Sacrifice Ch. 05

He shrugged. "She's fine. Even if it could affect her, she's powerful enough in her own right, and has friends and admirers in high places. Plus she keeps to herself now. Has since Troy fell....the Helen episode, not that last time." He shook his head and chuckled...still gazing off into some unknown distance. "Amazing how they just can't seem to keep that city in one piece. And they just keep asking for it."

He smiled and looked down at her again. "The problem is: what works on our father, works on us...and it takes less effort to do so. Hence the concern, we're fine so long as no one knows our name or lineage...but it has come to light that some of us are known...which puts the rest at risk.

She nodded. She was listening, but her mind was still else where. "So neither of your parents is human then." He was silent and she blinked, her eyes focusing back on his. She realized her hand was covering her stomach and she moved, pretending she was smoothing wrinkles from her dress. She should tell him...she really should. What if it could affect the child, this spell?

"No." he answered slowly. "Why?" He tilted his head giving her a curious look. It was her turn to shrug. No...she couldn't, not yet. He might not even want...

"No reason. Just curious." she smiled, though it felt strained to her, "this is all quite remarkable to me." she moved to get off his lap, but one of his arms had slipped from the rests to pin her where she was. She frowned at him, he smiled back. "What is it?" He didn't answer. She pursed her lips. "Can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Are you intentionally vague?"

He laughed, and then nodded, still chuckling. "Yes, sometimes I am...why? What is it you want to know?"

She shrugged, folding her hands in her lap. "I...just wonder about who and what you are."

"Would you like me to tell you?" She tried to restrain her excitement at the prospect, but she could tell by the glint in his eye that she hadn't done it well. Well, he couldn't know why she would be excited...could he? Then he frowned.

"Is something wrong? You have a rather odd expression on your face."

"No...why would there be?" Oh dear. He looked suspicious. Perhaps she should just say it...

She opened her mouth...

'Thelios I have something to tell you...' No she couldn't use his name...

'Have you ever wanted children? Well too late now if you didn't...'

'I'm pregnant...surprise!' Oh dear lord. How the hell was she supposed to say-

"Calliope."

She gaped at him. "Yes?"

"What in Hades is wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me!" she defended. See! He thought there was something wrong with her, he wouldn't want a child with her. What would she do if the child's father didn't want it?

He laughed. "No woman, there isn't. I meant why are you so distracted? It's like your mind went and wandered off without the rest of you. What's going on in there?"

She flushed. "Oh...oh sorry...I don't know. I've been sort of preoccupied lately."

"I've noticed." He didn't add anything, or ask her what was wrong...just looked at her. It wasn't an unpleasant expression. It was simply thoughtful. She stared back, talking herself in and out of just opening her mouth and forcing the sound out. Ultimately, nothing came out but a sigh. She smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

He looked faintly amused.

"There is something bothering me." She admitted. "I'll get it out eventually, I promise...but I need to figure it out in my head first. I...just need a little time." She looked at him questioningly, and after a moment, he nodded, and smirked.

"Promise?"

She tried to smirk back and laid her hand over her heart. "Promise." His smile faded and he tipped his head to regard her, his fiery eyes searching her face. Eventually he released her, saying nothing, but lightly slapping her ass when she slid off his lap.

She gave him a disgruntled look over her shoulder as she walked to the door, and he grinned back with a wink. "By the way," he called after her, "any preferences?"

She frowned and paused to look back at him. "For what?"

He continued to grin. "Gags." She stared, then whirled back toward the door and hurried out of it to keep him from seeing her blush as his laughter chased her from his rooms. It was only once she was at the end of the hall that she realized he'd never told her what he was. Damn him.

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"Left at the statue of Persephone...or is it right?" Calliope frowned at the statue trying to remember which side of the hall the damned thing was supposed to be on. It stared placidly back at her, one hand gripping a scepter and the other offering up a startlingly well carved pomegranate. She sighed.

"A little too late for that." she muttered, running a hand briefly over her stomach. She'd have at least one more month before she'd even start to show...that is if she were anything like her eldest sister. And then what?

