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Stheno dropped a large bag on the table, smiling. “There were only a few villagers left and they were most generous.”
“Of course they were,” Euryale laughed. “You told them we would leave. They could not give us enough food.”
“It is more than enough to make the journey to Delphi,” Medusa said softly.
Stheno nodded. “We shall eat well.”
“Tis troubling to see so many women and children alone in the country, though.” Euryale pulled the veils from her head. “Most of the men must have sailed off on the triremes. Or found peace at the end of a Persian sword.” She draped the veils over the single aged stool that sat beside a teetering table.
Medusa did not stare, though her serpents did. They were fascinated by her sisters, bobbing and weaving about when they first removed their veils.
“Your beasties think we are men,” Euryale snapped. “Come now, monsters, we are not so ugly as that.”
Stheno laughed, her eyes casting the slightest glance upon the serpents before turning back to their food.
Medusa laughed too, a little, for Euryale had startled her. Every serpent head turned towards her, every red eye widened and gaped. They swarmed about her, rubbing and caressing her cheeks and neck, her shoulders and forehead, with heightened hissing.
Stheno and Euryale gaped, startled by the sight.
Medusa closed her eyes, shivering in disgust at the affection they bestowed upon her.
“It’s as if…” Euryale gasped.
“They love you,” Stheno finished, her words strangled.
###
“She would not yield to him, not willingly, my lord. This you must know.” Elpis told Ariston, swaying in time with the waves. “Even Athena turned from her pleas... When she knew your life was in danger…only then did she seek out Poseidon. She had no choice in the matter.”
“I cherish her, Elpis,” his words rasped out. “Nothing could change that.”
“I fear you may find her changed.”
He nodded. How could she not be after such an ordeal?
“I will take you to Xenia, then. She is below deck, away from the rest. Her outbursts are troublesome to the others. She’s always been a fragile woman. The burden of losing Galenus, Medusa, and her home were too much for her.”
Ariston followed her down the ladder. “I’ve no intention of alarming her.”
“Then you must not press her for answers she does not have,” Elpis cautioned him. “She is not capable of sense, Ariston. Be mindful of that when she tells you things.”
He nodded before brushing past her to the lady Xenia.
Xenia sat, regarding him with steady blue eyes. She looked tired certainly, and distraught. But not mad. “You are Ariston? You are husband to my…Medusa?” Her voice possessed the dignity of a councilman’s wife. “I remember you.”
He bowed. “I am.”
“Elpis says you have questions for me? About my husband?” Her voice sharpened slightly, but her eyes held his.
Her pulse, he noted, beat steadily in her throat. She did not seem greatly agitated. As yet. “Was he taken by the Persians?”
“He was not taken. Go, see for yourself. You will find him there.”
Ariston paused, careful with his words. “Is he living?”
“Is he living?” She stared at him. “By the Gods, I know not.”
He knelt before her, speaking in soft tones. “Can you tell me what happened, lady?”
