A/N: I have reviews! I was so happy, you guys rock. I love you. About the scene dividers, they were in the document it's just that didn't put them in. By the way I'm thinking it will be an Achilles/Briseis fic but I don't know. It may be it may not be you'll have to wait and see.

Chapter 3 - True Colors

Paris, Helen and Andromanche came three days after Hector had arrived. As far as Hector could tell Briseis had forgiven Helen because she was acting quite warmly to the princess. Perhaps it was one of the Briseis 'deceptions' at this point Hector couldn't even tell, not that it mattered. As long as she made Helen feel welcome no one was getting hurt.

On the ninth day following Hector's unexpected arrival he awoke to a surprise. The sun was blinding the prince as he lay half asleep in Briseis' family guest chamber. Andromanche was not in the room and the pre-harvest heat was unbearable. After several periods of half-sleep he began to prepare for the day. A loud crash came from the hall on the floor below and Hector had an immediate sinking feeling. Rushing downstairs he saw Briseis and her brothers staring at Helen who had the pieces of an ornate vase at her feet. Servants were rushing in to retrieve the pieces of shattered pottery and Paris had his eyes covered by one hand, evidentially expecting the worst.

Hector didn't blame him. That was a particularly special piece of work that came from Greece with the family's grandfather. Pramadas looked incredibly pale and Melanon's eyes were wider than usual but the others looked fine, casual in fact.

"Oh no, I am so sorry." Helen said sounding more malicious than apologetic. "I thought that vase looked Greek I wanted to check."

"Oh it's no problem, just an old vase after all." Briseis said calmly, too calmly to be normal. "It isn't as though it cannot be replaced." She flipped a wave of dark hair over one shoulder. She glanced at the staircase where Hector stood frozen. "Ah Hector you've decided join us at last, Helen suggested we go down to the village this morning. I am sorry if we woke you."

"No I was already awake." He replied slowly, he was walking on hot coals at this point. Her anger was going to be taken out on someone he just prayed to the gods it wasn't going to be him. Everyone stood silent for a moment.

"Well then," Andromanche said cheerfully "Let's get going. Are you going to come to the village with us?" All eyes were again on Hector.

"Uh...Yes of course." He walked down the remaining stairs slowly towards Paris. Everyone else went about their business. The younger prince tried to edge away through the door but Hector caught his arm. "Wait! What happened here? Why did Helen just break one of Briseis' most valued artifacts?" He hissed

"To tell you the truth I don't know. We were just getting ready when we heard a crash and...Well you know the rest." He whispered "What is more of a mystery is why Briseis didn't do anything. Normally she would have been throwing everything within reach at Helen. Maybe she finally realizes that-"

"Paris I never thought you to be a fool but this may prove my thoughts otherwise. Don't you see? Briseis hasn't finally realized anything. She's making it seem as though nothing is wrong so Helen will stop taunting her."

Paris looked at his brother for a minute in disbelief. "Helen isn't taunting anyone. She accidentally broke something."

"Of course, and when you were seventeen you accidentally wandered into a brothel." Hector whispered "Briseis is clever, sometimes too clever for her own good. We both need to be alert for anything strange from her."

"What a beautiful little town." Helen cooed for what seemed like the hundredth time. "It's all so pretty and clean." She was in a chariot with Andromanche driven by Melanon. Paris and Hector were on horseback and Briseis and Pramadas were in a chariot in front.

Briseis laughed "Thank you. We've spent years building this town." The chariot stopped abruptly. Pramadas grabbed onto his sister's wrist as one of the wheels broke off and that side of the chariot crashed onto the road. Briseis stepped out onto the road followed in seconds by her twin. The townspeople looked at her for a minute. Hector and Paris dismounted from their horses.

"Briseis maybe this wasn't such a good idea to come here. We can come back later when you're alright again." Paris said anxiously and looked at his brother.

"I agree let's go back to the palace." Hector said sounding equally as anxious. "We should come back tomorrow when you-"

"Do you think I'm made of pottery?" Briseis looked at both of the princes. "I'm not hurt. Well my wrist should be fine in a day or two," She glared at her brother who held up his hands but said nothing. "There is no reason to go back to the palace and we cannot come again tomorrow!" I however do need some rest; it was a long journey when you are standing."

"Is that a goldsmith?" Helen asked quickly "I need some new jewelry these are getting battered from the sand out here."

"Then you should go and speak with him. I will find a place to repair this." Pramadas fingered the wrecked chariot.

It was dark in the mason's shop and filled with glittering objects. Helen began to rush towards the counter but Hector stopped her. Two ferocious looking dogs stood by the door. The princess gasped and the beasts looked at her lazily. Briseis wandered into the store nonchalantly.

