Summary: Daughter of Briseis and Achilles tries to live up to her fate. Please read Author's Note! --Second chapter completely revised--
Disclaimer: None of the original characters belong to me.
A/N: The first thing I want to say is that most of this story is NOT historically correct. I have introduced some of the brothers and sisters of Paris that did not appear in the movie. There are a few versions to how the real story of Troy ended, and I have gone with the one that Helenus, brother to Paris and twin of the infamous Cassandra, has escaped (he thought up the horse idea, and in return, was able to escape) and made a new Troy in a place called Buthrotum. Helenus managed to ransom Andromache back from the Greeks and have a few children with her, so she appears in my story also.
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Remember
When your dreams have ended
Time can be transcended
Just remember me-----------------
Some say I was born a curse. That my legend is even greater than that of Paris. The difference is, you see, that Paris knew of his destiny. This Troy, salvaged by Helenus, did not want me to know my own fate. They hid it from me, like a secret never meant to be told. But I found out. I could always find out. Secrets flew around like the wind in this city. My maids would say it was just servant gossip, but I knew better. If I was in the Lower City without guards or the rest of the royal family I could see them stare at me, afraid of their own fate. Why was everyone scared of fate? You cannot deny it, and nobody even tries to fight it. Even the Gods cannot hold someone to something they do not want. I wanted to live my fate, and I had tried. I was more of a skilled archer and swordswoman than most men. I had fought in many battles, unseen of course, but no battle would compare to the one the oracles predict. I've trained, too. Helenus forbade me from learning swordplay, like a desperate attempt to stop be from being like my father, who killed so many Trojans. At least my father cared about me. He taught me how to fight, and as I watched men killing men on my cliff above the ocean sometimes I would find a bow and arrow by my side, and I would smile, knowing my father had left it for me. Sometimes, I could catch a glimpse of his blond hair down on the plain below, guiding swords for both sides.
When I was younger, I would try to make my hair fall in the same way, but I never succeeded, probably because my hair was more brown than blond, like my mother's. Most people usually say I look like my mother. The olive skin and big dark eyes. The brown sun bleached curly hair, blown into soft waves from the sea air. But my mother thought differently. She said I looked like my father. The way I walk, and the way I talk. She said when I got angry I sounded exactly like him. The blend of Greek and Trojan in my accent, heavier on the Trojan, because I had grown up hearing it. The little subtleties only a mother would notice. It was more a rumor than fact of my parentage, and nobody knew for sure. The palace tried to hide it from me, but to answer this question all I had to do was ask my mother. She told me everything, more like a best friend than a mother. Since I was a little girl I had told her everything, from the time when I was 6 and I stole Paris's horse because no one would let me ride one, to just a few days ago when I met a boy in the Lower City. Helenus had only caught me in the Lower City once, but that was enough to have him ban me from going down there forever. I didn't listen to him though, and my mother didn't make me. It was a stupid mistake to have made, letting him catch me, and I was positive he or anybody else would never do it again.
