Chapter Text
She remembered the heat radiating from the city in waves as the sun dipped below black waves. Despite the dying sun, her home was bathed in an orange glow that hurt her eyes to look at. She wondered if her father and brother made it out alive, or if the Greeks had slain them like her aunts and cousins.
A general had taken her from her fiery home, commanding her large soldiers to throw her onto her ship like raided loot. The city had flickered and faded away with a dying light.
At least Troy went out with a bang.
***
Personally, Peridosius hated the summer. The heat was suffocating on its own, and the humidity would cause her papyrus to crack and tear when she held it. Even worse, her master would take none of these obstacles into consideration when giving her assignments. True, she had to pay her dues, but the least her master could do is make her tasks possible.
She growled as the scratchy burlap full of scrolls bounced on her hip while she walked through the square. Stupid heat, stupid scrolls, stupid assignments.
She glared at a pair of naked women chatting near a well, throwing pointed looks at her.
Fools, if they knew who she was they would be trembling on their knees, begging for mercy. If they knew her bloodline they'd throw themselves at her feet and kiss them, asking for a blessing.
One of them gave a snort and looked away, giggling with her friend.
Peridosius sighed and trudged on, remembering her place in the Greek heirarchy. No one in this damned country would fear a slave, especially one that was as pampered as her.
It was a mystery to the inhabitants why she was treated so fairly for a Trojan. Some rumors claimed that she was a concubine for her master, while others claimed that she was secretly the general's bastard. None of these were true to Peridosius's knowledge, and the slave had little idea as to what went on inside her master's head when it came to treatment.
She looked down at her bag of scrolls as she climbed the steps of the Manor, all eight rolls of papyrus filled with the history of various sea monsters.
The slave snorted. No, she definitely had no idea what went on in the general's head. Should she tell her that they were landlocked, or would it be fruitless? Whatever her reason was, her master was most likely growing impatient.
She hurried down the Great Hall to her master's chambers where she stopped in front of a servant.
"She's been waiting for you," the servant told her.
"Shit." Peridosius muttered as she pushed past her into the chamber.
"Good luck!~" She called back in a sing-song voice, followed by a few snickers.
"My Diamond." She gave her master the customary greeting with crossed arms and a slight bow. "I've brought you the scrolls you asked for."
"What took you so long?" Peridosius flinched at her master's grating tone, bowing her head in shame.
"Well, you see, my Diamond, we're landlocked. It's difficult to find maritime scrolls when you're--"
"I don't care," she interrupted. "I ordered you to bring me the scrolls by the time the sun reached its highest point. Where is the sun now?"
Peridosius gulped. "It's...in the West."
"Which is past what I ordered. This is unacceptable," she scolded.
"My apologies, my Diamond."
"You shall be punished accordingly. You are to read these scrolls and summarize them for me, keeping the important details. I want them ready by the time I awaken tomorrow, is that clear?" She barked.
"What?!" Peridosius exclaimed. "But that's impossible! It's not nearly enough time for one scroll, let alone eight!"
Her master narrowed her eyes, sending her a chilling glare that froze the slave where she stood.
"Remember your place," she warned. "If it weren't for me you would have burned on that pitiful rock you called a home and I won't hesitate in burning you here. Am I clear?"
"Y-yes, my Diamond. I'll have them ready by morning." She gave her bow and waited until her master waved her off to scurry back into her room. She slumped into her chair, depositing the scrolls onto the floor next to her.
She couldn't do this. She was going to die tomorrow and all for some stupid scraps of paper her master was too lazy to read herself.
Gods, what would her father do? Probably slay her wicked master, and command a Trojan army to conquer Greece in the name of her fallen city and Athena!
She snickered, glancing down at the scrolls. In retrospect, they didn't look that bad. She could probably do it in an hour.
Yeah, and then her master would see her worth and finally free her!
She grabbed her first scroll and rolled it out on her desk.
She could do this.
She fell asleep halfway through the first scroll. In her defense, it was incredibly boring and lacked descriptive language. It didn't even have similies. What text didn't have similies? Besides, what would be the point in her learning that a nymph had a fling with Poseidon? There wasn't, and there never would be. At least if she was burned she'd be put out of her misery.
Peridosius curled inwards as she felt a cool breeze drift over the room. Gods, she needs to remember to close the windows. There was more bird poop in her quarters than in the aviary, and she couldn't keep making the servants clean it up.
"Peridot." Her old name was whispered in her ear, stirring her out of her sleep.
"Blood of my blood, it is time to prove your kinship and aid the gods."
Her vision blurred as she tried to blink away the rest of her sleep. She could make out the glowing, pink form that towered above her, familiar from painted statues that inhabited shrines across the country.
"Aphrodite?" She murmured in awe at the large woman.
The goddess smiled, "Yes, Peridot, it's me."
"Why are you here?" She asked, her curiosity piqued. "Gods don't usually interact with their children. Wait," a flash of horror struck her, "I've lost it, haven't I? This is just some weird, sleep-deprived hallucination caused by too much stress and Yellow Diamond is just down the hall ready to burn me at the stake because I've lost all value! My precious face is going to be wiped off of this planet and--"
"Woah woah woah, calm down, no one's going to kill you," Aphrodite reassured. "This is one hundred percent real, I just have a favor to ask you."
"Oh, then please, continue." Peridosius waved her on.
"Your father and brother survived the attack on Troy, and are currently trying to resettle the city, but they've run into some trouble," she explained.
"And?"
"And I'd like you to find them and aid them on their quest," she finished.
Peridosius mulled the task over in her mind before answering, "No."
Her mother looked at her in shock. "No?" She repeated.
"No," she confirmed. "I refuse your task. Thanks anyway."
"B-but you can't just refuse a mission like this! You're the only one capable of helping them! Don't you care for your homeland?" She tried to reason with her daughter, a task only Athena could achieve.
"Of course I care! I think about what happened every day, what it would be like if it hadn't, but trying to leave this place is suicide. My Diamond would have my head on a stake if she caught me. Besides, I'm barely capable of lifting a sack of flour, let alone a life dependent mission," she argued.
Aphrodite scoffed, "You're the daughter of one of the most powerful gods on Mt. Olympus, you're capable of a lot more than you think." She paused, scanning her briefly. "There's nothing I can do to convince you?"
Peridosius shook her head. "Nope."
The goddess's eyes caught the scrolls scattered around the desk, a mischievous gleam sparkling in her eye as she started to concoct a wicked plan.
"Alright then," she looked back at her daughter, "goodbye."
In a flash she had disappeared, startling Peridosius from her slumber on the desk. The fresh, dawn sunlight leaked in from the open window and settled on her parchment.
"Peridosius!" One of the servants called the name her master had given her. "Our Diamond awaits your presence in her Hall."
In a fit of panic, she looked at the parchment to see the work she had done that night. The papyrus was blank and covered in drool.
She was dead.