[Outdoors in the Inner Circle]
Have you ever had this feeling? It lives in the pit of your stomach for seemingly no reason. It’s cold and hard and unsettling. It’s… a bad feeling. But you can’t place this feeling. It eats at you, gnaws at you, and no matter how much you try to ignore it, it doesn’t go away.

Marietta lost track of how long this feeling was with her. Was it since Elias opened the senate? Was it since the fires? Or was it this morning? Marietta didn’t know. She just knew that things were off.

She didn’t need a feeling to tell her that. Even the blind could see how horrible Athenia had become. People ragged and hungry or dying from thirst from the incessant drought. Riots were happening. People were unhappy. It wasn’t just commoners. Marietta wasn’t starving, she wasn’t thirsty, but she was unhappy. All because of… one man.

A man she used to call her friend.

Then there was that feeling. It made her ill. It made her nervous- more so than was typical for Marietta. But she had to cast that aside. The Antonis was known for many things, and bravery was one of them. Marietta would have to cast aside this feeling no matter how strong it may be.

Or how nauseous it made her.

There was no reason; she thought that she should feel such unease. Yes, there had been riots in the past month. Yes, her friend suddenly announced his marriage to the Princess. Oh, and yes, there was an attack at the palace that the Queen supposedly died in, only for Marietta to find out that she was actually alive recently. Oh, and let’s not forget the fires. Those happened.

So why on earth was Marietta walking right now? She was asking the same question. The whole time she was taking a stroll with her youngest sister in the Inner Circle her mind questioned why they were outside. Inside was safe, surely? Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. After all, the Stravos even had their homes catch on fire in the last riots.

It’s just a feeling. She had to remind herself. Feelings didn’t always mean something. And she had this feeling for so long. This was Marietta being nervous as she always was. Or so Marietta thought… but then she heard it. Angry voices. Marietta stopped her walking next to a woman with a pretty teal blue chiton. Marietta might have glanced at the woman, or perhaps to the other two girls and a man that were near their group. Instead, they looked at the group that was marching towards the Palatai. She could hear their shouts of displeasure and see them fight with the guards. Rocks were being thrown.

“Hebe, we’re going home.” Marietta grabbed her sister’s hand, her grip tighter than ever before.

But that’s when she saw it. More groups, mobs as they were going towards the noble houses. Their voices were angry, their faces hollow from hunger. Marietta felt her heartbeat pick up when she turned and realized mobs had formed behind them too. All around, pockets of people were uniting, turning into several large groups as they made their way to the noble houses. She could feel the tension like one tiny spark would light this on fire, and violence would truly kick-off.

Marietta didn’t know which way to turn. Their home was cut off by a group heading towards the Antonis, but behind them were the other houses and the palatai. Marietta took a step, bumping into the pretty woman. “Excuse me,” Marietta said without even looking at her. She clutched her sister’s hand tighter. Which way did they turn?

Have you ever had this feeling? A feeling that was cold and hard and unsettling? Marietta had that feeling, and she wished that she had listened to it.

[Inner Circle]

On a morning as bright and clear as this, under skies of ardent blue with clouds of shimmering white at the far edges of the horizon, it was a crime for the air to be polluted with unrest. She could see it in the sidelong glances cast over her and Iris as the two of them made their way to the agora. Her cousin had some notion of buying flowers and Elysia was never one to miss a shopping opportunity. The entire time, though, while they sifted through sprays of purple irises, visions of scarlet poppies, blooms of blushing pink roses, white daisies, yellow calendulas. It was enough to make her forget, for a time, that there was a crowd seething behind them, muttering in dark, swirling whispers.

She glanced over her shoulder often. Each time she met the eyes of some stranger looking at her with such naked hate that a little slither of dread curled inside her chest. “Iris, darling,” she murmured against her cousin’s ear under the pretense of pointing out another bloom. “I think we should buy whatever you’re holding and go back home.”

