"No, no Iolaus. I want 'you' to talk to the kids."
"Me? Me! Why? I mean, what can I tell them?"
Jason tried very hard not to laugh at the squeak that had replaced Iolaus' usual voice, but he failed and had to ward off the angry hero as he replied. "Because they'll be able to ident... hey! Cut that out! Identify with you, Iolaus. Ouch! Come on, I wasn't laughing at you - really! A lot of these kids feel like you did when you first arrived at the Academy. Iolaus? Come on now, forgive? I really need your help. Talk to them, show them that they do belong here."
Iolaus had finally given up his attack on the former King of Corinth and he sat back and contemplated his friend. Hercules stood against the wall, arms crossed, grinning with pride. Iolaus glanced up at him and rolled his eyes. "Leave it out Herc." Turning back to Jason, he sighed, "Okay, okay, I'll do it. But what am I going to say to them?"
Jason grinned and said, "Oh, you'll think of something, Iolaus. You always do."
Iolaus stood in front of the room full of students and tried not to show that he was panicking. He was great at telling a tall tale round a campfire, he was perfectly happy singing a bawdy song or two in the local Tavern, a monster with the face of Hera wouldn't phase him, but a room-full of expectant teenagers had him close to hyperventilating.
He'd planned what he was going to say, really he had. For at least five minutes last night Iolaus had frowned into the firelight and concentrated hard on what he would say, but then the food and the ale had arrived and he had forgot all about his presentation. Nervously the hunter glanced across at Hercules and Jason, who stood next to each other, leaning nonchalantly against the back wall and grinning at their friend.
He wished the ground would swallow him up - it had happened before, and even being covered with green gunk and facing off with the Minotaur would be better than this.
Taking a deep breath and still not knowing what he was going to say Iolaus turned to the children and opened his mouth.
"This is scarier than taking on a hydra and a ghirdra at the same time, with one arm tied behind my back and a blindfold on."
At least half of his audience allowed him a small laugh, oh great - a tough crowd.
"Okay. Jason asked me to talk to you because he thought I could show you what a great place this can be. I have no idea why he thought I could do that, but he's very persuasive, and an old friend..."
"Hey, not so much of the old!" Jason said, loud enough for everyone to hear. He was rewarded with laughter. 'More than I got.' Iolaus thought glumly to himself.
"Ah, I'm not very good at this." Iolaus noticed a boy near the back rocking his chair back on two legs and nodding his head in agreement. He was smaller than the other kids were, he hadn't bothered to bath recently and his hair didn't look like it had ever seen a comb. He reeked of attitude and Iolaus was reminded of himself.
Not one to stand still for long Iolaus began pacing around the room, walking between the rows of desks and slowly closing in on the boy who had caught his attention.
"I guess I know what Jason was thinking, just not the bit about how he thought I could actually get the message across." Stopping beside the boy who was now looking out of the window and chewing on something, Iolaus hooked his foot around the chair leg and pulled. The chair fell back into the position it was designed for and the boy scowled up at him.
"Chairs don't much like being abused. Sometimes they even bite back." Iolaus gave a cheerful grin and walked back to the front of the class, he was beginning to get a feel for this. They were just kids like he'd been, scared, unsure of themselves, and full of bravado to hide their fear.
"How many of you know who I am?"
A few scattered hands were raised, Iolaus flapped his hand in a dismissive manner, "None of those boring school rules with me, just shout it out. The loudest drowns out the rest!"
There were a few minutes of mayhem as each boy and girl tried to drown out his neighbour with his shouts. Eventually order was restored, and Jason and Hercules gingerly removed their fingers from their ears. One red haired boy shouted out, "You travel with Hercules."
"I sure do."
A girl sitting to his right was next, with a very shrill voice Iolaus thought as he squinted his eyes in pain, "You helped Hercules kill the hydra."
"Yeah, that was fun!"
Braver now, more voices poured forth.
"You fought Hera's Enforcer."
