“Ficino. He deliberately put himself in the way of a blow meant for you. The attacker was ignoring him and going for you from behind. I’d just got Kebes safely pinned to the stake, but I wasn’t close enough to do anything to help you. Ficino put his body in the way of the blade.” I had been thinking about this ever since.

“For me?” she said, awed and amazed. “He died for me?”

“To protect you,” I clarified. “He didn’t have a weapon or anything he could use as one. He probably didn’t know how to use one anyway. I never saw him in the palaestra. He wasn’t in the troop, he was too old. He just put himself in between you and the blade.”

Arete started crying. “He said he died defending arete, and I thought he meant excellence, but he meant me.”

“He meant both,” Kallikles said.

I put my arm around her, just as Simmea always did when people cried. “Would you have done that for him?” I asked.

“Yes,” Arete said through her tears, with no hesitation. “I’d have tried to do something more effective to stop the attacker, but if that’s all there was to do, of course I would.” She paused. “I couldn’t have answered that as clearly before the battle in the colosseum. I wouldn’t have known. Now I know.”

“And for me?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” she said, just as fast, and then stopped, and pulled away from me as she realized what I meant. “Do you think that’s what she was doing? Mother? But she knew you’re a god.” She stared at me.

“So do you,” I pointed out.

“It’s a strong instinct, to protect,” she said, thoughtfully. “I know you’re a god, but I’d have put myself between you and a blade.”

“You flew down from where you were perfectly safe with Auge and her hammer,” I said.

“Leaped,” she corrected. “And it wasn’t just you. They were heading for the judges.”

“Ficino, and Erinna,” I said.

“And Neleus,” she added.

“A very strong instinct,” I repeated, thinking about that. “A human instinct. One I don’t possess at all.”

“But it’s exactly what you were doing,” Arete said, surprised. “You were about to kill yourself for Mother, when she killed herself to stop you. If that’s what she did.”

“It isn’t the same,” I said, irritated. “I wouldn’t have died. Well, yes, I would, but I wouldn’t have lost my life by doing it, only this temporary mortal life. I’d still have been here, and remembered everything.”

“She had time to think,” Kallikles said. “The battle was over. She had an arrow in her lung, yes, but it wasn’t the middle of a fight and going on split-second instinct.”