Rhene woke to the touch of sunlight upon her cheek. The gentle caress stirred her with a calm fluttering of lashes and no sense of regret for leaving the comforting of Thyia and her world of dreams. With no sounds of others moving, Rhene closed her eyes, let the warmth of the rising sun continue sliding across her, and finally rose when her nose twitched from the sizzling scent of cooking salted ham. 

“Smells wonderful, doesn’t it?” Haidee gushed from her spot next to Rhene. With a heavier yawn, her push to her elbows came slower. “How I wish to have some.” 

“Then you’ll have some,” Rhene insisted matter-of-factly. 

Haidee squeezed her hand. The two then convinced themselves to their feet where they cleaned with water from a bowl, bound their hair, found oil to apply, and redressed. The few outfits Evelthon provided were beginning to stain from Rhene’s sweat and droop with the cling of dust and dirt upon them. Rhene thought herself quite shallow after once more catching the scars dotting Haidee’s body with skin rough and bronzed too deeply by the sun, but she still couldn’t help but be glad that her birth father also bore wealth that Orius promised would dote on her in a few mere hours. What Rhene wouldn’t give for a hot bath. 

Orius and Evelthon were the ones awake. They prepared the dishware while staff of the house finished cooking a surprisingly grand breakfast. Rhene asked Orius why, but he claimed it was merely to give them energy enough to complete the last stretch of their journey. Rhene accepted the explanation and munched happily on the flavorful ham, fresh bread with jam, and other delights before her on the table. When it came time to mount up, Rhene followed through on last night’s promise with Orius. 

“You wish to ride with Evelthon?” he repeated her request. 

“Yes. I want to converse with him on a few matters with some semblance of privacy.” 

“Go on then.” 

Haidee sat with some discomfort behind Orius, so Rhene made the commitment to offer her a gift later as recompense. Evelthon agreed with ease to let her ride with him and be the one in front holding the reins. Travel progressed for half an hour before Rhene slowed their horse an acceptable distance behind the other and considered her words before speaking. 

“You may reject the topic if you wish, but I would like to briefly return to our conversation before the bear attack,” she began. 

“That was...” Evelthon attempted to recall. 

“I asked about where you were from, and you said it didn’t matter.” Rhene anticipated the stiffening of the man behind her. “It is not anything grand I plan to say. I merely desire to finish my sentence. I disagree that the homes that make us don’t matter, but I had no intent to prompt you into discussing a difficult or painful matter. I apologize.” 

“None is necessary. A question such as the one you asked is expected and common. The matter is...” Evelthon trailed off. Rhene waited an appropriate amount of time. Rhene waited an awkward amount of time. She snuck a glance back to find her riding companion entirely devoured in thought, so she persisted the wait until he came to his conclusion. “The whole truth cannot be said here and now, but I don’t wish to keep everything back. What I can say is...I made a horrible mistake. I did not see danger where I should have, and it hurt those close to me tremendously. As a result, my pater banished me from home with a beating leaving me severely wounded, weak, and abandoned in a forest. My injuries were not deadly, but I struggled regardless. Orius by happenstance found me and helped me heal.” 

“You two became friends after that?” 

“Friends is...” Evelthon considered again, “not what we are. I’ve spent some scattered times in his presence, but he merely kept the favor I owed him and let me go on my way. Him calling in my debt now is the longest we’ve spent together since our initial meeting.” 

“Oh.” Rhene gripped the reins tighter. “Perhaps you can become friends after this.” 

“Perhaps.” 

“...Your pater is an awful man,” Rhene grumbled. 

“He is not. My foolish ignorance truly caused immense harm, and it would have resulted in worse tragedy had some luck and mercy not been on our side. I earned my punishment, and his care gave me my life when he otherwise had every right to take it.” 

“I don’t agree!” Rhene pouted. “Even if a child of mine were to make such a mistake, even if they earned consequences they had to accept...I would never turn them away from my love. I would never be the one to strike them down.” 

“Your children will be blessed.” 

“You’re truly not mad at him?” 

“I am...saddened by the distance. I am not mad.” Evelthon glanced at the lazy clouds in the sky. “Though I wish his ire might end someday, I have done my best to hold fast to the stance that the family we choose is just as strong in bonds as the family by blood. The fact that I have found no family to choose despite my many wanderings isn’t the best support for that ideal though.” 

“Then I’ll choose you.” Rhene’s words flew free, guided by the tug of impulse once more. Despite a twinge of embarrassment in her core, she didn’t wish to take them back. 

“Choose...me?” 

“The family I knew of my pater, mater, brother, and two sisters is no more. I have more sisters. I have brothers. They might not like me, and I might not like them. I will have to choose between everyone in some way, and so my new family to call my own will be made by decision. I’d like to include you in that decision. If...you want it.” 

Evelthon licked his lips. He took a single, slow inhale. 

“You honor and humble me. I don’t feel I’ve done enough to earn that place.” 

