Vac was worried about the intruder, the swordsman who'd snuck in. But Vesta herself was surprisingly nonchalant about it.

“It's not for me to worry about. The gangs have their own ways to deal with these things. Unless the man threatens to destroy the balance, it's not a matter that I wish to interfere in. You can pursue it, if you like.”

Vac thought she was underestimating the issue, but he decided to simply change the subject as he asked, “So what's my next job? And regarding the training, uh, can you teach me to do something else for now? I don't know if I can understand what you meant right now.”

Vesta smiled and said, “Alright, there is one other thing you can try out, the last thing for you to learn. But your next job first. Let's see, I'll send you to help out with the healers of this city.”

With that, he was led to a part of the city filled with shady peddlers who sold healing tonics and ‘painkillers’ that just seemed like the drug he'd seen the other day in a diluted form. There were self-proclaimed surgeons who stitched wounds, while selling clothing on the side. Vac himself was guided past them all, to an elderly woman named Baubo who served as an apothecary of sorts, and her grandson Phaeton who helped as her assistant.

The old woman greeted Vac with a smile and said, “So you're the young man who'll be helping with, are you? I'm glad. Please, come in, and forgive me if I'm a bit slow or if you need to repeat things because I'm hard of hearing, one of the things that happens with age, I'm afraid. I'll have you help mix up some herbs for me and, if necessary, help with some other patients.”

While her herbal knowledge was fairly impressive, she was limited by the available resources and her frail body. She was nice and a good teacher, and the work itself wasn't particularly unfamiliar to Vac, but he couldn't help being a bit surprised she was their best healer, according to Vesta. And then after a while, someone was brought in with a severe cut on their chest that was bleeding profusely. From what the friend who'd carried the man said, it seemed like he'd been injured by the swordsman.

Vac could tell that it was a lethal wound, as the man had lost a lot of blood already. But Baubo quickly said in a stern voice, “Vac, get him on the bed, now!”

He frowned but did as she said, and helped Phaeton stem the flow of the blood. Baubo held her hands over the wound and muttered some sort of spell that Vac couldn't hear, and then he watched in amazement as the wound began to close, as the blood stopped flowing and moved back in, as the pained groans of the injured man stopped.

The man thanked her profusely and stumbled out while supported by his friend after receiving some medicines from her. Vac shook himself out of his dazed amazement and asked, “How did you do that?”

She attempted a smile, though he could tell her body was strained by what she'd done, and said, “I've been blessed by Pluto, unlike this kid who's blessed by Vesta. While I know our reputation has been spoiled by those bandits, we have the power to heal as well.”

Vac smiled and excitedly said, “Can you teach me? You see I can-”

“I know what you possess and what it enables you to do, child. But I'm afraid you're not ready to learn this power. Besides, the power of the god of the dead is not something to crave. It is a finicky power, and even many followers of Pluto are incapable of the side of the power I displayed, which is the reason they turn to the path of the bandits.”

When he asked her to elaborate she just smiled sadly and said, “It's a complicated issue.”

Vac grumbled in annoyance but nodded, and continued to go about his work.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

‘Why can she so readily say I'm not ready! It's so not fair.’

Once he returned to see Vesta, he immediately asked, “Do you know why she said I wasn't ready to learn that Pluto magic?”

Vesta stared at him for a moment as though seeing through him, and then said, “You asked about that girl, Princess Medea, wasn't it? And what Ceres was referring to? I suppose I can give you an answer that'll touch on those two queries, though whether you shall understand it is a different matter. Do you remember the poem you overheard on the first day you came here?”

Vac nodded and said, “Yeah I do. It's the story of Ceres and the kidnapping of Proserpina right? I know how it goes, more or less. Pluto kidnapped Ceres’s daughter, Proserpina, Ceres traveled the world in search of her daughter until she found out what happened, and then in her anger put the world into an eternal winter that she would only stop when her daughter was returned. Eventually they came to an agreement where Proserpina would spend two thirds of the year with her mother and the rest in the Underworld with Pluto.”

Vesta chuckled as he finished his story and said, “Ah yes, a kidnapping. That's how a lot of you mortals chose to interpret it. Allow me to tell you the true story.”

Vesta started off by repeating what he'd heard then, and then continued the poem in a way that seemed familiar until it wasn't.

“Hark my words, wee little lads,

and listen to my tale chants.

'Twas a joyous spring,

a boundless young thing,

was taken far, far away.

Even to those near her that day,

the pure tree spirits grown,

her location was unknown.

The Earth mother shook and wailed,

yelling that the poor dryads failed.

The Earth shook as she swore an oath,

She'd be returned or face her loathe.

And so in her wrath then,

She made the earth barren,

sending the world into winter,

in a rage oh so bitter.

The people cried out to the gods,

to rescue their dying crops.

But not even the great Jupiter,

could convince her to make proper

and so he appealed down below,

to his esteemed brother Pluto.

But he, god of the dead, shook his head

and affirmed the dead must stay dead.

Still, Ceres would not relent,

and the world was forced to repent.

Until her dead daughter was returned,

she would not be spurned.

As the dead flooded Pluto’s caverns,

He agreed to take turns.

And so they made a compromise,

a third of a year buried without skies,

the daughter then made alive for summer,

to spend rest of the year with her mother.

But as the girl stayed with Pluto,

an understanding between them grew.

And in the months the daughter was dead,

It grew to the love they had when wed.”

Vac stepped back in surprise as the poem played out. Most of it was in line with what he'd heard, but the part towards the end caught him off guard.

‘Lady Proserpina was meant to be dead? So it was no kidnapping, but merely a natural passing? I knew that she was a daughter of Ceres with a mortal, a half god, so she would've been capable of dying, but still...’

As he stood lost in his thoughts, Vesta asked, “I understand the interpretation that's become common and why that happened. Ceres is a gentle goddess with a lot of followers, and given how it ended it's easy to think of it as a kidnapping caused by love and lust. So, Vacuus Venti, what do you think of this story, the true story, I presented to you? Would you say what Ceres did was justified?”

Vac shook his head and answered, “Of course not! How many died in that winter as all the crops starved? How could that be justified?”

Vesta smiled and said, “Can it not? If someone that precious to you, like that grandmother of yours died, can you truly say that you would not do anything in your power to bring her back?”

“I… I don't…”

“But you are right, of course. Ceres was wrong. The laws of this world must be obeyed, and yet she forced it to be bent, no matter the cost. She was strong, she was fearless, and she would not stop until her goals were achieved. Sound like anyone you know?”

Vac stayed quiet as he took in her words. They weren't wrong, but a part of him found them difficult to accept, for reasons he didn't understand.

Vesta shook him out of his thoughts by saying, “Alright, now for what you asked me before. Normally this is something I'd prefer you to know after the other lesson has been learned, but you do require power on your journey. So here's your lesson, an extension of the first exercise, a weapon that requires absolute focus.”

Vesta held out her palm, and after a moment of exertion, a blue flame flickered on her palm.

“The blue flame requires absolute focus and a honed determination or intense pursuit of a goal. But I warn you, this is a potent tool, much like the lightning of Jupiter your grandmother uses. And in some ways, it stays from my ideals. I hope that if you do use it, you do so wisely.”