The Hyperborean Problem

“It began long ago, in the days of my great-great-grandfather,” Damon said. “He was the chief of our people. Our priestess, who was called Karin, came to him one day and announced that she had received a vision sent by our Goddess. The Goddess spoke to Karin and told her that in the land of the Hellenes she was worshipped with the name Artemis. She commanded Karin to carry gifts of worship to her faraway temple.”

“The tale of the Hyperborean women,” Diotima said. “Meren told us.”

“Meren told you true,” Damon said. “Except for one little detail. Karin and her friend didn’t die of illness. They liked it here so much that they decided to stay. They adopted Hellene names and settled on Delos.”

“Were your people angry?” Diotima asked.

“The people were upset at first, but when the guards explained what it was like here, how warm and lovely, the people understood. Over time, others departed to see this fabled land of Delos. They didn’t return either, but sent back word that they had settled in the village, pretending to be Hellenes, and learned how to fish.

“In all that time, we continued the tradition of sending the Gift to Delos, and hid letters to our distant relatives in amongst the Gifts.”

“How very remarkable,” Diotima said.

“When my father inherited the chieftainship, he decided to move the entire tribe.”

“Didn’t the people on Delos notice?” I asked.

“We arrived in ones and twos, or a family at a time. People move between the islands all the time, you know? We adopted Hellene names, the Hellene way of life. Well, after we were all here we knew, we must keep giving the Gift, in thanks to our Goddess who had shown us the way here.”

“Then you’re the Chief of the Hyperboreans?” I said to Damon.

“I am.”

“You’ve never been tempted to go back home?” I asked.

“You’re joking, aren’t you? We could stay in our native land, where in winter we need a pickaxe to break the water out of the buckets, or we could move here.”

“I see your point,” I said.

“Of course, we have to worry about sunburn, which wasn’t much of an issue back home,” he allowed. “But that’s a price we’ll willingly pay to avoid having our balls freeze off.”

“A very reasonable attitude.”

“The problem is, if the priests find out, they’ll throw us off the island.”

“I don’t see why,” I said.

“We’re not even Hellene,” Meren pointed out. “Strictly speaking, I don’t belong here.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. “That is a problem,” I said, because everyone knew Hellene temples could only be served by Hellenes.

“Meren is our priestess,” Damon said. “It made sense to get her to join the Hellene temple, since it’s the temple of our Goddess too.”

“Very clever,” Diotima said.

“Besides,” Meren said, “it means I can tend to Great Aunt Karin.”

I began to say, “Who?”

“You mean the priestess who brought the First Gift?” Diotima asked.

Moira nodded. “One of them is Meren’s distant relative. We say great aunt, but it’s more probably great-great-great aunt.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said. “You don’t need to transport us anywhere.”

“I suppose you’re going to promise not to tell anyone,” Moira said skeptically.

“No, I’m going to promise to tell Anaxinos, eventually.”

“We’ll have you on the first ship out,” Damon said.

“No, listen to me first.” I sweated a little, despite the time of night. “Pericles wants the treasure of the Delian League—”

“We’ve already said we don’t care about that—”

“And he doesn’t care that you’re the Hyperboreans,” I interrupted. “Trust me, Pericles is not exactly the most religious of men.”

“So?”

“So anything that gets him what he wants is fine with him. If I tell Pericles that you were instrumental to solving this case, and if I tell him that you are necessary to the stability of Delos, then Pericles will force Anaxinos to accept you.”

“Hmm,” Damon and Moira both said at the same time. Damon added, “Anaxinos won’t like you for that.”

“Anaxinos already hates Athens, and I don’t think he’s too keen on me anyway.”

“I will add to that,” Diotima said. “I think if you went to the High Priest and told him your story, you might find him a little more flexible than you expect.”

“I doubt it,” Moira said.

“You might not know that Anaxinos has a history of being destitute and homeless,” Diotima said. “I think he would listen to you with favor.” She hesitated, then added, “Also, without Geros here, it will be easier for him to show ecumenical leniency.”

“That’s the truth,” Meren said.

Damon’s and Moira’s eyes met. Something passed between them. Then Damon took a reaction from the Hyperboreans. Here and there I saw slight nods.

“All right, you stay for now,” Damon said. “As to talking to anyone else, you don’t say a word until I say you can.”

“Fair enough.”

“And remember this, Nico. I like you, but we’ll all be watching you.”

“Got it.”