Opening her own coin purse of purple cloth, she handed over a generous sum to the flower vendor. The man was about to take the stalks and carefully wrap them in twine but Elysia shook her head. “We’ll carry them, won’t we, Iris?” she didn’t give her cousin much of a choice because a man had sidled up to them and was actually growling in Elysia’s face now. She jumped hard and shoved against his chest. The man laughed but backed away. The next insult came when he spat at their feet.

“Brute,” Elysia seethed, but dragged on Iris’s arm. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered, tugging and pulling to get Iris moving. People did not make way for them as they hurried home the way Elysia had come to expect. Instead of bowing and stepping aside, people seemed to make it their business to block their path and jeer them. Someone pulled on her dress and she heard fabric rip. It so startled her to be touched by a stranger that she picked up the pace, practically barreling through people in her attempt to reach her front door, which was finally in view.

Her heart hammered inside her chest when she and Iris finally shut themselves into the house. “Cicero?” Elysia called from the foyer as she turned to examine the rip in her dress. She didn’t know if her husband was home or if he was out in the crowd but she prayed he wasn’t. If he wasn’t there to either tell them the truth, that things weren’t alright, or to at least alleviate their fears, she was becoming a little concerned that she might actually have to sit down and have a nice panic.

“Cicero?” she called again. In her arms was a bunch of flowers that she wasn’t entirely sure Iris had even wanted. Had she just grabbed these from the stall? Elysia dumped them on the table just beside the door and looked to her cousin but said nothing. Instead, she went to the window and pulled the curtains aside. People milled everywhere. When someone tossed a stone against the glass, Elysia jumped back. The curtain fell closed again but the glass didn’t break.

She clasped her hands together. “Oh Athena,” she breathed. “Help us…”

The world was changing too quickly for Hector's taste. He knew in his lifetime he would see the death of a monarch and the change of power, but never did he imagine it would result in a civil war.

The displeasure of the gods in these mortal affairs was clear, from the droughts and famines and disease running rampant through Athenia. It began in the provinces, with more than a few familiar faces gone from this world too soon.

There was solace in being able to have one steady thing in his life - his duty to the crown - the Xanthos crown. However, once again, he was charged with several tasks that left the Queen unattended in his home, barring her entourage. With Gregor and Ismene gone still to the plagued fishing village on the edge of the province, and both Ariadne & the Queen's handmaiden, Chrysanthe, in tow, there was little explanation for his empty household having a light in the window.

For now, he had a mental list for the three of them in the capitol:

1.) Deliver the message to Lord Alehandros on the Queen's behalf and establish her handmaiden, Chyrsanthe, as the new line of communication there.
2.) Use the Antonis pull to get Ariadne back in the palace to retrieve any of her belongings for the time being.
3.) Somehow, through some method he had yet to sort out, break Demetrius out of the fylaki and reunite him with Queen Persephone's retinue.

It was one hell of a list, but not impossible. At least, that was what he thought until they began the climb towards the inner circle.

There was static tension in the air. It was a familiar and uncomfortable feeling to the seasoned soldier. Years of training and experience, plus all of his recent experiences in the capitol over the past months, could sense that this was coming to a head. It was louder than usual, a rumble made more of voices than carts and animals filled the air, getting louder the closer they drew to the circle. There were more people to weave through, the air of displeasure in their words and chants making things unsteady.

"Stay close," he urged the women, eyes meeting Chrysanthe's first, then lingering a touch longer on his daughter. After losing Ariadne once in a crowd that lost control, he was not keen on doing so a second time.

Instinct had one of Hector's reaching back towards Ariadne, as he made as much of a path towards the Inner Circle estates as possible, until it grew too thick. He stilled their pace to a near stop as he heard a voice rise above the crowds - scolding them.

It was Lord Rafail of Marikas, standing outside of the Palati, dressed as if he were waiting a court painting session, and patronizing the half-starved people. To add insult to injury, he had the gall to eat a fucking apple in front of them. Hector's own stomach had been empty for a day or so at this point, ensuring the two with him were able to eat enough. Their rations were more reasonable in size if they fed two instead of three on the journey.

