I couldn't stop myself. I mean, she looked so beautiful. With all those flowers garnishing her long mane of hair and the perfumes of the Atlantis dusted across, I just couldn't. Resist, I mean. I went straight off and kissed her.

And now, here I was, in the midst of the barren land. I sighed. It was a stupid decision, but I wished I hadn't acted on it. I had to pay for it.

I walked some more and sat down, tired. After a few minutes, maybe I would ask someone for food. That little hut looked okay. Generous, not rich. Just...different.

"Out! How dare you break the rule?" the voice thundered, and I had visibly winced.

"I...it happened."

"Are you even normal?" asked Rae. I couldn't fathom it. It was always like that. "We're nymphs who mate with males. Get it? Males. Heck, are you that irrational? Or stupid?"

I didn't know.

"Your powers are henceforth taken away," said the Judge, Dana. Dana was one of the most beautiful and the oldest nymphs. "In addition, the water will never have any connection with you."

"Wait, what?" I asked aloud. The brevity of the situation hit me like hot coffee and I scowled. "That's my element. My...soul rests in there."

"You should have thought about that," Dana said, her mouth pressed in a thin line. "What do you say, Merope?"

Merope, the girl whom I had kissed, looked tear stricken, grieved and anguished. She spoke up. "Cynthia did a terrible mistake. I can't live with her anymore. Banish her."

They exiled me. With that my beauty too. And most important that had stripped my soul away. I touched the pool, looking into it. I would have stared at it in awe before. Now, I winced. Wrinkles stretched across my skin. I looked old. I closed my eyes, touching the waters, waiting for my soul to connect.

Nothing happened and I knew I had lost it. Tears spilled down.

When I was too tired to continue any longer, I walked up to that little hut, hunching over and knocked.

A veiled woman opened the door.

"Could I...please have some food?" I asked weakly. "I'll pay by service."

She nodded. "No. Service, I do not need."

I raised my eyebrows. "Then, what payment is it?"

She remained silent, and I wondered why she covered her face. I didn't ask.

"It's time to feed the kites, canaries, and not to forget the sparrows, too," she said softly, collecting some grain and after that, she fished out a bowl and got some hot soup into it, lending it to me.

"Thank you."

I dug into it viciously and licked my lips, careful to keep a bit of my manners. Afterwards, my curiosity piqued. "Do they take food from your hand?"

"For a hundred and ninety years," she laughed. "Yes."

I followed her, watching her scatter the grains as flocks of pigeons, sparrows, canaries and parrots feasted it. She petted them. They let her.

"It's like...they know you," I whispered, trying to touch one, but it flew away. I frowned.

"Yes," she saw me. "Do not worry, they take time. They took ten years."

"Oh."

"But, perhaps, they might take less for you," she offered.

"Why is that?" I asked, looking at a parrot, taking rice from her hand.

"Because...I can't say that."

I nodded.

"Aren't you a nymph?" she asked.

"Yes," I sighed. There was no point in hiding it now. If the Drummers and the Whistlers came, they'd send the message. By singing. "I...kissed a girl."

She laughed. "That's why they banished you, huh?"

"Yes, and there's nothing funny," I snapped back.

"I never meant it that way," she said apologetically. "I only see the even uglier side than when I came here."

"What ugly side have you seen?"

She got up without a word, and I followed her back in. I wanted the sparrows to feed from my hand. Somehow, I just wanted a desperate connection with nature.

"When I came here, not a single thing would dare come near me. I was so dangerous," she continued. "Except for the winds. Iranov. He's my friend. He always braided my hair. He didn't look at my face. He never judged me the way others did. You see, it was him that brought me to the birds and the sun."

"Why...do you cover your face if you want the winds in your hair?"

"Because, I need someone. People have gone away."

She let me sleep but never gave her name. I told her mine.

The next day, I saw her with her back to me, but her veil down. I walked tentatively, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I didn't know what I wanted to see...maybe, that I wasn't the only ugly one...

"Don't come around!" she said sharply. I obeyed but the question lingered.

"Why? Do you feel you're that hideous?"

"Yes," she answered hoarsely. "I didn't , at first, but they made me feel so." A little hiss always sounded in her voice; She must be sick.

I saw the hands of the God Of Winds, playing with her hair. The Hands braided her hair, as she giggled like a little girl, as her locks flapped around.

"Thank you, Iranov," she said.

It even hugged her.

"Iranov," I said, looking at it in awe. "Will it braid my hair too?"

"Only if you love to feel him on your face. And if you can feel His hugs."

She put her veil back and looked at me, standing rigid. I frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I know you're a banished nymph," she continued. "But, you look beautiful to me, even though your youth has been lost."

