“I could not help myself, here,” he offered me a hand and, though I feared I’d pull the old man down  with me instead of getting helped up, I took it.

“Who are you?  How...”

“Not here,” he interrupted, “follow me.”  This was beyond bizarre, but I couldn’t help myself as I followed the old man.  What other choice was there besides wandering aimlessly in a strange city?  He led me to a small house somewhat near to the arena, but far enough away to be quiet.

“Well?” I asked, ready to dart at a sign of trouble.

“Ah, I suppose you want to know who I am,” he paused and I waited.  He seemed to know just when I was about to lose my patience because just at that moment, he continued, “I am Tiresias.”  I stared at him blankly, still not understanding.  He sighed, “Blind prophet?  Seer?  Warned Laius that any child he had would kill him and marry his wife?”  Though my aunts had told many many tales, they took greatest joy in telling me stories of the foibles of heroes, so I did not hear many tales of baffling prophesies unless they came back to bite the hero in the end.  He shrugged, “Speaking of which, we need to head back to Thebes soon...no matter.  Though I must say if I didn’t already know you lived in a cave for a good eight years I might have guessed it.”

“How did you...?”

“Prophet.”

“But how do you...?”

“Gift from Jupiter after Juno struck me blind...long story.”

“So you see the future?”

“Not all of it.”

“Then how did you keep knowing what I was going to say?”

He grinned, “Everyone asks those questions.”

“So why did you seek me out?” I asked, getting a prickly feeling on the back of my neck as I became more and more nervous.  How much did he know?

The lines on his face smoothed as his mouth became a straight line, “I received a few visions concerning you, that Perseus would abandon you here and that you would have no recourse.”

“He...he didn’t abandon me.  We parted ways.”  Maybe technically he did abandon me, but I still could not bring myself to hate or defame him to some stranger.

“Suit yourself.  Would you like to come with me?  I need an assistant and you need a place to go.  You will not have to worry about your gift with me.”

“Gift?”  I was honestly confused.  Did he know something about me that even I did not know?

“Your stone gaze.”  I had never heard of it or thought of it as a gift and I told him so, “On your mother it was a curse.  She could not control who she turned to stone.  On you it is a gift.”

“Why doesn’t it affect you?”

“Blind prophet.  I can “look” into your eyes but I can not see them so they can not hurt me.  If I had ever met your mother I would have been safe as well.”  Never having to worry about where I was looking when I spoke to someone?  The idea was appealing to me, especially when I remembered times when there would be a large gathering in Seriphos and I would spend the whole evening avoiding other peoples’ eyes.  After such efforts I would collapse into bed, exhausted.

However, I wasn’t stupid, “And you expect me to trust and follow some strange old man who happens to know a thing or two about me?”

He laughed, “I would be lucky if the gods gave me the sight to see your attacks before you made them.  It is not as if I could over power you.  If you wish, as we make our way you can ask anyone you wish about the seer Tiresias.”

Though I already knew I’d agree--and maybe he did too--I smirked as I asked, “And how do I know you did not forsee every person I would ask and then bribed them to tell me stories that would make me trust you?”

His laughter roared from his slight frame, surprising a grin out of me, “Ah, I can thank the gods that my gift did not guide me to some witless chit of a girl.  Let’s go, girl, we have a boat to catch.”

“Boat?” I questioned, my voice wavering slightly.

“You took one here, did you honestly think you would not take one back?”

I pouted a little and mumbled, “I had hoped....”  

Tiresias laughed again, “If it makes you feel better, we have a ways to travel over land first, where we will meet our ship to travel through the Pagasaean Gulf and down through Euboic Sea, so really it is only a very minor sea voyage, I’m sure Neptune hardly troubles himself with such a small branch of the Aegean.   We’ll land in Chalkis and then make our way over to Thebes.”  The way he spoke, it seemed like it would be a journey of a week tops, though in truth it was much longer.

“Isn’t the Pagasaean rather far from here?  How do you know there will be a ship.  waiting...for...” at his incredulous, though blind, look I trailed off, “right.  Stupid question.”  On the way out of Larissa, I did indeed ask whoever I pleased about Tiresias the blind prophet.  Everyone verified his story, but the more I heard about his various prophesies, the less I wanted him to ever prophesy about me.  All of them seemed to be about death, betrayal, and incest, never an ‘all will be well for you if you take a right at the crossroads.’  The crossing to the Pagasaean Gulf started slowly at first, since I had to travel at Tiresias’s pace.  While it was a good pace for one his age or even a number of years younger, for me after my years traveling with Perseus, he was still a little slow.  Eventually we caught a ride on a passing cart for a ways after Tiresias’s promise of good fortune to the farmer for aiding a prophet of the gods.  The farmer dropped us off about ten miles or so from the coast.  Most of the journey had been quiet, each of us left with our thoughts.  We may have remained so had it not been for the bandits that waylaid us part-way there.

