For the six months when I am back among the living, I able to take on again the responsibilities that are mine by birthright. My mother is Demeter, the goddess of the grain and of fertility. As her daughter I must help her with the harvest.

So I sow the fields, I plant seeds that will flourish and allow the land to renew itself. During the six months when I am in the underworld, all life above dies. Winter moves in, blowing out the fires in the furnaces with her cold breath.

Now that Winter has gone and Spring is on the horizon, the ice melts and the ground thaws, allowing us to sow our seeds again.

It is hard work, but I am grateful for it. Feeling the sweat on my brow, the sun beating on my back, I remember what it means to be alive.

When I have a moment alone with my mother, I ask her, “Do you know of a Dimitri?”

“Dimitri… oh yes, he is the son of Aegus, the blacksmith. His mother, Ladon, died giving birth to him. They say the gods gave him the gifts of beauty and strength for that loss.”