Aphrodite Addresses Orual

Dear Orual, let me introduce myself.

I am the goddess Aphrodite. I have been watching you and your sister along the way. While you have felt lonely, please know that you have never been alone. I have given you the benefit of the doubt, which you so selfishly denied your beloved sister, Psyche. You see, Orual, we have a perspective on your intertwining stories that surpasses your ability to understand, which you have demonstrated through your actions. Your sister, who you claimed to love so dearly, confided her story in you. However, you were too blinded by selfishness to give her your trust. I even offered you a glimpse of her glorious palace so that you might see through your blindness to the magnificent life she had a chance of retaining. Instead, your reaction was to reject the truth and build your own reality. I am here to tell you that your reality was quite the opposite, nothing more than a creation of your own mind.

The priest in Essur offered you, Orual, yet another glimpse at the truth of what you had done. Once again, you chose to reject it in favor of your own narrative. You did not yet understand that your perspective was minuscule in comparison to the truth, and you were not open to accepting responsibility for what you had done and your reasons behind your transgressions. It is time to step off your pedestal and admit you wrongdoing.

Alas, your time is near. The damage you brought upon yourself and others was grave, but you shall not suffer much longer. In hurting others, you hurt yourself. You suffered the pains of envy for your sister. Those pains deepened, so deep that you could not see, until you found an opportunity to ruin her. When that opportunity reared its head, you sprang upon it. For that, death shall soon find you. Your punishment has paid itself throughout your life. You missed your love, Bardia, and could never confess your feelings before he passed on. You worked the love of your life to death. But alas, you did not know what love meant. And that, Orual, that is a burden you must carry till the moment of your own death. Leave us now, knowing that your story ends, but Psyche has gained the happiness of which you tried to deprive her.