They'd already been here for several days and she had yet to work up the courage to tell him about the baby. Everyday had seen her coming up with another transparent reason not to tell him. Tomorrow and tomorrow...but tomorrow never comes. She sighed and glared accusingly at the statue.

She decided to go right. First find the bloody rooms, and then worry about everything else. One thing at a time.

Calliope was beginning to regret her attempted exploration of the underground palace. She'd only meant to take a look around and get acquainted, and alleviate her boredom, but had instead found herself lost and had spent the better part of the last hour wandering about in twisting circles in an attempt to find her way back. Now, and not for the first time, she found she'd chosen the wrong path. Not right. She should have gone with the first instinct.

She looked about the unfamiliar hall, her eyes searching for something which could mark it out as unique for her...but at this point it was all just blending together. The eye could only take so much gold before it was simply blinded by it. One mosaic bled into another, and the elaborate patterns in the tiled marble floor were just an unending series of bright colors now.

She sighed and turned back toward Persephone as nothing leapt out at her as familiar. Just as it came back in sight, a sound from a side corridor caught her ear. There was a pained cry followed by the timbre of an angry male voice. She found herself stopping to listen. There were voices, but too low to make out, save for the tone. The pleading sound of the woman's voice drew her, and she followed it instinctively, not pausing to consider her actions, or to worry about losing herself further in the maze of halls and rooms.

The voices stopped, and Calliope started as a man came around a corner to stalk past her, his face contorted with a mixture of anger and disgust.

Calliope, paused a moment to watch him pass, but he hardly looked at her. She let out a small gasp when she looked around the corner and saw a woman slouched against the wall with her face buried in her hands.

Thinking she was hurt Calliope went to her, dropping down beside the weeping figure and reaching out to run a soothing hand over her blond hair as the other gently grasped her shoulder.

She felt a momentary pang. The almost strawberry shade of her hair somehow reminded her of Helena's, or perhaps it was the youthful roundness of her face, or maybe just the weeping...Helena had always been one who was easily upset or hurt. Regardless, she couldn't help but be caught by the flash of resemblance.

The girl looked up with a gasp of her own, startled by the unexpected contact. Her eyes were watery, and the kohl around them had smudged slightly around her blue-green eyes, but other than that, she didn't look too ruffled.

"Are you alright?" The young woman blinked, then seemed to come to herself and gently waved her off.

"Ah, yes," she continued clearing her throat, "I'm fine...it's nothing." She rose to her feet, allowing Calliope to let a supporting hand linger at her elbow before she pulled away completely, tidying her hair and smoothing herself back into order. She then underwent an odd transformation in which her head and body tilted and her eyes slanted darkly. She looked suddenly like all of the other women she'd seen in the halls.

It had never, until that moment, occurred to Calliope that one could 'perform' beauty. She'd just assumed it was innate. She considered for a moment her own sister Xanthippe and wondered how the thought had never occurred to her before. After all, she was, in truth no more beautiful than Demetra had ever been...and yet she was considered at large to be the greatest beauty of them all. Indeed this woman had become no more beautiful, and had changed nothing but her posture and the expression on her face...and yet she seemed an utterly different person.

It was a stunning revelation, and it brought a smile to her lips even as she watched the fair haired woman warily. Something in her expression must have caught the woman off guard because her new face faltered slightly for a moment. "Thank you." She offered.

Calliope's smiled back gently. "It's nothing. You're not hurt?"

Her face flickered again before her lips twisted sourly. "No." It was one word, but it was filled with venom. Calliope could see it was not directed at her, however. So she tilted her head and waited, feeling that there was more meant to be said on the subject. The woman sighed and her expression broke completely as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not hurt," she muttered to the floor, "undone, ruined, destroyed...but not hurt."

"That...doesn't sound promising." She offered uncertainly, getting a humorless laugh in response.

"No. Not at all."

"Do...ah, is there anything, I mean, could I do anything for you? To help?"

The woman finally glanced up then, giving Calliope a strange, searching look. "Help?"

"Yes."

"Help me?"

"Yes?" Calliope frowned, uncertain as to why that should be unclear.

"Why?"

"Why? I don't know. It seems the polite thing to do. I mean," she continued, "who knows if I could help you...but if I can, I don't see why I shouldn't. Why don't you tell me what the issue is, perhaps I can help resolve it."

