Athenia hadn’t been a complete waste of time. Thea had managed to find some more interesting merchants at the festival and acquired some rather high quality goods to sample once back home. Thea had made sure to take note of connections, for she would always have a need for rare and dangerous herbs and poisons, as well as something a little more fun. Thea rather enjoyed letting opium fill her with a rush of euphoria and content. If she truly wanted to feel something, she would lock herself away for the night and let the smoke flow through her. There truly was nothing quite like it.

Some of the shadier merchants had interesting substances that caused all sorts of reactions, from dulling emotional reactions, to creating a nearly lethargic calmness. One product that caught her attention was a pouch of seeds. She was promised that when thrown into a bath of hot water, the fumes would make her howl with joy. She was somewhat sceptical, but if there was any truth to the claim, then she could think of a few ways to make use of such a product.

Beyond her personal connections and purchases, Thea had made arrangements with suppliers and taken stock of inventory, as requested by her father. While she was still displeased with him, she would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her fail an otherwise simple task. She would placate him with her compliance for now, but should he try to force her hand again, she would be willing to take more drastic measures. He was the head of house after all. If her ‘betrothed’ were to suddenly fall ill, then it would not be difficult to make it seem like he gave the order.

With her tasks completed, Thea had quite a bit of time to fill before returning to Colchis. Admittedly, she had found Daniil to be more entertaining than originally assumed. Absence made the heart grow fonder, so Thea spent some of her quiet time contemplating how best to act moving forward, especially once she was back in Colchis. Some correspondence through letters could work, perhaps Daniil might even entertain the idea of visiting Colchis. Being away from her grandfather and father might be appealing enough. Ironically she would be much safer with them around.

Using the excuse that she wanted to see more of Athenia before leaving, Thea made the journey to the temple of Poseidon. She’d already spent much time wandering the great Marikas gardens. Even she could appreciate the impressive blooms the Marikas had cultivated over the years. However while she could appreciate the wonders of nature, Thea’s true aesthetic appreciation came in the way of the finer arts and music. She couldn’t explain why, but she had always found pleasure in examining exquisite architecture or pieces of art. They were true embodiments of talent and expression. The deliberate use of colours, lines and texture made wonderful puzzles for Thea to solve. Music on the other hand was like a window to the soul. She enjoyed hearing the tales of adventure sung by bards, but truly it was not their words she found most interesting, but instead the timbre of their voices. She took pleasure in mapping the contours of the melodies, the variety of pitches and vocal styles. The spoken lyrics were like an over simplified telling of the tale itself. The true message in her opinion, could be found in the sounds alone.

Still, Thea had not gone to the temple to listen to bards. She had been curious to see the temple, for it was her understanding that Poseidon was rather popular in Athenia, especially with the common folk. She’d been interested to see how the temple compared to the one for Artemis in Colchis. She herself favoured Hades, but she had respect for the rest of the gods as well. Her voyage home relied on Poseidon’s good graces after all.

Once she’d made her humble offering to the god of the sea and prayed for safe passage home in a few days time, Thea left and continued to walk along the docks. As the sun began to set in the evening, Thea could not say she did not appreciate the fresh sea breeze against her skin as she walked. She could still feel the heart of the Summer sun from earlier under her skin, so the change in temperature was pleasing. Dressed in a dark green peplos, pinned at her shoulders by silver serpent fibulae, and pulled in at the waist with a fine silver rope, Thea did not seem particularly fitting along the docks. Crewmen bustled around their vessels, merchants hurried about with their cargo and even some soldiers stood at the end of a pier speaking quite amicably amongst each other. Thea observed the goings on about her, ignoring the lingering glances from some of the men nearby. Once their gazes tracked back to her two guards who remained far enough behind her to give her space, their lecherous looks dropped away.

As Thea continued past, she recognised a somewhat familiar face. There, speaking with the soldiers, was the younger Antonis boy, Stelios. Thea had seen him briefly at the dinner celebration in Colchis. He had seemed rather focused on the Drakos girl, who contrastingly seemed nervous, especially around him. Thea had watched them only briefy and had come to the conclusion that the two had likely fallen into bed together. It would after all explain the awkward dynamic between the two. Beyond that, Thea had not paid them much more attention. Imeeya of Drakos was Colchian, so it was in Thea’s interest to observe her behaviours, but Stelios was Athenian and so she’d spent less time tracking his actions, given that he would not have been in Colchis for much longer. She knew enough about him and his family though, for reputations travelled across the Aegean rather easily.

Ironically, it was Stelios’ brother that Dionysius had suggested Thea marry. Lord Mateos of Antonis, commander of the Athenian army, and a golden example of a first born, military son. Rumours suggested the man was nearly as emotionless as she was, which no doubt amused her father to some degree. As for Stelios, he was the middle brother and although he had an impressive reputation himself, being so very close in age with Mateos, Stelios seemed to live partially in his brother’s shadow.

Thea had no real desire to stop and converse with the Antonis man, but potential games began to bubble in her mind. It was truly exhausting at times, having to find ways to keep her mind busy and entertained. If he were to notice her and approach her, she might even entertain one of those ideas. If not, then she would continue on her way.