Though Hector was not yet driven to the wildness of hunger, he could not promise the same of the angry people that beckoned at the noble's gate.

"This will get ugly," Hector murmured, more to himself than the girls, before he began to try to pull them from the crowd. It was difficult to swim against the stream, and as they moved away from the shuffle, he was surprised beyond words to find three familiar faces before them.

"Demi?" he asked, his incredulous tone audible above the crowd. Hector, once again, did not know that she had made her way to Athenia. For how long this time? It had only been a few days ago that they had reunited and separated again under the unique conditions of his house. In fact, he was certain she was just as surprised to see him away from his esteemed houseguests as he was to see her in the middle of a riot.

His expression shifted to a more appropriate, stoic one as he looked to the Antonis ladies at her side. "My Ladies."

The raise in shouts around them had his protective instincts alight, and his eyes watched as a stone arched overhead, lobbed in the direction of the Marikas lord. Then, another.

The sparks that would start the flame.

"We need to get away from here. Now."

Maybe the Gods just enjoyed playing with her, really.

Demi had truly intended to come here and see if she could find out any information she could which pertained to the situation Hector had found himself in. Afterall, her lover was looking more and more harried as the days went by, and the pleasure worker couldn't help but feel a little out of place and useless when it came to just... being part of his life. What could she offer that the nobles and royals he mingled with couldn't, anyway?

But the longer she remained in the inner circle, the more Demi realized she was probably a little out of her league. The voices were angry and loud, and as voices became violence, the anger just grew - what was happening to the kingdom? Windows were broken with no care for what harm would be caused, and as people caught up with the idea, even more began to grab whatever it was they could get their hands on, be it rocks or fruit, as long as it would cause some resounding damage when it found its target.

Startling in surprise when someone knocked into her, Demi quickly reached out to steady whoever it was who had knocked into her while finding her own balance, all while trying to ensure they stayed out of the line of fire from very angry Athenians. "Are you alright, ladies?"

But of course, Hector just had to find his way to the capitol the same time she did, didn't he?

A mix of exasperation and annoyance along with mild regret filled her blood when she heard her name in a voice too familiar for her to mistake. Would it work if she allowed him to assume he had gotten the wrong person? Too late.

The woman wore a sheepish smile as she turned, one hand still on the Antonis lady, looking back to make sure they (she was faintly sure she had met them before, but Demi honestly couldn't be too sure) were alright. But before the brunette even had a chance to greet Hector, Ariadne and the one lady she was sure was one of the entourage now staying at his place, thw cacophony behind them escalated with what seemed to be growing fire.

It would seem the people were not happy with the speech of the young Marikas lord, a man she had seen once or twice during her brief stint with Elias. "It doesn't matter whose at fault, what matters is we're still hungry! Where is your so-called food now when we're all starving and you're wearing golden embroidered clothing!" One of the shouts floated above the rest, and what followed was a loud yell of agreement as everyone in the riot pushed against the guards best as they could to try and get their hands on Rafail.

Except, Demi happened to be standing right at the very edge of the mob, and when she felt the slightest pressure that threathened to take her, she quickly released her previous grip on Marietta, too surprised to react enough as the riot more or less swept her off her feet to go along with them.

How crazy was it to think that only a few short months ago, it never would have been possible to see Danae of Stravos and Sofia and Marikas gathered together in the Stravos courtyard in order to scheme as their cats played upstairs in Danae’s room? It was a rather ludicrous thing to think given that the girls were so different, so their friendship was a rather unexpected one, to say the least. After all, the Marikas girl was over a decade Danae’s senior. That alone would make one think that she would have more in common with her elder siblings instead, but in these weird times, it wasn’t all that surprising. This power struggle for the throne was bringing out new sides in everyone who had a stake in the conflict. For the Stravos, they were growing more ruthless with every passing day. Jabs and insults usually kept behind closed doors were now discussed in the open. Committing murder was no longer off the table and for many of them (Danae included, in some instances) was the default option for those who stood in their way.

