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Paris, Prince of Troy, vacillates before the three radiant goddesses. Each desires the golden apple ‘for the fairest.’ Each offers a gift. The world’s most beautiful woman. Political power. Wisdom, finesse in warfare.

Three parallel worlds diverge:

1. Aphrodite grants him the loveliest woman, but this starts a war that destroys him and his city.

2. With Hera’s power, he tyrannises half the known world.

3. He chooses Athena for warfare, but while her gifts bring him both power and beauty, wisdom changes him in ways he did not expect.

His rule is peaceful and enlightened, and creates a Golden Age.

Behind the curtain, two shadows dance in the flickering candlelight. Moths drawn to the flame, bumping futilely against the glass shade, two lives saved from their hearts’ desire.

The other shadow sits unmoving, rocking chair stilled, on the silent porch. No glass to keep her from harm, heart charred to a crisp by the flame of rejected love. I cannot reach her, but I smell the smoky embers of despair.

I move to sit beside her, hand on hers. After an hour, she grips it tight. Tiny stirring of micro-roots as her heart begins the long climb back to the light.