491BC: Athens

"This is a melon."

"Yes, yes, buy?"

Gaiana stared down at the round hot plump object. She shook it next to her ear, "it whooshes."

"Whooshing is good."

Gaiana's emerald colored eyes furrowed. Despite her anger, she wasn't taken seriously due to her miniature frame and short cut red-brown hair. "I want to sample it."

"Sample it?" The merchant's eyebrow rose. He seriously questioned why he even bothered to try his hand at fruit sales in the first place.

"Yes, just a small bite," she said casually.

The merchant groaned, "no, you either buy it, or leave it. Stop wasting my time."

He waved his hand at her like she was a fly in his way. Gaiana's fluffy eyebrows furrowed at him. Even the light freckles across her cheeks seemed offended, "you're the one selling us rotten fruit, the least you can do is let me sample it."

Gaiana spoke high enough to be heard by the people around her. Several heads turned her way as they heard the words 'selling rotten fruit', at the marketplace.

"Oiy," the much older man said, "I'm trying to do business here. If you don't like my business, then go."

"No," Gaiana growled with a smile, "how dare you sell rotten fruit and expect equal price for it. I demand I sample these for the well being of my city!"

"Listen girl," the man put a hand at his dagger for her to see, "if you don't quit your tramp yammering mouth I swear I'll-"

"You'll do what now?" Another voice from behind said.

The merchant stared behind to see a woman staring down at him. Her arms were crossed, with a half smile and furrowed grey-colored eyes that showed she was suspicious of him. She was towering above him, a full head over him despite him being twice the woman's age. The red-haired woman had leather warrior wears and sword that showed she was a far more formidable warrior than he could ever be.

She had tied back fiery hair, like she was trying to emulate Athenian class despite being born a foreigner. The merchant pointed at Gaiana, "this wench is trying to drive away my business."

The guard woman stared at Gaiana, Gaiana put on a half smile and said, "hi Mimoza."

"Hi Gaiana," Mimoza replied.

The merchant blinked at the guard, and then at Gaiana. "Do all foreigners know each other?"

"Of course," Gaiana and Mimoza said in unison.

Gaiana, despite being fifteen, had the fury of a grown warrior. She was well known by the guards of the city, causing mischief by trying to enforce laws she had no authority to carry out. It was like she was a self-proclaimed public servant, doing her best to catch scammers at the market for the sake of the city.

If only she weren't so naive.

Gaiana pointed at the melons, "he's selling the citizens of Athens rotten fruit. Like his produce, he's going to corrupt our people and spread deadly disease across the populace until the gods strike us down for our negligence of not stopping it in time."

"Bah," the merchant waved her off, "mad girl. A tramp. Take her away, chop her tongue off if you have to."

Mimoza rolled her eyes, she took a melon and shook it at her ear. "These melons are bad, and you can get in serious trouble for trying to sell these."

The merchant puffed, "what do you know about produce? I bought them fair and square. If I say they're good, I know they are. Leave me alone and take the tramp with you."

Mimoza thrusted her sword into the merchant's fruit, causing the gross slime to leak out. "These fruit are bad, and if they'll make people sick, you'd be responsible for their murder if it killed someone. So either you pack your things and stop selling for the day, or I'll go downtown and prepare and assembly trial for you. See if the citizens are happy with you selling them shit that will get them killed."

The merchant's face paled. The guard was being serious. Selling bad produce was a serious offense, and he could face serious penalties for it. Without saying another word, he packed up his bags and headed away from the market. "Damn scythian," he muttered beneath his breathe.

Mimoza rolled her eyes. "Come on kid, you've caused enough trouble for today.

"It was his fault," Gaiana said casually as they walked away, "I was just trying to save the city."

"You're a melodramatic little thing, did you know that?"

"If I weren't, life would be too dull."

Minoza snickered, "next time, please let us guardsman do our jobs, and don't try to start a riot in the middle of the marketplace again."

"That only happened twice," Gaiana grumbled, "and one of them deserved it."

"You know, most masters by now would sell off their slaves for being as rambunctious as you are."

"Oh hush Puff," Gaiana pouted, "Archos couldn't sell me off if he tried. I'm the only reason his lazy bum even gets up in the morning. I swear that drunkard would die without me."

Mimoza shook her head, "Gaiana, I'd like to remind you that at the end of the day, you're still just a slave. You can be sold off or taken at a moment's notice, and I can't always be here to protect you."

Gaiana puckered her mouth. In a quieter tone she murmured, "you're a slave too..."

