Noia chuckles. “Oh, using my tactic, are you?”

Rowan smiles briefly then raises his eyebrows.

“You’re not going to believe me.”

“What, nano-reconfiguration? Seizures? Black out? White out? Come one, my sister used to be quite a fibber. Try me.”

Noia gave him a flat stare. “Thanks, for that.”

“Come on, Miss Noia.”

“You know what – okay – I don’t have nanotech. That was a flashback. My name is actually Levanoia. I’m the one who originally unleashed the contents of the Pandora Box – jar – on human kind, but Zuiter forced me to do it. Morphia, San'azi and I found a way to reseal the jar and keep it away from the mortals. Oh, and I’ve been asleep for the past few centuries. The only reason I woke up is because the jar must have been disturbed.”

Rowan blinks at her. “Excuse me?”

“Do you need me to repeat it?”

“No, I mean, what…how did…where did you even hear all of that?”

“What? I didn’t hear it anywhere.”

“You can’t be the one who used the box, it was Pandora’s–”

“I am Pandora. Zuiter struck my name from history when he installed me as a human woman as…punishment.”

“Zuiter?”

“He was appointed the god of gods after he lead a rebellion against the Great Ones.”

“So, like Zeus – wait, punishment? For what?”

Noia presses her lips together. She rakes metaphorical fingers through her still-numb brain, desperate for a memory that sinks away from her. The view of her hands blurs. She gasps, bracing physically for the onrush of another memory.

When water splashes onto the back of her hand instead she exhales a strangled sound.

“I don’t know.”

She sniffs and wipes her eyes furiously. She should not cry. Crying did nothing but make the rain fall – sometimes. She clears her throat and meets Rowan’s eyes.

“I can’t remember.”

Rowan looks back and forth between her eyes. He takes of his glasses and rubs the glass with the edge of his lab coat. Then he puts the glasses back on. “I’m sorry but I don’t – can’t – believe that.”

Noia’s nostrils flare and she grabs his wrist.

“Hey- what-?”

She pulls him out of his seat and to the nearest window. “What is today’s forecast?”

“What?”

The anger must be residual memory, one part of her mind decides. She should be patient and introduce the concept to Rowan gradually instead of shoving it down his throat like, well… “Look, Rowan, I know this is difficult for anyone past the – what was it? The fall of Rome, to understand but this question is very simple: What was today’s forecast?”

“Uh, partly cloudy with twenty percent chance of afternoon showers.”

“And is your forecaster accurate?”

“Ninety-four percent of the time. The technology is actually quite accurate, considering.”

“Alright. Just wait.”

Noia braces both palms against the glass and leans in, closing her eyes, and inhaling deeply. She remembers having this ability in the past. It has to be there inside somewhere…

Something stirred under the surface where her irritation glittered. She was surprised how quickly it rose to her call.

“Okay, are you telling me, Zutar-Zantar-agh! Zeus! You’re not telling me Zeus promoted you after you unleashed all those evils on mankind and turned you into some kind of weather diety, like, creating you in his…image…you know since lightning and storms…were his…thing…”

Rowan’s short monologue trails off when he observes clouds forming over the city within a few blinks of the eye. They were not wisps of silver or slate blue-grey. The formations are a grumpy purple and they rumble as they roll in overhead.

Noia misses the three flashes of lightning but the thunder shook the windows and sent the people in the streets below scattering. Beside her Rowan jumps.

“Shit! Hey, Noia, woah!” He catches her just before she sinks into another memory…

It is dark here and cold. Stone pressed against her back. Thunder boomed outside and the gravity of rain echoed down the passages of the cave to their hidden cavern. The storm made her feel safe sitting in the cavern.

She was not alone. She was huddled between rock and the other there with her. He tossed a blanket across her shoulders – why had she not woken with it? – and hugged her to his side. She spoke into the dark.

“I’m helpless now, San’azi. He has told the mortals lies and though he can take no further action the false truths have already seeded. History will not remember me. If his court find me–”

“We made a bet with him, remember? We boxed him in with the terms of it.”

“A bet was never enough to restrain him before.”

“Yeah, well, spoilers: I already know he will lose. Even if he throws a tantrum or whispers in the ears of his court no one can touch you. He has bound everyone by his word – and his blood.” San’azi snickered.

“You should not have.”

“What else could I do? He stole his implements from you but they will not hurt their mother not even if he orders them to.”

