Thais nodded.
“How could you allow the silver Anadiomena to be sold away? Did you not know how much I love you, and the beauty of women, and everything connected with you?”
“I did not allow anything. Such was its destiny. Lysippus intended the statue for Alexander, but at first the king had no time. Then he was gone. At that point, you had no time for sculptures. But I am glad that the Anadiomena went to India. They have a special attitude toward feminine beauty, and with the current state of affairs in Hellas I am not at all certain about the safety of a statue made of silver, even if it were placed in a temple.”
“Very well, you are right. I retract my criticism. Incidentally, when Seleucus was hiding out here, he told me about his plans for another Indian campaign. I advised him to reconsider and give up his part of India to Chandragupta. He said he would if the latter gave him five hundred elephants.”
“He is sweet, that giant and collector of giants.”
“He is not that sweet from the male standpoint. Elephants are a powerful military force, fairly mobile and better than a phalanx or heavy cavalry. There is a reason why Seleucus is collecting elephants for his army. He and I are friends, but will his heir be friends with my heirs? In order to counterbalance his elephants, I will have to acquire some of my own. India is inaccessible to me, which is why I will have to get elephants from Libya. That is where the information you collected about southern routes is particularly valuable, especially that of the voyages to the Punt. I have already ordered ships to be prepared so that we may sail across the Eritrean Sea to the Cape of Fragrances and beyond, from where Egyptians brought various rare animals. Libyan elephants are different from those in India. They have bigger ears, huge tusks and sloping backs, and are more savage and difficult to tame. However, they are even better for waging war because they are mean-spirited and courageous. Are the twists of fate not amusing? You helped Seleucus to get his elephants with your statue and helped me even more to discover where to get them. I thank you again.”
“It is daytime,” Thais reminded the king. “Berenice must be in agony by now, and it is time for me to go.
Ptolemy and Thais poured some wine for the gods, embraced and kissed like brother and sister. The Athenian woke up Eris, who had fallen asleep to the soothing splash of a fountain. They walked to their house, still inspiring as much delight in the passersby as they had many years before. No one would have given the forty-year-old Thais and thirty-five-year-old black priestess more than fifty years between the two of them.
“If only you know how easy it is to move in the ecsomida,” Thais exclaimed. “And I don’t have to watch my gestures, words or facial expressions for fear of alarming my subjects. I do not have any more subjects and owe nothing. I can sing, even though I haven’t done it in such a long time I may have lost my voice.”
“You will always have one subject,” Eris said, laughing. She bowed in a subservient Asian fashion.
The Athenian stopped and looked at her friend. Eris raised her eyebrows in puzzlement.
“You have reminded me of one important bit of business. I almost forgot.”
“What business?”
“You’ll see. I know it is useless teasing you with riddles. It is just that I haven’t finished thinking it over yet.”
Tired after being up all night, Thais gladly succumbed to a bath and powerful Ionian massage. She slept all day till evening and spent half the night on the terrace, pondering her meeting with her son. Leontiscus was almost fifteen years old, close to the age of an epheb.
Thais decided to combine the meeting with her son and the meeting with the sea. They would go to Pharos, where Nearchus had shown her Cretan ruins surrounded by brush and sand. There she used to dive among the splashing waves and crying seagulls near the deserted shore. This time she would take Eris with her. She was uncertain about her friend’s attitude toward the sea. It would be sad if she treated it differently from how Thais herself treated it. Many people were alarmed by the sea, made sick or were simply frightened by it.
The Athenian worried in vain. The day turned out to be a true celebration for her. The swanlike white boat cut through the blue waves which gently rocked the small vessel. Leontiscus was as slender as his mother, with the same gray eyes and copper tan as Thais, and with fuzz already growing over his upper lip. The boy watched her with delighted eyes all the way to the northern shore of Pharos. A portion of the shoreline was already dressed in carefully fitted stone, set atop the giant boulders of the old Cretan bay. Leaving the boat near the western dock, Thais, along with Leontiscus and Eris, walked to the distant edge of the pier. Water splashed near the steep wall. Imitating Alexander, she poured a mix of wine and fragrant oil into the sea and told Leontiscus to toss a gold medallion as far as possible.
“And now let us surrender to Thetis,” she yelled happily.
Leontiscus was unashamed of nudity, much like his mother. The boy undressed and dove in. Rolling waves shattered into small swift splashes as they reached the island.
“Come on, Mother!” Leontiscus called, swimming powerfully into the sea, where the waves came slower and more menacing, bubbling up in heavy walls. A pod of dolphins showed their sharp fins and black backs as they approached the swimmers. Holding her breath, Thais slipped into the dense water. Finally! She even forgot about Eris for a few moments.
“Eris, dear, swim here,” Thais shouted, and was startled by the lightning speed with which the black priestess dove into the sea. The Athenian knew that Eris swam, though reluctantly, without the overwhelming joy Thais herself experienced in the water. But there was Eris with her battle cry, “Euryale! Euryale and Eris!” She swam fast enough to catch up with Leontiscus and was not at all afraid of the dull menacing hum with which the waves rose and fell in the open sea.
“Holy Mother of Gods! It is so easy to swim in this dense water. There is no darkness of the swamp, as you would see in a river or a lake. The sea holds you up,” Eris said happily.
Wind flew in from the east, put out the glittering mirrors on the slopes of the waves, and pressed down the sharp peaks of foam. Thais felt as if invisible Nereids surrounded them, slapping them lightly over neck and shoulders, playfully splashing their faces and smoothing them over with gentle hands. She told Leontiscus about it, and was again surprised by the boy’s gaze. It followed her carefully and constantly.
Eris soon became tired, as she had not yet fully restored her strength. Thais and Leontiscus dove endlessly, descending into the depths, swimming and tumbling like the dolphins that raced side by side with them, peering with their small friendly eyes and smiling with their black and white mouths.
Mother and son finally became tired and climbed onto the smooth granite tiles. Eris doused her friend with fresh water, washed off the salt and helped brush out her black braids. Leontiscus dried himself off, then approached his mother shyly and settled at her feet, putting his arms around her strong knees.