First they beat him, then they kicked him, then they dragged him to the rock and chained him, and every day the eagle came to rip out his liver. 

That's where I met him, years and years and years later, the skin of the Nemean Lion on my back and three golden apples on my mind. Apollo's chariot was cresting the horizon, burning the mist from the Caucasus valleys and throwing knife-edge shadows that sliced blue across the high snow. 

"Water?" he asked.

I lifted my waterskin, and dribbled some between his cracked lips. 

"Better than ambrosia." His voice was rusty from disuse and beautifully inhuman. I met his gaze, but couldn't hold it; I had faced humans and monsters and gods, but his eyes held the dark beyond the stars, and it unnerved me.

"I'll take your word for it," I said.

His smile was slow, but bright. "So, why are you here?" 

"Just passing by." 

He quirked an eyebrow. 

"My father, Zeus isn't…" I shrugged, uncomfortable. "Even if I don't always agree with him, I can't just act against him thoughtlessly. But I wanted to meet you, at least." My brows furrowed. "My… great-uncle once removed." 

He snickered. "Do they still tell of me, then?" 

I fumbled at my belt, extracted my firestriker, and held it up. 

"Ah." He nodded. "Good enough, I guess." 

We stood silent, save for the clinking of his chains and the distant roaring wind. 

"How do you bear it?" I gazed across the white peaks, rolling like the sea, like the wake of Jason's [i]Argo.[/i] Beautiful but harsh. 

"Oh, it's not so bad." He shrugged. "Sure, there's the eagle, but… I dunno, it's not like it's personal, you know?" 

"No, I really don't." I leaned my club against a boulder, and sat down across from him. 

"Would you believe me," he said, "if I told you this was all a ruse?" 

I quirked an eyebrow. 

"They call me [i]foresight[/i]." He winked. "What if I had this all planned out? I joined Zeus' faction in the Titanomachy," he said, the word echoing with unguessable weight, "and avoided Tartarus. What if being here instead is a scheme, a trick, a long game?"  

"Is it?" 

"Hah! No." He smirked. "Who [i]wants[/i] to get their liver eaten every day?" 

I frowned. "People can put up with all sorts of things, if they have to. I'm doing my damndest to fetch golden apples, for a man I wouldn't piss on if he burst into flames." 

"Hah!" The Titan laughed. "I like that." 

We shared a smile. 

"Still," he mused. "Working for your worst enemy, huh?"

"Yeah." 

"How do you bear it?" 

"…Point taken." I shrugged. "But I have goals to meet, directions I'm progressing in. I'm less..." I glanced at the chains. "Tied down."

"Ah, but what comes after those goals? What happens when you reach them? And then, after that? Just how far ahead are you looking?" 

I contemplated for a moment. "Far enough, I think." 

"Doubtful." He chuckled and his chains clinked. "Take it from someone who's been there." 

"So… should I just give up?" 

"You might be happier. My idiot brother did that, and ended up married to - literally - god's gift to men."

"I can't live like that." I looked up, and met those strange eyes, the dark behind the stars. They made me shiver, but I couldn't look away. 

"Then do your best, and take it as it comes. That's what I did." 

"And you ended up here." 

"For now." His sigh was philosophical. "I'm not ended yet."

"So, you just do the right thing, one step at a time, all the time, until you're dead?" I shook my head. 

"Is there a better option?" He laughed. "We make more than one or two choices in our lives. It's not all-or-nothing, something you can do once and abandon. Besides, the right choice, by itself, doesn't guarantee anything - except that you've chosen as best you can. If you can't live with that..." 

"I guess." 

I heard a distant call. 

"Ah, there's the eagle." His smile faltered. "Best be on your way; I'd rather you not watch this." 

I nodded, stood, turned away.

"Thanks for the water." 

I shook my head, turned back, and seized a chain.