However, at the same time, the youngest Stravos had to admit that she was also changing in a different way in comparison to the rest of her family. She was actually becoming more compassionate in the wake of her family’s crimes. Now she was not going to stand here and claim that this change of heart came from any moral awakening, but instead more from a place of self-preservation than anything else. She didn’t have much of a choice in that matter as that fateful Senate meeting had taught her that any actions the rest of her family took would have a ripple effect down to her. Being only sixteen, Danae had no form of recourse other than trying to pull her family off a dangerously stupid path before they took the first step. This caution she had was the closest thing to compassion that a Stravos was going to get.

Maybe that was why Sofia sought out her company in the wake of the burning of Aetaea. Or more specifically when rumors began to mill about that the older girl’s brother was involved. It had been pretty obvious to the girls after a brief conversation that both Rafail and Elias had been involved, leading to Sofia asking for Danae’s help to protect the misogynistic waste of space. The Stravos girl naturally had her doubts that she could do much of anything to help Rafail, not only due to her personal distaste for the man (after all, she wasn’t very ladylike and he had made it more than clear in the past that this was a horrible, unforgivable trait of hers) but from her inability to reason with Elias. The two Stravos siblings were practically estranged after the older man repeatedly showed that he had no concern for Danae’s wellbeing and only cared about his crown. She had no reason to believe that Elias was going to listen to the sister that he still saw as a young child when it came to reducing his best friend’s involvement in his schemes. Danae was fairly certain that this was a hopeless cause, but through her conversations with Sofia, Danae had convinced herself that she was willing to try. She liked the Marikas girl and valued having a friendship with her. If the cost of having that was buttering Elias up with words of praise that made her want to vomit then so be it. She could stomach it… for now at least.

The progress on this plan was slow-going which was something that Danae had warned Sofia about. After all, it wasn’t as if the youngest Stravos would march into the Palati and make demands to Elias. That would never work and even a single attempt on Danae’s part would annihilate any future efforts to get him to see reason. She could only hope that her newfound friend could understand that Danae was trying… but given that the men involved were a pair of numbskulls who were dreaming of glory, but deaf to Icarus’s warnings, there was little that could be done at a rapid pace.

This was one of the things that the two girls were trying to think their way around the same evening that the starving populace decided to take up arms against the royals. Oblivious to the uprising stirring in the streets, Danae and Sofia decided to take advantage of the empty Stravos household in order to work more on their little scheme. Chara was off at the Palati, visiting Elias as far as Danae knew and her mother was… somewhere. Circenia didn’t tell her daughters where she was going before heading out. Just that she would be back later. Danae had learned long ago that it was easier to just not question these things. So instead of worrying of whatever they could be up to, she sent a missive to Sofia, inviting her over for the evening which her cousin graciously accepted.

Now the two of them were lounging in the Stravos’s courtyard. The last remnants of a decent meal lay nearby as the two girls chatted about what could be done about the problems that were their older brothers. Normally, Danae would have not been comfortable with such an open discussion about these sorts of things, but she had told the staff to stay far away from the courtyard that evening under the direct threat that the Stravos would think nothing of continuing the downsizing of their staff that had started when they lost their nobility. Given the current state of the country and the scarcity of food… it was a threat that many of them were not willing to take Danae up on. After all, it was no secret that Danae had the mind of her father and a certain sway over Circenia now that the two women were getting along. At least it was a way to guarantee that the two of them would be left alone for the evening.

However, these little actions would have larger consequences that evening even though the girls didn’t know it yet. Having Sofia visit the Stravos manor and just leaving discarded bits of fruit and sweets just laying about were not good ideas when there was an angry mob on the way. An angry, starving mob that blamed girls like them for their problems.