"Hello." She yelled into the back of the shop. There was a moments pause and then two men, one a wizened old man and the other presumably his apprentice, came out. The younger tossed a strand of light hair out of his face and his eyes widened at the sight of Hector. Both goldsmith and apprentice bowed to the sovereigns and Briseis began to speak very quickly in Greek to the old man who only nodded and occasionally looked sidelong at the princess.

Helen strode over to the jewelry and began picking out things she wished to buy. There was no missing the look of distain the goldsmith shot at her when she casually handled the wares and set them back onto the table. "Paris I would absolutely adore these." She said to her husband who motioned for the younger smith to come over and purchase the selected items.

Andromanche took a more calm approach, handling pieces with utmost care and placing them back in their exact positions. She picked up a golden bracelet with ocher colored jewels set in it. "It is a rare stone. Amber, from the north." The princess jumped when she heard the voice over her shoulder. The younger man had a chilling, low voice.

"It is beautiful. But I really don't need any other jewels." She tried to decline gracefully. It was beautiful and it would bring out her eyes so much more than other stones.

"Andromanche, buy it. It would look beautiful on you." Briseis blue eyes were staring into hers. Andromanche put it on reluctantly.

"So you will buy it?" the merchant asked keenly.

She nodded "Yes." The man busied himself with his money bag. Helen continued cooing over various jewels and Briseis stood talking to the shop owner.

Hector could only pick up a few words from her conversation. The man's dark blue eyes and ease in speaking suggested he was from Greece, he could not help but notice that the old man's wife was not present. Normally she would have been entertaining Andromanche with small talk about people from the village. Hector remembered coming here with Briseis parents as a youth with Pramadas and seeing who could steal the most gold without being caught. Looking back the old man wife had always known that they were stealing but they had always returned the gold without incident.

"That will be all?" The old man asked he and Briseis had finished speaking just moments before. "Well thank you. We always appreciate seeing you Lady Briseis. It was luck that you cam with such gold-loving company." He bowed as they made their way to the exit but were stopped at the door by a stream of young children. Their distressed mother followed them, her golden hair in great disarray. The children all had matching fair hair and began ran around the store.

The mother's eyes grew wide when she saw the princes and she got down onto her knees and mumbled apologies. She stood up and the children began to stare at Prince Hector. There were five altogether, four boys and one girl, and they all had their mothers face. Sharp and intelligent features, keen eyes and the same blonde hair. When their admiration ran out they continued their game and they ran around Briseis sending the nearby wares flying. Their mother looked down and pulled two of the boys up by their collar and started chastising them loudly.

Not long after the children had stopped their game did loud, raucous calls come from outside the tent. The smith's apprentice came out from behind the counter and started to walk outside but the goldsmith stopped him. He was a small man but very strong (as Hector had had to find out the hard way) from a lifetime of gold working.

When their friend did not come outside they came in. Three young men, no older than eighteen, two with hair as dark as Briseis' and one with lighter brown hair began to rove into the shop. They paused for a moment when they saw the royalty but unlike the other citizens they did not bow, rather continued towards the golden haired youth. Paris raised his eyebrows and Andromanche's mouth tightened at this disrespect.

The two darker haired youths began to walk around the party jeering in Greek. There was nothing any of them could do to the delinquents other than stare; they were not supposed to attack civilians.

But they didn't have to when the fair-haired woman got to them. She grabbed their ears and pushed them down at Hector's feet "Apologize!" she barked at them. They stayed silent "Now!" They mumbled something in Greek. "We live in Troy you must speak Trojan to our royalty. I am not hearing an apology."

"Why should we?" One of them asked spitefully. "You cannot do anything to us."

She laughed for a moment. "I cannot do anything to you? I can do plenty. For example, I can make you tell your mother why she is no longer employed at my store. Or tell your father why he can no longer rent out my house. You see there are many things I can do to you. And I don't think you wish to be out on the streets again. Do you?"

They shook their heads and motioned for the other two to follow them out the door. The goldsmith's apprentice stopped in front of Briseis

"I am sorry Lady Briseis. They know not their place." He said in his deep voice then he too walked out the door.

The woman looked over at the door as he left. "He's a fool to be around them." She said quietly "Please, their impudence is not a reflection of him. He wishes to become a smith, like his grandfather." she motioned to the old man. "He is my nephew. My brother and his wife died soon after his birth. I'm starting to think that if I wasn't here he'd be in prison now or...or-" her eyes began to tear up and she turned away.

"Well we should be going." Paris said and started towards the door.

"Oh please no. I heard about the chariot incident and you really should not go home the heat would be stifling." The woman who had not yet introduced herself said matter-of-factly. "The town is beautiful this time of year. The feast should begin in an hour or two and it really is spectacular."

"Feast?" Paris asked following the woman out the door. Helen and Andromanche walked out of the tent after him.

Hector laughed and shook his head. "I don't think we'll be going home anytime soon." He said to Briseis only so low that the smith couldn't hear them. Both of them laughed and continued after the princesses.

