Quoted By:
Castor looses his shot – but again, a silvery tendril intervenes, wafting the arrow wide of the second hoop. Castor watches the shot, unable to intervene – there’s a long pause while the crowd howls and mocks him for such a terrible shot. He gives the crowd several seconds to make their views known, before motioning to them for silence. Once this has been achieved, he loudly proclaims:
“Apollo Ἑκατος, I honor you! Bless this isle and her generous inhabitants!”
It’s an honorable response and one that demonstrates significant restraint – you’re impressed with the man’s ability to stay calm despite such unfairness. But again – Castor is also a man with decades of experience with the divines, despite his only-middle-aged appearance. No doubt wisdom and self-control have helped keep the Dioscuri in the good graces of Olympus. As to which deity has intervened twice now – you can only imagine that it has been Apollo himself, given that you are present on his island during the festival of his own birth – but of course, you have no way to know this. Any number of divines may have chosen to intervene here, and you know nothing of the politics on Olympus.
With Castor clear of the stand, Mykonos saunters up, his previous doubts seemingly evaporated, nocks, takes aim and looses. Sadly, you see that it is a phenomenal shot – an exact replica of his previous attempt, although this time, no silver tendril is needed for his arrow to sail through six hoops. His smug grin infuriates you – no doubt he feels that he has earned his second-place finish despite the gods intervening not once, but twice! in the contest. As for yourself – a bubbling rage is suppressed within your core. Whichever deity intervened, bringing Mykonos to second-place, has interfered with your relationship with your chosen patron – Nike. You’ll have many more chances to win her favor, you’re sure, but the lost opportunity this morning wounds you deeply. After all, she is patron goddess of contests.
The crowd is joyous at Mykonos’ finish, and of the generally-high quality of the competitors’ performance – truly, the contest has been very exciting, even if it resulted in your loss of third-place position. Despite their previous heckling, the crowd is generally respectful as yourself and the other competitors wave to the audience, thanking them.
Anios makes a quick enterprise of the pinning – a gold bow pin on Teukros’ robes, in addition to his bronze crane from the morning’s dance, a silver bow for his son Mykonos, and finally, a brazen bow pin for Castor. Anios shades his eyes against the brilliance of Helios’ chariot above, gauging the time remaining in the morning – perhaps an hour before noon arrives. You hear his bell-like voice ringing out over the crowd, declaring:
“Join me now upon the sandy beaches to the west, so that we may send these men well-off on their footrace to mighty Cynthus’ peak!”
>cont
