“Well… I’m sure my master wouldn’t care all that much… but that is of little help considering he has only the two of us, and neither of us are professional musicians. I… I do know how to play… a little… but I’m no expert.” Xanthippe had been her teacher, and an exacting one at that. If half her sister’s criticisms had been accurate, then she was at the very best of middling skill. Her performances always too wooden apparently, even if they were technically correct. But then she needed only provide the notes… it would be the dancer they would be watching. Surely she had provided accompaniment for Xanthippe and no one noticed her playing one way or another. It was simply a means to an end, and served its purpose well enough.
“You’d be willing to help me?”
“Ah… yes, I’d like to help actually… but I’m not supposed to… participate… exactly.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know specifically.” She chuckled, “Probably because I’m no good at it and would make both myself and my master look ridiculous.” She smiled.
Penelope soften even more. “Who Is your master?”
“Ah, well, I’m not sure how to explain, since I can’t say his name.”
“Well what is he called?”
“Called? I just call him master.” She smiled.
“Ok, well, what does he look like?”
“Grey, horned, giant with reddish-gold eyes… doesn’t wear much.”
“The Shepherd?” She looked shocked.
“Ah, he is a shepherd, yes…”
“But I thought he didn’t keep slaves?”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Strange,” She shook her head as if to clear it, then smiled, “but it doesn’t matter… you could always wear a veil…”
“Perhaps. When is it you need a musician.”
“Well, um, tonight actually. Which is part of the problem. I can snatch one of their cithara’s for you… that would be easy enough, and honestly I can dance to just about anything. Do you know the “Song of Danae”, Or “Bright Lily”? ”
“I know them.” Calliope took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. “Ok, I can’t make any promises, but let me see what I can do.”
*************
“Come to dinner”
“No.”
Calliope hid her smile by turning back the way she’d come, hoping that neither of them had noticed her at the door way. Instead of entering she slipped back next to the door and leaned against the wall hoping to hear something of what was being said… though from what little she heard she could already guess. This was the fourth night Mistress Nagi had returned to try and talk him into joining her for dinner with the others, and the fourth night he’d refused.
“I’ll have Kara dance for you. You’ll love her, she’s wonderful. My absolute favorite.”
“I’m sure.”
Calliope heard her sigh. “But…” she paused,
“Not interested.”
“Well what in Hades are you interested in?”
“Hearing something useful about what’s going on so I can leave.”
“We have to be patient until they find him.”
“His people are taking too long. By now I could have already found the little weasel and-”
“Yes, yes, we know… but it can’t be one of us… just in case-”
“Yes, fine. I understand that. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. Nor do I have to like the way they are treating this as just another excuse to throw a party… this is a serious situation.”
“Well what else are they going to do? Sulk like you?”
“It’s working for me.”
“You’re impossible.”
“…”
“What can it hurt, really?”
“…”
“It’s not like you’ve never joined us before… why do you seem so much more reluctant now?”
Calliope heard him sigh. “I don’t want her involved. You know what they’re like.”
“Her? Ah… of course. I don’t really see the problem. Come sit with me… I’ll scare them away for you.”
“I thought you wanted Me to scare them away for You?”
“Strength in numbers, dearest brother. It will be fine, trust me. If you like I’ll even mention it in casual conversation. You know, ‘oh and by the way, look at the mistress the wrong way and you’ll loose an eye.’ That at least should keep Blink on his toes.”
He chuckled. “He hates it when you call him that.”
“Too bad for him. There are worse things I could call him. I have about a dozen penis jokes based on the eye theme alone. But I keep them to myself… because I am Lady.”
“You’re a pain in my neck is what you are.”
“But you love me anyway. Consider it, will you?”
“Fine.”
“Fine, you’ll come?”
“Fine, I’ll consider it.”
“Ugh. Bastard. If you really cared for me you wouldn’t leave me dangling like this every night.”
He only grunted in response and soon Calliope heard the tell-tale sound of scales brushing against smooth stone. An experienced eavesdropper, having learned well from Demitri, she didn’t panic but merely made her face neutral and took several step backward from the door and started back toward it when Mistress Nagi appeared before her.
They exchanged brief smiles and Calliope gave a perfunctory bow, but that was the full extent of the interaction.
“Trying to talk you into going to dinner again?” She asked upon entering.
“As if you didn’t know.”
“You saw me did you?”
“I saw the flicker of something, so I knew it was one of you.”
He was seated in the throne-chair as usual, so she deposited herself down on the couch next to it, taking much the same position she imagined Lady Nagi had been in before she left. The twist in his lip and the gleam in his eye told her she had succeeded.
They watched each other silently.
“You know,” she began after a long moment, “I am becoming vaguely curious about what goes on at these dinners. Wild orgies?”
“Not while they’re eating. It’s best to allow time for digestion first.”
She looked at him sideways. “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
She winced. “Oh.” Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea after all. She was quite prepared to swallow her discomfort… but that might be a touch more than she was ready to deal with at this juncture. “I don’t suppose one could just go to the non-orgy part?”
“One could. Why?”
She shrugged. “Eh… like I said, I’m curious. But I understand that you don’t enjoy it.”
“I don’t.”
She nodded once.
“But you’d still like to go?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yes. Fine.”
“You… you’ll go?”
“Yes.”
“Just like that?”
He arched a brow at her. “Yes… just like that. You want to, don’t you?”
“I… do, yes.”
He shrugged. “Then we’ll go.”
“Oh.”
“…”
“Thank you.”
***********
Calliope cast a discreet, and somewhat apprehensive, glance about her.
She hadn’t thought it was going to be this easy. She had thought that Thelios would say no, and that would be that. As it was she found herself trailing her master through the halls toward… well, toward wherever it was they were going. Some sort of great hall, she imagined. They weren’t alone either. Thelios’s sister was with them, and was trailed by a few servants of her own.