Chapter 3

                                    

                                          
Adora
                          
Sitting at the dark oak tables that stand on the pristine carpets that cover the floor, the only indication that the carpet had been used at all was where the colours were slightly more vibrant in the corner from being used less. Ageing pieces of papyrus are scattered all around me with a multitude of foreign languages that I have translated back and forth. I have probably been sitting here since three o'clock in the morning and, from the abnormal speed that my heart is beating, I will be here for a few hours still. 
                          
I had done this since I was a child. Whenever I would get anxious, or when my mind would not shut off, I would translate texts over and over. Although it seemed like a trivial, meaningless task to those around me, it brought me great comfort. The tight feeling in my chest made me want to stay here for hours and stay far from other people. My fingers were starting to become blistered and sore from the end of the quill, but I still had the whole day ahead. 
                          
As I began to work again, translating a myth from its original language to Greek and now back to its original language, I was interrupted by the door swinging open. The petite woman who was here on the first night was now gone, replaced by a much younger girl. She was probably no more than fourteen.
                          
I studied her as she walked into the room, looking around for me. It confused me as to why she was working here. Her looks were one that many women would envy. She had a mane of red hair and her skin was pale, there was no doubt in my mind that my mother smiled down on her. Tiny, imperfect suns were painted onto the apples of her cheeks. The peplos that was draped over her shoulders perfectly hugged the contours of her plump body. One would assume that a woman so beautiful would not be working in Athena's manor, but rather my mothers.
                          
In fact, one would not assume that a mortal would be working in Athena's house at all. She generally only took them to train them in the ways of battle, only the ones she favoured, of course. She considered this her school and all of the wealthy children were sent here to train. The other soldiers, though, were handpicked by Athena herself, from all over the Earth to be great warriors. There were so many of them, though, that it was hard to imagine that she truly picked all of them, or even that all of them could be great. But, Athena's armies are always incredibly talented. I suppose that it is supposed to be a gift to be trained by Athena, but I could not see it that way. Not when I was being trained to kill. 
                          
The gods have a tendency to choose from the mortals that they liked, and train them, in a way. My own mother occasionally brought beautiful girls to our home when they were not being raised properly. I could not count the number of times a girl with a battered face had been brought into my home. 
                          
Zeus frowned upon this, of course. Saying that we should simply allow mortals to do as they please with their girls. He spoke about them as though they were objects. I watch as this girl moves around the large room. I had tucked myself away in the corner to avoid being seen. I watch the way her eyes dart around and she hangs onto the door frame with white knuckles.
                          
'It is because that is all he sees them as', my mother tells me.
                          
I stand from my seat. When she sees me, she dips her head low and bends her knees into a curtsey of sorts. She mumbles out a string of sentences, making me aware of the work I am to do today in Athena's absence. I follow her as she leads me back to the dining room. 
                          
"What is your name?" I stop walking and she turns to look at me, her head low and not looking me in the eyes. I am rather grateful for the second one, nonetheless, I do not understand her weariness towards me. 
                          
"I do not have a name, my lady. I was exiled before Lady Athena took me." Her accent is thick- from Athens. She is a Eupatrid. 
                          
I look at her a little longer, thoughts dancing around my brain as to why she could have been exiled, especially from a family that would have been respected. 
                          
"I shall call you Penelope." 
                          
I walk to the dining hall, leaving the stunned girl behind. It does not take her long to come after me, though, and soon enough I can hear the faint sound of her bare feet on the marble floor next to me. Two guards who were not there before open the doors for me. As I enter the room, I make sure that a smile is placed on my face and I straighten my back to a more normal posture. 
                          
When I enter the dining hall, the first thing I notice is that the furniture in the room has been moved around to accommodate the more space that was needed. The feeling of panic and frustration grows in my chest as I take in my new surroundings. Scattered around the hall was now lots of square tables with four seats, one on each side. Each chair has a high back and a soft, red cushion.
                          
In each of these chairs, a soldier was eating. All wearing a similar fighting uniform, however, as the tables get closer to the back of the room, the colours become more prominent and the helmets that lie next to the seat are more extravagant. My hands come in front of my body and I crack the knuckles on each of my hands before I place my left thumb on my right palm. I rub against it, applying pressure that brings me comfort of some sort. After I swipe my thumb three times, I swap. 
                          
At the back of the room is one table with four lounges. There are no other tables that are in line with it. Relief passes through me when I see Mora lying on one of the lounging chairs. That feeling is short-lived, however. As I step into the room, I can feel every set of eyes on me and the tight feeling in my chest is back. 
                          
I am unused to having more than five sets of eyes on me at a time, never mind the thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, that are currently in me thanks to the soldiers. I had always been hidden from everyone other than Mora, Brone and my teachers because- well I don't know why, actually. I just always have been, all of us have.
                          
When I finally reach my table, it feels as though I have been walking for hours. But, I let out a deep breath and gracefully lower myself onto the chair, as my mother had taught me to do. Penelope stands next to me, waiting for me to give her a task. Once I get comfortable, the soldiers begin to talk again, having been silent since my entrance. 
                          
"Why were they all staring?" I ask Mora, who is usually much better at noticing the atmosphere in a room than I am. She is sitting opposite me. Letting out a small laugh, Mora looks back at the people, who all seem to be taking turns to glance at me. 
                          
"It is because they have never seen you. The myth of Aphrodite's last daughter." Mora laughs as she takes a new set of cutlery from a servant's hands. My brows furrow together as I process her words. What did she mean by myth? Everybody knows that Aphrodite has a daughter. She has many, I am only of what could be hundreds. 
                          
Brushing off her words as I often did, never usually understanding her anyway, I take the fruit into my mouth. I call Penelope over to explain our schedule to me again. During the morning, I am to study, with two hours for a meeting just before lunch, after lunch I am to train. I am dreading it. 
                          
As the meal goes on, I periodically glance at the water clock. It is placed in the middle of every table. Footsteps approach and, when I look up, I find a soldier looking down at me. He bows slightly at the hips before looking down at me.
                          
"Lady Adora. I would like to introduce myself. I am Brigadier Adamos of Athena's most favoured group," He almost purred the word favoured, "I was wondering if you would like to discuss battle strategy in my room later tonight."Before he can go on, I cut him off. 
                          
"I am afraid not, Brigadier Adamos. I abhor battle as it is, and I do not want to discuss it during the few hours a day I have free. Besides, there is a two-hour time slot before lunch where I am to have a meeting with all high-ranking officers to discuss. Now, I am trying to eat my breakfast." 
                          
He turns on his heel slowly and Mora laughs at me once again. I allow my thoughts to wander to the schedule. There are three hours where I am to be left alone tomorrow, perhaps I could use that time to see what plants Athena has in her greenhouses that I saw as we passed. They are usually only filled with fruits and vegetables, I shall have to have one cleared out for my work. 
                          
Calling Penelope over, I instruct her to roam the palace grounds and see to it that the greenhouse, and to ready a room where I can practise botany. It is to be separated from any other rooms and will be off-limits to any other people. I simply do not have time to deal with the complaining of a privileged white man who can't handle being outsmarted by a woman.
                          
Once breakfast has finished, I swipe my eyes across the dining hall once again. Brone never came to breakfast.