In the lands where you are a prince, there was a river that the population usually frequents, on a hill below the main temple of Apollo. All kinds of people frequent those crystal clear waters, such as women who washed their children's clothes, warriors who paused their training to take a bath, or even children just looking for fun. In your leisure time, you liked to leave the Palace and walk around that region, especially in the summer, a very hot time in the celestial empire.

It was there that you saw him, almost every afternoon, the same boy. A little younger than you, skin tanned by the beach sun and curly hair. You knew he was a faithful servant to Apollo, he spoke little, but he was as beautiful as the God he worshiped, famous in the surroundings for rejecting anyone who approached, male or female. It was called athos.

On that ordinary afternoon, he was crouched close to the shore, washing a white robe at the water's edge.