"I very much doubt it."

Calliope smirked wryly. "Can it hurt to try?"

She returned the expression. "It might. Penelope...by the way."

"Calliope. I meant what I said." She reiterated softly, watching Penelope's face as it flickered with apprehension.

"I can see that...I just don't understand why. But..." she sighed again, "I don't suppose it could hurt to tell you." She nodded down the hall. "That man you passed, he is a slave dealer...and I belong to his...stable." Calliope noticed her jaw tighten. "Unfortunately I am not the only one." She glared down the hall a moment before she looked back at Calliope with a half sneer of a smile. "We're offered a percentage if we can pull in one of the highest prices...so naturally the competition can become fierce. And that, you see, is my problem. We perform in order to capture the eye of a potential owner and if we cannot then we are more than likely out of the running and certainly have no chance at the best prices."

"Wait...you compete to be owned?"

"Yes." She arched a brow at her. "These are coveted positions...surely you've noticed the vast wealth of this place, and the power of those that control it? The blood of actual gods runs through their veins."

"Yes, I suppose."

She let out a laugh. "You suppose?"

Calliope shrugged, a little put off by the track of the conversation. "I honestly didn't know these people...these beings, existed until a few months ago...and I wouldn't have pictured any of this, even after I became aware of their existence. I had assumed they would be much as my own master." She gestured to the opulence around them. "I was simply given to my master as part of a tribute...I can't imagine competing for it."

"Well, that's how it works with the professionals. I imagine it's different for the regular slaves." She nodded to Calliope to indicate she meant her. Really Calliope couldn't argue with the assessment. She wasn't the singer, dancer or the 'actress' that these women must necessarily be. "Back to the point, I've been sabotaged by some of the others who have convinced the musicians not to play for me. Probably promised them all favors." She huffed out an annoyed puff of air. "I'm really very good you know. That's why they did it...the cowards. They wanted me out of the running."

"Is that what has upset you? Why don't you tell the dealer? Surely it's in his best interest to make sure all his options are presented well?"

"I know!" she agreed, "exactly right! That's what I tried to tell him...but he won't listen...and I can't understand why. He...he said some things that make me suspect someone's been feeding him tales about me. I'm just..." She made a frustrated sound and clenched her fists before deflating completely. "I don't know what to do."

Calliope gnawed her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment. "So...the immediate issue is that you need a musician?"

"Yes. For now."

"Surely there must be numerous among all these slaves and servants. Even one would be better than nothing."

"Yes, but you don't just go around asking to borrow peoples servants. It's not done."

"Well...I'm sure my master wouldn't care all that much...but that is of little help considering he has only the two of us, and neither of us are professional musicians. I...I do know how to play...a little...but I'm no expert." Xanthippe had been her teacher, and an exacting one at that. If half her sister's criticisms had been accurate, then she was at the very best of middling skill. Her performances always too wooden apparently, even if they were technically correct. But then she needed only provide the notes...it would be the dancer they would be watching. Surely she had provided accompaniment for Xanthippe and no one noticed her playing one way or another. It was simply a means to an end, and served its purpose well enough.

"You'd be willing to help me?"

"Ah...yes, I'd like to help actually...but I'm not supposed to...participate...exactly."

"Why not?"

"I don't know specifically." She chuckled, "Probably because I'm no good at it and would make both myself and my master look ridiculous." She smiled.

Penelope soften even more. "Who Is your master?"

"Ah, well, I'm not sure how to explain, since I can't say his name."

"Well what is he called?"

"Called? I just call him master." She smiled.

"Ok, well, what does he look like?"

"Grey, horned, giant with reddish-gold eyes...doesn't wear much."

"The Shepherd?" She looked shocked.

"Ah, he is a shepherd, yes..."

"But I thought he didn't keep slaves?"

"So I've heard."

"Strange," She shook her head as if to clear it, then smiled, "but it doesn't matter...you could always wear a veil..."

"Perhaps. When is it you need a musician."

"Well, um, tonight actually. Which is part of the problem. I can snatch one of their cithara's for you...that would be easy enough, and honestly I can dance to just about anything. Do you know the "Song of Danae", Or "Bright Lily"? "

"I know them." Calliope took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. "Ok, I can't make any promises, but let me see what I can do."

