In the everpresent mumble, Spiro took word standing on a high place so that everybody could hear him. Though a short speech, it was out of Dian's possibilities to understand even a word.
Silent faces followed the dark man as he descended and sat down with his guitar.
The first tones of the strings echoed on faces of all present guests.
For some it was just the melody of a well known song. But for the majority seemed that the meaning goes behind...
When Hekate's mother sang the first verse, the women next to Dian covered her mouth with her hand to stop a sad sigh.
Τώρα θα δεις τα χρώματα ν' αλλάζουνε
/ Now you will see the colors change
Και τα βουνά να σμίγουν ένα-ένα
/ And let the mountains merge, one by one
Άγγελοι σαν θνητοί θα σ' αγκαλιάζουνε
/ Angels like mortals will embrace you
Εχθροί θα σου μιλούν αγαπημένα
/ Enemies will call you "beloved"
Dian did not even try to catch the meaning of the song, but he hoped to find the song later on internet.
The slow deep singing continued:
Τώρα θα πιω νερό απ'το ποτήρι σου
/ Now I will drink water from your glass
Δικά σου θα 'ναι πια όσα δεν έχω
/ What I don't have will be yours
Θα σπρώξω ουρανό στο παραθύρι σου
/ I'll push sky on your window
Κι ό, τι δεν άντεχα θα το αντέχω
/ And what I couldn't bear, I will bear
While everybody was hypnotized by the singer, awaiting the legendary refrain, a second voice from other part of the square continued the poem...
Τώρα θα πιάσω σπίτι στον παράδεισο
/ Now I'm going home to heaven
Τζάμπα οικόπεδο σε παράλια
/ Free plot on the beach
Του έρωτα θα βάλω το πουκάμισο
/ I will wear the shirt of love
Και θα νικήσω δίχως πανοπλία
/ And I will win without armor
Hekate had an even deeper voice than her mother and was turning the magical moment into a spectacle.
Τώρα θα δεις μες στης ψυχής τα υπόγεια
/ Now you will see in your soul the undergrounds
Τραπέζι με ψωμί, νερό κι αλάτι
/ Table with bread, water and salt
Τώρα που δεν υπάρχουνε διόδια
/ Now that there are no tolls
Που πέφτει σαν ζεστή βροχή η αγάπη
/ Where love falls like warm rain
Τώρα που δεν υπάρχουνε διόδια
/ Now that there are no tolls
Που πέφτει σαν ζεστή βροχή η αγάπη
/ Where love falls like warm rain
Spiro played the melancholic melody for another few long seconds while the two women, daughter and granddaughter, came slowly to the sitting old woman.
She took them firmly by the hand and almost invisibly nodded.
They repeated the refrain together with their sight fixed on the old woman.
Smiling and crying...
Once they finished, the silent air was filled with a mixture of sadness and expectation.
Dian looked around...
...young people standing still.
...the middle aged men and women with eyes glittering with tears.
...and the elderly, especially the oldest ones, tranquilly sitting with a calm and relaxed face.
Some of them could be even said that they are smiling.
Hekate and her mother kneeled down to hug the old woman that had a light smile on her lips. She kissed them both on their heads.
The applause that followed was far from a star-concert ovation. It was an honour filled with deep love for the woman that was a steady rock of this community for decades, but who may part tomorrow...
Once the emotional storm faded and the guests gathered around Γιαγιά to congratulate her to her birthday, Dian turned to Thanos: "Do you know what is the name of the song?"
He was confused. The words that he remembered were more than ordinary: change colours, drink water, beach...? He was curious to know why the response of all the present was so intense.
"Διόδια," replied Thanos immediately: "It is a song abou---", somebody touched his shoulder and made him turn around before he could finish the sentence.
"Ah, hi...Juliette. How are you? I did not know you will be here, you should be in France, no?"
"I will consider this as a expression of happiness that you see me here," the by all standards beautiful girl smiled seductively: "You should know by now, that if you come, I will come too..."
She then focused her attention on the Thai boy that was so standing out in this completely Greek group of people, her eyes asking with a sparkle of contempt: "A lost tourist?"
"Juliette, please let me introduce you a friend of mine, Dian."
"Nice to meet you, miss Juliette," Dian lifted up his hands automatically like they do in Thailand when greeting somebody with high respect.
Juliette nodded her head: "I just arrived, I will go to greet Γιαγιά first. We will see each other later, Thanos," and disappeared in the crowd.
"Let's go to have something to drink," said Thanos and dragged Dian through the crowds to the next table. Dian offered himself to go to find some water since they usually served only alcoholic drinks here. But they still had to have some bottles hidden for children...
Trying to find some cooperative kid he made his way through the crowd to the last table at the end of the square. He was tapping his request in the Google's translator to show to the child that looked old enough to know how to read, when he heard a voice with familiar accent: "So, Dian, right? How long do you know Thanos?"
Juliette was piercing Dian with her dark eyes like she was ready to order him to answer rather than trying to gain information through a friendly conversation.
