"Mimoza."
"Yes Gaiana?"
"Do you believe in Greek rights?"
"To a certain extent, yes."
"Okay, good... So you understand that enslaving a Greek is illegal, right?"
Gaiana's arm was tied to the bedside. She sat on the ground waiting while Mimoza carefully kept watch over her. "You're not Greek, Gaiana. Neither of us are."
"Still," Gaiana shrugged her shoulder, "even slaves have walking privileges. If you let me go, I'll promise not to run away."
The cottage they were all staying at was relatively small. The stone foundation and clay walls were old but sturdy. It was abandoned, and made for a perfect resting stop before moving onto the next city. Mimoza wanted to go and collect supplies, but she didn't trust Gaiana to stay there alone. So instead, she sat on the chair across from her to keep her company during her captivity.
"I'll let you go only if you swear by Artemis that you won't return to that temple."
"I promise."
"Gaiana, you're lying. Your nose wrinkles whenever you lie."
Gaian glared hard at her. She stuck her tongue out as Mimoza rolled her eyes. Astrin and Imani walked in through the door to the sight of Gaiana being held hostage. "Gaiana, what's going on?"
Gaiana quickly pointed a foot to Mimoza's direction, "she's betrayed us! Slay her!"
Imani reached for her satchel to pull out a crystal. Astrin rested a hand over Imani's bag to stop her. He knew them both well by now. While Mimoza had a calm collective attitude to whatever choices she made, Gaiana was the reckless one, going out of her way to stir up trouble for the sake of it. "Mimoza, what's going on?"
Mimoza crossed her arms, "Gaiana, why don't you tell them what you told me earlier?"
Gaiana puffed her cheeks and turned her head away. Imani asked, "is this some Greek custom I'm missing?"
"No," Astrin said.
"It is," Gaiana refuted, "she wants to murder me. Slay her Imani!"
Imani looked over at Astrin for permission, he shook his head. Mimoza said, "tell them the truth Gaiana, tell them why I had to tie you here."
Gaiana stuck her tongue out. Astrin asked, "Gaiana, what did you do to get you tied up?"
Gaiana squinted him. She murmured beneath her breath.
"What was that?" Astrin asked.
"I want to become a Hetaira at the Acrocorinth."
Imani gasped, "this is oxen shit!" Imani ran up to Gaiana and flung her satchel over her face. "I could make you queen, and you'd rather be a prostitute!?"
"See?" Mimoza hissed. "Me tying her there was for her own good."
"Fuck you too," Gaiana raised her middle fingers up. "This is Greece, land of the free. You don't get to tell me what to do with my virginity!"
Imani pressed her satchel against her face, muffling her voice. "I will strangle you before I let a deviant become a lowly whore. You are godly! If you're going to become cattle, it'll be to birth a hundred deviant children for a noble dynasty!"
Gaiana struggled as Imani tried strangling her to death. Astrin walked forward to pull Imani back. Astrin spoke in a calming tone, "Gaiana, I'm not against you joining them, but-"
Imani covered Astrin's mouth, "don't encourage her! She's clearly unfit to make choices!"
Gaiana huffed out, "See? That's what I hate! Everyone keeps telling me what to do. I can't fall in love again, so why can't I just sell myself at the Acrocorinth?"
"Because you're a deviant!" Mimoza yelled standing up. "You have the fury of an animal and the blood of Gods through your veins. Something you need to know about deviants, is that deviant powers can not go to waste!"
"I don't have powers!" Gaiana yelled back. "I'm normal! I'm as useless as Astrin! I have deviant blood but I'll never use aether. Going to Olympus would be torture. I'd be a weakling in a city of Gods. I'd rather stay in Corinth and at least choose to be equal!"
Imani said, "Gaiana, being a deviant goes beyond just having powers. Being a deviant means being blessed by the Gods. You have a duty to yourself and to the universe to make your life more meaningful than the average mortal."
"Being a prostitute is meaningful. So meaningful, that I could get two coins per round." Gaiana raised her toe to point in Imani's direction. "It's a perfectly noble profession. I'd invite you too if you weren't already going to Olympus."
