Daedalus made his way over the hushing sands of Perachora, the hems of his robes wet with the waves and powdered with white salt. The breeze blew with him, chasing off the heat of the sunset, and he knew - because something told him - that Hera would never return to her statues again.

The stars on the other side of Zeus' constellations were visible now, even though the sun still spread its dying rays over the sky like outstretched arms, and though he didn't pause his slow and easy pace, he still lifted his chin to the column of stars that rose through the heavens like a spire. He followed them up to the very top. Their light had travelled for thousands of millions of years just to be seen by him. His eyes has been designed thousands of millions of years ago just to see them. They smiled at each other.

He passed around a small barrier of pink-stained sea boulders and turned the corner. His smile softened, deepened with grief, but didn't falter. The small, private inlet welcomed him as it did nobody else.

In the centre of the beach stood one single slab of rock and a tattered, weather-beaten something that wrapped around it. The wind rustled the ragged feathers, plucking a few from their stale, wax mounting, and as it blew, that something seemed to squeeze around the stone. Daedalus approached, then with the dry groan of age he sat down beside it. He placed a hand on the mechanical wing, and his fingers stained with rust.

"I have waited so long for this moment," he said to the grave, and as he spoke he heard the softest boom. Then followed the unmistakable sound of a thousand, million voices rising up in song far beneath the ground.

He was a very old man, but as his body leant against the grave and as his heart at last released him, he joined the singing souls with new youth and found his son among the joyful.

Dedicated to Sara for her kindness and Dante Alighieri for his inspiration.

“Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.

Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood." Isiah 54:1-4