A/N: Yes, I am aware that this is NOT historically accurate. I never meant for it to be. I wanted their meeting to be different from all the other stories out there, and didn't want the marriage to be arranged because it just didn't feel that way in the story. I'm not incredibly proud of this story so please don't be too harsh with the comments.

The moon shone full over the vast, uncharted sea, and the sky was clear and full of stars. They winked at me. I was weak, and could barely move. So I lay on the raft, staring up at the sky. I was too weary to fear for my safety, knowing that there was nothing but ocean surrounding me. I was tired of the fear that seemed to follow my men and me wherever we would go.
A shooting star flew past the moon and down to the earth, surely some sign from the gods. It reminded me of that night in Sparta long ago.

Tyndareus had summoned me to Sparta, I didn't know exactly why. He had never told me anything, only to come to his palace to speak with him. That happened to be the night that the many suitors had come to woo fair Helen. There was laughter, feasting, drinking, and dancing. I had been invited to join the festivities, and still hadn't caught sight of Tyndareus. Helen, with her golden hair and impossibly beautiful face, had had more than enough wine and was giggling giddily and dancing with one suitor after another before crashing into me.
"Woah," she screamed, laughing drunkenly, "I like this one," she said, slapping me on the back, "Father I LIKE THIS ONE."
"You must be mistaken, I am not a suitor," I mumbled, she was beautiful, but I was weary of my travels.
"Here, Pene *hiccup* Penelope, take this one, he's mad anyway. Maybe he'll like YOU," she said, shoving me toward a woman in the corner who looked as though she were about to leave.
She was weak, and even weaker when drunk, and only sent me a few feet before I steadied myself. I turned to the woman she called Penelope.
"Forgive me, I didn't realize your cousin was this-"
"Father, I like this one!" she screamed, putting her arm around another equally drunk suitor.
"-intoxicated."
She smiled and raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't worry, she likes that one," she said, laughing lightly. She nodded to me, looked around the room, and walked quickly out the door before breaking into a run.
I was intrigued by her, and, seeing as Tyndareus was nowhere to be found, walked out after her.
The backdoor led to stone steps leading down to the beach. The waves crashed onto the shore. It looked vacant. I looked around, wondering where this mysterious Penelope had gone.
I walked out hesitantly, seeing no one on the shore. It was beautiful with white sand that glowed in the moonlight. I kept walking, the waves touching my feet, until I felt something suddenly beneath me and tripped, falling headfirst with a splash.
"Oh. Forgive me, I didn't see you there," said a strong but gentle voice. I got up.
And there she was. I hadn't gotten a good look at her until then. Her dark, curly hair was wet and tangled. She had skin as pale as the sand beneath her, and she was tall and slim like Artemis. But what had transfixed me were her eyes. They were the color of the sea and seemed almost as deep. They seemed to spin like whirlpools if you looked at them too long.
"No harm done," I said. She was half submerged in water, the rest of her robes billowing beneath the calm evening tides. If she were to lay down only her face wouldn't be underwater.
"Penelope," she said, reaching out to shake my hand. Never before had a woman done so, it was unnerving, but not quite unpleasant. Her hand was cool and soft, with long dainty fingers.
"Odysseus, son of Laertes, King of Ithaka," I said. For some reason the title seemed silly in her presence. She seemed so informal.
She turned bright red, and she fell into a bow.
"I'm sorry your highness. I didn't realize. I though you were just one of the-"
"Nonsense. Get up, child. I am but a stranger here."
She bit her lower lip, a habit which I would later come to endear, and still looked at me with fearful eyes.
"Did you hear me, I told you it was fine. I am no King in Sparta."
I knew what I had just said was not true, but it seemed to work, because she quickly calmed down.
"You said you were called Penelope. Are you a friend of Helen's?"
"I am her cousin," she said, "My father sent me to live with her. He said it would help me..." she stopped, "I suppose you don't care about why I'm here. I should silence myself. I forget my place," she said cautiously, but not without a hint of sarcasm and malice. She had been trained to say that. "There are fresh cloaks inside. I'm sorry for tripping you. My eyes were closed and the waves didn't let me hear your arrival. But it was nice meeting you all the same," she said, expecting me to leave.
Before I could say a word in reply she lay back down. Her hair splayed about her, and only her clear, pale face peeked out from beneath the sea. She thought I was gone. I sat there for a while, knowing not what to do or say. I knew not what she was doing, or why. She let go of the sand, her bare, pale arms freely floating in the sea, and she began to drift outward and inward with the waves. She opened her eyes and stared up at the moon, still oblivious to my presence. She smiled again. Never before had I seen anyone more at peace than she was at that moment. She smiled and let the sea carry her, not caring where she was headed. A few moments later a large wave enveloped her and sent her tumbling, head over heels, onto the shore. The tides were changing. She opened her large eyes wide again, and fear instantly overcame her when she saw that I was still there. She was too afraid to notice that another, equally huge wave was about to send her back out again. I hastily yanked her out as the wave crashed over her,pulling her towards me and away from the increasingly violent sea. There was a silent, awkward closeness. Our eyes met. I could see her pupils dilate and contract. She trembled and gently let go of my arm.
"Forgive me, sire. I am nothing but a worthless fool," she looked down, "I should know by now not to act in this way in the presence of a King. Please keep out of mind whatever it was that I was doing. They disregard me as a madwoman anyway."
She seemed unreal. This bizarre, beautiful woman walked away, unsure exactly of what to do, her head cast down in shame.
"Penelope."
She turned around, almost surprised that I remembered her name. It was unusual, I would grant it that. Certainly it would be difficult for a drunkard to say, and I was surprised Helen hadn't botched it more than she did.
"Penelope," I repeated, slowly. The name was growing on me, "What are you so very ashamed of. I see nothing wrong with... whatever it was you were doing, whether you were aware of my presence or not. It was... intriguing," I said, somewhat at a loss for words.
"That's one way to put it," she said, laughing without humor. Her voice seemed wise beyond her years.
"Why do you fear me?"
"Because I am taught to. Forgive me if it is unsettling, I know not what else to do."
"There is nothing to forgive. I don't see why you are so ashamed of yourself."
"I ought to be. That's what they tell me every day. Helen..." she drifted off, fearing that she said too much.
"Helen is a silly young girl, not really of a marriagable age. I laugh to think that Tyndareus was so urgent to get her suitors."
"I know not how these things work in Ithaka, but here in Sparta the likes of her are the perfect age for marriage. When they are old enough to lust, but not old enough to see that it is different from love. I am old enough to know such things, so I am a lost cause."
She surely was wise beyond her years, yet she was ashamed of this wisdom. She was strange, but that strangeness just drew me in.
I smiled, stepping toward her, "I would not say so."
"Well, you are not my uncle." She looked up at me, "Where do you get these notions?"
"I would ask the same of you. What was it that you were doing, when you though that I was gone?"
"I don't rightly know. I just needed to get out of that grand hall. The practice of suitors sickens me so, unless of course, you are planning on wooing Helen," she said, cautiously.
"I have no intention of that. As I said, she is much too young."
"She is 13. Still a girl. They don't desire to marry women, they know too much. But the feasting was so loud, and the suitors only looked upon me as though I were something to be thrown away. Only I stood between them and Helen. So I fled when I had the chance. The sea drowns out all thought and allows on to just... be. It carries you, no longer requiring you to stay where you are not wanted. I've been needing that for a long time."
She became wary of her talking, and looked at me cautiously, once again biting her lower lip. Her nervousness looked trained, and I knew she had a desire to go on. To speak to me as though we were equals