Imani made another gagging noise. Astrin shook his head, "Mimoza, you can't just forcefully drag her across Greece."
"Yes I can," Mimoza hissed. "Gaiana has Atlantean blood through her veins. When the Persians march through Corinth, they'll find her easily at the temple and take her away."
"It's true," Imani added. "The Asha order has already purged Egypt of all its deviants. The same will happen in Greece once they arrive."
"What about what I want?" Gaiana emphasized. "You're both just like Archos, treating me like an ornament. I should be free to pick my own path."
"No you shouldn't," Mimoza insisted. "You are far too important to be reduced to nothing more than a temple prostitute."
Gaiana spat to her side. She turned her head away to avoid eye contact with them. Astrin walked up to Gaiana and undid the rope bind, "guys, seriously, we can't drag her to Olympus with her hands and feet tied."
"Why not?" Imani and Mimoza said together.
Astrin replied with a scowl. "Because she's too heavy. We might as well knock her out and throw her into a grain sack altogether."
"Good idea," they both said.
"No." Astrin huffed out. He finished untying Gaiana. She stood up and felt at her newly freed wrists. "Gaiana, this isn't about money, is it? It sounds to me like this is your way of getting over... Him."
Gaiana's eyes widened. He'd caught it so easily. She lost any chance of loving a man thanks to Pandora. Joining the Acrocorinth was her way of mending the wound, of forgetting about her past and giving up any hopes for true love.
Astrin said, "if you want to work at the Acrocorinth, I won't stop you. But it shouldn't be for the sake of fear, pain, and escaping grief. If you truly want to be happy, working as a Hetaira to mourn him won't save you."
Gaiana frowned. Astrin understood her so easily, and knew her better than herself. There was another reason she wanted to join the Acrocorinth, a reason she didn't want to admit yet. "Maybe not, but how is Olympus any better?"
"It might not be," Astrin admitted. "But it's about gambling for hope. If there's a chance for a better life, you'll regret not striving for it."
Gaiana bit her lip. "It might not be worth it though."
Astrin pointed a thumb at Mimoza, "how about we make a promise then? We go to Olympus, and if you don't like it after a month of living there, you can come back to work at the Acrocorinth."
"I object," Imani called out.
"Shh," Gaiana and Astrin said together.
Gaiana glanced at Mimoza's direction, to which she only turned her head away. Mimoza obviously didn't approve of the plan, which only further compelled her to agree out of spite. "Fine," Gaiana said, "I'll go to Olympus."
Mimoza let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the Gods, I was wondering if breaking your legs would get you to change your mind."
Gaiana protested, "that wouldn't have changed my mind. The Hetairases are far kinder than you."
Imani crossed her arms, "how on earth did Greeks come to respect prostitutes?"
"It's a money thing," Mimoza answered.
"Still, if she needs money, I can literally sell one of my tools for thousands of drachma in gold."
Gaiana raised an eyebrow, "is that an offer? Because I'll gladly put on a chastity belt for a few thousand drachma."
"Don't push it," Mimoza scowled. "You're pretty, but not that pricey."
Gaiana gasped, "You insult me. And just for that, I'll be sure to sell myself once before leaving Corinth."
Mimoza rolled her eyes. "Fine, do what you will. As long as you still go to Olympus after. I'm going to the market to pick up supplies. You two make sure Gaiana doesn't change her mind by the time I come back."
Gaiana stuck her tongue out at her. Outside of the cabin, a girl in a straw hat looked through the crack of the cabin door. Her blue eyes watched with delight as she watched them all bicker with one another. Her attention turned directly at Imani.
She leaned her body against the cabin door before Mimoza approached. When she opened the door, Chloe fell forward to the ground before her.
"Shit," Imani and Astrin said.
Mimoza raised an eyebrow down at the fallen girl. Chloe lifted her chin up and said, "hi."
Mimoza asked, "who are you?"
"Chloe." She pointed in Imani's direction. With a smile Chloe said, "sticks."
"Sticks?" Gaiana asked in a piqued tone. "Is that what we're calling you now? Because I'm fine with that."
