Rhene suppressed a giggle, especially when Merope’s pink lips pushed into a perfect pout. 

“I hit my foot against the wall,” she explained simply, irritably. 

“That tends to happen when one is stuck in a confined space. Would you like to come out?” 

“Yes.” 

Kypris and Merope attempting to crawl out in unison resulted in banging elbows and frowns of frustration. With wide grins, Rhene and Haidee each took the hands of a girl and smoothly dragged them straight and free. Kypris and Merope stood cheerfully then. 

“I assume you sought the underside of the bed for shelter as your mater did not give you permission to wait in here,” Rhene acknowledged. 

“Are you particularly exhausted?” Kypris wondered hopefully, fingers linked behind her back. 

“I’m quite refreshed after my bath.” 

“Mater didn’t want us to overwhelm you, but if you’re not tired...” 

“You two can stay until Jocasta finds you. Haidee and I were to do our hair.” 

“I want to help!” Merope hopped. 

Rhene grabbed a second stool to put before the long table. She glanced over the body products while sitting but froze at the click of a tongue. Haidee had taken the second stool as Rhene intended. However, Kypris motioned to her while meeting Rhene’s eye at the supposed audacity. 

“Haidee is my friend. We do many things together,” Rhene clarified. 

“Friends with a slave?” Kypris remarked incredulously. 

“Yes, with a slave,” Rhene chided tartly. “She is a person the same as you and me.” 

“Mn,” Kypris groaned from the rebuke, squirming. She thought the matter over before grabbing a soft towel to dab at Rhene’s damp hair. Merope gasped, snatched a similar towel, and, upon having no room behind Rhene, eagerly patted Haidee’s hair. Kypris spoke again, “How is your hair this soft?” 

“Mater studied hard to tend to my hair in all the best ways. She discovered it was better to wash it in lukewarm water, we had a routine of creams and oils, and one of Mater’s friends discovered wrapping the hair in a band of silk while sleeping protects it well from damage.” 

“Will you show us?” 

“I’d love to.” 

“Euthalia says perfect hair is a sign that one spends too much time on vanity instead of training. We’re going to show her that we can have the most beautiful hair and do well at training,” Merope revealed determinedly. 

“What kind of training are you doing?” 

“Running, wrestling, leaping, dancing—those sort of things.” 

“How do you dance?” 

Merope immediately abandoned Haidee’s hair to spin into a grand display whipping her chiton of deep purple around. Her performance stumbled in places with loose movements, but Rhene’s whole body glowed with a warmth more invigorating than that of the bath from the small child proud of her accomplishment and proud to show it to Rhene. Merope bounced back to Haidee afterwards. The hair care reached the point of fully drying when the bedroom door abruptly opened. As it could only be one, Rhene didn’t flinch finding Jocasta and her flat expression. Thankfully, the displeasure fell only upon her daughters. 

“You said we had to wait until after Hellanike cleaned and rested. She’s cleaned, and now she’s resting!” Merope went with a loophole. 

“So I did say. Even so, your pater wishes to talk with Rhene, which is what she wishes to be called. Come, girls.” Jocasta held a hand out to Rhene. “If you don’t mind.” 

Rhene stood and followed. Kypris and Merope waved farewell as they split off down a separate path. Aetion’s office took up a corner towards the front of the house. Rigid and perfectly symmetrical scroll shelves filled both side walls while military paraphernalia commanded the wall with the door. Aetion sat at a solid desk with no ornamentation before the large window with open shutters. The rainbow-hued sight behind him was a stark contrast to everything within and seemed another world entirely, though Rhene still appreciated the sweet scent wafting inside. Jocasta released herself from her duty with a bob of her head. Not used to her loose curls falling free, they weighed down as chains as Rhene suddenly became rooted to the floor. Aetion stood and moved before the desk and her. 

“Orius described in detail your journey here. From how he took you, your state and thoughts since, and everything else relevant. I have no questions on the past week, unless there is anything you wish to discuss?” 

“N-No, sir,” Rhene said with a tongue uncooperative. She bit it seeing the mix of amusement and confusion breaking past Aetion’s heavily stoic expression. “Uh, Pa-Pat...” 

