Hello everyone! As you might already now, I enjoy writing about Hephaestion and Dripetis. The idea for this story came to me when I remembered a scene that I saw at the airport with a little girl and her parents. I decided to combine it with some details from the movie, and other details from my imagination. Please forgive me if there are any grammar or vocabulary mistakes, I might have not noticed them. And I hope you enjoy it! ;)
I made a few modifications in the story for those who might have already read it, but it's nothing big. I think it looks better now.
They were home now. At least their home in Asia – Babylon. Which, compared to the Gedrosian desert, was a true piece of the Elysian Fields. Babylon in all its splendor and colors, scents and gold. It seemed to be overwhelming for Hephaestion now.
Not that it was no longer the beautiful city from the time that Alexander entered it as the conqueror of the Persian world. Babylon was one of those things that would remain splendid until its last days. Maybe he was tired. The battle at the Hydaspes, the way back through that horrid desert... it all seemed an exhausting madness right now. Maybe he was simply tired, and that's why Babylon seemed too much. He probably preferred to be in the woods, surrounded by a gentle wind and feeling the rain pour down on his face. But as he couldn't have that, he would settle for Babylon.
Suddenly the air turned a little cold. He looked at the sky. It had been only a few hours since they entered the city, but the sun that had welcomed them gave place to heavy clouds. It seemed that Zeus had heard him and he would have at least his rain. Not the hot Indian rain that made everything heavily damp, but the fresh water that fell from the sky and could even turn a hot-tempered man into a more reasonable one. He sighed, feeling somewhat relieved.
However, his condition bothered him more than he would like to admit. Even though it was a minor injury in his leg, he still couldn't walk properly. He hated to stay behind dragging his leg along. Of course, many men were in similar conditions or even worse, but for a man who so far hadn't lost, even temporarily, the ability to walk on his own and who was used to riding a horse almost the entire time, that was very close to the insufferable. Yes, he wasn't in his best mood.
He tried to take a stroll through one of the endless hallways in the palace, but his leg wasn't cooperating. Therefore, instead of cursing, he decided to sit down and enjoy the fresh wind that blew with the smell of rain.
The rain had poured, but not as the expected. It had been a light rain that fell in less than an hour. Dripetis liked that scene. It was as if the rain had danced with the wind, falling on the earth with gentleness. She wished there could be more rains like that, instead of the violent storms that sometimes took place there. But well, she had to stop thinking about rains and storms.
Her husband concerned her. Since Alexander's men had returned from India, Hephaestion seemed different. Even though she hadn't been with him yet, she could tell, whenever she looked at him, that his eyes were distant. As if they were still seeing what they saw in India.
Of course, she understood that after such a long campaign, and having heard that the king's veteran soldiers begged him to go home, any man would be suffering from a great weariness. But there was more than that. His eyes seemed to have turned darker, as if something was constantly worrying their master. It had been only a couple of days since his return, but for her the difference was sensitive. For even when she had seen Hephaestion worried, his eyes still had their unique light. And now, she couldn't see it. She was beginning to feel worried, and although she tried to convince herself that her worries might be exaggerated, she couldn't do it on her own. And she felt that there was only one person who could ease her worries.
And after an internal debate, Dripetis asked to speak to Alexander. She wouldn't go to Hephaestion – she didn't want to bother him, and feared that she wouldn't be able to speak properly – and Alexander was the most trustworthy person regarding that subject. She was granted the permission to speak to him, and Alexander received her with curiosity.
"Hello, Dripetis. I am surprised to see you here", he said with a smile.
"Thank you, Great King, for kindly accepting to hear me".
"There's no need for such formalities. When you asked to speak to me, I couldn't help but wonder what the issue was".
"My king, it is about Hephaestion".
"Hephaestion?" Alexander asked with a surprised look in his eyes. And so Dripetis told him about what she had observed, and why she worried about it. She tried to be the most accurate possible, to not spend the king's time in vain, and hoping not to sound foolish.
"I wouldn't worry about it", Alexander said in the end, smiling warmly, "The men are very tired, I myself am feeling more tired than usual. And Hephaestion is upset about having injured his leg. But in time he will recover".