"I'm a state slave, which means I enforce the law. You, on the other hand, are property. Which means a day might come where you're sold away for causing more trouble than your worth."

Gaiana's mouth settled into a frown. Mimoza was right, as much as she hated to admit. Despite growing up with her master's family, she was still technically property in the eyes of the state.

An albino colored bat flew onto Gaiana's shoulder. It licked Gaiana's cheek putting a tender smile on her lips. The bat had a coin between its teeth, and dropped it at Gaiana's palm when she opened it in front of it.

Mimoza blinked at her, "did... you teach Nikki to steal for you?"

"Not steal, find." Gaiana's petted the pet bat. "Not my crime if one of nature's creatures gives me someone else's lost coin."

Mimoza let out a laugh. "You really take bypassing the law to a whole new level, you know that?"

Gaiana shrugged, "I think slaves like me have to, wouldn't you agree?"

They walked passed the temple of Ares, the Greek God of War. It stood tall in a perfect rectangular shape, omitting a heavy shadow in front of the building's marble infrastructure. Ahead of the shadow, an old man was heard laughing aloud to himself. He had gone mad long ago, was abandoned by his family and now relied on the charity of passerbyers that fed him out of pity or sympathy. He was balding, all his teeth were missing, and his thin bones showed that he was already on the road to dying.

Mimoza said, "you have a good family, Gaiana. They take care of you, they love you. Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have that as a slave?"

Gaiana tried not to make eye contact with the insane old man. Ignoring him like he didn't exist. Gaiana said quietly, "yeah... I just hate it when people say I only have it good when compared to other slaves..."

Mimoza fell quiet at that. Gaiana had grown up a slave. She was once a naive, untamed child, growing up with other Athenian children not realizing that she could never be counted as equals amongst them.

Now, she was a blossoming young woman. On the cusp of womanhood, if she were a citizen she'd be considered perfectly suited for marriage. But as a slave, she could have neither a husband or children for the rest of her life.

Mimoza thought carefully about what to say next, knowing full well that she needed to make Gaiana's dim outlook to become more positive. Mimoza asked, "Have you ever heard of the story of Atalanta?"

Gaiana shook her head.

"Atalanta a legendary hero, daughter of the Titan goddess Clymene... As the story went, when Atalanta was first born, her father was so angry that she wasn't a boy, he left her on a mountain to die by the elements of nature."

"Like me?"

Mimoza nodded, "fortunately for her, either by luck of the gods or by the gods looking the other way, a family of bears found her in her place. They raised her, protected her, and nurtured her as their own since she had no family to speak of." Mimoza poked at Gaiana's shoulder, "could you imagine if bears found you instead of Archos? You'd be harder to control than you already are."

"Impossible!"

"That might actually be right."

Gaiana finally laughed, Mimoza continued.

"Atalanta, grew up to become a world renowned hunter. Using her knowledge of the wilds, Artemis bestowed her blessing onto hers, and she eventually married a man blessed by another god's affection. Only after proved his worth to her in her trial."

"He proved his worth to her?"

Mimoza chuckled, "That's actually whole other story. The point I'm trying to make, is that even a woman abandoned by a God made something of herself. Fate is just funny that way, we're often never raised in the circumstances we yearn for. So while it's true you couldn't be born a free greek like everyone else in this city, your own life is still valuable by itself. Because who knows, maybe the gods still have something valuable in store for you."

Gaiana smiled at the thought of that. Underneath Gaiana's short auburn cut hair, a tattoo was stamped behind her shoulder blade. It was a circular tattoo, with several semicircle marks extended in and outside of each other. Dots scattered around the circles, like a stellar constellation trying to reveal something.

Gaiana was found with that tattoo. No one could translate it, most Athenians simply assumed it was some sort of slave brand they'd never seen before. Gaiana stared up at Mimoza's crystal necklace. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, and she was always encapsulated by its faint lifelike glow that it had to it.

Gaiana said, "I had another dream last night.... I think the gods are trying to tell me something."

"What was the dream?"

"Thunder," Gaiana said. "This time I could see below the night sky. A rooftop of a temple of worship."

"Temple for whom?"

Gaiana tapped her forehead, "urgh, all temples look the same."

"That seems like an important detail. As in, it could literally be a prophecy but you forgot which temple it is."

Gaiana rubbed at her forehead harder, "I don't remember. Dammit, I'll dream again tonight and ask someone when I'm there."

Mimezo smiled, "I guess that's the best course of action." The sun began to set, and Gaiana's home came into view.