“I am as alright as I am because of you. Before Orius did, you were the one to make me feel like I had a choice. You saved my life too, you know.” 

“I-I am only earning back redemption for my sins against you.” 

“I say we call it even and have you accept my offer.” 

“I—” Evelthon finally laughed. “I suppose I must accept.” 

“Wonderful.” 

They rode on. Rhene thought to maintain distance between the horses, but Orius’s continual glances forced her to ride even with her brother. Their quick approach of Myrcaea distracted Rhene’s attention anyway. Grass thickening with the subtle lure of petrichor foreshadowed the rush of the powerful and wide Vadar River abruptly pulling alongside them from a bend around a hill. Up, down, and over fields of grain stole the horizon in feathering gold. Rhene gawked and grinned as a small child at the pastures full of animals rarely seen—cows, sheep, and horses. Yearling foals bolted and kicked in play, tails raised high in delight. Evelthon, unfortunately, denied her hope for a short gallop with some excuse about her lack of experience and a fear of her bouncing right off the steed. 

Buildings, sparse at first, grew in number and inched closer together. Rhene held her breath when the land sloped upwards and the great city of Myrcaea came into view. On three naturally occurring tiers it rose to nestle against the low mountain of Maranos. The northern slope of the mountain was the pass sourcing the Vadar through the range and down the city over the course of three massive pools and roaring waterfalls glistening with Irideska’s handwoven rainbows. Their group rode alongside locals, merchants, and travelers towards the snaking wall. Rhene quipped that they should turn their direction south where the mountains tapered off into a smooth valley leading to a lazuli-deep sea. Naturally, Orius rejected her. 

Myrcaea favored clay buildings of deep orange and brown with stone bases. Clustered in illogical places before the wall, everything fell into neat roads and blocks of military precision within. Orius explained the city had all been destroyed to the ground long ago to reform the architecture with sense. Any semblance of chaos remained around the sites too important to destroy, like the palace and temples. Rhene enjoyed everything at first. The rushed clusters of people, the dueling medley of scents pleasant and uncertain, the bards strumming lutes and singing dulcet tunes, the hawking of shop keeps, the thriving of a community—Rhene wished for the pervasive show of life to never stop. Then came the scenes in the shadows. The haggard slaves hurrying along their tasks, local children menacing them as a game. Shouts of rebuke, threats of violence. Rhene caught Haidee flinch from time to time. 

Although she wished to, Rhene didn’t turn a blind eye. She studied the situations quietly, didn’t ignore the block of despair in her chest that urged her to cry, scream, and throw up all at once, and pondered formative ideas for how one such as her could do anything at all. A sense of relief did come when their movement towards the governmental center halted the city’s darkness. Rhene returned to awe and stupor, especially after passing the palatial compound to end up at a smaller though excessively impressive walled manor. 

“Welcome home,” Orius swept his arm out. 

“Here?” Rhene squeaked. 

“Thought we would live in some commoner’s hovel?” Orius teased. 

“You said Aetion had power and wealth,” Rhene bit her lower lip. “I merely didn’t expect that it was to this extent. I-I suspect he’ll be out at this time of the day with all the responsibilities he has, yes?” 

“No,” Orius teased harder. “Pater, in anticipation of my success, had watchers at the gates. A messenger sped off to inform him of our arrival as soon as we entered the city. Pater will be here shortly, if not already inside. He tends to not have to go far.” 

Orius motioned at the palace and nearby streets of administration buildings. Rhene dug her nails into her palms, found less solace than usual from Evelthon’s hand on her shoulder, and needed him to squeeze his heels to have the horse following Orius’s through the sturdy gate opened by guards. A stone pathway beckoned them forward through a floral vision of euphoria, the garden awash in blooms known and unknown where the soft wind itself rolled drunken from the perfume. Benches beneath viridian-stuffed trees taunted idyllic rest and contemplation. Rhene’s attention, however, focused most intently on the sprawling two-story manor with a third-story rear section Orius explained was accessed through the center atrium. 

They didn’t make it through the front door. 

Two figures stepped out from it, permitting Rhene a quick glimpse of the entranceway behind them. Whatever she saw vanished from memory as every sense of Rhene’s consciousness transfixed on the man and woman. She wore a regal chiton of commanding violet edged in black with a himation of light, airy gold swooped across her shoulder and hung over her arm. A dusting of silver strands in brown hair bound high and held with gold decorations only added further nobility to her straight posture. He...stood even prouder. Hair of black mixed half with white did nothing to age him. Full and thick rest the beard on his chin while the bold red chiton beneath drew her eye properly across the rest of his noticeable features, such as muscles sculpted though lithe, nicks of scars on his palms, and a sword with decorated sheath on his belt. 

Orius helped Rhene down, and he helped steady her as well when her knees buckled. She tightly clutched his arm as slaves took the horses away, Evelthon and Haidee stepped to the side, and Orius guided Rhene before her father and stepmother.