"You found the Sword of Veracity."
"You were one of the Argonauts!"
"Yes, with a little help, and oh yeah! All true, anything else?" Iolaus was thoroughly enjoying hearing about his adventures from the kids. He was secretly thrilled that they seemed to know so much about him.
"Didn't you get turned to stone by the She-Demon?"
Iolaus gave a little shudder, "Yeah, don't remind me of that one please!"
More laughter this time, cool, they were warming to him.
The small boy who had gotten Iolaus' attention earlier spoke. "You let Dahak into the world. You killed my father."
Uh-oh. Okay, this is going to be fun.
"I didn't kill your father. I'm sorry he's dead but Dahak was responsible I wasn't. He used my body, yes, he even spoke with the same voice you can hear now, but I was dead. All Dahak had to do was to kill me and then he could take what he needed from me, I couldn't stop him. There's something you all need to remember about the game you're hoping to get into, whether you be soldier or warrior, you can't always win. One day you might meet your match, you might even meet your better.
"All this training is to give you the best chance you can, but sometimes we all fail. Mortal and god alike. Dahak was my failure; I gave him what he wanted by saving the life of someone I cared about. I couldn't change that; I couldn't go back in time and choose differently. I will always choose to save another's life, even at the cost of my own. Not because I don't value my life, but because I do value all life. If you don't feel that way too then you shouldn't be here, because that's what this place is all about."
Iolaus took a deep breath and shook his head slightly, giving a wry smile he looked across at the frowning boy. "Sorry, I got side-tracked there for a sec. Look, I was used by a demon, it wasn't what I wanted. A lot of really bad stuff happened, but it would have happened anyway, whether he'd had me as his puppet or someone else."
Hercules took the opportunity of Iolaus' pause to step away from the wall and speak. "If Dahak had taken someone else his plan would probably have succeeded. If it hadn't been for Iolaus' strength, his courage and his determination..." Hercules paused and smiled at his friend, "If it hadn't been for our friendship, we wouldn't have been able to beat that demon. Remember that. Remember that you all have that same strength in yourselves."
Several of the students laughed nervously and shook their heads. Them? Save the world from demons - no way.
Iolaus pounced on the doubt. "Don't you go thinking that you can't do it! Don't you go doubting yourselves. Believe me, if you learn from Jason and the other tutors here, and if you remember the importance of friendship you can go out there and make a difference with your lives."
"It's all right for you to say, you're Iolaus. You're a hero."
Iolaus grinned, "I wasn't always a hero. I'll let you in on a secret; once upon a time I was Iolaus, son of Skouros, ragamuffin, thief, vagabond, and general troublemaker. I thought I was worth less than nothing. I got lucky; there were other people that believed in me, they got me here to the Academy to learn. I finally got it through my thick head that even I could be a hero. You can too.
"Look at Jason. He's the stuff of legends, he led the Argonauts, he was King of Corinth, he's one of the greatest hero's Greece has ever had, and you've got the chance to learn from him. How lucky is that? Heck, I'm jealous!"
This time almost everyone laughed.
"Jason believes in you, he's not a fool, far from it. If he believes in you, shouldn't you at least start asking why? Shouldn't you give him the benefit of the doubt and start believing in yourselves? Try it - you might be surprised."
Iolaus had noticed one or two of the boys near the back, sneering at his talk, they obviously thought themselves above anything he could tell them. He lowered his voice so that they had to strain to hear him. "People call me hero, but I don't see it that way. I'm just doing what feels right, I'm just doing what any of you could do too." Suddenly changing his tone and raising his voice making the sneering boys jump in surprise, "But you've got to work hard to be in a position to do good. It won't just come to you. If you just sit back and cruise through your lessons, you know what you'll be to history? Not even a footnote. You'll be forgotten, never having reached your potential."
