Profession

The state of the welcome

One woman came onto the pier and deftly tied up the boat. I boosted the pups out, and they looked around rather suspiciously. The woman, a soldier by the look of her, took one of my bags and I took the other, following her down to the others who were waiting. The general was waiting for me with Menalippe. "Welcome home, Lysippe," the priestess said briskly, kissing my cheeks.

I waited for the general to protest this designation, but all she said was that I looked like I'd been in a fight. "And who are these?" She looked at the pups with interest.

"This is Thyra, this is Langley," I introduced her. "Pups, this is the General Antiope, and this lady is the High Priestess Menalippe. I'm afraid I don't know the other woman."

"Iphis," the general said. "She's one of my patrol leaders." I nodded to her.

"Come along," Menalippe said briskly. "The queen wants to see you." Yay. We walked to the inevitable horses and set off at a smooth canter. The pups brightened up and made it a race, but they had to follow because they didn't know where they were going. We pulled up to a walk when we made the city, and dismounted in the courtyard. The general led the parade up to her sister's office.

"Lysippe, this is an unexpected pleasure," the queen said, rising from her seat behind her desk. She too came over to kiss my cheeks. What was everybody smoking around here? Except for the general, and even she was less antagonistic than usual.

"I got caught up in events at home," I explained. "I needed to get out of the country while protective services understands what happened."

"Athena informed Menalippe that you were coming," the queen said as chairs were brought around. There were introductions, and the pups were very interested in all this.

"I remember Torunn well," Hippolyta said, and I caught them up on the latest from Asgard and Torunn's activities. Refreshments were brought, and I drank the water thirstily. I never like to drink much when traveling because sometimes the bathrooms are not nice. Basins were brought in for the pups and the server asked what they would like to eat. Refreshments taken care of, I explained how I'd gotten to know the princess, what happened at the garden party, and put it into the greater context of the assassinations, which I'd learned more about from special editions of the newspapers that I'd picked up in Athens. Surprisingly, I didn't have to explain anything about the pups. "Diana stops by frequently when she is near," Hippolyta explained. "She keeps us updated on your doings.  Is Derinoe's engagement still on? Diana said that there was trouble between her and her intended."

"Yes, they're still going to get married; Deri's getting help to figure out how to be less selfish." There were questions about Grant, and I was able to open my camera bag and bring out a projector. I had a chip that I always had with me that had my favorite photographs on it.

"I brought everything from London that is especially valuable," I explained as I set up the projector. "The pups, my cameras, any of the chips with my work on them. I'm pretty sure the police will raid the house, and I don't want irreplacables to vanish." I pulled up the menu of images and selected the engagement portraits that I'd taken of Deri and Grant. There was quite a lot of commentary, some of it critical about the sparseness of the background, and I explained Deri's preferences for minimalism and Grant's for more decoration.

"There is a difference between useless ornamentation, acquisition for its own sake, and the use of beautiful objects created by artisans," Menalippe objected, and I smiled. "But he is a handsome man. Does he treat her well?"

"Better than she deserves sometimes," I said bluntly, showing the queen how to scroll through the images.

"Did she actually forbid you from attending to her on her wedding day?" the general asked, sounding scandalized. I nodded, and explained what had happened, adding, to be fair, that I didn't know Deri's side of the story.