Years later post-canon!!!
Footsteps on sand slowly approached the sea before being accompanied by the sound of a weary man gently sitting upon the beach. “Do you, a god, remember the faces of those you’ve met?” The question came not out of nowhere, but out of something close to it.
“I used to,” Poseidon answered carefully. “But it overcomplicates.”
“Will you always remember my face?” Odysseus blurted out. He looked down at his hands clasped firmly in his lap.
Poseidon sighed wearily. “Every version of your face that I’ve seen has been etched into my skull so deep that I could never begin to forget a single one.” He turned his head to look at his companion. “I’m getting the feeling this isn’t just about that however.”
“I’ve forgotten my friend’s faces,” he whispered. “Their voices too. It has been years with them and years without them and yet as I slowly gain more years without them I keep on losing my memories of their faces. I miss them terribly.” He watched Poseidon digest his sentences while wishing he could digest a bit faster.
“I think,” Poseidon began, “that it is natural to forget, no matter how heavy the impact. The routine of remembering is easier when the subject you’re trying to remember is near.” His hands were fidgeting. “But if you are trying to assign a moral judgement to this mortal confinement, I would ask you reconsider that position.”
Odysseus’s eyes glittered as he huffed. “Years ago, you would never have said such a thing.”
“You and your family have weakened me,” Poseidon admitted. The waves were as calm as the day Odysseus left these shores.
Poseidon shrugged. “There is no ‘but.’ That is simply what has happened.” He paused. “But I . . . I suppose I do not mind it.” He was now fidgeting with a frayed thread.
Odysseus gently grabbed his hands before Poseidon could cause any damage to the cloth. He politely ignored how Poseidon still flusters slightly at the touch. “I appreciate it,” he said as earnestly as he could. “Your counsel continues to prove helpful, Poseidon.”
Poseidon shrugged, looking stoutly away from Odysseus’s face. “If my counsel is what you seek, then I would be happy to provide it.”
