The Goddess and Cerastes

After the affair, the goddess was conflicted

with mixed feelings about her past lover, Cerastes.

She sought out Chista, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge, 

the one who leads mortals to the right way.

"What do you wish to know, my child?" asked Chista.

The Goddess gushed, "Was I truly loved or was I only his conquest?"

Chista looked surprised, "You don't know?"

"No!" exclaimed the Goddess. "I remember both good times and bad times."

Chista nodded her understanding, "Yes and one cannot know another's heart for sure."

"But I must know!" the Goddess cried out. "Was there love or was I only his conquest?"

"Oh my dear, you can answer that for yourself," Chista started.

"How?!"

"Simple. A conquest has three stages. Before, during, and after."

The Goddess was impatient with Chista's silence, "So, what about these stages?"

Chista offered a compassionate smile, "Think about your memories, the good times and the bad times. 

If it was a conquest, the good times were before and during - not after."

"But they were good times!"

"Yes, without which there could not have been a conquest."

"Then what's the difference with love?"

Chista emphasized the point, "If it was love, your good memories would include after in equal proportion."

The Goddess sighed and shook her head, "That's confusing. Of course there are no good memories after it's over and he's gone."

Chista explained, "The 'after' I speak of is after the conquest, not after it's over."

"But there were also good times after I gave in to him."

"Yes, it can be like that," agreed Chista. "But that's not after the conquest. That is still during."

"I don't understand!" sighed the Goddess.

Chista paused and let her silence create an expectancy in the Goddess. 

Finally, Chista added, "During includes the time during which he enjoys his conquest. As long as that lasts."

Once again, the Goddess shook her head in confusion, "But no one would stay if there wasn't enjoyment."

Chista nodded, "And yet, in a conquest, his ongoing enjoyment of having you can't compare to that one moment of maximum enjoyment when he finally wins what is so intensely desired. And along with the enjoyment of having there are often other reasons for staying. He may stay to be tended to and waited on and cared for by you but the memories you have of this will not be so good, they'll be different - because after the conquest, he is different. Having had the maximum enjoyment of the conquest, and with the continuation of having you assured, he relaxes from pretense, becoming more his true self, which is not as deferential and loving to you as before. After a conquest, increasingly you do not recognize the person he becomes as he reverts to what he always was but couldn't show you if he wanted to achieve his goal. Bad memories begin with this disparity."

The Goddess held her breath, "And love - from now on, how will I recognize it?"

Chista locked gazes with the Goddess, "We need to be love's conquest, not each other's conquest. When we're the conquest of love, both lovers are the same with each other - before, during, and after being overwhelmed by love's conquest."
"But I cannot know if this is true at the beginning with someone!"
Once again, Chista nodded, "And that's why all who manage to be conquered by love - are also wounded along the way to it."