Ale`xandros asked me to check up on his wife and daughter. So I went to Cyzicus. There I found Berenice. When I told her Alexandros was fine and had asked me to check how they were doing, she cried and told me to tell him she loved him and that they were well. She also gave me a few pages of her journal. Sadly, I did not see Chloe. This was written on those pages:
Part 1:
Dear diary, it’s been another wonderful week here in Thebes. My loving and proud husband Alexandros is earning enough gold to let us live a comfortable life. The weather has also been wonderful this last week. I have nothing to complain about! Yesterday, I went to the temple. The temple of Athena that is. Like I do every Wednesday. There were 3 women there that I have seen there before, but I have never spoken to them. They were gossiping. GOSSIPING in a temple of all places! They were also complaining a lot about all of the aliens who came in, fell to their knees before the statue, put their heads to the ground, and then left again. Alexandros calls them newcomers and welcomes their arrival, but I don’t know. They change things! Things that have always been how they were for a reason! I know it’s not my place to doubt my husband. Athena have mercy on me, but in this, I do. Life here in Thebes is so different now from when I grew up. All these aliens are here walking around. Some are even setting up shops! It’s just too much change for me. Though I love my life here. I really do! Sometimes, I long for the days when I was young and lived in Cyzicus. A small town to the northeast of here. It doesn’t have beautiful temples as Thebes does. It doesn’t have a temple at all, only shrines. But it was safe there. Oh, how I long for that feeling. When I prayed to Athena, I always get that safe feeling. So, I prayed to Athena, made an offering of flowers to keep Alexandros and Chloe safe, and returned home. Alexandros just got home from work. So id better go get him and start cooking dinner.
Part 2:
Dear, dear diary, today was a very strange day. I went to the temple of Athena, as I do each day. The women I mentioned before were there again. I’ve seen them every day there now. I did not speak to them, but I heard parts of what they were talking about. They said some city guards were getting very close with alien shopkeepers at the market. I’m sure it’s not true, or if it is. It’s not my Alexandros! When I heard that, I felt chilled to the bone! I only felt warm again after saying a few long prayers to the goddess.
After I visited the temple, I decided to go to the market. Not to spy on Alexandros, but you know. Just to see the stalls there. Yes, that’s it. I just wanted to see the stalls. What I saw there, took my breath away! One of the stalls had a huge display of strange creatures on it! Not live creatures, but small and soft versions. They looked a bit like children’s toys. Most of them had bright colors and they were made of some soft fabric. It looked like wool. Most looked very strange, but because of the colors and softness, they weren’t scary at all.
The owner of the stall was an alien. A very tall man. He stood out because of how tall he was and because of what he was wearing. He was wearing only two thin bands of clothing! Even slaves here wear more clothes. A very strange sight. And a very peculiar thing. He called “Eros” all the time. He worshiped the god of love!! Maybe Alexandros is right and we should call these people newcomers instead of aliens. If you worship Eros, you can’t be bad, right?
A very strange day, and I can’t stop thinking about those things in the stall. Are those real creatures somewhere? Has that stranger ever seen them? How big are they?
Part 3:
HE’S CHEATING, I KNOW IT! |I saw him at the market hugging another woman today! MY Alexandros! Hugging another woman! Today after visiting the temple of Athena, I went back to the marketplace. Last night the sight of all those brightly colored, wool creatures kept me awake and thinking. What are they? So today I decided to go back and ask the owner of the stall. He worships Eros, so It should be safe to talk to him, right?
He said his name was Waffles and then something that didn’t make any sense to me “Because everyone loves Waffles”. But he was very nice and friendly. He told me this world was part of another world that he called “Next Island” and that there were more worlds. On his visits to those other worlds, he had encountered the creatures and he’d even hunted them! These were trophies of his hunts. Now I suddenly understood why Alexandros welcomes these strangers. They are great hunters and if more like this Waffles, there are good and friendly ones among them.
Then, all of a sudden, I saw it! Alexandros was there on patrol and I saw him walk up to a woman. They talked for a moment and then he hugged her! I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Dear diary, me again for the second time today. It seems I overreacted just a little bit. Alexandros came home today with a dark look on his face. He immediately came over to me and gave me a hug and a kiss. He told me he had met the wife of his friend Janus. They grew up together and Janus became a scout n the army. Alexandros had also heard the rumors but never spoke to me about them.
Rumors have been going around of a leader rising up and uniting all of this world’s monsters. Our king had heard more and more reports of attacks and killings of people around Thebes and had sent a few scouts out to investigate. Janus was one of the men sent out. He did not return. His wife. Widow now, I guess had told Alexandros and started crying again. Alexandros told me he fears for me and our daughter Chloe. I have never seen this look on his face before and it frightens me.
Part 4:
Dear, dear dear diary, this has been a very difficult period and I fear more is to come. For one Alexandros has really shown more of himself than I had seen before. It’s very unlike for a man to show his feelings. Especially fear! But I like it. I love him even more now! He told me the death of Janus hit him hard and that he worries a lot about the safety of Chloe, our daughter, and me. Alexandros thinks it’s only a matter of time before Thebes is attacked and wants us to be in another, safer place then. Cyzicus is far to the north from here and my parents live there. It is a small, but a safe town. Upon a hill with wide-open fields. Part of me has always longed to go back there. The fields, the smells of the fields. It’s so different from here. Oh and how I‘d love to see those old familiar faces again. Telamon, the baker, Stelios, the sheepherder, and Halkyone, the fisherman.
But I will also miss my life here. Waking up next to Alexandros, of course. Our beautiful home here in bustling Thebes. Visiting the temples. But I’d get to see my parents again!! And Chloe her grandparents!
I also think this change would be good for Chloe. She’s been behaving too much like a boy. Not like the young lady she is. She always wants to go look at the soldiers at the barracks. I can’t blame her for that. When I was not married. I and my friends loved watching all those muscular men there too. It is where I first saw Alexandros. It’s different with her though. She’s more interested in how to throw a javelin the farthest instead of how handsome the man throwing it is. Cyzicus has no barracks, No soldiers. Only lots of gorgeous flowers you can make beautiful bouquets of, plenty of wool to learn how to make clothes of and learn the things a woman should know!
Part 4:
Dear diary, we’ve been in Cyzicus for a week now. It’s everything that I expected and everything that I was afraid I would not like. Spending time with my parents is great! It had been almost two years since I last saw them. So much here has stayed the same from that time. I love it! My old friends. Well, some are still here. Some have left. Sadly, Stelios was out with his sheep when they were attacked by wolves last fall. Poor man. He left for the Asphodel meadows too early. Telamon has become a broad-shouldered man! His parents have both passed and he now runs the bakery. He married Elpida! Who would’ve guessed that would ever happen! I remember him pulling her hair every chance he got when we were young. Halkyone left for Sparta soon after Stelios’ passing. I can’t blame him. There was nothing left for him here. But I am sad he’s not here. It is good to see those familiar faces, but it also saddens me to think of the ones that left. And of Alexandros, who I miss dearly! There is no temple here, but I go to the shrine every day and ask the goddess Athena to keep him safe.
Chloe is adjusting well to life here. She enjoys spending time in the fields and she brings home a freshly picked bouquet every day. Telamon and Elpida have a daughter close to her age who is showing her around and teaching her all sorts of things. They do stay out until late though. I don’t remember doing that when I was young. Yesterday she came back when It was almost dark! And she had cuts on her arms and legs. When I asked her how she got them, she said they came from brambles and gave me a basket with berries. How sweet!
After reading that last part, I’m even more curious about Chloe…