Morning at the Palace of Malia

Morning came and when Art awoke, he half-expected to find Argus standing over him with a knife at his throat. Wherefore? He knew not, he didn't even know if Argus knew where he and Thebe were.

Thebe was already awake, resting on her side with her head propped up with her arm. Smiling at her husband, her reddish-brown eyes sparkling, she asked: "How did you sleep?"

Smiling back at his wife, Art replied: "Very well. I dreamt of monsters, blackguards, a stranger I had met and that damsel of my dreams who might very well be you before I met you, Thebe."

"The stranger who had saved you from Antaeus?" Thebe inquired.

Nodding, Art sat kissed Thebe and answered: "The same, my love."

Smiling, Thebe lay next to her husband and thought. When she was done thinking, she said to him: "I wonder if the stranger could have been Heracles. From the way you described him to me, it seems possible."

"Could have been someone like very much like him." Stated Art. "Had I heard of Heracles before meeting Antaeus, I might have mistaken him for Heracles."

"But still…" Thebe uttered as she sat up. "That ratty old lion skin of his."

"What about it?" asked Art. "Anyone could pretend to be Heracles and by having a lion skin."

"But could anyone pretend to be Heracles and defeat Antaeus?" Thebe asked in return.

"Some people are just lucky, even pretenders." Art replied, yet even he couldn't be sure if this stranger was not Heracles.