She did not wait for Dian's reply and continued in a quite strict voice: "Does he have a girlfriend right now?"
"I... know him just for about two months, I cannot tell you anything personal about his life..."
Juliette did not stop focusing Dian and clearly did not accept his answer.
However, Dian did not need to lie. The truth was he did not know this kind of information. They spent a lot of time together, yes, talking and having fun, but today is the closest that Dian got to Thanos' personal world... "Probably because we really are just mates..." realized Dian and scolded himself in the same second for the disappointment he felt.
"But he brought you here tonight," Juliette narrowed her eyes: "Did he ever mention some name?" she was not willing to give up.
"You'd better stop it," the darkness of the side street spoke with a deep voice.
"Gosh, you scared me! Do you rehearse this entry scene or were you born with that doubtful talent?! And what do you mean by that?"
Dian had to admit that he got scared a bit as well. And when the shadows materialized into a young woman, he wished he could disappear without being noticed. He was not ready to face his jealousy.
"Right now, his heart is closed," Hekate spoke in her deep voice.
"Well, that is not a new information. He never expressed any romantical feeling towards anyone. I am trying...since we were in high school---"
Dian started backing off. This is not something he wished to hear. If nothing else, he did not want to "secretly" listen to personal conversation that he was not a part of...
"No. You got it wrong," Hekate interrupted Juliette without mercy and in the same instant she caught Dian's arm in the darkness: "It is not closed because he does not want to let anyone in." The boy froze on spot.
"But because someone just entered his heart recently."
And Dian's own heart skipped a beat although he tried to make light of it. He felt very uncomfortable...however he had to admit to himself that now he wanted to hear any piece of information possible.
"Do you mean he is in love with someone?!" Juliette tried to control her agitated voice that threatened to rise into unpleasantly high tone.
"It is not...that clear. He still wanders in mists."
"Fine, so I still have a chance if I..."
Hekate slightly turned her head and for the first time during this conversation, she looked into Juliette's eyes: "You have no chance until he solves this for himself. Then, maybe..."
"Oh, great!" the certainty in Hekate's voice made the beautiful girl even more angry, but she knew who she is talking to. "Can I see her?"
Hekate seemed hesitant for a short moment.
"The girl he is thinking about. Is she here?!"
The dark woman turned her face away merging into the shadows again. Looking into the celebrating crowd of young men, she replied like a true oraculum would do:
"...no... no such girl is here."
Juliette rolled her eyes and left without saying anything or looking back. Dian wished he could disappear as well... only if Hekate could let off his arm. Instead she took some seconds before she spoke again.
"So what is it that you are looking for?" The calm deep voice with perfect English but strong Greek accent asked the only person left present.
Dian got caught in surprise. He knew that this exceptional woman would never ask a question for a simple reason like helping you find your lost things, but even after months of searching of "the something" he did not have an answer ready on hand.
Still watching the celebrating companions on the square, Hekate continued: "You are always on the go, moving from one place to another. Seeking something. But do you know what it is?"
How could she know? Dian could only shake his head in the darkness. What could he say. He did not know clearly and she knew it.
"Is it important?"
The inside of Dian's mind suddenly exploded by the daring question: "Important? What does she mean?! Of course! What else do you need to find if not the purpose of your life...?!" but his body did not react in any way, fatuously frozen on surface. Hekate did not move either while his inner voice continued defending himself: "I must proceed, I must go further, search for new stimulus, for things I do not know yet...eventually there must be sometin---"
"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."
"I..." Dian sensed this woman knows a lot of truths and in the same time he knew she would never reveal them simply on demand. But what should he ask? Confusion in his mind that he was bearing since he left Thailand allowed no space for questions that could help him move forward. Instead it was dragging him deeper and deeper into despair...
"But your birth-sign has more to offer than neverending travelling and life-long searching without purpose."
"I am...stuck..." Late but still, Dian was able to get out what was bothering him for months. Thought ashamed for such a "stupid" problem that might not be considered a problem at all, he knew these three words expressed the best the anxiety continuously rising in him.
Already several months before his argument with all people that were friends and family to him, he knew he is losing ground under his feet. His subconsciousness already decided that he must quit the entertainment industry but provided him no plan for his future. Without any university degree, with his history of a BL actor, without any experience of the real life but almost too old for giving the school another try, he was worrying to the point that his mind stopped thinking about it at all. And a vegetative mind is probably the worst - it forces you to stay in a state that gets you nowhere and instead increases your anxiety...
"You do not have to move to find the things you carry in you."
"But I cannot..." Dian's proclamation faded away once his eyes caught the person that Hekate was watching the whole time.
Him. Looking for somebody.
Just in the moment when Dian was internally repeating his mantra that he does not stay in on place for too long, Thanos finally spotted his face in the darkness on the other side of the square. Despite the distance, Dian could swear he saw the sparkle of joy in Thanos's eyes just before he set up to to wade through the full space between them
"He never brought anybody here before."
