Calliope glanced down at her own clothes. Today she wore a fine, heavy linen dress, with long, open sleeves under a tunic of soft lambs wool dyed a deep blue and embroidered with silver. The only piece of jewelry she wore was the plain silver pin holding her tunic and dress in place. It was a very nice dress, something even her incredibly particular mother would have had to be pleased with, but it was once again completely out of place. Kara was right, she didn’t look like any of the slaves, of any variety.
Absently she reached for the wine she’d left on the table and took a sip, tucked her legs underneath her on the couch to get more comfortable since she had the feeling it was going to be a long evening. She had to admit though; she much preferred these couches to the usual ones in her parents’ home. The elevated rest was much higher, so that one might lean while still upright, instead of committing to an all out sprawl.
A movement by the red haired fellow caught her eye and she noticed the pale sister was now with him, and that they were glancing in her direction. Not necessarily at Her, they could have just as easily been looking at Lady Nagi, but she averted her gaze so she could watch them out of the corner of her eye without being obvious.
Once again Thelios had disappeared. Damn him. She was half considering leaning over to the other side of the couch and politely asking Lady Nagi if she thought he’d be back soon, but she was stopped short by a strange woman seating herself, rather audaciously, next to her on the couch.
Calliope stared. The woman ignored her a moment, watching an acrobat walk on his hands toward them, then turned and tilted her chin thoughtfully. “So, are you a professional or has he just given in and finally gotten himself a sex slave?” she asked almost under her breath.
It took all her will not to gape, or at least to quickly close her mouth when she started gaping. For a moment she simply continued to stare, desperately trying to figure out who and what she was looking at. Once she’d managed That colossal feat, the rest was comparatively easy.
The woman clearly wasn’t as refined as she looked, or she was trying to bait her… and crassly at that. In the corner of her eye she saw the red headed brother and sister watching more openly. It occurred to her that if she really was baiting her, which she suspected must be the case, it might be at their behest. She tested the theory by, instead of responding immediately, turning slowly to look directly back at them. They in turn pretended not to notice.
Satisfied, and feeling a little surer of herself, she turned back with a mild smile. Of course an unanswerable question like the one posed could only be answered in one of two ways: with ‘none of your business’, or with another question.
“Is that really how you intend to start a conversation with me?” It was not, apparently the expected response. When she said nothing, Calliope smiled, “My name is Calliope, how do you do?”
The woman seemed to gain back her imperiousness and smirked. “Pella.”
“Charmed.” Calliope turned away and brought the cup to her lips, hoping the woman would take the less than subtle hint that this conversation was over.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Are you?”
Calliope tilted her head to look back at her, astonished at her nerve. The astonished glare didn’t seem to have the desired effect, so Calliope sighed and started again.
“Aside from the fact that I haven’t the first idea who you are, and that the question itself is incredibly forward, if not plainly rude, it is not my place to discuss my master’s affairs. If you’re so curious about how he spends his time, you should just ask him yourself.” She almost smiled, thinking of a sure way to get rid of the woman, well without resorting to begging assistance from Lady Nagi that is. “In fact, he should be joining us shortly… and I’m sure you’ll have his full attention…” she turned to face her fully, trying and failing to keep the hint of cruel pleasure out of her voice, “considering you’re in his seat.”
The woman did blanch slightly, but it wasn’t because of the words… at least not the words alone. By some stroke of happy fortune, Thelios had chosen that moment to appear from wherever he’d vanished to, and was rapidly approaching from an angle they both could see. They both turned to watch him. Calliope tried to look placid as the woman immediately got to her feet, nodded curtly, and slipped off before Thelios had quite made it to them.
In the corner of her eye she saw Lady Nagi raise a questioning brow at her. She merely shrugged. Thelios was less subtle.
“What in Hades was that all about?” He rumbled darkly as he joined her, stepping easily over the couch to straddle it and leaning his elbow on the back rest. He was larger again, she noted absently as she shrugged and passed him the cup of wine. He tipped the wide rimmed cup back and downed it, then held it out for a servant who’d been lingering behind them. Bigger, she confirmed to herself, definitely bigger.
“Damned if I know. She seemed very interested in your sex life though.” She smiled mildly.
“Did she?”
“Hmm.”
“Why? Does she want a piece of it?”
Calliope coughed involuntarily, causing him to smirk. “I, ah… the conversation didn’t get that far, thankfully. I told her to ask you herself, and clearly she wasn’t interested.” she added, gesturing in the direction the woman had fled. She was no longer discernible as the hall was rather busy.
Remarkably, for all the people in attendance, there were less than a dozen who were obviously related to Thelios and might be taken for the ‘others’, his siblings that is. They were generally fairly obvious. Not only because of their appearance, but because of the small crowds they seem to draw to them. A quick glance showed her something similar occurring around them as well, though far less obviously so, and there seemed to be some sort of invisible buffer forcing them to keep their distance.
Mostly slaves and servants, she surmised, or potential slaves and servants. She spotted Penelope hovering near one of the groups and caught her eye. They exchanged a brief look, but nothing more conspicuous than that.
Calliope had met with her after Thelios had shocked her by agreeing to go to dinner. They met just long enough to confirm a song and for Calliope to check and tune the instrument the dancer had ‘borrowed’ for her, and of course to make sure her fingers still remembered the notes. It hadn’t been a problem. She’d played accompaniment for her sisters so many times it was almost second nature, even if she hadn’t played since she’d come to live with Thelios.