My Father's Courtyard

Only my father would know why he sought to capture the gods. Perhaps it was arrogance or pride. Perhaps he sought knowledge that man was not meant to know. Perhaps it was madness. Perhaps it was none of those things. He is gone now and though many of us speculate none of us know for sure what made him think he could anger the gods and live.

I remember when his drive to capture a god started. I was young, having just seen the beginning of my eighth summer. Shortly after summer began, my father closed the courtyard garden and would let none but himself enter it. This was strange but as it was the smaller courtyard he did not meet with much opposition from the household. He continued acting strangely, placing rare, expensive fruits and incense out by the small fountain. He said no prayers to the gods with his offerings; he would just place them and leave, watching the still courtyard through one of the windows.

My father continued his strange behavior into the autumn, placing the best of our harvest near the fountain, in winter he left fragrant trees. With the coming of spring he placed flowers in the fountain so that their petals spun across the water in the breeze. Spring was turning into summer when his behavior changed again. He locked the courtyard, and put cloth on the windows so no one could see out. When I questioned his reason for the cloth, as a small child will, he shouted and stormed and brought me to my mother with the order to keep me out of his way.

The secret of the courtyard drew me and every afternoon would find me in front of the door at least once, trying the latch to see if I could get in and see what had captivated my father so. My father was careful though, always he tried the door after he locked it to make sure the lock held. And it was useless to attempt entry when my father was in the courtyard as he barred the door from the outside when he was there. However, I kept at the door, hoping that my father would be preoccupied with preparing for Festival and forget to lock the door. My unusual persistence bore fruit.

One day nothing went right with preparations and a frantic servant disobeyed my father's order to be left undisturbed and pounded on the courtyard door. When my father's angry inquiry sounded from within, the servant shouted about the distress of the cook, and a mess in the yard. My father burst from the courtyard, slamming the door behind him. He was so angry at the interruption, and so worried about what could be done to fix the situation that he did not turn to lock the door. As soon as he and the nervous servant were out of sight down the corridor, I crept out of the room where I had hidden, quietly opened the door, and slipped out into the garden.

The courtyard had changed since I had last been allowed to enter. The flowers were crowded and small, weeds choking the borders of their beds. The grass was long and brown and the trees looked dusty. The biggest change was the fountain though. It had been blocked so that water could no longer flow into or out of it. The water in the basin was greenish looking with the beginnings of algae forming around the edges. I crept closer, hoping there might be a frog, like the one that lived in our neighbor's fountain. I peered into the fountain and was shocked when instead of the bottom of the basin or my reflection I saw a pair of eyes, blue with gold sparkles, peering up through the water at me.

Fear overcame my curiosity and I backed away from the fountain, holding in the yell I felt trying to tear its way out of my chest. I ran as fast as I could toward the door and safety when behind me the water splashed and I heard a girl say "Wait! Please wait! Won't you stay and play with me?" I stopped and turned around. There standing in the fountain was a girl; she was smaller than me with bluish hair falling in her eyes. The same eyes I had seen looking at me from the water. Her garment was a little too long for her and she tripped on the hem climbing out of the fountain. I ran over and helped her up, the same as I would for any of my sisters or cousins. She looked me over and for a moment she seemed like my grandmother, able to see and weigh the worth of a person simply by looking into their eyes. Then she smiled.

"I'll race you to the tree!" she shouted and took off running for the other side of the courtyard. I made a protest about the unfairness of starting before I was ready but then I chased after her. I was taller so I reached the tree first but only by a small margin. We raced a few more times and chased each other around the small courtyard. We finally stopped, breathless, in one of the flowerbeds. We laughed, spun in circles and collapsed on the ground. I told her my name was Amyntos and that it meant protector. I was proud to bear that name and hoped that one day I would honor it. I asked for her name but she would not tell me, saying that names have too much power. She refused to call me by my name, saying instead that she would call me Timaios and that I should remember it. I thought it was odd but agreed and asked what I should call her. After a pause she offered the name Anemone.

We talked and played; we gathered small rocks and dug small holes in the garden to play tropa. Anemone won more than I did. She said that the gods were smiling on me but that they happened to like her better. I was in the middle of a throw when Anemone ran back to the fountain and motioned for me to hide. I quickly retreated to the far corner of the garden and hid behind the tree and bushes there.

