Dinner with Helen and Argia Chapter 16.1

After fourth bell, I met Helen and Argia at the front gates of the Academy to escort them to our family’s mansion in the city instead of going to either one of their city state embassies like we normally do.  I was going to introduce them to the family as my wives, and they were going to sleep over.

Walking them through the neighborhoods to my family’s city home, we soon arrived and the girls chattered together as they admired the façade of our two and a half story stuccoed stone mansion, with its ornate front porch, glass windows and the beautiful blooming flowers in the stuccoed stone planter boxes underneath them.

Leading them in through the front door into the large, rectangular, ornately decorated Andron, the two of them couldn’t help but look up to the ceiling of the towering atrium that was open to the second floor.  The second thing they did was admire the large mosaic pattern in the middle of the floor of the Andron.

Enjoying their reaction to the grandeur of my father’s house, I led them to the right of the entrance into the dining and kitchen area where Alcyone, Aethusa and the maids were doing some preliminary work for dinner.  Walking into the kitchen I announced “Alcyone, Aethusa I’m home!” causing them to look back at us in surprise.

With a satisfied smile on my face like I had just got away with something, I introduced “I would like you all to meet my fiancés Princess Helen of Sparta and Princess Argia of Thebes.  They are here today to meet Father and the rest of my family at dinner time, so do your best work!”

Having collected herself after being surprised, Alcyone was the first to step forward doing a little curtsy and greeting “I’m the Lady of the house and Mistress of Lord Xanthippus, Alcyone, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

With an ornery smile on her face, Aethusa followed her mother’s example grabbing her skirt and spreading it wide with a little curtsy and a slight bow of her head, greeting “And I am Lady Aethusa, Pericles’s Mistress, it’s a pleasure to meet you!”

With a wry smile on my face, I chuckled and continued “I hear you ladies have a delicious meal planned tonight, which I am looking forward to.  I’m going to give my fiancés a guided tour of the house and grounds.  Afterwards, Aethusa, can you bring some tea and treats to my room, making sure to bring a cup for yourself?” evoking a response that it would be her pleasure.

After that I gave the girls a tour of the house, taking them into the back of the house from the kitchen to then head out back to see the back patio, horse ‘barn’ which could be considered a house in itself, and father’s garden beds which were an example illustrating his method of crop rotation, which I used to explain father and grandfather’s agricultural system.  Going back in through the patio door I took them into the house and specifically showed them the bathroom with its flush toilet, which they found amazing.  Afterwards I led them upstairs, pointing out where everybody’s bedroom was and what they looked like before taking them back to mine.

While I opened the shutters on the windows of my room the girls were oddly fascinated by my battle armor hanging on a stand in the corner of the room along with my steel long sword mounted on the wall above it.  Heaving a sigh, I told the girls “Let’s get comfortable and do whatever studying we need to do before dinner time.” Coaxing the two girls to settle in with me on the floor rug in the middle of the room.

Tea Party

Soon after we began studying, Aethusa came to the room with a silver tray carrying a teapot, teacups, a plate of Kourabiedes shortbread cookies made with butter and almonds, dusted with a thick layer of powdered sugar that melt-in-your-mouth, and four slices of Portokalopita, a sticky, orange-flavored syrup-drenched cake made with shredded phyllo dough instead of flour.

Urging her and the other girls out on the back deck, we all sat down around one of the patio tables.  Aethusa then poured us all tea and handed out the small plates of Portokalopita with a fork.  Everybody started digging into their syrupy cake, and after munching a Kourabiede cookie, I started the conversation “So what did you two think of the house and its layout?  When we build our house, I would like to build something similar, but it will have to be a lot larger to accommodate all the wives I will be marrying, not to mention all the kids we will be having.  Frankly, I’m thinking the house we build will have to be three and a half stories tall and have a back courtyard and a separate building in the back for all the wives’ bedrooms.  You should add your thoughts too, Aethusa as you will be the one managing the house.”

At that point the girls all started chattering, as they expressed their ideas and opinions of what the house should be like.  At one point, Alcyone brought a fresh pot of tea out and freshened up everybody’s cup and mentioned that we should get the opinions of the maids too with regard to the layout of the rooms before she left.

As the conversation wound down, we put the empty plates and cups back on the serving tray.  Aethusa excused herself, saying she gets plenty of time to spend with me in the evenings so she doesn’t want to intrude on Helen and Argia’s personal time with me, taking her leave.  Thanking her I asked if she would accompany us tonight since we all need to get to know each other better, not to mention we’ll be spending the rests of our lives together, to which she agreed with a smile.