It had been a few days since he went to Archontikó Drakos in search of his family. He had seen them: his wife, his daughter, and a second child who must be the child of another man. Tythra had wanted nothing to do with him, losing all of her composure and screaming at him to ‘get out’. He had done as requested and left his home without getting what he came for. Without getting his family back.

Since then, he had found some menial labour work. He was a soldier, and a Lord, and barely qualified for many jobs commoners held, but he was good at hard labour, with a soldier’s physique and the training of a slave. Not many were willing to pay him for his work, but a couple of them were, and the ones that weren’t fed him and gave him a roof to sleep under. It definitely was not the homecoming he had expected, not in the slightest, but it was better than nothing, he supposed. At least he was back in Colchis, back home where he was meant to be.

One day at a time, that was what he had been telling himself for the past sixteen years, and the mantra stuck with him now, on these days where he was no longer a slave, but a Lord… a Lord still completing the most menial of jobs, just as a way to make ends meet. He suffered through it for four days, doing as bid, just as he had done when he was enslaved, barely talking, barely engaging with the world beyond his given tasks.

Then, on the fifth day, he had had enough. This couldn’t go on: he was free of this life, and had expected to return to some semblance of normality when he had reached Colchis. He had never expected it to be so hard to come back… though he no longer knew what he expected. Thesus wanted to give Tythra and his daughter space to come to terms with his return from the dead (as they obviously thought that was what had happened to him). He wanted them to have the time to process everything, but he couldn’t wait forever. He could barely make it through four days. He was so close, it was almost unbearable.

That morning, he dressed in his nicest clothing - all he could afford was what the commoners wore, but it was better than the tunic he had been wearing as a slave when he arrived in the city. He also made an effort to cut his hair and trim his beard, just to make himself slightly more presentable. It would have to do. His target was the Kotas family - his wife’s family. Tython, whom Thesus assumed was still King, would not be there… he was probably his best bet, but his wife would have to do. He wondered if Yanni would recognise him. And what about Zanon? The boy had been barely a teenager when Thesus last left Colchis. But with half of Colchis fighting a war in Egypt, he didn’t have very many options, and the royal family was not a bad place to start.

Approaching the Archontikó Kotas, guards were once again blocking his path. He announced himself as Thesus of Drakos, just as he had done at his own home. It seemed the name, if not the appearance, was enough to gain him entry, albeit an escorted entry. One of the guards came with him, directing him up to the manor carved into the side of a mountain. He was guided into one of the receiving rooms and told to wait, though the guard remained waiting with him, while a servant was sent scurrying off to announce his presence to the inhabitants of the manor.