“San’azi…”

“You are worried for me? Please! I am long overdue for my punishment. I turned my head when Zuiter went after the Great Ones.”

“Will you please tell me what you are hiding?”

“…I am due for my next punishment ”

“You just said that–”

“–eminently. I helped the humans again and this time it looks like Zuiter is cooking up something horrible for me. He mentioned birds and chains... Don’t make that face. I am ready, now that I know you will be safe with friends.”

“You have friends, San’azi. Many immortals look up to you and the humans love you. Your stories are their favorite.”

“You are my only friend, Noia.” He clears his throat. “Did anyone see when you…?”

“No. I traveled on the web you cast over the world when I hid The Jar.”

“Did I not warn you no one else can navigate it?”

“You did, and you were right. Oh don’t gloat, I won’t say it again.” She yawned. “Enough. Ah, trickster, my mind is loud with worry. I drank all of what Morphia gave me but still I fight it.”

“Resisting a sleep potion made by the goddess of dreams? Tsk. If…if I stay will it help you to sleep?”

“…Yes.” This was it. San’azi would seal the exit after she fell asleep. “I will wake when The Jar is disturbed.”

“If."

“It could be centuries when that happens. The world will have changed.”

“Morphia wove your dreams to be as the Sight.”

“But for all of the world? It seems so small from the castle in the sky but it is so big this close to the earth.”

“You will see all of the world. Morphia connected it to my web over the word for you.”

“That is too powerful a magic, San’azi!”

“Sssh, it will last on my web. Besides, who says you will wake?”

“If I do not this will be the last time we ever speak.” She yawned.

“Oh, I was unaware I was such boring company.”

“You did not? Hm.”

He chuckled. “You have spent too much time around me, Noia. If we meet again, forgive me.”

“For what?”

“I may not be as I once was.”

“Oh. Will I remember you?”

“…I will remember you. Noia? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I think…I think I shall miss you, you trickster.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“…believe you now, okay? Wake up. Wake up now.”

Noia blinks. Her sight refocuses faster this time. “How long this time?”

“Thirty four seconds.”

“We are not by the computer. How do you know?”

Rowan blinks at her and looks away, fumbling for an answer. She realizes she can barely see his face. “Who turned off the lights?”

“I think you did. Your flash storm must have knocked out part of the grid.” He gestures out the window where no other building is lit. The streets were empty under the torrent of rain and thunder.

“Ahaha…oops? Maybe I over did it?”

Rowan’s low chuckle surprises her and warmth creeps up her neck.

“Come on, miss all powerful goddess. Let’s get you some food – or, I’m sorry, do you eat?”

She laughs. “Yes, I eat. Oh, also, I know where we need to look for the Jar.”

The lights in the hallway flickered but came to life, bright and white as they stood.

Rowan steadies her with a hand under her elbow. “Alright. Let’s, ah, head back to the lab and get that location.”

While they walk Rowan stays close by, but as soon as they reenter the lab he releases her. He polls up a map, declaring it is from the twenty-first century, then steps aside. Noia squints at it, laying over the map she was last familiar with in her mind’s eye. At first nothing matches up but then she hears Rowan’s tapping fingers and sighs.

“What is it?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re tapping.”

The sound stops. “Sorry.”

She turns. “Well?”

“It’s just…does Crevan know? About you.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh.”

She returns to the map and finally points out a location on a southern continent to Rowan. “There. I need more pictures of this area to narrow it down but this is close.”

Rowan moves in close beside her and starts compiling the images and data files. She watches him but soon hears the tapping on the desk. She clears her throat and Rowan looks at her. She raises an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“It’s…”

“Rowan. What happened to the club-goer who smirked at me, confident I would call first after we exchanged numbers?”

He snorts. “It’s illegal under modern laws to consume spirits at a place of employment. Though I’m sure you deities carried it with you all over the place drugging mortals and getting us to twirl on a dime.”

“I’m going to take that slight insult as an indication of your nerves. Spit it out.”

“I just figured as you were acclimating to the modern world that maybe you would appreciate some help from this mortal to, you know, show you around and answer any questions. I mean, if Mr. Almira isn’t doing that for you already. Or that friend you mentioned last night. Which, speaking of, you seem to have made friends really fast for a recently awoken, ancient weather goddess–”

“Rowan!

“Yes?”

Well? How do you answer Rowan’s offer? Follow the link in the comments to submit your choice!