“Well what have we?  A pretty little thing and an old man,” a large, gruff man asked, tapping a club against his open, rough palm.

“As you say, that’s all we are, traveling on our way.  We have nothing for you, leave us be,” I warned.

He laughed, “You say so while wearing such a fine tunica, travel worn or not?  We are not so foolish.”  I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped when Tiresias laid a hand on the crook of my arm.

“So you say, young man, so you say.  But yea woe to you, should you continue this course.   I am the prophet Tiresias and even now receive visions on this path.  A curse will be upon you from this day forth.  Your line will be blighted and your seed burned from the earth.  All who pass your unfortunate form will tremble at the wrath of the gods!  Such is the fate of one who threatens their messengers and earthly offspring.”

I was impressed and dumbfounded.  Instantly, his voice had taken on a new timbre, broad and deceptive.  Had I been blind, I would never have guessed it came from a ragged, skinny old man who at times looked as if he had been there to greet Prometheus’s gift of fire.  The bandits, too, were suitably stunned and frightened.  Two had jumped at Tiresias’s initial change in vocal quality.  By the end a few were either fidgiting or backing away.  The one who had approached us looked thoughtful.

“A prophet and a demi-goddess?  If that is so, what brings you to travel such a road unaccompanied with only your feet for transportation?”

“We travel to Thebes where one of my prophecies is about to play out.  As for transportation, when you give prophecies like the one I just did, do you think people trip over themselves to offer your riches and boons?  I’ve come to believe the gods only give seers bad news just to get a kick out of watching us attempt to avoid the repercussions of being the bearers of ill tidings.”

The bandit laughed at this, “Then give us a prophecy for not harming you.  What do you see for us, old man?”  I crossed my fingers that Tiresias would either have good news for him or lie.

As I watched, Tiresias’s eyes gained a sort of clarity as his voice deepened, “The reason you steal has need of you.  Stay, and you will lose it.  Go and be blessed.”  The theif’s eyes widened for a moment, before he gestured to the rest of his band.  They headed off and he quickly bowed to Tiresias before following.

“What was that all about?” I asked, touching the old seer’s arm.

“Huh?  Oh, his wife is going to have her child soon.  If he doesn’t get home in time, no one will be there to fetch Juno’s priestess, she will go into labor alone and ultimately die.  He robs to support his family.”

“Why couldn’t you just say that?”

He shrugged, “Doesn’t sound very impressive does it?  People expect vagueness from us.  Anyway, he got it quickly enough.”   After a moment, he added, “Besides, they wouldn’t respect them as much if I said them plain.”  The more I thought about that, the more it made sense to me.  Because his fortunes were cryptic and required though, they carried more weight than if they were spoken as mere advice.  However, maybe that was why Tiresias spoke plainly to me, because he knew with my upbringing, prophecy meant little to me.

When we reached the coast, I was even more hesitant to board a vessel.  It was only with Tiresias’s assurances that I would be fine that I mounted the unsteady gangplank, and then promptly went back down as he tapped his foot, waiting to be led up.  In my time with him, I would often forget he was blind.

“You don’t really need a guide, do you old man?” I questioned once we were safely aboard.  He stared at me with his steady blank gaze for a moment, and I felt a little shiver of emotion run through me with the relief of being able to look someone in the face without fear.  As if sensing this, his hand found mine and gave a little squeeze.

“Perhaps not,” he stated finally, “but it is...reassuring.  My path is a mix of false confidence, bravado, and uncertainty.  If I were always afraid, I would never go anywhere and would be no use to anyone.  I can’t allow fear to dominate, and yet it is pleasant to have someone to rely on besides my own senses.  You, child of Medusa, ward of Perseus, would not let me fall and drown.”  My eyes darted quickly around the deck to make sure no one had overheard my parentage before I answered.

“I might, you never know.  I mean, I don’t know how to swim after all.”  A guffaw escaped Tiresias’s frail form, frightening a gull standing on the railing halfway down the deck from us.

“There is something wonderfully ironic about the daughter of the sea god and ward of a man who grew up in a fishing village not knowing how to swim.  When we return to my home, there is a pond nearby and I will teach you.”

“I’m sure that will be quite the sight,” I replied with a wry grin, “until I go under and you don’t even realize.  Will you just question why I’ve suddenly gone so quiet, I wonder?”  The first mate came then and asked if we would mind moving below while they prepared to set sail.  I wondered if he knew who Tiresias was, and that was why he asked so kindly rather than just to tell us to get ourselves out of the way so they could work.  Once below, Tiresias settled himself on a low bunk and I sat on the floor across from him.

