An owl feather, olives, and her fathers helmet. Iris did not claim to be a paragon of wisdom. She did not claim to know everything, and she did not claim to be the strongest of women. The strong prided themselves on being strong, but Iris did not feel that she had strength now. If anything she felt weak, as if her entire world had been ripped from her. It had been. In a few short months, it truly had been. At least that was the perception of the woman who silently made her way up the steps of the Naos of Athena, the basket in her grasp carrying the offerings she had to give to the patron goddess of this temple, and other offerings for the rest of the gods.



The hem of her soft blue chiton hissed on the marble floor, announcing her arrival to all of the gods who made their home here. It was not her first time visiting the Naos in the past days. This would make multiple days in a row where Iris found herself praying to Athena and the Olympians. But it would be the first in which she expressed the unfailing turmoil that she could not shake.



It was early morning, hours before the sun would rise in the sky, and the young baroness took advantage of the darkness. The soft, constant glow of torches and the light of Apollo's moon giving her the only light that she had to work with. Trailing slowly toward the center of the room, Iris had never felt so daunted within this temple. Not until now. But then... she had never asked so much of the gods before, content to give her worship but ask little, if anything, in return.



Iris of Argyris' green gaze lifted slowly from the marble floor to the large statue of @athena. The young woman took a few long moments to admire the likeness, breathing in once and out once, keeping the clamoring of her heart somewhat calm as she approached closer. She set her basket at the feet of Athena's bronze statue, bending slowly to gather the three tributes that she had brought for her and then approaching the shelves that would hold these gifts.



An owl feather, singed, but in tact from her fire-consumed forest home. A bowl of fresh olives. Her fathers helmet from his time as a soldier, no longer needed by a man who traversed Hades' domain. Each tribute was placed with careful, almost overbearing hands that simply needed control in this one aspect of her day.



Stepping back, Iris waited a single measure before she brought herself to her knees, her hands in her lap as she gazed up at the statue of Athenia's patron goddess. "I am sorry that it is so early, Athena, full of wisdom. But I am sleepless once more..." she trailed off softly, "I have spent days just sitting in your presence, asking nothing of you... but now I admit that I am lost. A man I once loved has made ash and cinders of my home, Artemis' hunting grounds... My husband, though now forgiven, has been hiding from me... Hiding truths in order to protect me when I did not ask of him to. The unrest in Athenia has cost countless hardships to the people of this city and beyond. My province works to rebuild, and the city is finding an unsteady peace, but I still feel..."



Her gaze dropped from the statue, the welling of tears in her eyes making it hard to focus the way she should have. "I feel weak where I never have before. I feel as if I have been assumed so, and thus forced to be such. I feel as if I have no guidance to give my people. I feel as if much has been taken from me, and I have lost the wisdom and courage to face any of it. I feel betrayed by the very people who were supposed to foster comfort and safety in not just my own heart, but others' as well. I do not ask for your wisdom, Athena," Iris said softly, "But your comfort that maybe I shall find my way once more. For the loss and grief I feel is great, but the want of my courage and to protect my people is desperate."



She fell silent then, swallowing hard and lifting her soft green gaze toward the goddess' form, not breaking contact with the goddess until the silence and the soft flickering of the fire in the torches became unbearable. Then she rose to her feet and trailed around the rest of the Naos, leaving an offering to each other god and goddess before she chose to take her leave. A single glance back at Athena's statue once more and the small woman started back down the marble steps in the darkness, pulling her himation tighter around herself to keep the winter chill away. She felt lighter now, saying it out loud, even though it was not all that she felt. It was all she could stand to vocalize, and that had been enough.



This would be enough, she hoped.