Imani glared at her. "She's talking about sugar canes."
"Sugar what?"
Chloe crawled towards Imani and began hugging at her feet, "sticks please."
Imani growled, "we had a no-touching rule!"
"Pretty please," Chloe pleaded pathetically.
Astrin asked, "did she really follow you here just for your sticks?"
Gaiana asked, "is 'sticks' some sort of secret phrase for a foot fetish I didn't know about?" She pointed at Chloe rubbing her cheek against Imani's leg to emphasize the point.
"I don't understand," Mimoza said. "Who is she? How do you know her?"
Gaiana's eyes beamed up in revelation, "oh, I get it, she's your slave!"
"What!?" Imani yelled, "of course she's not my slave!"
"Then can I have her?"
"No!"
"Then she's your slave?"
"What? Err, of course not."
"But how can you stop her from being my slave, if she isn't already your slave?"
Astrin said, "she's no one's slave. She's the deviant we met with earlier. I didn't think she'd follow us all the way here."
Mimoza raised her hands to her hips, "Imani, if you needed a deviant to marry into your dynasty, why don't you take her? She's quite young, and should fit whatever needs your people are looking for."
Imani's cheeks puffed. Chloe still held her by the leg and looked up at Imani like a puppy. Imani answered, "something tells me this one would be a detriment to my people than a benefit..."
"Sticks please?" Chloe said again with a smile.
"I am out of sticks!" Imani yelled. "I'm cutting you off, because clearly you'll fall into whatever addiction people give you!"
Chloe's eyes nearly teared at the sound of that, teared from the idea of never tasting sugar canes again. Mimoza asked, "addiction?"
Astrin replied, "she's addicted to water lilies."
Gaiana and Mimoza both said, "oh, that makes sense."
Gaiana walked up from behind and gave Chloe a hug, which also pulled Chloe away from Imani's leg. "Can I keep her?"
"No," Imani yelled.
Mimoza asked Gaiana, "as what? A companion?"
"As a slave!"
"No!" Imani yelled again in protest.
"See?" Gaiana said. "Imani won't keep her. I'll promise to treat this slave kindly."
"You are not owning a slave!" Imani shouted. "I will not travel with that imbecile!"
"I like your eyes," Chloe said absent mindedly.
Gaiana said, "but she's so adorable. We can't just leave her on the streets to rot."
Imani protested, "she was fine living alone in a hut in the middle of nowhere. And stop talking like she's a stray dog!"
"She's a stray slave."
"Stop calling her that!"
Astrin and Mimoza glanced at each other. Mimoza typically had a soft spot for younger girls, it was how she befriended Gaiana early on. Astrin only shrugged, trusting her as a veteran and a mentor. Mimoza leaned closer towards Chloe and asked, "Chloe, is it true that you're a deviant? Could you show me what you can do with your aether powers?"
"Aether?" Chloe tilted her head. She extended her palms and flowed her energy through her hands. Sparks of lightning danced within her palms, "you mean this?"
Mimoza nodded, impressed by the small spectacle. "Would you like to travel to a city with us? A city of deviants such as you?"
"Will there be sticks there?"
Mimoza chuckled. "More than sticks. It'll have all the most delicious foods you can imagine."
Chloe's eyes beamed bright in excitement. Literally. Mimoza saw her eyes flare up with white energy. "Yes please!"
Mimoza smiled, "she can come with us."
Imani's mouth gaped open, "but... But."
"Hooray for slavery!" Gaiana hugged Chloe tighter.
Mimoza wagged a finger, "not as a slave, but as a companion."
"Same difference," Gaiana insisted. "Come on Chloe, we can find more sugar sticks at the market."
"Sticks!" Chloe threw her hands up in excitement.
Gaiana took Chloe by the hand and sprinted out the door ecstatically. Mimoza soon followed behind them, "I'll go with them. I have a feeling Gaiana will start more mischief unless I'm watching over them."
Imani and Astrin were left alone after that. Imani rubbed at her eyes, "just... Why?"
Astrin reached into Imani's satchel and pulled out a sugar cane. He chewed on one as he spoke, "I think I know why. Best to just let some things be."