"I told you before, you need not fear me. Why is it that you hide from me?"

After a while she told me why. We sat on the sand and let the waves crash at our feet, and the

night trudged on, the raucous feasting gradually fading away.
"My father sent me here nearly a year ago, telling me that it was to learn from Helen and to marry off, though he knew I was a lost cause. I believe he really just desired to be rid of me. He never liked me, and since mother died he had less tolerance of me than before. Helen tries to befriend me, but finds that she cannot seem to grasp why I am the way I am. Uncle gave up on me long ago. And so I do as I please, trying to care for Helen who is truly still a child as you said. I am told to fear the likes of you. It only 'lessens my chances'. But you and I know that these 'chances' he spoke of never existed. If I am to be alone forever, so be it. The gods know what they want from me, and I have yet to find out. So what brings you here from far off Ithaka, if you are not, in fact, pursuing fair Helen?"
"I do not rightly know. Your Uncle summoned me here for unknown causes. I hope that it is not talk of war, for I am weary from it."
"I warn you, he will do anything in his power to ensure that Helen is wed to a man of importance, do not think you are not in the running just yet."
"I do not desire to marry Helen, however beautiful she may be. She is a child, and I seek a woman."
Neither of us knew quite yet that I would find one.

I couldn't help but smile, thinking of our first meeing. She was as cunningas I, but in a different way. She preferred to suffer through things, rather than to find a way around them as I did. I supposed that she was more righteous in that way. I hated to admit it, but she probably made a better king than I did. I could only cringe at the thought of the state she was in now, fending off countless suitors every day. But she was stonger than me in spirit, and was probably managing as best she could. It seemed almost funny that she'd never expected to have suitors at all. They were surely vulgar men, at least I hoped they would be. I didn't want any of them to surpass me, and the very thought of it tied my stomach in a knot. She was so far away from me now...