Queen Euterpe's Heartache

The moon was high, and the fields were black. The wind whistled in the reeds, a sound similar to rushing water, but stronger. It was the only sound in the world tonight, at least for Queen Euterpe.

“Ceres? Where are you?” Euterpe whispered. She was an old woman, but she was tall, like all her people. She had dark hair tied into a long braid down her back, and she wore a red dress that reflected the moonlight. She carried a torch that illuminated the ground before her feet.

Behind her was the wooden palisade of her village, with its circular mud-brick houses surrounding a central square with a well in the middle and a burning fire in its center. Beyond it was farmland stretching out to the horizon under a high canopy of trees. There were no lights on except hers and those of the sentries patrolling the wall. All of her people were asleep now, exhausted from a day's hard work in the fields. She herself had been awake until very late in the night, conferring with Ceres about some matters of state—a dispute between two villages over land used by both herdsmen during summer—and they had not gone to bed until very late in the night. But now it was past midnight, and she could barely keep her eyes open: she had risen before dawn to work in the fields today, and although she never complained about keeping long hours of hard labor for days on end until harvest time came around—she loved farming as much as any of them did—she often found it difficult to do without some sleep first. And yet...she could not rest until Ceres returned from hunting for food for their people's dinner tomorrow evening.

“Ceres?” she called again slightly louder this time as she reached the end of the wall facing west where it met the forest that bordered their land on that side. “Ceres! Ceres!” Louder still as she paced up and down its length while raising her torch higher so it might penetrate into the darkness ahead of her.

“Euterpe! What are you doing? You'll wake everyone!” said Ceres behind her in a hissing whisper as she grabbed hold of Euterpe's arm and pulled her back into shadow beside herself.

Euterpe turned around sharply with wide eyes: “Where were you? I've been calling you for ages! I thought something had happened! Are you alright?” She stared at Ceres' face intently trying to detect any hint of injury or illness by candlelight alone before finally shaking her head disbelievingly: “You look tired too! You must have stayed up working too late too or else you would have heard me calling you sooner! You'll be useless tomorrow if you don't get some sleep tonight!” She stared at Ceres reproachfully for another moment longer before shaking her head again and smiling wryly: “I'm sorry I woke everyone up then...but I thought something terrible might have happened to you!”

Ceres put an arm around Euterpe's shoulders: “You're right: we should both get some rest soon if we want to be fit enough to do our jobs tomorrow evening after sunset when we need to feed our people...but first you should return inside; it isn't safe here right now.” Her voice sounded weary as well, but also determined: Euterpe sighed and nodded wearily before following Ceres back inside their palisade through an opening beneath one of its gates where they had left their spears leaning against one of its walls earlier that evening after returning home from hunting game together earlier in the day. They took off their muddy boots outside and walked barefoot across their sleeping people's floorboards towards their separate sleeping places inside their house where they would rest for a few hours before getting ready for harvest time in their fields later that morning so they could start harvesting their crops as early as possible tomorrow afternoon under their sun whose warmth was fading fast at this time of year after spending most of every day aboveground working so hard both on their farms and out hunting animals for food for themselves over these last few months since July when they began preparing for winter by growing extra grain early to store away so they would have enough food to eat even if nothing grew during half-year when there is little sunshine aboveground besides roots growing deep underground which is why they spend most of half-year asleep deep underground wrapped up warmly together with plenty of furs on top made by themselves who knows how many years ago when they first invented weaving animals' fur into clothes by hand and started making clothes out of them by sewing them together using needle bones made sharp enough by rubbing them along rock surfaces so they pierced leather or animal skins well enough to sew them together using thread made from animal sinew or vegetable fibers spun together like fishing line or fishing nets between each other thus inventing garments made out of animal hides sewn together which is why we call ourselves garment people although we also make baskets out of wood too and carve wood too sometimes as well so we can use wood tools instead which means we don't need needles made out of bone anymore but our ancestors left us piles upon piles upon piles upon PILES (some bigger than others) all over our land where they stored away garments made out of animal skins sewn together with vegetable fiber thread thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS (some bigger than others) years ago which is why we still wear clothing made out of animal hides sewn together with vegetable fiber thread today although our tools are better now because we invented many better ones ourselves over time like wells drilled deep into ground where we pump water out of ground using air pumps powered by electricity produced from solar panels placed on roofs aboveground collecting sunlight which powers windmills placed aboveground collecting wind who's power turns turbines placed aboveground spinning around causing shafts placed inside big furnaces belowground filled with coal heated up by fires fed by gas collected from below ground collected from natural gas wells drilled into earth thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS (some bigger than others) years ago thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS (some bigger than others) years ago when our ancestors first lit fires fueled by animals' intestines stuffed full with dried grasses piled onto flat rocks set directly onto dirt floors hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds upon HUNDREDS (some bigger than others) years ago...anyway we're lucky today because there is still plenty energy left over even at this time of year thanks to sunny days surrounded by clouds during summer when our people worked harder than ever before because there was more light aboveground during summer than usual especially near sunrises and sunsets allowing us more time during sunrise/sunset hours outside working during summer until sunset eventually got here quickly during short days followed by short nights then long nights followed by long days followed by long nights followed by long days followed by long nights followed by long days followed by long nights followed by long days followed by long nights followed by long days etcetera etcetera etcetera so many times over then winters came rolling in quickly bringing strong winds whipping dust storms around far too quickly after sunset after sunset after sunset after sunset after sunset after sunset after sunset...so many times over then springs came rolling in quick again bringing strong winds whipping dust storms around far too quickly after sunrise after Sunrise after Sunrise after Sunrise after Sunrise...etcetera etcetera etcetera but tonight is different because our sun has almost set completely leaving only a sliver shining faintly against blue sky outside before dusk turns into full darkness soon so soon that even I will have difficulty keeping my eyes open very much longer soon even though I haven't slept yet tonight so much that I'm starting to worry about going crazy myself soon being this tired soon but it's okay because I know I won't be awake long once night falls totally dark except for moonlight shining down onto fields outside soon because all my people will be asleep soon except me who will try not to awaken everyone else anyway despite wanting desperately to do just that since I feel lonely being awake alone so much when everyone else is asleep while waiting patiently while trying not to fall asleep myself even though I feel very sleepy already either way if my plan works tonight anyway because if it does then tomorrow morning all my people should be busy harvesting crops instead just like me hopefully meaning I can go hunting with Ceres far easier than usual tomorrow evening meaning I won't need to hunt alone while looking dangerous while working hard instead meaning I won't need to enjoy myself while doing physical labor while working hard instead meaning I don't need to worry about enjoying myself while doing physical labor while working hard instead meaning I don't need to worry about enjoying myself while doing physical labor while working hard instead meaning I don't need to worry about enjoying myself while doing physical labor...anyway assuming everything goes according [to] plan [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight] anyway [tonight]

It was nighttime again, but less dark than before because there was now cloud cover blocking out most moonbeams shining down onto earth below twilight skies where clouds raced westward high overhead over open fields blackened only occasionally with small patches of light reflecting off lakes