Girding up her resolve, Heri stepped within grabbing distance. She held her breath as her glasses were removed and a hand covered her eyes. She quickly exhaled and sucked in another breath with a sharp burning stabbed her eyes, shooting all the way to the back of her head. It was as if someone had shone the sun in her eyes and threw sand in her face at the same time only double! She slapped her hands over her eyes as soon as the other was withdrawn and keened at the pain of it.
"Covering them will bring you no relief," Heri heard the spirit in human form say. "Allowing them to adjust to the light would better suit your purpose."
Heri lowered her hands, doing as she was told. As the spirit had said, Heri's eyes adjusted quickly after one last sharp twinge. She blinked in the light incredulously. Everything was so clear! Not even with her glasses did she see details so sharply. It was as if the world had been dragged in closer as well as been painted more brightly.
"Is this how everyone else always sees?" Heri breathed in amazement, wondering at the beauty of the dust particles in the air.
"No," was the clipped reply. "I decided that regular human vision would be little improvement; if I was to cure you of your faulty eyes, I would ensure that there was a true improvement."
"Oh." Harry wasn't sure what to say to that. "What kind of vision do I have then?"
"That of a bird's. Birds of prey see around eight times farther away. Likely you see colours not visible to the mammalian eye."
"Eight times?"
"Only when you purposefully focus," the spirit added. "Otherwise your perception is the same as any other human. Focus on your foreground to recenter your vision."
Heri did as suggested and breathed out a sound of amazement as her vision reoriented itself to better than what she had with her glasses but not out of this world. She smiled at the figure before her.
"Thank you!"
Almost imperceptibly, the stern visage soften. There was something like a smile that played on those lips before the uncompromising expression fell back into place.
"It was less for your own benefit than my own. Watching you bumble about, barely seeing past your own nose was bothersome."
Heri's lips twisted into a self-depreciating grimace. She fluffed her hair and shrugged.
"All that same, thank you very much."
"Think no further on it."
The spirit turned and began to walk away.
"Isn't there something I could do in return?" Heri called after her.
The young woman paused.
"From now on, send your prayers and thanks to the gods of Olympus."
Without another word, she dissolved into air.
The day of the performance*, Heri shone like the sun breaking through the clouds. Her group performed the story of Minerva and Arachne, the one about the creation of the spider and the folly of letting your pride guide you into foolish situations. Heri played the part of the narrator and one of the nymphs that admired Arachne's weaving.
The scene was set up with tables, chairs, lengths of cloth, and a bed-sheet stretched between two poles to act as a curtain. Heri stood on the outside of the curtain where the audience could see her. She stood in a bed-sheet fashioned into a toga-like the other girls were wearing. Her sheet was green and she had glitter all over her visible skin to show she was a nymph.
"Long ago," said Heri. "There was a young girl, a shepherd's daughter, who started weaving at an early age."
Heri untied the sheet from the pole and stepped hurriedly to pull it aside, revealing a girl fussing over a large embroidery. The girl made large, exaggerated motions and held up the piece to admire it.
A pair of kids playing Arachne's parent entered and began to gush over the girl's work. Arachne preened under the praise and began to work harder, pulling out more and more lengths of decorated cloth from the table she had been sitting at.
"She became a great weaver. Her work was so well done, other girls from around the city came to see her at it —"
A trio of girls entered from the left, chattering about Arachne and her weaving.
"— Her work was so beautiful that even nymphs left their groves to admire her!"
From behind where Heri stood two more girls dressed like her made a show of whispering to each other, dragging Heri in as well when they reached her. The girls cooed and praised Arachne, going on and on about how lovely her weaving was.
"It's really amazing," said Heri, touching a length of cloth softly. "It's as if Minerva taught you herself!"
The other girls added their agreements.
The girl playing Arachne turned her nose up pointedly.
"As if I had to learn from anyone! I taught myself and any skill I have comes from me alone!"
The girls made cries of protest.
"Surely you have to thank Minerva!" cried an Asian girl with short hair. "She's the goddess of knowledge and skill! If she blessed you then that would be a wonderful thing!"
They went on in this vein, warning the girl to not speak so dismissively about Minerva. During this bit, a girl slipped off behind the curtain and put on a grey wig. When Arachne again said she was far better than anyone that learned from Minerva, the girl in the wig cut in.
"I think I know a lot after living so long," said the girl in a put-on elderly voice. "I suggest you don't talk such a way about the gods. It's all well and good to say you're better than any other human, but to say you're better than a power that controls the world isn't very smart!"
Once again Arachne dismissed the advice, actually getting rude as well.