“Call me by my name.” 

“But...” 

“I am not the pater you know. Though bound by blood, it means little yet to your heart. Call me your pater when it does. Until then, I do not wish to see such conflict in your eyes trying to fight the hesitation.” 

“I...t-thank you. You, you’re quite—” This time, Rhene’s cheeks lost their pink. Partially from a twinge of fear and panic, but mostly from embarrassment. Talking with Orius had been one thing. Dealing with Aetion and his unexpected sympathy through a face so gruff teetered her on a cliff of choices where all directions were a fall with no guarantee her choice would result in a soft landing. 

“Why don’t we take a walk in the garden?” Aetion offered. “It is better for conversing than a dour place like this room.” 

“Alright...” 

They spoke nothing else until they reached a path of gentle gray stone carrying their feet through the endless delight of nature and beauty looping the estate like a brook guides a floating leaf. Thankfully, the change did relieve pressure enough from Rhene’s shoulders for her not to shake too greatly when Aetion set out his arm for her to take. The touch of his skin on hers, awkward at first, steadily shifted into comfort. Rhene dared glance up at her companion. Then she met his strange eye and guiltily whipped her stare away. 

“I was born with my eye like this. My pater did not want a defected son, so he did as is custom and brought me to a cliff edge and let me drop before my soul fully attached to my body. He hoped that I’d come back next time in a stronger form. However, watchers of the cliff heard crying four days later. There I was, alive and unharmed and belting with determination.” 

“Truly four days? After being dropped from a cliff?” Rhene gawked. 

“Were it just my pater having said so, I would call it an exaggeration. The statements of many confirming the situation make it truth. Knowing I could not have survived without the intervention of the gods, Pater returned me to his house. I grew up strong and skilled. However, he was the fool letting what money we did have be swindled away from us, robbing me of inheritance when I came of age.” 

“That’s awful.” 

“My poverty, despite my prospects with the military, did not endear Kalykso’s parents to me. They would not give me their permission to marry her, and so we ran off together to Coron. We eked out the best living we could and were soon blessed with Orius. The negative forces we garnered by disobeying Kalykso’s parents must have caught up to us after that as her pater found us and formally disowned her. She could not properly bear another child—not until after her pater died in battle. You were born on a night with falling stars. Though anyone else would see that as bad luck, Kalykso saw the beauty in it and claimed it was good.” 

“The night before Orius took me, a falling star touched the tip of my finger,” Rhene relayed, stretching her hand out. 

“You are indeed a child touched by fate, the way I was touched by it at the beginning of my life,” Aetion mused confidently. 

“What do you think my fate will be?” 

That brought a long pause. Aetion’s emotions weren’t as easy to read this time, but Rhene caught his brows dipping, nose tip crinkling, jaw tightening, and stare turning cloudy. Was it uncertainty? Pensiveness? Melancholy? 

“I think...” Aetion inhaled slowly, “your fate is to save others.” 

“Save others?” 

“Yes. I believe your existence is tied to the preservation of life. It is why you had to be taken away, so you could be brought here now.” 

“Why do you think that?” Rhene wondered. When Aetion hesitated, Rhene’s cheeks puffed. “Oh. Wait—you merely said that because Orius told you of my impulsive goal to stop slavery, didn’t you?” 

“Orius did tell me of your goal, but that is not why I said what I did. In fact,” Aetion halted. He placed his other hand on top of Rhene’s hand holding his arm. “I agree with your goal. What Orius and I want, it can’t be without your hope coming true as well. It was an aspect of the mess this world is that I arrogantly overlooked because of the comfort I received from its existence. I will overlook it no more. I promise I will make your wish come true.” 

“Ah...” Words retreated. Awe and amazement stepped in. Doubt slunk in the shadows. Rhene whispered, “Why will you go so far for me?” 

“There are many things I owe you as your pater, but there are many things I haven’t been able nor will be able to give. That’s why, for what I can do, I will do it.” 

“I’d be blessed by your help and support,” Rhene smiled through lashes batting back mist. It deepened the unreadable expression Aetion wore, but she leaned into the scratchy kiss he pressed upon her forehead. 

