A Conversation with Charon
We were sitting at the window again,
playing a game of dice,
when I asked him about his parents.
‘What was your father like?’
He paused the game and frowned.
‘My father is Erebus, the darkness.
I have only met him a few times
in my mother’s palace. She raised me.’
It’s odd how much is revealed
about a parent from three lines.
Most of us were fathered by Gods
we did not know well at all.
‘And your mother?’ I asked quietly,
picking up the dice to restart the game.
He looked down contemplatively,
then steepled his fingers.
‘Nyx is the Night itself,’
he said finally. His voice sounded
strange and strangled.
‘She is powerful. So powerful
that even those new Gods on
Olympus are fearful of her.’
This caught my attention
and I looked at his face sharply.
But he wasn’t looking at me.
He was focused on the game.
‘Growing up in the Realm of Night
is less growth, more survival.
My brothers and sisters and I,
