Atalanta's marriage race was over. The winner was the challenger, Iskios. But what happened there went beyond the result and threw everyone into utter shock.
Who would have imagined that the Iskios, so careful of prying eyes and repulsed by any hint of exposure, would run with his face unveiled? And once he'd stripped off his mask and cloak, he moved with such speed that he even overtook Atalanta.
"With this… you're… now… free… ah… ugh…! The stares…!"
But the cost was steep. By baring the face he'd long concealed to seal away the terror that haunted him under Apollo's chase, Iskios felt his stomach churn.
So immediately after the race ended, Iskios vanished out of sight and began to vomit. Callisto retrieved his cloak and mask, handing them back to him, and he quickly put them on again, taking deep breaths.
"Are you all right… Lord Iskios?"
"As if I'd be all right…"
"How pathetic, Iskios. You're the victor. So what if a winner shows weakness—"
"—Iskios!!! Where are you!!!?"
Atalanta, who accepted her overwhelming defeat by Iskios, disapproved of him showing such weakness and was about to speak—when a commanding, strong woman's voice rang out from above.
When Atalanta turned her gaze toward where that voice had echoed, she beheld a golden-haired deity riding upon the clouds. The moment she saw the goddess, Atalanta's face mirrored the shock she'd felt the first time she'd laid eyes on her—for that beauty transcended even the divine.
"Upon hearing you'd revealed your face of your own will, I—Apollo—ran straight down from Mount Olympus!!!"
"A-Apollo…?!"
"Why… why is Apollo here…?!"
"C-Could it be because of Iskios…?!"
"Hm…?"
Apollo's arrival drew the onlookers around her. As the crowd closed in, Iskios turned and kept hiding behind the tree.
Callisto and Atalanta could feel the terror emanating from Iskios as he trembled and tried to avoid Apollo's call… but because he hadn't really disappeared, it took Apollo only a moment to spot him.
At first, Apollo regarded the ill-appearing Iskios without expression. Then she looked at Atalanta stone-faced. Then Callisto. Finally, back to Iskios, tears starting to spill from her eyes. She seized his shoulders and began to sob.
"Iskios!!! What is the meaning of this!? Two-timing—no! Three-timing?!"
"Guh…! What are you saying…! The one Callisto's holding… is… is Zeus's illegitimate child… uuuugh…!"
As Apollo shook his shoulders demanding an explanation, Iskios rolled away and dashed into the shadowy thicket nearby. Hidden in the shadows, he barely caught his breath and said…
"With you shaking my shoulders like that, Lord Apollo, I can hardly speak properly. Please, let me tell you everything one step at a time. If you have complaints, I'll face them head-on."
"U-um… so this brown-haired one is the one called Callisto…? Hmm, I see. Father's bastard child…"
Iskios calmly requested that she hear him out, and Apollo, pouting a little, looked at Callisto and nodded in understanding.
She recalled hearing that Zeus had laid hands on other women and that Callisto was among his victims. And though Callisto had nearly been cursed by Hera for it, Iskios had thrown himself in to protect her.
As Apollo remembered this, she thought Iskios was incredible despite being mortal. Hera's jealousy and wrath was a force none could face without fear—but to stand before a raging Hera and persuade her was something none of the Olympians had done.
"U-um, as expected, he's 'my' Iskios! But… what is this footrace for marriage all about?! Iskios, you're not telling me you and this mortal woman—"
"We are getting married, but Atalanta is a devotee of Artemis and has sworn an oath of chastity. So though we wed, I will not touch her."
"What…?!"
"Pardon…?!"
Atalanta was equally stunned by Iskios's words. Callisto and the others nearby were also taken aback by his declaration. They were getting married—but he would not lay a hand on her. Most were thinking, 'What on earth kind of marriage is that?'
"The reason I entered this footrace is that I wanted to give Atalanta her freedom through this opportunity."
Iskios had no real interest in Atalanta's marriage. He had simply heeded her plea for help and entered the race to free her. There was no other reason. And from the shadows, Atalanta could faintly feel Iskios's gaze.
"You are free now, Atalanta. You no longer have to obey your idiot father's orders. You can do whatever you want from now on. But… I want you to take responsibility for your actions. If you cross the line, I will come to stop you…"
"Iskios…"
Once Iskios had answered everything Apollo wished to hear, she found herself at a loss for words. Though doubt still flickered in her eyes, she swiftly reassumed her usual sunlit smile.
