A God's Mercy (Apollo x OC)

Chapter 10

These slaves were even more hard-headed than a cannonball. For the past month, Melantriche had been doing her best to get any details out of them. But what they told her was all the same as Lyra's story: Thieves came and brought ruckus to the party. The story in itself was positively ridiculous to Melantriche, so she persisted in pestering them in any way she could: bribery, threats, anything. But still their lips remained shut. Perhaps that was because they knew that she couldn't hurt a fly even if she wanted to. And besides, Lord Adrianis treated them well, so what reason could they have to want to buy their freedom? Not even Leida's emerald earrings, which apparently were Melantriche's now, could get their eyes to twinkle. Blast it all!

And during all of this, Leida stayed in her room, not once coming out, not even to bathe or eat. Melantriche could not visit her, for a guard had been stationed at the door to prevent unwanted visitors. Leida would not agree to see anyone, not even her daughter. For a while, Melantriche was terribly worried until she saw that her mother's favorite slave, Giulia, a young Anatolian blonde was bringing her meals and even managed to sneak a small wooden tub into her room without anyone noticing. Only she was allowed inside, which peeved Melantriche off to no end. Not only that, but the sky had remained completely dark and gray, ever since the day prior to the festival, at first Melantriche payed no mind to it, until she realized that the slaves were gossiping about that subject too.

"They say Lord Apollo is angry." Lyra said quietly as they spun wool together in the dark room. The gynaeceum did not have windows, curtesy of men who thought it improper for women to be seen in public. As such, they had to light candles to work, despite it being early in the afternoon. The women whispered in hushed voices so as to match the atmosphere they were in.

"I wonder why he could be."

"As do I." Lyra finished spinning a long strip of wool and bundled it around a thick spool. Melantriche cleaned the wool lumps from the wicker basket with a course brush and gave her another strip. "The moon isn't shining at night either. It's very worrisome."

"Do you think someone has angered them? The gods, I mean?"

"I truly hope not." Lyra said quietly. "I hope all these worries blow away, and that we can live our lives peacefully again."

It did not get better. If anything it had become worse. Without the sun and moon shining, Athens was concealed in perpetual darkness. The crops were starting to wither, and thieves had become very prominent as of late. The clouds that obscured Phoebus' chariot never went away. It never rained, they clouds just stayed there, not even moving or changing shapes. Now Melantriche was absolutely sure that the gods were indeed mad. And the fact that her household was being stooped in secrecy did not help this fact at all. She prayed to Zeus that none of this had anything to do with them, but for the twilight to begin just after the incident...

She'd not seen Father since then. It was very small glimpses of him that she had to make due with, of him hurrying down the hall or rushing out the door. This was upsetting, seeing as though he'd always tried to make time to see her. Athens has been living peacefully, and so he'd always had time to spare. But ever since the incident he'd also been gone from Melantriche's life, always being summoned to meetings and such. And Lyra was just as secretive as ever. There had never been a time when Melantriche felt more alone. She felt it was imperative to find out the truth of these events, so that at least she wouldn't be lost in the dark, as if that would save her family. But it could not, and that was probably why everyone had kept her secluded from the family issues, because she could do nothing about it but worry and there was no point in worrying about anything. Even so, she had a strong sense of dread that all of these occurrences had involved her and so she just had to find out. But what was there to find out, with everyone's mouths sealed shut? After several weeks her resolve to unravel the mysteries of the incident had weakened sufficiently, and she had found very little information, other than that of all things that Lyra had fibbed about, she had been right in saying that Leida had become bed-ridden. But Melantriche knew the reason was not because of bandits, because she had searched the entire house when no one had been looking, and she'd found no hole in any wall. She had concluded that the most logical place for there to be a hole would have been somewhere in the cellar room. In there, there was no remnant of hole, not any specific mark that showed there'd been damage done. Lyra had lied, obviously. But why? If her mother hadn't become ill out of worry, then what? Melantriche remembered her mother's sour attitude during the festival and shivered. Surely for not for that reason? But what other reason? She couldn't find any.

Another month had passed. The sky remained dark. Leida remained bedridden. Adrianis was gone. Lyra continued to lie. Melantriche had given up. The town was in shambles. The people were starving.

The clouds just stayed.

And stayed.

And stayed.