"Did you think about what I said when I came?" Hector and Briseis were sitting beside each other watching Paris and Helen dance in the middle of a crowd. The prince raised his goblet to his drunken brother and Paris laughed.

"What you said in the gardens? Yes, I must help you I assume, you being crown-prince and being able to make me help you. But we have to start soon. The problem is that few people will join your army with enough morale to even put a dent into the Greek lines."

"I know the armies of Greece are powerful but we cannot give up hope so easily. I will not let Troy fall Briseis, I can't let Troy fall." Hector sighed inwardly when Paris and his wife once again took their seats. They were very entertaining, that is to say more entertaining than usual. The pair was replaced but acrobats that sprung from the ground great heights into the open air. The crowd seemed to gasp simultaneously when they did this and cheered loudly when they were caught on the colorful blankets.

"Hector where is Andromanche?"

"I asked Melanon to take her home. You know she isn't all too fond of feasts and there have been so many lately." They both sat for a moment watching the show.

"Hector, Briseis. Good to see you." Pramadas pushed a strand of black hair out from his face. "Where is your brother Prince? From what I heard he and Helen put on quite the show."

"You must have missed it. I had no idea that either of them could dance so well."

"Or drink so much in one night." Briseis added looking over at the prince and his new wife.

"Do you ever regret it?" Pramadas asked after a moment of silence.

"What?"

"Do you ever regret not marrying Paris?" he repeated. Hector drank more wine and waited for a response from Briseis. He thought she would have said 'no' immediately, why would she have wanted to marry a man she so obviously had no great love for?

"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to be royalty of Troy. To have all manners of people love me. But it really doesn't matter, that isn't how things turned out. I have enough on my mind as it is I don't need fantasies about being a princess to add to my troubles." She sighed after her speech and her shoulders dropped.

'Does she really think that?' Hector thought. 'Does she really dream about Andromanche and Helen's lives?'

"Briseis you shouldn't." The prince finally broke the silence. "You would not make a good princess. You are not like Helen or Andromanche or Cassandra, that is why the people around here love you like they do. Because you are not impersonal or removed, you care about the people. Not politics and bureaucrats and secrets of the court. They respect you but at the same time they love you. When you speak people will listen and when you fall people will be there to bring you back up. That is something that will go a farther than being sovereign ever could."

A loud yawn from behind Briseis made all of them jump.

"Melanon!" She chastised while Pramadas and Hector laughed as her back was turned. "Don't do that."

"As you wish." He smiled at his sister and executed a mock bow; she hit him playfully on the side of the head. "When do you plan on leaving? If Paris and Helen wish to stay then we should leave them the horses in case the chariot falls apart again." Hector nodded and went to speak to his brother for a moment then returned.

"They will ride home on the horses. Should we go and have the horses readied."

"I need to speak to Briseis about something." Pramadas said awkwardly. His brother shrugged and walked off towards the stables with Hector. "What I couldn't ask you earlier was whether or not you regretted giving Hector up to Andromanche?" he whispered putting a hand on his twin's shoulder.

She paused for a longer time. "No," She said firmly. "He is happy with Andromanche. Happier than I could ever make him as his wife. We are companions now as we always have been. I do not hope for more than that for that is what I am content with." He nodded with a smile. "We should be ready to leave by now." The siblings walked off into the night.

The days following were as Hector had always remembered when he stayed at Briseis' palace. Very warm, very calm and very different from the royal palace.

For example here he could talk to Melanon for an entire day hiding in the gardens and no one would find them. This of course is what they did.

"How is Helen treating your brother, prince of Troy?" Melanon asked he looked around for guards or eavesdroppers. "No broken hearts yet I hope." He added with a cocky grin.

The prince grinned as well. "I hope not, if there were I would be wringing his neck by now." Both Melanon and Hector looked into space, rarely did they speak seriously. "Melanon I've asked you for very little in all of the years we have known each other." Melanon nodded quickly. "Join me in the war to come."

"Hector, we have always been great friends. There is nothing I would wish more than to fight beside you," He met the prince's dark eyes. "My brothers and I would be honored to join you in battle."

Hector grinned. "Andromanche should be pleased to have such seasoned warriors by my side. Briseis should find us soon. Should we make her task easier?"

"I appreciate the good thought but it is wasted." Briseis smiled on her brother and friend and crossed her arms over her chest as a sign of impatience. "A man who claims he came from Greece is here. He wishes to speak to you; it seems the Greeks are setting sail as I speak."

A/N: I know that this chapter isn't as good as the first two I was rushed for time to finish it because I have a huge project due next week and the sooner I finished this chapter the sooner I could start. To all of my reviewers, you guys are the best I love you. To one specific review I am aware that my characters are bitter. It's only because I am a really bitter person andthat comes out in my characters. Plus I know a lot of bitter people and a bunch of my charcters are based on actual people.