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"Come to dinner"

"No."

Calliope hid her smile by turning back the way she'd come, hoping that neither of them had noticed her at the door way. Instead of entering she slipped back next to the door and leaned against the wall hoping to hear something of what was being said...though from what little she heard she could already guess. This was the fourth night Mistress Nagi had returned to try and talk him into joining her for dinner with the others, and the fourth night he'd refused.

"I'll have Kara dance for you. You'll love her, she's wonderful. My absolute favorite."

"I'm sure."

Calliope heard her sigh. "But..." she paused,

"Not interested."

"Well what in Hades are you interested in?"

"Hearing something useful about what's going on so I can leave."

"We have to be patient until they find him."

"His people are taking too long. By now I could have already found the little weasel and—"

"Yes, yes, we know...but it can't be one of us...just in case—"

"Yes, fine. I understand that. It doesn't mean I have to like it. Nor do I have to like the way they are treating this as just another excuse to throw a party...this is a serious situation."

"Well what else are they going to do? Sulk like you?"

"It's working for me."

"You're impossible."

"..."

"What can it hurt, really?"

"..."

"It's not like you've never joined us before...why do you seem so much more reluctant now?"

Calliope heard him sigh. "I don't want her involved. You know what they're like."

"Her? Ah...of course. I don't really see the problem. Come sit with me...I'll scare them away for you."

"I thought you wanted Me to scare them away for You?"

"Strength in numbers, dearest brother. It will be fine, trust me. If you like I'll even mention it in casual conversation. You know, 'oh and by the way, look at the mistress the wrong way and you'll loose an eye.' That at least should keep Blink on his toes."

He chuckled. "He hates it when you call him that."

"Too bad for him. There are worse things I could call him. I have about a dozen penis jokes based on the eye theme alone. But I keep them to myself...because I am Lady."

"You're a pain in my neck is what you are."

"But you love me anyway. Consider it, will you?"

"Fine."

"Fine, you'll come?"

"Fine, I'll consider it."

"Ugh. Bastard. If you really cared for me you wouldn't leave me dangling like this every night."

He only grunted in response and soon Calliope heard the tell-tale sound of scales brushing against smooth stone. An experienced eavesdropper, having learned well from Demitri, she didn't panic but merely made her face neutral and took several step backward from the door and started back toward it when Mistress Nagi appeared before her.

They exchanged brief smiles and Calliope gave a perfunctory bow, but that was the full extent of the interaction.

"Trying to talk you into going to dinner again?" She asked upon entering.

"As if you didn't know."

"You saw me did you?"

"I saw the flicker of something, so I knew it was one of you."

He was seated in the throne-chair as usual, so she deposited herself down on the couch next to it, taking much the same position she imagined Lady Nagi had been in before she left. The twist in his lip and the gleam in his eye told her she had succeeded.

They watched each other silently.

"You know," she began after a long moment, "I am becoming vaguely curious about what goes on at these dinners. Wild orgies?"

"Not while they're eating. It's best to allow time for digestion first."

She looked at him sideways. "I can't tell if you're joking."

"I'm not."

She winced. "Oh." Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all. She was quite prepared to swallow her discomfort...but that might be a touch more than she was ready to deal with at this juncture. "I don't suppose one could just go to the non-orgy part?"

"One could. Why?"

She shrugged. "Eh...like I said, I'm curious. But I understand that you don't enjoy it."

"I don't."

She nodded once.

"But you'd still like to go?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yes. Fine."

"You...you'll go?"

"Yes."

"Just like that?"

He arched a brow at her. "Yes...just like that. You want to, don't you?"

"I...do, yes."

He shrugged. "Then we'll go."

"Oh."

"..."

"Thank you."

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Calliope cast a discreet, and somewhat apprehensive, glance about her.

She hadn't thought it was going to be this easy. She had thought that Thelios would say no, and that would be that. As it was she found herself trailing her master through the halls toward...well, toward wherever it was they were going. Some sort of great hall, she imagined. They weren't alone either. Thelios's sister was with them, and was trailed by a few servants of her own.