Psyche woke up the next morning, knowing she had had a most peculiar and interesting dream. In the space between sleep and wakefulness, she meditated so she would remember the details, which included a monster in the corner of her room and an exceptionally handsome young man in her bed.
Clearly, she thought, I am in need of a husband. There was no other explanation for such a dream. She assumed the monster represented her anxiety and the young man her hopes. Dreams, she believed, were symbolic and gave the dreamer insight into their lives. She had read several texts that asserted this.
The young man had scratched his hand and she had applied astringent. That was all she remembered, apart from the fact that the young man had the most striking blue eyes. She had only seen such eyes on Norsemen, and they were all light-haired. This young man had hair so black it was the color of ink. He also had an athlete's body, something she remembered with a blush.
Perhaps I am not as cold as Eugenia says, she thought, making a mental note to search the palace library for books on dream interpretation that very day. She wanted to confirm her theory.
#
Eros has stumbled along a road, heading on foot toward the Atlantan capital city. He didn't know precisely why he headed there, or why he had suddenly decided to make himself appear mortal and walk on foot instead of flying. He just kept putting one foot in front of the other, forcefully.
It had to be forcefully, because if he didn't do it forcefully, he would simply turn around and run back to the palace. He would use all his power as a god to get through the palace guards, find Princess Psyche, wherever she was, and drop to his knees before her and declare his love. He wanted to shoot her with one of his arrows, so she would love him as much as he loved her.
In all his years as a god, in all the many eons during which he had facilitated couples falling in love, he - Eros - had never, ever come close to falling in love himself. This turn of events had the potential to be the worst, most profound disaster of his career. Worse than the whole Oedipus disaster.
He reached up to run his hands through his mane of black hair, only to find an Atlantean cap atop his head.
He had forgotten that the disguise he had taken on included local dress. This was part of his habit, as he often needed to blend in with the locals in order to find the right matches.
But this morning, as the sun rose above the Atlantean mountains, his mind was not on work. It was on the fascinating, kind and intelligent princess.
Eros knew how it worked. It was his job to know. His arrows did not create love. They created infatuation and sexual attraction, but if the two parties were well-matched, the infatuation and affection would blossom into deep and true love.
The Princess Psyche wasn't only beautiful and bright and kind. She was brave. She hadn't shown fear when she had seen him in her bedroom. She hadn't even shown fear of the monster.
He had done a bit of research about her prior to his visit as well. She was reportedly kind and compassionate, though eccentric and aloof. She apparently - and this was truly adorable - did math problems and puzzles to entertain herself.
He giggled. Math problems. He had met and/or observed many princesses over the centuries, and Psyche was the first he'd met that thought math problems were entertaining. She wasn't just beautiful, compassionate and kind...she was a little weird.
That thought made his heart beat faster.
He had a plan. It was a good plan. He was going to run to his mother's house and enlist the help of Hermes. He would have Hermes chain him into his mother's dungeon for a period of three months, enough time for the feelings created by the accidental arrow scratch to fade.
No harm. No foul.
Except that the more Eros thought about the plan, the more it upset him. Upset him terribly.
He turned around, and his footsteps forcefully began to take him toward the Atlantean palace, and Psyche, rather than away from it.
As he headed toward the palace, he walked swiftly. After a time, he came upon a party of Macedonians in fine clothing who had stopped for a mid-morning repast and to quench their thirst.
Eros bowed at the gentleman, in the Atlantean style of welcome. He knew that it would look peculiar if he did not do so, given that he was disguised.
In the center of the group, a handsome young man, dressed in finer clothes than his companions, stood up and made his own gesture of greeting.
"I am Prince Ampelios of Macedonia. I have come to your country to propose marriage to the Princess Psyche, whose beauty is renown throughout the many continents of this world."
Eros was jealous for a moment, then he remembered that thanks to his mother's sick sense of humor, the moment this Prince Ampelios set eyes on the Princess Psyche he would be so overcome by her beauty that he would be unable to imagine touching her. Eros had no need to be jealous.
"I wish you good luck in the endeavor, good prince," he replied instead. Truth be told, Eros always found himself amused when he pretended to supplicate himself to some minor mortal prince.
If mortals were at all observant, they would have been able to see through his disguise, much as Psyche had seen through the veil of invisibility.
When Eros reached the gate of the palace, he reconsidered his strategy. If he ran into the palace, in human form, declaring his love for the Princess Psyche, he would likely be viewed as some sort of madman.
If he wasn't, the king might put him through some sort of annoying trial to win her hand. All of this sounded like a monumental hassle when he was a god and shouldn't have to win her father's approval. He was, after all, in a position to demand she be handed over.
Still, from what little he knew about the Princess Psyche, he recognized that she might not be inclined to be handed over.
He wasn't sure how he should approach the girl, he just knew he wanted to see her.
With a flick of his fingers, an invisibility veil washed over him. He was now free to enter the palace and search for her on his own terms.
However, he remembered, She had been able to see through the invisibility veil. This presented a problem.
In order to make more observations of her, he would need to avoid her seeing him.