Dripetis thanked him. Tough his words soothed her a bit, she still couldn't calm her mind. What could be troubling Hephaestion?
Fortunately the wind still blew fresh, even though the rain hadn't been quite what he expected. The days remained cloudy and he felt grateful for not having to stare at the sun. The clouds seemed to be sheltering him from an exhausting world, after all.
Hephaestion still felt very tired, and he still didn't know exactly why. His body seemed to be rested, but his soul apparently wanted to sleep. It was as if it left his body sometimes and left him staring at nothing – maybe it wanted to be temporarily free from the body, simply to taste what is like. He thought that his injured leg had a considerable part of the guilt, after all, if it hadn't been for it, he could at least walk and not be stuck in a few places where he stopped during his walks because he had to sustain his weight with only one leg. Good gods, he would soon become an old man if he kept thinking like that.
He had preferred so far to be alone, in order to cure himself of that constant fatigue. But apparently he hadn't accomplished much. He stopped, feeling the light wind that blew through his hair, and allowed himself to get distracted by the colors of the flowers in the garden where his walk had led him.
"Boo dada!"
Startled, Hephaestion looked around. What was that? It sounded like a child's voice. He kept searching the garden with his eyes until he looked back and saw a little girl. She should be around five years old, was giggling like children in her age use to and had big sparkling green eyes. She reminded him of someone… yes. So that was his daughter.
Yes, of course he remembered he had a daughter. He just didn't expect that she would have grown up so much by now. She looked so small the last time he saw her. How long had it been... less than a year, he was certain of that. That girl had grown much.
She approached him with her light feet – he hadn't listened when she came behind his back – and Hephaestion looked down to meet her eyes. She smiled and seemed to look at him with expectancy, but he stared in confusion while he tried to remember what she said. She repeated "Boo dada!", but he couldn't understand what she was saying, so he sustained his quizzical look. Her smile faded and gave place to a contemplative face. She somehow seemed to understand that he was tired and couldn't comprehend her words, and for that he was grateful. The little girl went running through the same path that had brought her. He would try to figure what were her words later.
He sat down in the garden for a while and Alexander passed by. After asking how was his leg, he started talking about all kinds of trivial things and Hephaestion liked that; maybe they should talk about these things more often. His mood was a little better.
"You have such a lovely girl, Phai", Alexander said with a tender look in his face, "A son is every man's greatest joy, but I wouldn't mind having also a daughter if she were as your daughter. She's so sweet", he completed with a little laughter in his voice, and told that even other men in the army when they stumbled across her would comment how cute the little girl was.
"Yes, sweet and beautiful. She's every bit as Dripetis", Hephaestion said in a quiet, yet satisfied tone. Even though he had been confused about what she said earlier, he saw that she was a very pretty girl. Actually, he had never expected to have a daughter, let alone such a cute one. Little Penelope.
When the girl was born, Hephaestion wanted to call her Eurydice, the name of Alexander's grandmother, who had been a notable woman. Of course, he wouldn't tell his motivation, not if he wanted to be safe from the already great jealousy that many men in the army felt towards him. And then, Eurydice was a relatively common name among Macedonian noble women. Dripetis, ever so gentle, thought it was a beautiful name.
But she couldn't pronounce it. So Hephaestion smiled and said they could choose another name. And after thinking for a while, he came up with Penelope. He thought the sound of the name was sweet and the pronunciation was much easier. And when he explained the story of the mythical Penelope, Dripetis liked it even more.
"You are right, she resembles Dripetis a lot", Alexander said, taking Hephaestion away from his reverie. "What is this gift that you have to create sweet and beautiful things?"
Hephaestion looked at him in a quizzical way. "Heh?"
"You are prodigal in beauty and gentleness, and then you pair up with Dripetis and produce a girl who has both yours and her sweet manners combined. Not to mention Dripetis' looks, but I guess she also has something that resembles you. How can you do it?"
Hephaestion smiled at the remark. As always, Alexander was being generous, but he had a point. His child was remarkable in a certain way.
