Page 33 of Hekate: The Witch

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Perhaps my curiosity

is what I used to fill the hole it left.

All things have a purpose.

Not every purpose is good.

Charon

Our friendship happened slowly.

One day he brought me food

and the next, he brought me a story.

And when I enjoyed the tale,

he told me another.

His work in the Underworld

was to transport recently dead

spirits to the realm in which they would

spend eternity.

They brought with them his payment

in two coins, placed on their corpses

before they were cremated.

Apparently, he took the coins

as means of tradition,

but what he valued most

from those he ferried were the tales

they had collected over their lives.

Soon, this became a habit.

He would visit me in my new home

and find me by my sunlit window.

Together, we would take in

a sunrise or a sunset.

And he would tell me one

of the many stories he received

from his many passengers.

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