"My dear sister, much as I would love to go… plant picking with you, I have a very important prior commitment," Paris said smoothly.

"I'm sure," Andromache snorted. "But very well, I'll find someone else to accompany us."

"Paris, this prior commitment wouldn't happen to involve a woman, would it?" Briseis asked suspiciously.

Paris feigned shock. "Not a woman, a goddess among mortals!" he cried dramatically. "Her skin as white as the clouds, her lips as red as the loveliest rose, her-"

"Stop!" Briseis cried, clamping her hands to her ears.

"You forget yourself, Paris," Andromache chided gently. "Women know nothing of such things, especially not maidens," she said pointedly.

"My sincerest apologies," Paris said, a twinkle in his eye. "I shall leave the two of you to envision her loveliness."

"A woman who gives herself up to a stranger with no thought of modesty cannot be lovely," Briseis said firmly. "It's dishonorable to the gods."

"You would curse Aphrodite?"

"You would disregard Artemis?" Briseis said pointedly. "Or Athena?"

"Well then, cousin, you serve your gods and I shall serve mine."

Briseis snorted. "One day your escapades will come back to haunt you, Paris."

"They did, but only once. In the form a brother who wasn't quite pleased with my choice of company," Paris said cheekily. "But I say no more, have a pleasurable day, ladies."

They watched him leave and Briseis sighed. "He'll never grow up."

"He will one day," Andromache said shrewdly. "He just has to have the right motivation."

"He wasn't always like this, you know," Briseis informed her. "He and I used to play together as children. All the girls had crushes on them, but he treated them honorably."

"What made him change?"

Briseis shrugged. "I don't know. It steadily grew worse as he grew older."

"No one to check him?"

"Hector tried, but much as Paris loved him he would never mind him. Priam always spoiled him."

"Were he and Hector never close?"

Briseis squinted her eyes, thinking. "As close as two completely opposite brothers can be, I suppose. They would willingly lay down their life for the other, both of them, but their interests were so different. Paris never displayed any interest in horses and Hector was never a womanizer."

"Glad to hear it," Andromache remarked dryly.

"I suppose it must be because that is the one area Paris excels in where Hector does not. It's no doubt hard to be forever in a brother's shadow."

Andromache nodded. "Euklides was the same, though he directed his interest in other- more honorable- sports."

"But now we have no one to escort us to the hills," Briseis complained. "Hector is too busy."

"We'll just have to postpone our outing for another day, then," Andromache sighed. "Would you like to do something inside the city instead?"

"Why don't we just talk?" Briseis suggested. "I leave tomorrow for a week long trip to the mountains, as part of the training to become a priestess."

"In the women's quarters?" Andromache asked as they headed back into the palace after ordering the horses to be put back into their stalls.

"It'll be too crowded," Briseis pointed out. "It's the middle of the afternoon."

"Come to our quarters, then," Andromache said. "We'll have a glass of wine on the balcony."

This was readily agreed to and the two women sat under the cool shade of a canopy as they chatted about anything and everything.

"Andromache?" Briseis asked during a lull in the conversation.

"Hmm?"

"Why do we never go out alone anymore?"

Andromache paused, thinking. "We were so young then, I suppose we've grown up."

"After Cassandra left, you mean," Briseis said shrewdly.

Andromache nodded. "I suppose that's when we stopped."

There was a silence, then Briseis spoke again. "I don't miss it as much as I would've thought."

Andromache smiled. "Nor do I. Must be the result of our experiences."

"We've just grown out of it," Briseis continued for her. "I am now a chaste woman becoming a priestess and you are the modest wife of Hector."

Andromache laughed. "Before I was just the wife of Hector, now I've moved on to being modest. A significant day this is!"

Briseis laughed with her and moved on to another subject. The day was spent quickly and before the two women realized, the sun was sinking into the horizon.

Briseis stood to take her leave and Andromache rose with her. "I'll be there to see you off in the morning," she promised.

Briseis smiled. "We leave at sunrise," she said pointedly, knowing Andromache's habit of sleeping later than most.

"I'll have Hector wake me," Andromache decided. Briseis smiled and left and Andromache sat down to her weaving, waiting for her husband to return. He finally strode in, hours later, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"What's wrong?" Andromache asked him, rising from her loom.

"We're having some problems with bandits again," Hector said, sinking onto the bed tiredly.

"I thought the outposts keep them away from the city."

"Apparently not, I leave tomorrow to go investigate."

Andromache moved over to him and undid his sandals, rubbing his feet as she did. "That won't affect Briseis' trip, will it?"

Hector shook his head, leaning back against the pillows and closing his eyes. "She's going in the opposite direction. There aren't any problems near there." He was silent and Andromache saw that he was almost asleep.

"Hector, at least take off your armor," she said, grinning. He groaned and sat up.

"I was just resting my eyes," he protested. "Your foot rub was the final straw."

She helped him out of the heavy armor and laughed as he flopped back onto the bed, closing his eyes wearily. She went to extinguish the torches but he stopped her.

"No, leave them. I want to talk to you for awhile, we've haven't talked in awhile."

Andromache smiled. It was true, they hadn't talked very much in the past few days- Hector's busy schedule had prevented that- but he had an early rising tomorrow so it could wait. "Alright," she fibbed, coming over and sitting on the bed. She took his right foot and set it in her lap, gently rubbing the soles with her fingers. "What would you like to talk about?"

There was silence and Andromache wondered if he'd already fallen asleep. "Anything," he finally murmured tiredly. "Tell me of your day."

She continued massaging his foot but obediently spoke. "Well, first I sailed the sea and went to visit the Amazons."

"Did you enjoy it?" Hector muttered, his face buried in the pillow.

"Very much. Then I went to the Far East and visited with the merchants. I got a very good price for silk there, I'll make a dress for Elpis from it."

"She'll like that," he agreed. Andromache bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Then I came back home and magically put you to sleep."

There was no answer; Hector had finally fallen into slumber. She smiled and quickly undressed, requesting Niobe to wake her at sunrise the next morning, then joined her husband in bed. Moments later she was fast asleep, oblivious to the instinctive motion of her husband's arm moving to lightly rest on her back.