“You do look so much like your mater. I would like to tell you about her,” he offered. 

“I would like to hear.” 

Over an hour they circled the estate. Rhene heard of her birth mother, her common life with six siblings, her adoration for singing and sprinting, and the tale of a love story between a rebellious daughter and a poor soldier. Merope snuck free of Jocasta’s careful watch to whine of an empty stomach, alert Rhene to her own, and gather everyone—save Haidee who wished to remain in Rhene’s room—for an extravagant lunch. One mere mention of desiring to learn how to properly ride a horse moved their collection to a stable and training ground where, after changing, Rhene ignored all the eyes on her to rapture the experience of sitting on her father’s horse and having his undivided attention as he instructed her how to control it. 

Night fell. Jocasta pulled a face when Rhene requested an extra bed for Haidee, but the request was fulfilled nonetheless. Haidee fell asleep quickly and deeply on a mattress she declared as divine. Having snuffed out the light, Rhene sat on a blanketed bench by the large open window searching the stars and letting the wind tickle her hair. She hadn’t put it up even when riding the horse and loved every moment of it. She folded her arms on the sill and turned her curious gaze down when the softest footsteps approached. Evelthon, apparently, was on an evening stroll. Lip curling to the side, Rhene snatched a spare grape and dropped it square on top of his head. Containing her giggles to not wake her companion hurt her lungs as he quietly flailed and scoured the dark for the assailant. 

“How cheeky,” Evelthon taunted in a loud whisper when he finally caught her amongst the dark. 

“I thought you might want a snack. Why else would you roam the grounds this time of night?” 

“Why are you draping yourself by a window this time of night?” 

“Because this is my house and I may do whatever I please.” 

“Fair enough,” Evelthon chuckled softly. With only the barest light of a half moon veiled by wispy clouds, Rhene struggled to make out the bittersweetness rippling across his face. “Settling in nicely then?” 

“I suppose I must admit that I am excited. Aetion is wonderful and Jocasta—despite our different stances on a certain matter—treats me kindly. I already love Kypris and Merope, and...” Tears swelled rapidly, yet Rhene persisted the challenge to not burst out into laughter, “and I’ve never felt so free in my life as I have this day. To dress as I please, ride a horse on my own, have Aetion tell me I can learn to dance, run, fight is...” 

“I’m glad,” Evelthon said when emotion stole her words. 

“Me too. But, then...” 

“Then?” 

“I worry as well. Everything is so wonderful that I...I don’t know what to do next. Pater, Mater, Perdix, Maia, and Cilissa must be going sick with fright. How can I ignore that?” 

“The next step to come was always to be complicated. However, regardless of the history between your families, perhaps you’ll be the bridge. In any case, you’ll see the rest of your family again. That’s for certain.” 

“Perhaps I can ride back to them on a horse of my own. Will you help me practice again tomorrow?” Rhene asked with a flutter in her stomach. 

“Ah,” Evelthon scratched the back of his neck, looking away, “I’m leaving in the morning.” 

The flutter went cold. 

“You are?” 

“Orius has asked me to give you and your family some time to yourselves. Since it seems like you wish to stay for a while, I’ll be back to fulfill my promise later if it’s needed.” 

“Oh. Well, I...” Rhene’s hands sunk to her lap as she retreated some from the window. “I’ll be glad to have you back whenever you come.” 

“It won’t be long, Rhene. A week, if that,” Evelthon encouraged, and that brought the flutter back twofold. 

“Good. Since, don’t forget, I’m making you a part of this family too,” Rhene motioned adamantly. Evelthon’s response wasn’t immediate. His head dipped lower to completely obscure his expression. 

“I do remember,” he finally answered with a stiff calmness. He coughed. “A-Anyway, unless you have more grapes to share, I’ll be on my way.” 

“Have a good night,” Rhene waved him off. 

He returned the gesture. Smiling like a fool, Rhene transformed into a hunted deer with wide eyes, rigid muscles, and pure fear upon turning around and finding Haidee, very much awake, smirking at her with one brow raised. Fire consumed Rhene’s face. She leapt into her bed and faced the wall without word. Haidee laughed.