The Next Generation: Hades's Helm

Chapter 19: Ally

 No.

The next day, the three girls left Eun-woo's house, wandering around the city, looking for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Nothing stuck out to them.

So, that night, they stayed in a hotel. The lights were weird, but Ally quickly figured out that they just had to leave one of the key cards in a slot that turned on the lights.

There were only two beds, which was awkward for a moment, before Hayley offered to sleep on the floor. Thunder tried to protest, but Hayley insisted. So, Hayley slept on the floor with the spare pillows and blankets, Ally took one bed, and Thunder took the other.

After about an hour, Thunder fell asleep. When Ally heard her breathing even out, she sat up, looking down at Hayley. Sure enough, the younger girl was still awake.

Ally smiles, shifting. "Let me guess. You want another story?"

Hayley thought for a moment before nodding. She sat up, looking up at Ally, waiting to hear her story options for that night.

"Hm... Let's see..." Ally hums, looking up at the ceiling, thinking of stories that would interest Hayley. "We could do the story of the time Hades tried to cheat on Persephone and failed miserably... Or how Odysseus got dragged into the Trojan war."

Hayley remains quiet for a few moments, before speaking up quietly. "What's the Trojan war?"

Ally smiles and nods, shifting a bit so Hayley could come up and sit with her, which she did. "So, Odysseus, prince of Ithaca, went to the courting of Helen."

Hayley, of course, immediately interrupts. "Oh, I've heard of her! Helen of Troy, right?"

Ally chuckles and nods. "Mhm, Helen of Troy. But that's later. Right now, she's Helen of Sparta. Anyways, men from far and wide came to try to win Helen's hand in marriage."

"Why did so many men want Helen as their wife? There had to have been more women that would marry them," Hayley asks, looking confused.

"I'm getting to that!" Ally says, chuckling and raising her eyebrows. "Helen was the daughter of Zeus and considered the most beautiful woman in all of Greece."

Hayley still looks confused, but she leans back, fidgeting with her hands. She's clearly still listening, though.

"Anyways, there were hundreds of men trying to win Helen's hand. Some as young as thirteen, some already having wives," Ally continues.

"Why were they trying to marry Helen if they already had wives?!" Hayley interjects, looking appalled.

Ally shrugs, smiling and chuckling a bit. "It was ancient greece. Men had as many wives and concubines as they wanted."

"What are concubines?" Hayley asks, her nose scrunching up in confusion. It was one of the many faces she only made in the night, when she thought nobody could see her. Ally saw her, though. In every sense of the word.

"Um... Basically, they were bed slaves. Serving women that the men used when their wives were pregnant or when they were away at war," Ally explains, glancing at Thunder. The older girl managed to sleep through their conversations.

"Hm..." Hayley grunts, the expression on her face deeply thoughtful. "But isn't that cheating?"

"The Greeks didn't consider it cheating," Ally says, shaking her head. "As long as they were away at war or their wives were pregnant, it was fine. Also, the concubine had to be either unmarried, a widow, or a war prize. It was also considered okay if two men lay together during times of war."

Hayley raises her eyebrows, looking quite surprised. "Two men being together was okay?"

"Only during times of war. Two men couldn't marry," Ally clarifies, shaking her head. "But we've gotten distracted. Back to the story."

Hayley nods, shifting a bit and taking off her jacket again. Ally pretended not to notice, not wanting the younger girl to feel uncomfortable.

"Odysseus was there for the courting of Helen, but he didn't have eyes for Helen. He wanted someone smarter, wittier. He wanted Helen's cousin, Penelope." Ally continues, picking at a scab on her wrist from a training accident.

"So why was he trying to marry Helen if he wanted Penelope?" Hayley asks, looking out of the window of the hotel room.

"He wasn't trying to marry Helen. He was mostly there to see what would happen. Plus, Penelope was there, so he came to see her as well," Ally answers, shaking her head. "Back to the story. The men started to fight over who should marry Helen. So, Odysseus came up with a plan."

"What was his plan?" Hayley asks, looking back at Ally. She's still engaged in the story.

Ally found it funny that Hayley looked so fascinated by the story when it's one her siblings have told her so many times.

"I'm getting to that," Ally chides softly, still picking at the scab on her wrist. "He proposed letting Helen choose her husband, which was odd at the time."

"Wait, women couldn't choose their own husbands?" Hayley asks, interrupting once again. But Ally didn't mind. She was happy to answer all of Hayley's questions.

"Nope. Most of the time, women were sold into marriage for money or power. It was very rare that a woman would choose her own husband, even more rare to marry for love," Ally says, crossing her legs.

Hayley grunts quietly, turning her gaze out of the window again.

"Anyways, to prevent the other men attacking the chosen husband, Odysseus made them all swear an oath to protect Helen and whoever she married. Odysseus was made to swear the oath, too," Ally says, her scab having started to bleed. She quickly grabs a tissue and presses it against the open wound.

"Wait, why? Odysseus didn't even want to marry Helen. Why did he have to take the oath?" Hayley asks, fidgeting with her fingers once again.

"Um..." Ally hums, her eyebrows furrowing. She didn't know the answer to that one. "I don't know. Point is, he did. Helen chose Menelaus. So, when Paris kidnapped Helen-"

Hayley cuts Ally off, turning back to her. "Woah, woah, woah. Back up. Who's Paris? And why would he kidnap Helen?"

"Oh, right. Paris was the prince of Troy. As for why he kidnapped Helen... That's a story for another night," Ally says, shrugging.

Hayley nods, turning back towards the window.

"Anyways, when Paris kidnapped Helen and took her to Troy, Menelaus called on the oath to gather armies to fight for his wife back," Ally continues. "But Odysseus had just had a son, named Telemachus. He didn't want to leave for war and leave his wife with a newborn. So, he pretended to be crazy."

Surprisingly, Hayley didn't interrupt with a question. Instead, she just nods, still staring at the scenery out of the window.

"When Menelaus came to collect Odysseus to make good on his oath, he was plowing the fields. But Menelaus saw through the mad act. He took Telemachus and dropped the boy in the line of the plow." Ally continues, watching Hayley's expression carefully.

"He... He didn't actually run the baby over... Did he?" Hayley asks, her voice quieter now.

"No, of course not. He wasn't actually mad. He stopped and picked up his son, which exposed his lie," Ally says, shaking her head. "So Menelaus collected him and his armies and sailed off to war."

Hayley nods, looking down. She glances at Ally, the smallest smile on her face. She didn't think Ally saw, but she did. "I guess it's time for bed now?"

Ally nods, wiping her wrist with another tissue. "Yup. Sweet dreams."

Hayley didn't reply this time. She just crawled down onto her makeshift bed and fell asleep.

Ally was asleep within a few minutes as well.