned by action alone..." his companion muttered.
"True." Dream agreed, even though they were already out of earshot.
Not slowing the pace, Teleute hastened at Morpheus side through the temple gates. Smells of food, cattle dung, sweat and incense created an olfactory insult.
"What kind of dream are you creating?" Teleute called, to predominate the cacophony of screaming people, mooing cows, a crying baby and a loudly praying man insulted the ear after the meditative silence of the Greek woods.
"I don't know." Her brother's voice was always permeating, even when he was bemused.
Teleute stopped, causing a cart to swerve around them. "Sowwy!" the driver yelled, and came to a screeching halt at the entrance to the temple bath, to unload piles of fresh linens.
"Seems, you need to do your research first, then."
Dream furrowed his brows.
"Yes." Teleute smiled. "You know: walk among the living and find out what they need to aspire, to improve their society and status. These sorta things. Find the problems, then create dreams to inspire their solution."
"Walk among the waking." He just stood. Looking, dazed and like a lost high-king.
"You know, be among them, watch. Learn?" Dream clearly hadn't, in a while.
The sunlight, reflecting on a nearby temple wall had turned orange. "Sorry, but we must hurry. The fates require punctuality." And she was already a little late, in comparison.
Teleute took a few steps, but her brother just stood there, his himation billowing, staring straight ahead into his own thoughts. "You can come with me," she urged. "You know that I am a great motivator too. Maybe you'll experience something useful at my next job."
He shrugged and turned to join her. "Maybe."
He didn't know yet, that they had to go inside the temple baths. Dream, these days always covered up to his neck, would have to exchange his attire for a short Greek exomis, probably the usual black, showing off his long white spindly limbs.

(If you want to know how Dream looks in a short skirt, vote and read the next chapter.)