For now, though, the two of them were blissfully unaware of the dangers that were marching towards the Archontiko Stravos as the two of them were lost in chatter about what they could do to break their brothers apart. They couldn’t even hear the roar of the mob at first, but that quickly changed the moment a familiar figure to Danae came running into the courtyard, pulling the girls out of their discussions as the youngest Stravos turned her head to see which fool had decided to break her very direct instructions. However, to her utter surprise, the man that came racing into the courtyard, heading directly for the girls wasn’t some foolish kitchen boy, but instead Danae’s personal guard; Taureas. The burly man was a trusted confidante of Danae’s -- she had no choice, but to put her faith in him as his job made him the only one outside of her family who knew about her secret business. Out of all the staff, he was the one who was the least likely to disobey the girl, so his presence was troubling, to say the least.

Sitting up from the plush chair with a startled expression, Danae started to ask what on earth was the matter, but she was quickly cut off as the bodyguard quickly moved to hurry Danae and Sofia both up from their seats, barking a harsh warning. “You both need to come with me. There’s a mob in the inner circle.” His words were sharp and lacked the formalities one would expect when dealing with a Stravos and a Marikas, but Danae didn’t really pay any mind to it as she felt her blood run cold at what he said. They had all been through this once before. Danae had been lucky enough to have been absent from her family’s home the last time the angry mobs came to burn the gardens, but she wasn’t in the relatively safe Marikas home this time. She was here, in a house that had already once been attacked by a mob who were likely rising against her brother. What was even worse, it was just the two of them. The youngest Stravos and a Marikas. If a mob was on the way, looking for Elias, they were not likely to be happy if they only found the two of them and now that the girls could take notice of the din forming out on the streets -- it was safe to say that their tempers had not cooled from the last time they had paid the Stravos house a visit.

Needless to say, the two of them needed to get out of there.

Quickly.

Nodding to her cousin, confirming that this was a man that the two of them could trust, Danae scrambled to her feet to follow Taureas to whatever place he deemed safe enough for them as the threat grew audibly closer to the manor. She hoped that she was imagining things, that the fear that was causing her heart to race and her palms to shake was making her hear things, but that mob sounded scarily close. How could the two of them miss the shouts before? The thick stone walls that used to make up the amphitheater before the Stravos bought the land was very good at drowning out outside noises, but even this was too close. It seemed to be that the mob was right upon them and if the hurried tone of Taureas was anything to go by, they might very well be. Helping Sofia to her feet, Danae was quick in trying to keep pace with Taureas, but that was difficult in the dress that she was wearing. The light blue fabric made of a luxurious material that could have only been imported was perfect enough for hosting her cousin, but now it was a hindrance as the young girl had to hike up the skirts so that she might not trip on the oodles upon oodles of fabric. Danae cursed herself for having them spend the evening instead of in her room. Maybe being elsewhere in the manor would have bought the girls enough time to change into one of the many practical dresses the Stravos girl openly favored. Now there wasn’t enough time to even go back to her chambers and grab the cats that Danae was so fond of. They needed to get away from this house before the mob tried to set it alight again.

Hurrying after the bald, burly man, Danae instinctively reached up to her ears to undo the gold earrings. Her run-in with the pirate had taught her that she did not want to be wearing any sort of jewelry as that was the first thing that would be taken from them if they were caught. “Sofia, your jewelry,” She practically barked at her cousin from the stress of the situation, urging her to follow suit as earrings, bracelets and necklaces were each in turn stripped from their persons and tossed at whatever doorway was open along the way, hopefully hiding their route through the maze of halls. Danae would happily replace anything Sofia lost if that meant that they could get out of this situation alright, especially as a pounding began on the doors and calls for Elias to come out began to resound through the Archontiko. The mob was here.

Danae and Taureas immediately began to run, the girl reaching for her cousin’s hand to drag her along. Both of them knew that the doors were not going to last. They were already weakened from the last riot and if that wasn’t bad enough, the staff shortage meant that there weren’t enough guards to hold back that many angry people. The mob was going to come in and the girls were racing to get out before that happened. “Hurry Sofia!” Danae screamed as the guard finally got them to the staff entrance and flung the door open, turning back momentarily to push the girls along and out the door. However, Danae was forced to skid to a stop when instead of being faced with the empty space that was used for shipments of food nad other goods needed to run a household as large as theirs, the three of them were met with a literal crowd of people standing in their way, faces angry. They had not managed to escape the mob and flee into the night. Instead, they had inadvertently opened the door to them, allowing them entry into the home they wished to destroy. Danae clung to her cousin even though she knew that they would soon be wretched apart, looking at the older girl with eyes wide and fearful about what was going to happen to them.