Without waiting for a reaction, Hekate continued: "This village and the people here are like time capsule. Only very few things have changed in the last decades. Nobody comes here unless he is invited."
Dian was fixing the approaching young man.
"He returns here time to time to stay in his safezone where nothing and nobody can touch him. Like return to childhood. Anything new would destroy this never-changing energy."
Thanos on his way through the dense area obviously ignored Juliette's attempt to stop him, and finally made his last steps into the shadows.
"Yet, here you are."
Dian sensed her grip loosened.
"Ah, so you got to know each other already?" Thanos stood protectively next to the pale boy that looked like he heard some bad prophecy. Slipping his sight from Dian to Hekate, he was wondering if everything is alright.
"The rebel and the seeker. What a stellar constellation." A light smile on Hekate's lips made Thanos curious for a moment, but his attention quickly returned to his friend. When he looked up again, she was gone.
"Who is she...?" Dian finally spoke up and he was obviously not ashing about the woman's name.
"I do not know if I could call her an oraculum...but it is like..."
"...she sees behind," whispered the boy that was gaining his voice back.
Thanos nodded. "I usually do not understand what she is talking about in the first moment. But I always remember her words. The meaning comes afterwards..."
* * *
The celebration outside shrinked to a dozen of persons that still had the energy to continue, but Thanos and Dian decided that it is not respectless to leave at 3 o'clock.
They were now in one of the rooms that the brothers spent their childhood' summers in. In the house their mother grew up. In the place that she transformed, despite the tragedy in her early life, into a shelter for herself and her children.
Thanos used to love to return to this village every year. To its peace. To the family and friends here...
While Dian was waiting for Thanos who was having a shower, he looked up the English translation of the lyrics. It was indeed a simple, but powerful song. The few reviews that he found stated that it was a song about the death...?
"Ah, yes, this is the song," Thanos nodded when he saw the lyrics on Dian's cellphone's screen.
But...why would one wish to sing about death on his birthday?
Thanos suspected the confusion in Dian's head: "Γιαγιά didn't allow any presents. Her only wish was to play this song tonight..." He thought for an instant how many people from this place parted and will probably never be back. Him being one of them.
"Though it is talking about dying, it is rather about...".
"...reconciliation after one's life," whispered Dian, "...expectation of the eternal peace..."
Γιαγιά invited everybody to say goodbye. She must sense the end of her days is near and is anticipating it.
"I will miss her, but some decades make no difference in the eternity. We will see each other when my time comes. Till then I should live my life as responsible and useful as possible, so that I can face the death with same calmness like she is..." He remained silent for few seconds, reflecting the childhood's times in the village where she was the main figure. "What is light to say but hard to do..."
Hearing the last statement, Dian sank in his own thoughts about his purposeless life. For some weeks he successfully casted them aside only to return suddenly now, crashing through surface once again. But everybody's life has a meaning, hasn't it? One must just find it...
The silent moment was interrupted by a short beep of an SMS message. Juliette was wishing Thanos a good night. Was she awake at this hour only to see the light in his room and send him this caring line? He did not want to reply first but the good education prevailed: "Thank you, good night to You too," and sat down on his bed.
"What was it about the immortals?" Dian remembered the unexplained "joke" from earlier.
Thanos smiled lightly: "The family name Pantazis is derived from the wish "live forever" or "may you live forever". And my name Thanos is a short form of Athanasios which literally means "immortal". So sometimes they make joke calling me like the "double immortal" or "immortal of the immortals"... Not letting his sight from Dian's face, he added half joking, half seriously: "But as the recent event showed, I am far from an immortal."
Dian slipped under his blanket that seemed to be just a thin cotton fabric. Maybe he should take on some more cloths... As if reading his mind, Thanos jumped out from his bed to take another thick blanket from the wardrobe and without hesitation he covered Dian who was curled up on the bed.
"Does your name have a meaning in Thai?"
"Actually, it is not Thai, but from India. My father chose it. In its original spelling it means light. A source of light."
Thanos had to smile when he remembered the first time they met.
"What are you smiling about?" Dian was curious about the little sparkles he catched in Thanos' eyes.
"Uhm...just thought about the coincidence of our names."
"Immortal...light?"
"The immortal light that made us meet each other."
"The sunlight..."
They lay down into their beds and Dian turned off the antique lamp near his bed switching the room into darkness. The light of the last lamps on the square was hidden behind the thick curtain with only a small ray making it through. Except for their phones, there were no other small dots implying electronic devices. There were none.
Soon after, even the last guests left. The pure darkness and uncommon silence of a small village without street illumination was uncomfortable at first, almost frightening. But when you know you are on a safe place then it has something calming in itself.
Dian turned on side to face Thanos: "Thank you for this evening, it was so...," magically and unbelievably, "...real."
There was no need to say more. In this world of media smoke and commercial mirrors, a meeting with true events and genuine human emotions equals to a shock therapy.
"Thank you for coming with me today. Sometimes these gatherings are...hard to bear..."
Good night...