The Sun God stood in the tower at sunset and allowed melancholy to seep into his bones.
He was tired. So tired. It had been a long summer, and climate change was making his job so much harder. Trying to control the strength of storms and the intensity of light, trying to hold back the worst floods, and don’t get him started on derechos …
All he wanted was to sleep for half a year. Which he would soon. As soon as she woke up again.
He heard Maya’s step on the stairs, light and quick. He sighed and ran a hand over his face, always golden with sky blue eyes under a wild mop of wildly curly blond hair, but now looking weathered, with silver strands creeping into the blond. His shoulders straightened, though he knew Maya would instantly know his state of mind.
“There you are, love,” Maya said in a quiet, low voice. “I should have known you’d be here.”
Sol turned, and smiled. “Hello, beloved. Were you looking for me?” Maya was dressed as usual in long veils and a soft, flowing tunic that offered the impression of form but left everything to the imagination. Sol’s smile widened. That kind of mystery, he thought, never gets old.
“The Sleeper stirs,” Maya responded.
Sol allowed himself to lean against the window frame. “I thought so. Good.”
“You look more tired than usual, my heart.”
Sol could just make out Maya’s eyes appraising him. “It’s climate change, everything is so much harder to control,” he replied softly.
Maya nodded and stepped closer to Sol, wrapping a strong arm around his waist. “Take my strength, all the strength you need.”
“Well,” Sol said with a slight shrug, “there is a way you can help renew me, just a bit.” He fingered the edge of Maya’s veil and raised an eyebrow.
Maya’s laugh sounded of deep rushing water. “Only too happy to help, love. Shall I call for music to inspire our play?”
“That would be lovely.” But before Maya could speak, Sol twitched aside their veil and kissed the full lips beneath.
After a few moments, Maya sighed and said, “I was going to do something. What was it?”
Sol booped their nose. “You flirt.”
The Sleeping Lady stirred, rising slowly to consciousness.
Her skin was ebony, glowing with an inner light. She wore her hair in long dreadlocks, and her eyes, when open, were the silver of the full moon. A long white robe, woven of the softest fibers, draped over her, and white trousers extended to her ankles, which were quite far away from her head. She was lean, strong and powerful, yet glorious in her quiet. She heaved a deep sigh in her sleep, and an autumnal wind whipped across the land, bringing the scent of evergreen, spices, and snow to come. Children’s eyes lit up with the hope of a bountiful Solstice.
She dreamed on, dreaming of the day the Three were formed out of star dust, celestial fire, earth and leaves and ocean water. Bound to this planet, yet born of the stars, they were formed to be the balance, Selene, the Night Queen, Goddess of Winter, sleep, renewal and rebirth; Sol, the Sun God, Lord of Summer, fertility and festivity; and Maya, the Sovereign Soul of the Planet, Ruler of shadow and light, veiled and ever mysterious. A second trio was formed to rule the Southern Hemisphere, but theirs is not our story to tell. They were energetic forms, swirling together out of the dust of a massive planetary collision, the ruins of the planet Theia, and rubble from Earth as well. They spiraled together, a three-armed creature around a central heart, the North Pole of the broken planet Earth. Time passed, and the gaping wound in the planet healed, and the storm of debris coalesced and became the silvery moon. Sol, Maya, and Selene watched as volcanos covered Earth’s surface, while silvery Luna, only a few thousand miles away, exerted excruciating tidal pulls on molten rock. But after a few million years, Luna drew away, and Earth cooled, and the three gathered their huge spiral forms into more substantial shapes and settled down upon the surface of a world slowly awakening to life.
Selene could feel Sol and Maya’s love-making, bitter-sweet, joyful-sad, tender-intense. She smiled, and sighed again, looking forward to their always bitter-sweet, joyful-sad reunion, for the few days that she and Sol were awake at the same time and they were complete. The Moon would be full in a few days. She dropped back down into dreams.
Maya and Sol sat beside Selene’s bed, waiting with what appeared to be admirable patience, at least at first.
“Any time now,” Maya assured Sol. “She’s nearly back.”
“I hope so. I need her to start cooling some stuff down, I can’t take much more of this.”
Maya reached over and squeezed Sol’s hand. “I know, beloved. I’m not a fan myself. Sometimes even these gossamer robes are too much.”
“I wish there was more I could do, but you can’t stop a train wreck once it has started and people just keep piling more stuff into it.”
“That’s a good way of putting it,” Maya sighed. “Maybe the next generation will learn.”