She was so terrified that she could not even form a silent prayer to the gods to protect them. Not that it would even matter. They were now at the mercy of the mob and there was nothing that any mortal or divine being could do to save them.

It was going to take nothing short of a miracle to protect them now.

She would rather have gone riding.

Her sister, though, wasn’t fond of horses and so Hebe found herself taking a boring stroll around the boring inner circle with Marietta, who was usually not boring. Now she wasn’t saying anything, so she was boring too. Hebe couldn’t really blame her. She had just recently found out that the Queen was alive and was having to come to terms with the fact that Elias was not the person she had thought he was. Or at least the youngest Antonis assumed she had come to that conclusion. Marietta was smart. She must know that Elias was responsible for all the problems that had befallen the Athenian people lately. Even the fire.

Cocooned in a bubble of wealth and nobility, the Antonis sisters were not affected by the lack of food in the city. Perhaps Marietta wasn’t aware of how bad it was. Hebe spent half of every month in the palati and she saw the results of Elias’ tyranny firsthand from the window of her carriage while traveling back and forth. Until recently she had walked from her house to the palati, but it was not safe anymore. Occasionally, people pounded on the sides of the carriage, begging for food. She had once seen a man wailing while carrying the limp body of a child who had most likely died of starvation. She had taken to keeping the curtains closed so that she wouldn’t have to see the hopelessness in the streets. Hebe wished she could help, but she was only one fourteen-year-old girl.

Eventually, she began to hear voices shouting near the palati, expressing their dissatisfaction and demanding action. This wasn’t all that unusual, but the crowd seemed to be larger than usual. Another mob? As they came into view, Hebe saw a huge throng made up of the lower classes. Some of them were throwing rocks at the guards. She knew one of them. He was always nice to her. She hoped he wasn’t hurt. More people kept joining. It was the largest mob the young brunette had ever seen.

Hebe didn’t protest when Marietta grabbed her hand and told her they were going home. As she was beginning to turn away, one voice rose above all the others and she looked back to see Lord Rafail eating an apple while berating the mob, claiming that they had plenty of food and blaming all their woes on the Queen. “Moron!” she yelled, but her clear young voice was lost in the cacophony of louder and angrier shouts. She stopped abruptly when her sister ran into another woman. Hebe didn’t look closely at her. It was more fun watching people hurl anything they could get their hands on at the Marikas lord.

The woman asked them if they were all right. Hebe decided to let Marietta answer. Then a slightly familiar masculine voice acknowledged them. She turned to look at its owner and her eyes widened. It was the man who had tried to abduct Marietta a few years ago. Was he going to kidnap them both now? Her sister’s grip on her hand tightened. Was she afraid of him?

Hebe drew back her foot to kick him in the shin, but placed it back on the ground when she saw the two woman who were with him. She had never seen one of them before, but the other had been with the Queen at the harvest festival. Her name was Ariadne. Upon closer inspection, she bore a resemblance to the kidnapper. Was he the father she had spoken of, the one with access to important information?

Hebe was confused. Was a kidnapper working with the Queen? Or was he not a kidnapper at all? There were voices all around her and now she saw that the mob was splitting and some were headed toward the houses of the nobility. “Not again.” she muttered under her breath. The young girl gasped as the woman Marietta had bumped into was swept along with them. The man had addressed her by name. Would he go to her rescue?

“I don’t think we can go home now,” she said to Marietta in a small, frightened voice.

Oh, how she wished that she was bored again! Boredom was safe. This uncontrollable pandemonium would become even more dangerous if the crowd noticed that they were nobles.