New Royalty
The parties were still being celebrated nightly. The pages and servants were busy fulfilling all of their new masters needs and wants. Darius was gone and Alexander had arrived.
But he didn't come alone into the city; he brought his army of thousands, his own servants and commanders and each of them had their own people. Adding this to the palace already full of the former Kings servants and pages, and it was an organized mess.
Many men helped get the chaos under control, but most of the planning was done by one office in the new reign. People soon discovered that you could go many places to get help but if you needed it done swiftly and well, you went to General Hephaestion. He seemed to his a finger on the pulse of all the problems, and more importantly, the solutions.
He had arrived with some of his own servants and pages but with his new status and responsibilities, more needed to be added. It made sense to have a few of these to be from the Persians. His new wealth, titles and importance aside, the man was a walking god, or at least as close as the earth had.
His walking down a hallway caused a stir and a chance tour through the harems nearly caused a riot. More than one person lost their train of thought whenever he would happen to pass by. The single, and even a few that were married, women began to dream of becoming his bride. The men were no less enraptured and hoped for a chance to share his bed.
And then there was Hephaestion. He was shoulder-deep in work and duties and rarely enjoyed the luxuries of his new station. Any time he had to himself was usually spent with Alexander. But the Persian did have a treat that he did seem to like. The big deep steam baths were becoming a favorite of his after a long day. The heat and water help relax his tight sore muscles. He was really enjoying them but not half as much as the rest of the palace.
It didn't take long for the word to spread about the nightly baths. Hephaestion would have never guessed just how many tiny holes there were in the walls surrounding the bath room. Many more soon appear with each passing day, all newly drilled with care and vying for the best place to sit for the best view. It was soon decided that there was no bad view, front or back, up or down, it was all amazing.
The hidden audience all held they're breath when it came time for the bath to end. The breathing seemed to stop as he immerged from the water slowly with water cascading down his lean hard muscles on the way to the floor. He would lean his head back and shake out his long wet hair letting it sway behind him and down his back, over his firm behind and down his now famous thighs. Pushing and shoving for the best view of this was a necessity and many lifelong friendships were tested.
All of this went on for several days till Alexander happened to spot a few of the audience trying to get close for a peek. He looked through a crack himself to see what they were looking at.
The walls were repaired the next day and checked daily for any new drillings.
A few lucky people were chosen to help the new General. They did their jobs well and without complaint because the line of applicants to take their positions was long.
The new General turned out to be excellent at his job.
And besides that, he was so much fun to look at.