"Come down, you traitorous piece of bird." I sift it through my teeth aiming at Glauca on top of the mast, once I sent my sailors to hunt for pine trees in the forest. "Make yourself useful."

To fix the Messenian's terrible job, we'll need more than the little glue I made for the holes, and the best we can do is tar. It's made of natural pine resin heated up and mixed with charcoal.

I need it to coat the entire hull, lest it might rot away, and the holes would be the smallest of our problems. The time it will take to fix that small issue keeps growing.

And this isn't a pine forest. We'll need five hundred pounds of that sticky substance to cover the ship. Collecting it alone might take days, and the sailors must eat something too.

"I can't believe you led me to that woman." I want an explanation, heading out with my legendary bow and the holy bird to sort out the food. This happens after Penelope leaves.

I'm still under her spell, but I have a semblance of sentience now, and see the disaster I'm heading towards. This can't end well. I'm going down the same path as my namesake did.

And here I thought I was better. I solved the incident with the missing sheep but so did the original Odysseus. What else did I do? I got carved up by a wild boar and stuck in Pylos.

"It's all your fault. I mean Athena's." I argue with the owl sitting on the back of my hand. Still no blue aura, how does everyone else see it? "She said I can change my destiny with her help."

"And I meant that." The voice belongs to Athena and doesn't come from the bird.

Is this telepathy? Did I have this option all along but didn't know it?

"I'm behind you, Odysseus."

Ah, that's much less impressive, even if she teleported, it's somehow less magical.

The grey-eyed goddess is here, wearing armor in her adult form, complete with a round shield and spear.

"Where have you been?" I ask the least important question when so many of them fight inside my head to ask them first. Okay, let's start with this. "How's the time machine?"

"The Chronos Kyrexis? Don't worry. I told Hephaistus what I wanted but he struggled more than expected." She starts, pointing her spear towards the forest, and Glauca flies over her.

"He can't do it?"

What did I say about deities? You can't trust them.

And here we go, she's about to tell me I'm stuck here forever.

She shakes her head though, almost as if reading my mind.

"Of course, he can do it. He already did it on the other timeline. But as I said, it took him long and will take longer with these new conditions. The Chronos Kyrexis is a strange machine."

"As for where I was, I had some things to catch up with." She explains, walking by my side. "You missed twenty years from your original time, and I had to smooth it over."

"Right, here is another thing. I should be twenty, but I'm twenty-five. Did you bring me back at the wrong time?" Oh, come on, I wanted to ask something else.

These intrusive thoughts and questions should draw a number and wait in line. Let me ask the important things first. Let's hope she sticks around to answer them all.

"I brought you back to the best possible moment. And took you from where I could get you. That tiny difference shouldn't matter in the end." See, it's what I already deducted anyway.

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And of course, for deities who live thousands of years, five years plus or minus won't matter.

This reminds me of another question and now I can't hold it in.

"Are Autolycus and my Uncle Anthony the same? Did you take him to the future with me? Why doesn't he remember raising me, even if he looks the same?"

"What? I did not. You're the only one I time-traveled with until now. But since he's immortal, I gave him some instructions, in case he wanted to meet you later."

"You have to be kidding." That would mean, my uncle was a three-thousand-year-old Autolycus?!

It's no wonder he felt distant, slow, and absent-minded.

If I were that age, — well, I won't be.

"Don't forget that he's Hermes' son." She adds, and again, I can't shake this feeling that she reads my mind. If you read this too, please stop doing that. It's creepy.

Okay, let's think of an important question instead. At least I would, but she waves me to stay quiet before I say a word. I can see why, there's a wild boar ahead.

It's smaller than the one that got my leg, but large enough to feed the thirty sailors for a day.

I pull the string as far as it goes, then let loose an arrow, aiming for its head.

If I threw a spear it might bounce off the thick skull, but Eurytus' bow has brutal strength.

The arrow almost disappears in the boar's head, and the beast collapses without a sound.

"Nice shot, Odysseus. You're doing well for yourself." The goddess' praise reminds me of my fear of Penelope and the impending doom on my path to her.

"I'm not doing better than your Odysseus did. I'm injured, solved one incident, and headed towards the same fate. I know what will happen, yet I can't fight my feelings for Penelope."

"Ah, love is a wonderful thing. And you're mistaken. You dealt with the Messenians much better, and somewhat worse now with these delays. The timeline must be balancing itself out."

"You said I can change my fate, but I'm going to lose my arm in a duel for Penelope, and it will only get worse after that." I groan as we walk toward the felled beast.

"I have nothing to do with your feelings. If you want to complain, blame Aphrodite, it's her area of expertise. She might be mad because I didn't side with her."

"So other gods work against me? What chance do I stand against them?" As much as carrying this boar alone.

I have to mark the route and call the sailors here.

"Face to face? None, of course. But we're talking about your fate and future. Is it so bad to be in love with Penelope?" She asks, raising her eyebrows. "You seem like a good match."

"She's perfect. But if I lose an arm and prestige with it, the timeline will go down the same route, and you brought me back for nothing." I protest, rubbing the hand they'll cut off soon.

"It seems you focus on the wrong issue," Athena shrugs. "Are you against falling in love with the woman perfect for you, or are you against losing an arm for her?"

"Think about how you can win her, rather than how you'll lose because of her."

Easy for her to say. Sure, I want Penelope.

I want to fight for her, but knowing how it will end, the best would be to avoid it altogether.

The fight, that is, and not her. Hmm. She gave me an idea.