Dante and I made our way through the first circle of Hell without any major distractions and avoiding Aristotle. Luckily, while chatty, Dante is in decent shape, so he did not slow me down. I am thankful that with the generations they did not get soft. However, once we reached the Second Circle, Dante became curious. "Who is here?" He asked.

I replied, "Some friends of mine. They aren't too bad. You probably have read of them. Like Helen, Cleopatra, and Catullus. I wish they were in the First Circle."

His eyes got wide. "The Helen? The Helen of Troy? The woman who started the Trojan war because she was so beautiful?"

"Well, it was more complicated than that. Yes, she is pretty but she is more than that. She left a terrible marriage and..." He was gone before I could finish. He wanted to see Helen for himself. I yelled out, trying to warn him that the strong winds which punish those here can overcome you if you step off the path, but he jumped off the path and ran towards the people to meet her.

Our time together has been short, but I was starting to kinda like him. Also, he was smart, and as a born and raised Christian, he had great ideas for my appeal. So, illogically, I followed him, making sure he was safe.

Getting thrown side to side with each gust of wind and falling every other step, we had to climb over large rocks to descend into the valley where everyone gathered. The dark grey sky looked like a storm was coming, but the wind never changed intensity. Slowly, we made it to those of the Second Circle. Not my first time here, I started seeing familiar faces and made my rounds greeting people.

Dante, once again, became star struck. He had met Cleopatra. Cleopatra and Catullus were leaning together, using each other to brace themselves from the wind. As they were exchanging introductions, I explained to Dante who Catullus was and why he needed to care. Thankful, Dante replied, "I can't wait to read it."

He then looked at Cleopatra and began his questions. I expected him to ask her about her relationship with Caesar because of the books he said he has read. But, instead, he asked her about her rule over Egypt. He then asked, "Are you in this Circle because you committed suicide?"

Cleopatra laughed. "No, that sin was mostly forgiven because of the political pressure and I didn't force the snake to bite me. I only made the situation possible. I am in this circle because of my three marriages and a couple of affairs. My story is kinda tame compared to the way Catullus tells his though. Welcome to the Second Circle."

Dante nodded understandingly, and continued to ask Cleopatra and Catullus questions about their lives, compared to the versions he knew.

When I pointed out who Helen was he became silent for the first time. "Want to talk to her?" I asked. He nodded in response.

We walked over to her, and I introduced him. She smiled and immediately recognized that he was alive. "Salve, Dante." She asked, "What's it like to breathe in Hell?" Then, she continued to ask him to fill her in on his story.

He shyly told his story of an alive man in Hell, but painting himself as more heroic than I remember. He told the story with a subsection of him saving me, but Helen knew he was exaggerating. Helen nodded along anyway and made him feel accepted. He knew that no other experience on this circle could compete, so he looked at me signalling it was time to leave. So we began our struggle our way back against the wind.

Nearly crawling at some points, I thought we would be stuck in the Second Circle for forever, but we thankfully escaped. Back on the path panting Dante turned to me and said, "She is so much more than I thought."

"If I win my appeal, I want to help her with hers," I responded, and we continued on deeper into Hell.