Rhene swallowed a hard gulp. Her eyes darted around for help, but she was suddenly the center of a play no one wished to interrupt. Orius leaned against the wall, folded his arms, and merely caught her stare with an entertained pull of his lips. Rhene slumped. Tentatively, she stroked the sobbing woman’s back. Who could she possibly be? Having called her Hellanike, the woman’s connection to her had to be true. Even Anysia hadn’t known about Orius bringing her though, and his connection with her seemed the strongest in town. 

“Hold on." Anysia bent low and dipped her head to eye-level with the stranger. She pursed her lips before clicking her tongue. “Ah. I haven’t seen you in years. Wasn’t sure you were still in town at all.” 

The woman’s crying slowed. Her face emerged from the folds of Rhene’s skirt to silently meet the attention on her from the older woman. Rhene struggled to place her expression, but it appeared the closest to a child casually blinking at a stranger introduced to them by a parent. 

“Who is she?” Lasos prompted. 

“It’s Haidee.” 

“Haidee? Who—? Ahhhh...” 

“That is familiar,” Orius agreed. “She was...that’s right. The girl slave Mater bought who was the witness of your abduction, Hellanike.” 

“You speak nonchalantly of the one person who allowed you to keep a connection to your sister,” Evelthon noted. 

“It’s not as if I knew her well. Mater bought her right before I left for training, and Father was the one who sought her out afterwards to hear her words.” 

“I-I am not bothered,” Haidee, calming, spoke softly. 

Rhene watched her find composure. Their eyes met again. Eyes of light brown were as the fresh bark of a tree. Straight hair of a similar though darker shade splayed free of the braid wrapped into a bun at the back of her head, and a wave of freckles crested from one cheek, up her nose, and to the other cheek. Lithe and light was Haidee’s frame, but a nimble nature hadn’t prevented the forming of rough callouses on her hands. Rhene’s throat burned catching dry lines of scar tissue peeking out from her clothing. 

“I...naturally cannot remember,” Rhene worked to free her voice. The soft noise snapped Haidee’s focus to her like an excitedly dutiful dog before the reward of the juiciest of roasted deer. Rhene didn’t know how to feel about the expression. “I am glad to meet you again, Haidee. I hope you were not hurt in the attack that took my mater.” 

“An arrow struck my heel—I suspect the archer intended to keep me alive. I fled from him and found safety in a sack here. My presence likely would have been caught, i-if there had not been a distraction...” Haidee mumbled. 

“Have you been doing well since? Has your ankle healed properly?” 

“It—” 

“There’s another one coming. I suspect for you,” Orius quipped at Haidee. 

The dark humor did not land well on Rhene. A broad man with thinning hair and snarling teeth speedily stomped towards the door. Haidee quivered, steadied herself with another squeeze of Rhene’s waist, and stood with squared shoulders though lowered chin. She shuffled towards the door as the raging man controlled himself to wait just outside it, although Rhene suspected this was more due to Orius’s presence than care of another’s household boundary. 

“Get out here, kunops!” the man jabbed his finger at the ground in front of him. 

Haidee shuffled another step closer. Rhene leapt to her feet and snatched Haidee’s arm, dragging her back to the table. 

“Tsoulí!” he cursed at her. “Who are you to get in the way of my property!?” 

Orius consumed the threshold with his muscled build, a hand on each side of the doorframe as he towered over the man with fire in his eyes. “Watch. Your. Tongue.” 

“It is alright,” Haidee patted Rhene’s hand. The resigned confidence and those brown eyes dulling scored Rhene’s heart. “I knew running from my position and work would earn me punishment. It didn’t matter to me because I simply had to come meet you at least once after I saw you ride by.” 

“Get that thing out here!” the man demanded again. “It belongs to me, and I’m tired of it not knowing its place!” 

“Aren’t you ours?” Rhene desperately searched for an escape. Haidee smiled sadly. 

“I was sold by Master Aetion, and I have been sold several times since.” 

“Orius...” Rhene pleaded. 

Orius’s jaw stiffened. 

“Brother.” 

Orius sighed. He leveled the man with a dry stare. “How much did you pay for her?” 

“120 dramma.” The attitude of the man switched instantly, fury becoming greed. 

“That’s quite cheap.” 

“It got a broken leg from jumping out of a building on fire. The old master wasn’t sure that it’d heal well, but I made sure to see it duly fixed,” the man put his fist over his heart. “I’ve gotten good work out of it, despite its occasional bouts of disobedience.” 

“Evelthon,” Orius beckoned him over and whispered in his ear. Evelthon slipped past Orius and to the horses. “How does 250 sou—” 

“Nothing less than 180 or—uh?” the man’s jaw dropped, the overlapped sentences leading to pure silence. His lips opened and closed three times. “Uh, t...two-fifty sounds just fine.” 

“He has your payment.” Orius nodded to Evelthon, who returned from the horses with a sizeable pouch of golden-hued coins. 

“You kept that much on the horse outside?” Lasos remarked under his breath. 

“You take that,” Orius spoke as the pouch switched hands, “and you apologize to my sister.” 

“Of course!” the man smiled. Rhene cringed at its shallow exuberance, but she said nothing. “I am most sorry, fair lady. Cherished kin of this fine man shouldn’t be subjected to the roughness of one such as me.” 

“Yes, that’s enough.” Orius flapped his hand. “You have your money. Give us our peace.” 