“I don’t think humans were all they were cracked up to be.”
“You roll the dice, you get what you get.”
“Oh, you play dice with the fate of the world, do you?” Sol arched an eyebrow and smirked.
A small, sleepy voice interrupted their banter. “Will you two please let a body wake up in peace?”
“Darling!” Maya cried out with delight. “Welcome back!” They leaned down to kiss Selene’s cheek. “We have missed you so much. Good sleep?”
Selene smiled sleepily as Sol kissed her other cheek. “Yes, good sleep. I missed you guys, too. Not sure I’m ready to be awake, but some people were in here talking and talking and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”
“Well, you were taking your sweet time coming back,” Sol said with a teasing sparkle half hidden by a half-hearted look of disapproval.
“I’m just making up for how late you were last Spring.”
“Now, children,” Maya said, adopting a high squeaky voice – much to the delight of the others, “let us not start bickering now or Fall will never get felled. We will leave you to your awakening, dear heart, but no dawdling! Toodles!”
Sol stood up and backed to the doorway, grinning at Selene all the way.
The trio stood arm-in-arm up in the tower observatory, watching the moon rise over the horizon.
Sol stood between Selene and Maya, hating to admit he really did need their support now. After tonight, he would be much weaker, and when the Equinox arrived in a few more days, he’d take to his bed and dream of Spring. His golden hair was gray, there were deep lines in his face, and his sky blue eyes were overcast. His bones ached from the strain of holding back a planetary apocalypse. He pulled Selene a little tighter to him and leaned his head on hers.
“You’re right,” Selene said, “it does feel like things are careening out of control. I can see why you are exhausted.” She squeezed his waist. “This is gonna be me in six months.”
“Polar vortex equals derecho, I suppose,” Sol said thoughtfully.
“What goes up must come down,” Maya said, their voice soft and deep, with melancholy colors.
“Equal and opposite and all that,” Selene replied.
“We have got to stop being so gloomy or Fall will be a major mop and bucket operation,” Maya said. “We have so little time together. Let’s be merry. Autumn is a magical time, let’s bring the magic.”
Selene and Maya joined hands, and the three began to sing an ancient incantation, so ancient that there were no words, only feelings. The sharp smell of burning leaves; the wind freshening, sweeping away the humidity; the nip in the air when the sun falls behind trees; the homey scent of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice. They sang of the lusciousness of the long dark nights, the holy silence, the stealthy joy of the first snowfall, the way the stars looked sharper and brighter in the freezing air. Their well-practiced harmonies blended like finely mulled wine, and slowly the world began to change.
Equinox morning came with heat and high humidity.
As the trio looked down on the land from their tower, they saw suffering. They saw confusion in the plants, and in the animals. They saw fatigue, weakness, and pain in the humans. They saw trees not sure whether to go dormant or spring into life all over again.
“This has gotta stop,” Selene said. “Can you just go to bed already so I can take care of things?”
“Three hours,” Sol replied weakly. “Unfortunately, we originally set this system up to key the transfer of power at the moment of the Equinox, so … even if I did trundle off it wouldn’t matter. You can’t drive yet.”
Selene rolled her eyes. “Why is everything so late? It should not be this hot right now.”
Maya’s frown was evident in their tone of voice. “Climate change has knocked the seasons completely out of kilter. The ocean currents are like bent gears in a precision clock.”
“Three more hours,” Sol said softly, with exhaustion in his voice.
“Three more hours,” Selene said with an equal measure of frustration.
Three hours passed.
They had a last lunch together. Selene and Maya helped Sol get ready for his long sleep and put him to bed. Selene felt the moment of Equinox approach, and kissed Sol deeply one last time, and Maya did the same. He smiled, and dropped gratefully into exhausted sleep.
“Restore and recover, my love,” Selene whispered.
“Dream deeply and well, beloved one,” Maya said.
They rose and slipped quietly out of the chamber.
Selene called to the Northern Mother, and by nightfall, a wind was whipping through the trees, the humidity was being drawn up or driven out, and crisp air came flowing down to lift spirits, lighten hearts, and ease the fatigue of a too-long summer.
Selene and Maya stood together in the tower the next morning and watched their half of the world come back to life and laughter.
“It’s almost like Spring again, really. Well done, darling,” Maya said.
Selene smiled. “Thank you for your help.”
Maya raised their veil and smiled. “You are so very welcome, my Winter love.”