The door slammed open and my father entered. He slammed the door shut and dropped the bar in place. He took a deep breath and walked slowly toward the fountain. I could see that he was trying to bury his anger and impatience. I wondered what he could possibly want with the fountain. He knelt in front of the basin and chanted slowly, "Goddess I seek your answers to my petitions. You promised to think on what I asked you and now I seek your answers."Anemone rose out of the fountain and seated herself on the plinth in the center. She raised her right hand and spoke to my father.

"Hear me then, Artemisos. My answers remained unchanged. I do not have what you seek, nor can I petition my noble father on your behalf. Had you searched for the answer on your own and petitioned the gods rightly, there might have been an answer for you. But you chose to trick me into your garden and seal me away from my family and friends. The gods will not stand for such treachery. They may be lenient if you release me and are properly penitent but the longer you keep me, the deeper the hole you dig for yourself."

My father sputtered and spat at her. "I will keep you here until you give me what I seek!" he shrieked, "Until you are nothing if I must! I will have what I want and you will give it to me!" Anemone smiled sadly. "You are mortal, Artemisos. I will be young long after your bones are dust. We are patient when they have to be. You cannot out wait those outside time." Anemone sunk back into the fountain. My father shrieked at the fountain but she did not reappear. Finally he stood, taking deep breaths before turning and leaving the courtyard. He shut the door quietly but with force and in the silence of the courtyard I heard the lock click.

Anemone rose from the fountain again. "Timaios!" she called softly. I stood on stiff legs and walked over to the fountain. I helped her out of the basin and she told me that we had to go. I told her that the door was locked and that we were trapped until my father returned. She told me that there was no such thing as a locked door to those who were destined to be free. We walked to the door and she set her hand on the latch. The door lock clicked and she pushed the door open, we both stepped through into the hall. Anemone shut the door and it locked  again. I started to lead her to the front door but our progress was halted when I heard my father storming in the front hall. I took her hand and ran in the other direction, pulling her after me. There was only one place in the house that was safe from Father in his rages. I led Anemone to Grandmother's rooms.

Grandmother was wise, she knew about the gods and how to avoid offending them and the one time our orchard had been blighted she had known the way to make it right. I knew that if anyone in the household could help Anemone it would be Grandmother. We entered her rooms still running; they were cool and dim after being in the courtyard.

Grandmother sat in her chair near a window. She had a cloth on her lap and was sewing tiny blue flowers to the edge. When I came in with Anemone she looked up and smiled, thinking I had brought one of my sisters to see her, then her gaze sharpened and she gasped. "Where did you find this child, Amyntos? Why did you bring her here?" She turned her gaze on Anemone. "Your family has been worried sick child, where have you been?" I explained about father and the courtyard and Anemone told Grandmother about her family and how she had been trapped until I came to let her out. Grandmother looked grim and frightening. "Now that you are free they will come for you and not a stone of this house will be left standing if they are angry." She held a pale hand to her forehead. "Amyntos, please fetch your mother here, we will need to be far away from this place. I fear even Festival will not save your father now."

I ran to fetch my mother and by ways that seemed almost magical mother and Grandmother gathered family, servants, and animals without father noticing and led us to the top of the hill overlooking our house. She had the men build a platform, Anemone and I helped gather stones, and we laid out all our festival food for the gods before continuing our way into town. That night Anemone woke me and we crept to the hill where we had laid out the food. The food was gone and the house of my father lay tumbled about. Two men waited for us at the top of the hill. The younger of the two ran to us as he saw us coming, scooped up Anemone and spun her around. She laughed and talked to him in a strange language, sounding more like wind and water than speech.

The man put her down and she turned to me. "Father, this is Timaios. He let me out of the courtyard. Timaios, this is my father and my grandfather," she waved towards the other man, "They are happy to meet you and say that you are a person with much honor for one so small." I frowned a little. I was not so small anymore, and I saw that she was teasing me. "I must return to my home now but I hope that you will keep the name I gave you as a reminder of our games in the garden." I nodded and promised and asked her if she would like to use my name because while I had acted with honor, it had been her warning and courage that had defended my family.

Her father picked her up again and her grandfather moved to stand with them. The three gods raised their hands in farewell and they vanished in a lightning bolt that came up from the earth. I had turned to go when the little goddess's voice drifted down to me:

"Farewell, Timaios." I looked up at the sky and the winking stars and smiled.

"Farewell, Amynta."