The man dropped his shoulders for a semblance of a bow and scurried off. Evelthon retook his seat. Rhene’s shaking legs dropped her back into hers, but Haidee hurriedly grasped her hands with a reassuring warmth. 

“Thank you!” Haidee tapped Rhene’s fingers upon her brow. 

“It was Orius who...” Rhene inhaled deeply and sought out his gaze. “Thank you, brother.” 

“Take her as your welcoming present and as restitution for the grief I have caused you.” 

“Got any restitution for bringing chaos to our house?” Lasos japed. 

“Eunice should be bringing that for you,” Evelthon quipped quickly to Lasos’s frown and Anysia’s laughter. Orius released a single chuckle before addressing Haidee. 

“Hellanike has spent her life pampered in Astagoria, and I am not knowledgeable enough about her needs. Tend to her rightly.” 

“With pleasure!” Haidee’s cheeks turned pink with delight, a tall order against her sunbaked skin. 

“We have spent a substantial time talking. Why don’t you...” Orius contemplated. “You should know where Mater’s grave is. Take Hellanike there.” 

“Don’t you want to go?” Rhene asked. 

“I will go later on my own.” 

“Ah. Alright.” 

Haidee’s hand still in hers, Rhene obediently followed the loving pull. They silently walked to the road and west where the gentle buzz of heat, rolling wind high above, and dry musk of the dirt road beneath their feet flushed free the tension of the past few minutes. Rhene reconsidered the woman next to her whose childlike glee hid the several years Haidee had on her. Despite the rough life she must have endured, Haidee walked with bounce in her heels. The ready affection shown with such ease endeared and humbled Rhene, yet it also scared her. She was not Rhene to Orius, Anysia, Lasos, and Haidee, but Hellanike. A few-month-old infant shouldn’t have any shoes of expectation to fill. Why, then, did Rhene begin to fret that she would fail? 

“Your mater is buried here,” Haidee announced quietly. Within easy sight of the river, a small graveyard surrounded by a weathered stone fence held a collection of graves. They sat by the one closest to a bent tree, and Rhene touched the epitaph to Kalykso. Her heart stirred, but not enough. Haidee held her knee. “I know she is glad to have you here with her again, but she would not want you to struggle like so.” 

“Huh?” Rhene squeaked. 

“You were a sweet and patient baby, but also an honest one. Your expression and cry would change distinctly as soon as you felt a certain way. It made it simple to tend to you, in that regard,” Haidee mused nostalgically. “Your reactions have become more tempered, but your expressions are, perhaps, more obvious than you might think.” 

Rhene groaned. 

“I do not know what has brought you home, but please do not feel guilt about a rushed relationship forced upon you. If you want to love Kalykso, that will come—just as all new relationships take time. I can tell you more about her as well.” 

“I have been curious about my birth. About....that day,” Rhene admitted. 

“I’ll start with what I can. I was born a slave, and I came into your mater’s purchase not long after my parents passed when I was a child. Any fear of my situation I held vanished due to Kalykso’s kindness. Her body craved with need to care for a child after losing numerous sons and daughters. She doted on me in a way I’ve never seen a master do before. I foolishly wished aloud to call you my sister, and your mater merely laughed and encouraged the thought! I didn’t dare ask her intentions, but I wondered if she saw my path as one day being adopted into the family.” 

“How wonderful that would have been,” Rhene gushed. Haidee blushed. 

“You are too kind.” She cleared her throat. “When you were born, Kalykso made a wish. A wish that, no matter what happened to her, you would find health, love, money, success, anything that saw your days bright and beautiful.” 

“No matter what happened to her?” Rhene worried. 

“We were not blind to the threat of conflict with Astagoria or nearby greedy city-states. Saronus certainly did not have his eye upon us that day, with the way both homes and families were destroyed.” Haidee gripped her hands together. “Orius said you were pampered in Astagoria. Did...Pelagon treat you well?” 

“He cared for me as if I was his own daughter.” 

“Then, despite the hatred I have for him, I am grateful to him. He held you with such warmth. A comrade of his tried to stab you after he and the others couldn’t persuade Pelagon away from the nuisance you would be to take to their homeland. Pelagon shoved him into the wall with one hand as if batting away a fly. The coincidental fondness forged from the loss of his own daughter saved your life. You indeed would have been killed or sold into slavery had he not been there.” 

“Nothing horrible would have happened if he and the others hadn’t been there,” Rhene mumbled dismally. 

“That is true too. Would that bloodshed would stop, but the past is as it is. That Pelagon unintentionally fulfilled Kalykso’s wish is a mercy I am willing to accept.” 

“I’d like to tell...Mater about everything. Will you listen too?” 

“Most certainly.” 

Rhene touched the grave again and spilled all. She detailed her life in Astagoria, her frustration over a delayed marriage, the abrupt abduction by Orius and the kri-kri, and everything that’d gone on the past few days. Haidee remarked little—save for the kri-kri's entrance in the tale. 

“The touch of a falling star and encounter with a creature of the gods. You have a grand fate awaiting,” Haidee’s eyes widened. 

“I merely want to feel as if I have solid ground underneath my feet once more.” 

“If that’s what you wish, I’ll help you find it.” 

“You are the one who is too kind.” 

“Meeting you again has been my hope all these years, and you are as adorable as you were before. I can’t help but want to dote on you,” Haidee wrapped her in an embrace. A pang of longing for the similar hug from her mother, the one she knew, throbbed Rhene’s heart. However, she couldn’t turn away the sweet touch and leaned into the hold.