Although it felt ridiculous, he decided to hide in some bushes and wait for the Princess to make one of her walks in the garden. His research had indicated to him that she was quite fond of walks in the garden, and the day was such a fine and beautiful day - it would not be long before she would appear.
He prediction soon proved correct. Psyche appeared, walking along a nearby path. She looked not one bit traumatized by the peculiar visitation that had interrupted her sleep.
Instead, she sang softly to herself. She was adorably out of tune as she sang a popular Atlantean tune that celebrated the Springtime.
Eros heard footsteps, and to his chagrin, a handsome man caught up with her to walk alongside her. She smiled broadly at him, and for a moment Eros considered striking the man down or making him fall in love with an eel.
"Good morning, sweet sister," said the man.
Relief washed over Eros. The young man must have been Prince Nikolas. Her brother.
Now, thought Eros, I must find the right match for him. Psyche's brother deserves love, just as she deserves love. He smiled. It would be a fine task to make her brother happy, something that would endear him to her.
"Good morning, dear brother," was Psyche's reply, "How do you plan to spend this glorious spring day?"
The Prince Nikolas grinned at his sister. "I am to be the guest of honor at the Mayor's Spring Festival this afternoon. I'm going to judge a flower contest. The ladies of the garden club are bringing their flowers, and I get to judge which is the most beautiful in Atlantis."
Psyche smiled.
"And was there a reason why Eugenia, who has nothing to do all day but wander the cavernous halls of her palace, cannot judge a flower contest? You, as crown prince, must have more important things to which to attend."
Nikolas rolled his eyes. "I can predict that many of the garden club ladies will bring their nubile and lovely daughters to be judged by me as well..."
Eros bit his lip and smiled. He had never before seen Prince Nikolas, nor had he ever shot the young man with an arrow, but he knew that those ladies would be out of luck. Eros had natural instincts in this area, and he knew Nikolas's romantic interests did not lean toward women, as a general rule. Of course, Nikolas, having the misfortune of being born the crown prince, would be expected to marry a princess and produce heirs in any case.
This was quite a quandary for Eros, since he liked to shoot arrows toward princes and princesses forced to marry for political reasons, as it made everyone's life just a bit easier.
Eros mind spun a bit. Then, as if the answer fell from the sky, Prince Ampelios and his party came upon the path. One of the prince's trumpeters announced him, and he approached, bearing some gifts, no doubt intended for the princess.
Ampelios looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw Psyche. However, Eros made no move to shoot him with an arrow, and his mother's curse kicked right in. He looked at Psyche as though she was a work of art worth admiring, but she inspired no passion in him.
Eros was struck with an idea at that moment, He grabbed his bow and loaded it with an arrow. He aimed it straight at Prince Nikolas and fired. The Prince's eyes widened as he looked at his Macedonian counterpart. Swiftly, Eros loaded another bow and shot it straight toward Ameplios. It struck.
The two young men locked eyes with each other, and Eros grinned.
Not only had he made sure the Ameplios would be no competition for him - as absurd as the possibility was, any rival would be more trouble than it was worth - he had given Psyche's beloved brother his first real chance at love.
The two young men were equally matched, after all. Both princes. Both handsome. Of age. While Ampelios's proclivities were even more fluid that Nikolas's, he still had the capacity to love a member of his own sex.
Absently, Ampelios looked at Psyche and then back at Nikolas. He said.
"I bring silks and olive oil and a bracelet of gold for the Princess Psyche, whose beauty is remarkable." Then the young Macedonian Prince turned to Nikolas. "However, I had not heard that her brother's beauty matched hers."
Nikolas smiled. So did Psyche.
Eros smiled too. It appeared to him that Psyche, rather than being jealous that her brother had suddenly become this suitor's object of affection, seemed tickled that the two young men were attracted to each other.
Psyche then turned her attention to her gifts.
"Oh, these are most wonderful things. Gifts that do the people of Macedonia most proud...but I have so many gifts. Perhaps, Ampelios, you would rather gift these fine things to my brother instead."
Ampelios nodded. "Yes," he replied absently, "Yes if the crown prince will take them, I will be honored to give them."
"I'm honored. I will accept all" interjected Nikolas, "Except the bracelet, which is designed for a female and will look very fine on my sister's dainty wrist."
Nikolas took the bracelet and put it on her sister's wrist. "Good Ampelios, I have a fine collection of Atlantean musical instruments. Would you care to see my collection...Psyche would you care to join us?"
"No," replied Psyche, with an amused glint in her voice, "I think I'll go show my sisters this bracelet."
Nikolas looked puzzled when his sister spoke those words, and Erik snickered. Another thing Eros knew was that Psyche would likely not wish to show her sisters anything, especially something that might inspire jealously.
Eros watched as the two men walked off together, Ampelios leaving behind his entourage and Nikolas leaving behind his sister.
After a moment, Psyche turned to the Macedonian entourage.
"Perhaps you gentleman would enjoy a tour of the palace observatory? We have a telescope the likes of which is the envy of the world."
The Macedonians all bowed graciously, and she led them toward the palace.
Eros was pleased with himself, and he was pleased with her. Psyche had not been greedy about the gifts and she had not been angered when her suitor had turned his attention to her brother. Both of these things made Eros's infatuation grow stronger.