"Dripetis and she were walking nearby, by the way", Alexander continued. Hephaestion sighed. Maybe it was time to leave loneliness aside.
Not far from there, Dripetis sat while she watched her daughter run through the hallway in a graceful way. Somehow she always managed to not bump into others and steal a compliment from them. She was a true piece of work.
It had been a good idea to go out for a stroll, given by her sister Barsine. It helped to ease her mind, even though she still tried to figure out how she could reach Hephaestion. She turned her eyes to Penelope, who came running to her.
"I forgot to tell! I forgot to tell who I saw!", she said in an excited way.
"Who? Who did you see?", Dripetis asked intrigued.
"So that's where this little one came from".
Dripetis looked up in surprise to meet Hephaestion, standing with the help of a stick. He smiled in an almost melancholic way. "I also happened to be walking nearby", he said.
Penelope ran in excitement, while Dripetis tried to find words to speak. Her husband seemed to be tired from his walk; it shouldn't be easy to move like that. "Shouldn't you be resting?", she said with hesitation. By the way he looked at her, those weren't the best words to say, but it was all she had managed to think of.
"I can't stand lying down on a bed or sitting down all the time. I need to walk, even if it is like this", he said in a tired tone.
"Oh… I see", she said half embarrassed for her poor choice of words, and half nervous for not being able to think of something else to say. She looked down at her lap, desperately trying to fix things. "Is your leg troubling you much?"
"I'm getting used to it. But I sincerely hope it stops troubling me soon", he said trying not to sound harsh while they talked about that uncomfortable subject.
"Hopefully, it will", Dripetis said in the best comforting tone she could, but she wished it had been better. Hephestion simply nodded, as if he didn't want to get too hopeful. "Do you feel any pain?", she tried feeling a little more confident.
"No. Not since the day I got this injury", he answered simply. Dripetis nodded, feeling it was better to leave the subject. He sat down with some difficulty, but said in a slightly lighter tone: "The weather is good for a walk".
"Yes…", Dripetis agreed, not sure if she should say something else. It was when Penelope approached them.
"Boo mama!"
"Oh, you scared me!" Dripetis answered in a youthful way. Penelope giggled and continued to run close to them.
And Hephaestion suddenly realized it. "Boo, mama!" as in "Boo, dada!" – That's what she meant!
"So that's what she was saying", he said surprised. Dripetis looked at him slightly confused, but confirmed his conclusion:
"Yes, 'Boo, mama!' She loves to play the spooking game", Dripetis said with a smile, and the little girl replicated her gesture. Hephaestion thought that because of a simple detail he didn't know – the spooking game – he hadn't figured out what Penelope meant.
"Boo dada!"
"By Hera, you scared me!", he answered playing along.
Penelope giggled and Dripetis smiled, feeling a lot more relieved. Hephaestion felt lighter as if finding out what were Penelope's words was like solving an enigma. But suddenly he felt weak – a wave of dizziness that came to him every once in a while for having to spend much time resting – and that didn't go unnoticed.
"What is it, dada? Are you feeling sick?", Penelope asked approaching him while Dripetis did the same with a look of concern in her eyes.
"No, Penelope. It is nothing...", he said waiting for the sensation to fade and hoping not to alarm anyone.
"Well, I think you should rest a bit now", he heard Dripetis say in a gentle yet firm voice while she helped him up. He liked that. He passed his arm around her shoulders and she encircled his waist, but when he got up she lost a little of her balance and he ended up bringing her closer to him. He could see the worried look in her face. "Are you…", she started to say but before she could finish, he hugged her with his arm and kissed her hair.
"It is nothing, my dear. Do not worry", he said in a reassuring tone. His dizziness had already gone away, and the support provided by Dripetis was much better than his stick. Dripetis hugged him lightly, feeling calm. Now they could go, and Penelope swiftly held the stick.
"Mama was right. Dada is very handsome, just like she said".
Dripetis' mouth slightly dropped, and Hephaestion couldn't help but laugh. "Then I'm glad she thinks that", he said offering Dripetis a smile. Penelope smiled back in her cute way.
And so he walked with his two sweet girls.