“Did Dictys never try to teach you or take you out?  Your skills speak of how found Perseus was of you, a favored companion.  I could see Dictys taking to you as well if only for that reason.”

I didn’t want to talk about this, and my voice conveyed that, “Don’t you know?”  Before I could respond further, Tiresias whacked my knee in admonishment with his gnarled cane.

“Don’t play wise with me, girl, answer.”  Absently, I rubbed my knee and was glad he couldn’t see the pout that had briefly graced my lips.

“It was within my first year staying with Perseus and his family.  Dictys often invited me out on the boat with him when he knew it was going to be a shorter day or for leisure trips, but obviously I refused.  Part of me was afraid that he would start to think I didn’t like him, but I always enjoyed talking with him and hearing his stories.  I didn’t want that to stop, but I didn’t know what to do otherwise so he wouldn’t think I was avoiding or humoring him.  One night, I overheard Perseus talking with him, telling him about how he found me and the incident with the cabin boy.  It was his opinion that I might not know how to swim and may be intimidated by the sheer size of the sea.  Dictys nodded and I crept away hopeful that that would be the end of Dictys’s attempts.  Obviously, I was wrong.”  Tiresias waited for me to continue, allowing me to gather my thoughts.

A small smile fluttered over my lips a moment before I continued, “He thought to teach me in the same way that his father taught him.  I was in my room looking over some parchment that Perseus had given me to try to puzzle out when Dictys entered.  When I think back on it, I imagine that he must have had a determined look in his eyes, the lines in his body spoke of intent and his jaw clenched a few times under grizzled cheeks.  I think he was preparing himself for me to hate him for a little while for what he was about to do, as he had his father.  Before I could even stand and greet him, he had me in his arms and began to carry me out the door.  I remember giggling a little bit--I always kind of liked being carried because after a certain age it was something my mother rarely indulged me in--and asking where we were going.

‘You’ll see,’ he rumbled, and it wasn’t until I saw the beach and the docks come into view a few minutes later that I started go get worried.  No matter how much I asked, Dictys wouldn’t tell me what we were doing, I think we both knew that I knew anyway.  When we reached the beach I started to struggle, say ‘no’ and beg.  I told him ‘sorry’ and that ‘I would be good’ as if I were being punished for something.  The only response that I got as his feet touched the dock was that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen, to just take a deep breath at the end of the dock, to kick when I hit the water.  Around that point, I started screaming, struggling, and to my shame now, I think there was a little biting and scratching as well.  

It wasn’t just Dictys’s plan though, at one point in my struggles, I just noticed Perseus working on one of the boats moored at the dock.  The struggles of a young girl weren’t much of a hinderance to Dictys, even considering his age, and we swiftly reached the end of the dock.  I’m not sure if I remembered to breath or not before he dropped me in the sea, but I remember the confusion and my heart pumping hard enough in my chest that I felt every beat of it.  Though I flailed, I couldn’t seem to find the right direction to go in, and my fear was so great that I could hardly think, let alone try to orient myself under the waves.  I blacked out, though I’ll never be sure whether it was from fear or lack of air.”

“Dictys got you out again?” Tiresias questioned.

I stared at my hands, watching the digits fold and unfold around each other, “He didn’t get a chance.  Maybe Perseus realized something was really wrong before Dictys did or maybe Perseus couldn’t just watch after all.  I think Dictys resented him a little for being the one to get me out, if only because he had promised that he wouldn’t let anything happen.  I woke up coughing on the dock, and as soon as I had enough mind to recognize my surroundings, I latched my arms around Perseus’s neck and wouldn’t let go.  It wasn’t really anything to do with wanting comfort from him, more that I thought that I could hold tight enough that they wouldn’t be able to throw me in again.”

“How did it feel?”

I looked up at him, confused, “How did what feel?”

“The water, the sea.”

“I...I don’t know, I was confused, disoriented, scared...I mean, I’m sure it felt horrible, if only for that.  And it tasted bad.”

He smirked a little, then was serious again, “You felt something.  Think about it carefully and tell me.”  My mind wandered back to that time, what had always been labeled as an ordeal, a traumatic event, in my childhood.  The way the water flowed over my body, made my clothes and hair wave lazily in the current, graceful and beautiful.  The way it encompassed and embraced me.

“It felt...welcoming.”

Tiresias nodded, “As much as you would refuse it, some of your roots are tied to the sea.  You should not let your fear of your father rob you of something that is your right by birth.”