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“How fares the Lady Xenia?” Ariston asked.
“Recovered.” Elpis stood aside. “And happy, I think. She has had quite a time making plans for the children’s arrival. No sooner had Thea delivered your note than she set to work on making room for them.”
Ariston was pleased that Xenia was improved. He glanced at the boy, who was staring wide-eyed about the courtyard. Ariston followed the boy’s gaze.
While in the heart of Athens proper, the home and gardens were shielded from the city’s gaze by the tall courtyard walls. Time had fractured the walls plaster, and blooms of violet and honeysuckle colored the air and filled it with their sweet scents.
It was a different kind of home than the one this boy had known in the hills. But it would be a good home, one that would never want.
“These are the children you sent word of?” Elpis smiled down at them. “What a handsome boy you are.”
Spiridion stared at her, shifting his sleeping sister with ease.
“Spiridion, this is Elpis – Medusa’s dearest friend,” Ariston said, hoping to comfort the child. Though he’d not known Spiridion long, he knew the boy must be overwhelmed with the changes taking place.
So much heartache for one so young, Ariston thought. To lose his parents to the Persians was enough. He had no knowledge if the boy had been present when the attack happened. He prayed the child had not been.
But then the boy had found solace with the Gorgons and Medusa. Stheno had told Ariston the whole, how Medusa had played and teased and smiled at last, when she’d found this boy and his baby sister. Losing Medusa to fever had upset the boy so he refused to speak of it.
And then, the Gorgons had bid farewell to them at the docks.
“You are not alone here, Spiridion. And you will grow, strong and tall, within these Walls,” Ariston attempted to comfort the child.
“You must be very brave,” Elpis said. “My husband is eager to meet the boy who can care for an infant and befriend Gorgons.”
“Euryale and Stheno were good to me, mistress. They showed nothing but kindness to me and my sister. I shall miss them, even if they weren’t as lovely to look upon as you …or Medusa.” Spiridion spoke quickly.
“I’ve never seen a maid as lovely as my mistress,” Elpis agreed.
She was beauty. Ariston nodded.
Her laughing eyes and joyful laugh warmed his dreams and made waking the nightmare. Each day the weight of his loss grew heavier.
In the weeks they’d traveled back to Athens, hearing her name had become no easier. Speaking of her…
“Handsome or not, I thank the Gorgons for keeping you safe.” Elpis knelt before him. “This is little Kore? She is sweet.”
Spiridion looked at his sleeping sister. “She is asleep now. You may find her otherwise when she wakes.”
Ariston smiled, ruffling the boy’s hair with affection before looking at Elpis. “And here is your fine husband, or so I was told at the docks? Happy news indeed, Ektor. Spiridion, this is Ektor. He will foster you, teach you how to be a capable Greek and Athenian – if you wish it?”
Ektor clasped arms with Ariston, his youthful face no less open and pleasing than before the wars.
Ariston wondered at it. Was it only his world that had changed so greatly, while all else seemed to be as it should?
“I will be a healer,” Spiridion said, “like Medusa.”
Elpis took his hand, casting a questioning glance at Ariston. “Would you? It would seem you are quite capable at caring for others.”
Ariston and Ektor watched Elpis lead the children into the house, her sweet voice praising and encouraging as they went.
“You married well.” Ariston smiled at Ektor.
Ektor nodded. “Xenia has been most generous to us. If she had not asked us to stay with her, I’d have nothing to offer Elpis’ father. As it is, this home, this property, will be mine – Xenia declares it will be so.”
“She is a compassionate woman,” Ariston said.
“Will you stay with us, Ariston?” Ektor implored. “Athens is in need of leaders. People follow you.”
