The ship gently rocked from side to side and slowly Briseis awoke. Her naked form was covered with a thick blanket. She could smell the tangy smell of the sea and…smoke. Smoke meant fire - fires of Troy. Briseis put on a robe and went up the wooden steps. On the ship, there was a small fire, with a large wild pig on a spit above it. The young Trojan gazed into the flames. She began to see the faces of the Trojans. The women screaming as their husbands and children and families were brutally slaughtered. Andromache, Hector, the priests, baby Astayanax…She began to pant heavily and scream. She backed into someone, who turned her around and buried her face in his muscular chest.
"Ssh." Achilles said, soothing her as a woman would her child. He picked up, went below deck and placed her on the bed, where she laid, until she had cried herself to sleep.
"My lord, we are near Phtia. A good day and we shall be on the docks. Bless Poseidon for such good weather." The captain of the ship, Polonas, said to Achilles. The mighty warrior nodded and went to the port side. There was a woman sitting there, an owl beside her. She wasn't one of the Trojan women captured, or Briseis, for she was below deck, sleeping as she had been for two days, her beautiful body racked with horrifying nightmares of the burning city. All Achilles could do was to be near her. The woman sitting was clad in blue-grey armour with various markings on it, from head to bare-sandaled toe. It was as unique as Achilles' own.
"Who are you?"
The woman turned her head and Achilles saw her beautiful grey eyes.
"I fought side by side with you, mighty Achilles, I am Athena or Pallas Athene, goddess of war, wisdom and peace. Your Trojan lover, the former priestess of Apollo – she is not well?" Achilles bowed his head.
"No, she is racked with bad dreams."
"Give this to her – a gift much owed to her, by me." Athena brought her hand to her mouth and breathed out a pale green mist. She let go and released it in the direction of Briseis. It drifted towards the sleeping woman. Achilles followed it to the steps then looked back at where Athena had stood. She was gone. Briseis gently woke up to Achilles beside her. He kissed her gently, then sat next to her and cradled her.
The ship pulled into the dock of Phtia and Achilles and Briseis stepped off – Achilles in an ocean blue and gold tunic, Briseis in a midnight blue robe, edged with silver. There waiting was Achilles' mother, Thetis in a turquoise dress that pooled at her feet. She hugged her son tightly then looked over at Briseis. Briseis looked at her feet in shyness. She felt a gentle hand tilt her chin up and looked into the sky-blue eyes of Thetis.
"Welcome, child, to Phtia, and my family."