As he spoke Iolaus moved closer to the sneering boys; finally he reached their sides. "Think you're better than the others do you? Maybe, when it's only a lesson, you are; but out there, where it's life and death ... you're dead if you don't shape up. Don't blow the chance you've got here. Take it. Don't be stupid."
Iolaus grinned at the boys and winked as if to say they could still have some fun while they were about it, and then he sauntered back to the front of the classroom.
"There's not much more I want to say to you today..." Iolaus smiled at his audience as they sounded their disappointment. "... well I might be persuaded to tell you about the time when Hercules had to deal with the fifty daughters of..."
"Iolaus!" came the shocked exclamation from the demigod.
"Aw come on Herc! Live a little!" Iolaus winked at the children again and then grinned at his friend. "Okay, okay, I'll be good." He turned serious before speaking again.
"There is something else. It's something that I think is more important than anything else, including anything you might learn here. I'm not saying all the stuff about herbs and medicine, the hunting skills, or the history isn't important. Believe it or not all of what you learn here comes in useful in one way or another through your lives." Iolaus looked at the disbelieving expressions on the faces before him and shrugged. "Yeah, I know! But it really does. And if you can't be bothered to learn it all yourself, just make sure that your best friend does! And then you gotta make sure you stick to him like Hepheastus to Aphrodite for the rest of your life."
This time the whole room laughed and Iolaus sighed, he felt at home here now. He just hoped that they'd take at least some of what he'd said to heart.
"The only other thing I wanted to say is about friends. You see the three of us, Hercules, Jason and me, and all you can see is some old has-been hero types. Well, yeah, there is an argument for that. I am getting way too old for all that running around and fighting ten men at a time stuff. But remember this, we're friends. We've been friends ever since we were your age. We went through a few trials in our days at the Academy and it gave us a strong foundation to that friendship. It's not been all smooth sailing - how could it be with the three of us?"
Jason and Hercules laughed at that and nodded.
"But you know what? They've both saved my life more times than I care to remember. I've probably saved their precious hides a few times too. What I'm trying to say is cherish your friends. If you're lucky enough to forge a friendship as strong as the ones I have then work for it, don't throw it away.
"One man can make a difference, two men who fight together, back-to-back, who don't need to discuss their plans because they each know what the other will do, those two men can shape a world. They can do anything, overcome anything. One man can be a hero, two men can be invincible!"
Jason stood and raised his hand like a small schoolboy wanting to go to the bathroom.
"Oh, sorry Jason. Well, if two are that good then what do you think three might be. Magnificent, unstoppable. Pretty darn terrific!"
Jason grinned and gave a little bow to acknowledge Iolaus.
"Thanks for listening to an old warrior drone on. Life at the Academy can be tough, I remember - believe it or not. But don't ever give up, learn to be the best you that you can be. You have an incredible opportunity here - use it. And most of all, have fun!"
Afterwards no one wanted to leave, and so the three heroes found themselves in the centre of an excited group of youngsters, all with questions to ask and dreams to share. The men were encouraged by the way in which Iolaus' little talk had been received, and enjoyed answering the questions and sharing jokes with the future heroes that surrounded them.
Later, as Iolaus and Hercules prepared to go, Jason took his leave of them.
"Thanks Iolaus. I knew you were the perfect candidate to talk to them."
"Sure Jason, anytime. Just make sure you give me lots of warning next time."
"What, so you can find yourself a nice safe hydra that needs decapitating to avoid me?" Jason said slapping Iolaus on the back.
"Don't you just hate it when your friends know you too well Iolaus?" Hercules said, grinning.
Iolaus pretended to think about it for a moment, turning to each of his friends in turn and finally with a grin said, "Nah! See ya 'round Jason." and hefting his pack onto his shoulder turned to leave.
Hercules gave Jason a quick warrior handshake in farewell and hurried to catch up to Iolaus. "Hey, Iolaus? Ever considered teaching as a profession? Maybe you could teach the kids how to get into trouble in five easy lessons, or how to avoid marrying the General's daughter, or maybe..."
The End
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