"U-um, but I will not be disappointed! In the end, in the very end, you will be mine! Wahahaha~!!!"
I just… want to disappear…
Watching Apollo laugh and cross her arms, Iskios sighed in the thicket's shadows, still uncomfortable around her, and quietly muttered to himself.
***
-My friend returns after a year and he's got two women with him. One I know; the other's carrying a baby.-
Jason said farewell to Iskios for a while and returned to Iolcos, where he threw himself into his kingly duties, lashing himself all the while.
By day, he held court as king, set the state's budget, revised problematic policies in education, personally led lectures, and descended into the towns to listen to his people. At night, as a way to relieve stress, he lay with Medea.
Around the time a year had passed since returning from Calydon, Jason received wonderful news via Pel, the captain of the royal guard: Iskios was coming back—his long-time comrade-in-arms and finest retainer. So Jason, seated on the throne in the palace alongside Medea, waited for the audience.
"It's been a year already, Lord Jason? You're finally going to meet with Lord Iskios…?"
"Absolutely, of course!"
Medea saw that Jason was in better spirits than usual and, inwardly, clicked her tongue in irritation. But since Jason seemed so upbeat, she forced herself to hold back.
After a year apart, Jason yearned for the reunion with Iskios. And finally, when Pel, the captain of the guard, brought Iskios in, Jason and Medea showed an uncharacteristic look of surprise.
"What…?!"
"Oh, my…!"
Not only Medea, but Jason too, was startled—not by Iskios himself, but by the two women standing beside him.
One was a gentle-looking brown-haired woman with her hair in a ponytail, cradling a baby in her arms. The other was someone Medea and Jason both knew well.
"A-Atalanta?!"
"Ugh… my jaw's getting tired, so I won't repeat it."
Medea, having last seen her about two years ago, and Jason, about a year ago, were both stunned at Atalanta's appearance. Having witnessed these reactions more than once, Iskios sighed and began to explain what he'd been up to during his year-long absence.
He first told how shortly after his leave he'd met Callisto, then how they'd raised the child together and how he'd protected her from the wrath of Hera. Hearing that, Jason stared at Iskios with a look of stunned amazement.
"Have you… gone even crazier than me, Heracles, and all the rest?"
"You want me to just stand by and leave the helpless in the clutches of a god? I could never do that."
"Right… that sounds like you. But what about Atalanta…?"
Jason knows well the man he's spent so long with; he's seen all his flaws and all his strengths. Yet he was even more flabbergasted than by Callisto's story—he felt as if his eyeballs might pop out of their sockets.
The next tale he heard after Callisto's was about Atalanta's marriage footrace, which Iskios had been forced to join, resulting in his crushing victory. His win was obvious, but what it produced was all too predictable.
"M-mar-m-marriage?! You're saying that?!?"
"Oh my…! So you two are married, then!"
"M-my goodness…!"
Jason was so stunned he nearly fell from his seat, Pel dropped his spear in surprise, and Medea's eyes sparkled as she looked at Iskios and Atalanta.
Though Medea had never seen Iskios's bare face, she'd heard from her brother, Absyrtus, who had, about his beauty. He'd said that his looks were so mesmerizing even the gods fell under his spell.
A goddess-like beauty in such a handsome man paired with a fierce beauty might seem like the perfect match, Medea thought—but it wasn't the fairytale romance she'd pictured. If anything, it was a fairly dry arrangement, but not a bad one.
"Yes, we are married, but out of respect for Atalanta's wishes, I will not lay a hand on her."
"That's right. I swore my purity to the goddess Artemis. Words cannot express enough thanks to Iskios for respecting that."
"Ah… I see…"
"Oh… well, of course. When your partner is Iskios…"
Medea, whose heart had brimmed with dreams and hope, deflated like a punctured balloon, gazing at Iskios and Atalanta with glassy, fish-like eyes. Jason sighed in relief, muttering, "Well, that figures."
At first, hearing of the marriage between Iskios and Atalanta—two people who seemed least interested in wedlock—had stirred a fear that the world might end. But seeing them carry on as always, Jason was reassured.
Atalanta, the huntress who swore her purity to the goddess Artemis, and Iskios, who detested men after enduring so much torment at their hands—together, they were in some sense a truly fitting pair.