Her mother, who had survived four daughters and three sons and lived to see all but three of her children married, was a serious and quite women. Caliope often wondered at how little she knew about her mother, who had always kept her own council and who had been too busy tending her family and being the proper wife of a respected council member to devote much time to idle conversation. Caliope had always held the hope that perhaps when she was older and married her mother might open a little to her, as she had seemed to do with her elder sisters. It made her a little melancholy to think that this was no longer possible. Her elder sisters were both married, and the eldest with two young sons of her own. Demetra, the eldest, had always been like a second mother to her and Helena, keeping them out of her mothers hair and teaching them the skills that their mother had taught her: how to keep a house, how to sew and weave, how to cook, clean, and the most difficult lesson, how to sit quietly and be seen and not heard. Caliope smiled wryly at the memory of those lessons. Her sister, like her mother, was not shy with a switch.
She'd adored her sister though, and was heart broken when she was married to the son of a family friend who lived more than a weeks journey from her little city. 'Well', she thought a little sourly, 'I'm three days closer to her now. As if that does anyone any good.'
Her second sister Xanthipe was nearly as charming and beautiful as Helena, but not half as wild. She'd never been that close to her second sister, though it was her who had taught the 'little ones' as she called them, the more charming arts of singing and dancing. She had a naturally clear and high voice and her entertainment at dinners caught the ears and eyes of a wealthy, and very powerful councilman who asked their father for her hand the moment she was of age. She lived in the same city as her family, and she visited her mother now and then, but she was often busy with running a magnificent household for a man who liked to entertain. In the end Caliope saw as little of her as she did her eldest sister. As for her brothers, she had no real memory of her eldest, Aristophanes who, when he was very young and she barely out of her swaddling wraps, had left home to become a man, and returned on his shield. All that she'd known of him growing up was the spear and shield kept in his honor in the entrance of their home. Her second brother Pericles, younger than Xanthipe, had survived his first battle and had come home to marry and inherited a nice bit of land from his wife's family, off of which he made a handsome living from his wheat fields and olive groves. Her youngest brother, Hector, was two years her senior and still doing his civic duty as a young soldier. She was sorry she never had a chance to say good bye to him.
She had always liked him very much. He was always a sweet boy, and had become a sweet young man. He'd been the only one of her and Helena's elders that had been their playmate, and not their teacher. He was wont to make her practice sword fighting with him since Helena was too dainty and his elder brother too unforgiving. By the time Calliope was 15 she'd become pretty good at not getting hit, if nothing else.
Her mother didn't like her playing at such things, but it amused her father to no end. Most things did though. He and her mother were opposites in every way. Where her mother was calm and stoic, he was gregarious and emotive. Helena got much of her sense of humor from her father, and he doted on her. The whole family did. Caliope sighed heavily and kicked at a stone. How she missed her sister.
She sat down on a small boulder along the base of the boarder ridge and watched as the sheep spread across a small ravine, collecting in the pockets where the grass grew thick and green, her mind wandering along with them before returning to her sister once more.
She wondered how long it would be until Helena would make a marriage. She'd been made numerous offers already, but her father, she knew, was inclined to keep his favorite at home so made no fuss about her refusing the proposals. Helena had her sights set on one of the more youthful and handsome sons of the councilmen. Her father would undoubtedly let his little favorite choose for herself, much to the chagrin of all the older, and perhaps less handsome, men who'd already thrown their hat into the ring.
Caliope felt suddenly restless and slid off the boulder, climbing the ridge to stand at the crest. She'd been here once before with Thelios, but she'd not seen over the ridge.
She smiled at the memory of discovering him laid out in the long grass, eyes closed against the sun. She'd gotten bored and took to walking the shore until she'd come upon him. She'd commented on how hard he clearly worked and he only grinned up at her, eyes still closed and patted the grass next to him, inviting her to work equally as hard. The spot had seemed warm and cozy then, but now, standing alone along a ridge that ran as far as the eye could follow in one direction and that crashed into to dark blue sea in the other, it seemed incredibly lonely.
It was a hot sun, but the ocean winds blew stiffly against her back, wrapping her robes about her legs. She turned pushing her hair back from her mouth and eyes, only to see a figure on the other side of the ridge looking with astonishment at her. She focused more clearly and saw that he was very young, at least 3 or 4 years her junior, and she could see, doing the same work as she. She smiled and waved down at him. He waved hesitantly back. She turned back to check the flock to see if she might go talk to the boy, but a few had already begun to climb another ridge to the east of the depression. She sighed and sent another wave towards the shepherd and climbed quickly down the steep slope.
She managed to wrangle them quickly and took another peek over the ridge, only to find the boy gone. At home, with her family, she'd often liked being alone, but since she'd come here, she found it oppressive and found it difficult to suppress her disappointment at finding her potential company gone.
The next few days passed quietly out in the meadows. She moved the flock along the ridge, climbing the slope periodically to see if she might spot the young shepherd. On the fourth day she did, but only just barely. She waved across the distance and eventually he saw her, but he was too far to call to, so after he returned her wave, they could only return to their flocks. The encounter pleased her, inexplicably, more than she thought it would, and she wondered at herself.
**
"Demitri?" She called as she stood over the small cistern rinsing what few dishes there were to clean, her back to the kitchen.
"Yes?"
"Are you going to town again soon?"
"Why?"
"There was something I wanted to make, but I forgot to ask you to buy the ingredients for me."
He shrugged. "I wasn't planning on it, but I can just give you the money and you can go yourself. It's a pretty calm town, I don't imagine you'll get any trouble."
"Myself?" She turned to face him.
"Sure, why not?"
"No reason. I... I just, I've never been to a market alone before. Am I allowed?"
He shrugged. "If you aren't then I won't tell any one."
She grinned at him "That's kind of you."
"Here." He tossed a purse of money on the kitchen table. "That ought to cover it. Keep what ever is left over. " She walked over and hefted the little bag and opened the top to peak inside.
"That's far too much. I'll just take a few coins."
He waved at her dismissively. "It's less than I could get for all the sheep that won't go missing because you're tending them. Just look at it that way." She looked at the little bag speculatively.