I noticed how the leaves bent to her, aching for her love, how the winds toyed with her hair. The canaries that pecked from her hand, and the mist that dusted her nose. She told me that nature had never abandoned her. Not even when everyone did.

I looked into the pool, catching my reflection and trying to rejuvenate myself. I looked so old; my luscious black locks were turning grey. I cried that day. It was my fifth. I had nothing to live for.

"You must not believe so."

I hastily wiped away my tears. "You have no right to say that when you veil your face."

"You want to know, then?" she asked, hurt in her voice.

I realized later when I was looking at the pool. At my reflection. She'd come and told me not to get scared. I obeyed. She told me she was going to show her face but on no occasion was I to turn.

I realized now. She was Medusa. The Gorgon. The Ugly woman. Shunned.

I stared at her in the pool. Snakes hissed around as she looked back at me. I quickly shut my eyes, remembering the curse.

"You'll turn to stone when you look at me directly only. I veil myself so that the birds will not turn to stone. I am tired of this. Looking at everyone and them turning to stone. What use is it?" she said bitterly.

I peeked my eyes open. In fact, when I looked at her closely, I saw how beautiful she was. Her skin had a power so eccentric. She would have been a true beauty without the snakes. Her lips formed a perfect bow, sprinkled with the sugar from the snowflakes.

"I haven't looked at myself," she continued, eyes downcast. "They made me think so. I think it's pretty bad, don't you think, especially after the incident?"

I remembered why she became a Gorgon. After being raped by Poseidon in Athena's temple, she was cursed by Athena.

"Of course. I don't mind the snakes. But, turning people to stone?" she laughed , as her shoulders shook with a sadness so unmistakable. Of loneliness.

"I think you're beautiful," I say, looking at her. "You taught me about the Winds. The Birds. The Soul of Nature who doesn't discriminate. Who knows our souls. The truths. How there is much more than we actually see. You made life beautiful."

"I thought..." she said, frowning.

"That no more of beauty is left?" I asked. Looking back into the pool, I saw one ugly lady who learned about beauty and one beautiful beast who knew the truths.

I bent low, touching the pool with my lips. I saw Medusa's eyes widen.

"What are you doing?"

I didn't respond, I knew that she knew the answer. I couldn't touch her; for I would turn to stone. Suddenly, the water bent to my will, curling around my lips, the ripples freeing themselves to her lips. It stopped there. I looked back.

"My...powers," I cried. "They're back. My connection."

In the next few days, I taught her to make a connection with water. They were friendly.

We stood, side by side, the Winds braiding my hair, and the fishes kissing her hands.

She laughed. "I guess we found ourselves."

I didn't say anything as a sudden thought occurred to me. Every night, that was our ritual. I would kiss the pool, the waves carrying it to her. And she would kiss the air, the Winds carrying it to me.

But, now, it was going to change.

"Medusa?" I asked. "People don't turn to stone if they touch you, do they?"

"I don't honestly know," she admitted. "Frankly, I doubt they'd want to."

I cracked a smile, as the stars winked back at me. I turned to her, closing my eyes, my heart beating wildly as I knew I could turn to stone. I pulled back her veil, one of the snakes entwining around my fingers as I leaned in before she could protest. I kissed her, pulling back, my eyes still closed.

I felt my lips turn to stone, the stony feeling spreading as Medusa felt it too. We opened our eyes and that was the last of those blue green eyes I had seen.

She turned to stone before my eyes. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know my curse had extended this far.

"No!" I screamed, catching her. Her eyes crinkled, a smile in them, before they became like granite. I wept, holding her. We had spent so less time. I didn't know how much...but, I knew I wanted to spend more time. I didn't understand why Cynthia had to be so rash.

"Why?" I cried to the skies as Iranov stood by, patting me on the back slowly. "Go away!"

The birds flew away as Iranov went. Everyone left. I kept her statue in my house. I kept it for a measly three days before I couldn't bear the sadness and threw it into the sea.

Now, I had nothing left.

"Must I be so cursed, oh Athena?" I cried out as the rain started to pour. Not a sign of Athena.

It poured down, a silent patting against my cheeks as I realized this was Cynthia's element. Her connection. Her soul. I stood up, closing my eyes and felt it on my face, my shoulders, dripping down my back.

"I wish you were here, Cynthia," I whisper. I dance to the beat of the rain, like she taught me to. This time, the steps are my own. I dance for her. For me.

I feel Cynthia on my lips, almost there as I laugh aloud. "Cynthia!"

I can almost hear her song for me. The one I had shown her to do to call the birds.

The water drips down my shoulders, down my back, as I shiver in the long sleeves. Dark settles in. No one is there. I take off my shirt, gesturing to Cynthia as I dance to the beat she makes and she sings along to my rhythm. We connected. Two lost souls in the rain.

******

entry for lgbtq and myth contest!