Morning in Ithaca

by Rosepixie

A series of very short stories about characters from The Odyssey in the morning. There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these, but may continue to add more of them over time.

1. Penelope

Every morning Penelope awoke surrounded by the stout posts of her bed. They were as familiar as the sun, the steadiest things in her life. It got more difficult to keep going each day and now that Telemachus was gone as well, those bedposts were the most comforting thing she had. She reached out to touch the post nearest to her head, the post that made her bed special. It was still growing, a strong and straight olive tree, the strongest part of her bed. Perhaps of her life.

At night, after she finished pulling out her weaving and stumbled to bed, she dreamed that there was a dryad in the olive tree. The dryad would whisper to her of her brave husband and how he was struggling to return to his beloved wife. Sometimes it would tell her fantastic tales of the adventures he was having, of sorceresses and winds, cyclopses and pigs. Her steward dismissed the dreams as the fancies of a mourning woman who refused to accept that her husband was dead, but Penelope refused to give up hope that they were messages from the gods, urging her to keep faith.

She sighed and kissed the bedpost, thanking it for giving her strength, and forced herself to get up and call for a maid. The girl bustled into the room and began dressing her mistress. Penelope closed her eyes and prayed to Athena and Hera for strength as the maid happily chattered on about the handsome new suitor who had arrived.

Unwanted suitors filled her hall, gorged themselves on her food, and freely dallied with the women of her household. And all the while, they tried to convince her to choose one of them to replace Odysseus. Every morning she hoped she would wake to find them gone. Every morning they were still there, often in greater numbers than the day before. Even her servants now urged her to forget her husband and take one of the suitors as a new one. She would wait as long as necessary, though, for she knew deep in her heart that Odysseus would return to her just has he promised.

Until that day, she would continue to smile and stall and pray for strength. She trusted Odysseus and would wait. She was patient. Squaring her shoulders, Queen Penelope of Ithaca headed out to face another day.