Let The Games Begin.

Old- and New - Friends

Back in my bedroom, Ajax sits me on my bed and then dismisses himself for the night. Petra sits beside me in a chair hand weaving some palm leaves, and Elias is pacing at the foot of the bed. 

     "So, you said you remembered seeing these girls before?" He asks, pausing to look at me. 

I nod. "Before you and I met, I told my mother there was someone I had considered marrying. She was on a dressing block, and they were her maids. When I approached her with the important news, she waved them off, but I said they could stay. Which I now see, was a mistake."

     "Well, you don't know for certain that just because they work for your mother, that she one hundred percent put them up to this." Petra says, eyes keenly looking at the small basket that is beginning to form in her hands. "For all you know, they could be so loyal to her, that they acted independently in hopes of winning her favor."

     "Hm, that's true," I say, shifting on the bed. "There's no way to really tie the blame on her anyways. Unless we found the vials in her room, or got a confession..." I mutter. "But, if we knew where she was hiding, we could intercept her letters. Have either of you heard if Lucas is back? Oh, and Elias, I just recalled you got sentenced fifty lashes, and a salt and vinegar bath. How was it?" I glance up at him, offering a cheeky smile. 

     "Ha. Ha." He says, frowning. Crossing his arms, he adds, "Let's just say, that's all it took for me to learn how much you value loyalty. I don't think I've ever screamed so loudly in my life." 

Petra flinches and then glances at me. "And my sister is an excellent maid. In some weird way, being indentured to me, our relationship feels like it's genuinely healing."

     "Perhaps it is." I say, fidgeting. "I know the doctors said to stay off of my leg for two weeks but having nothing to do is going to drive me nuts."

Elias let out a small laugh. "This is the time you should be taking to decide how exactly you want to continue. Are you genuinely going to surrender the throne back to your mother? What if she declines. And that's even if Lucas is able to find her."

     "I've given it a great deal of thought, actually." I chide. "If she says no, and I do as well, either way Greece has no ruler. Everything we know to be normal will come to a halt with no one to make official decisions. My worst fear is that she nominates my uncle to be regent in my place...and hers, if she rejects my proposal."

A few moments of silence pass. 

     "Do you have any idea what the person who broke into your room could have been looking for?" Elias asks as he pulls the chair out from behind my desk and moves it to the front. 

Shaking my head, I say, "No. I still have no idea. Nothing is missing or broken. The thought crossed my mind that instead of looking for something to take, they were putting something in."

     "What does that even mean?" Petra questions, flipping the small basket over. Pausing, she looks up at me. 

     "Hypothetically, if my mother is let out of prison and something of hers is 'missing', or even of my fathers, she can have my room searched. If it's found in here, they can blame me and then spread the rumor that I'm an untrustworthy thief."  

     "Wouldn't you have seen something you didn't recognize while cleaning?" Petra asked. 

     "Yes, but perhaps they were hoping that I would have called a maid who would have just put like things together-"

     "And just mix it in with your other stuff. The maid wouldn't know the difference." Elias finishes. 

I nod. "Exactly. But like I said, I don't have anything that doesn't belong to me. Not even a piece of jewelry or a chiton that I've borrowed from my mother. Not even my fathers seal ring."