Title: "After Ecbatana"

Author: Baliansword

Chapter: 11, "Tales"

A/N: Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing. Queendel, I don't know what I would do without you. Thanks for your wonderful reviews. I hope you enjoy the next installment of my madness. Also, Moon71, I've picked up your zero trick to separate paragraphs, hope you don't mind! Baliansword

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The last two days had come about rather slowly. Alexander was torn between three worlds. There was Alexander the king, and he had to go on running his empire. Yet there was also Alexander, the husband of Roxanne, who was about to have a child. But it was Alexander, the lover of Hephaestion, which was begging for all of his attention.

He knew that he could never be angry with Hephaestion. He had only done the exact same thing that he had. Yet, it seemed different, because Alexander feared that perhaps Hephaestion really would love Aryse. Maybe she would be the one that would have her way with him, and finally take Hephaestion away from him. But perhaps he deserved it, perhaps the gods laughed at him and were teaching him a lesson. They mocked him, Alexander the Great had taken many wives and even Bagoas as a lover, but had loved none of them. Hephaestion had taken one wife, upon his request, but had found his own lover –one that he may love. Curse Aphrodite, Alexander thought to himself.

Presently he had just left Roxanne's rooms. Bagoas followed him out, wanting to be near him should he need anything. Alexander presumed that Bagoas knew there was tension between him and Hephaestion. Every time there was the eunuch found a way to be closer to him. Just in case his needs needed to be attended to, his sexual needs, Alexander figured. Despite the presence of the Persian boy, it was something else that caught Alexander's attention. It was Hephaestion's laugh that caught him by surprise.

He saw him then, sitting in the sun on a balcony, with Aryse across from him. Alexander froze. If his legs would have been able to move he would have gone, made his presence known, and perhaps said something to cut the girl. Anything that he could say to make her leave would have been good at this moment. Yet he found that he could not move. He could only stand there, staring at Hephaestion's glowing radiant smile, and feel his heart being broken into a thousand shards.

There was something different about Hephaestion, something that Alexander had not seen since they were just boys. Before conquests had been the ambition in their lives, before the ways of life and the world had made themselves known to them, they were merely boys. They were merely boys in love. Hephaestion had looked different when they were younger, and simply in love, it was something that had been taken away as he grew into a man. It was a twinkle in his eye perhaps, and the way that his eyes fluttered down when he smiled, and the way that he spoke as if every word were an embarrassment.

As Alexander looked at him now, from the shadows, he saw that look in his eyes. He saw the way that he smiled, the way that he spoke, as if not to offend Aryse with anything that he said. Alexander found himself reaching out for the pillar, and holding it, for if he did not he feared that he would fall. Yes, he could feel his heart shattering but knew that there was nothing to do to change it. It had already happened. Hephaestion already was in love with this girl, and this girl would replace Alexander in his heart.

Alexander could watch this no more. He slipped away in silence, Bagoas following him. Even he had glanced over at Hephaestion and had seen what was going on. He had seen what Alexander had come to fear. Hephaestion on the other hand had not seen Alexander. If he would have, he would not have let him leave so simply. He would have gone after him and tried to explain himself, and what he was feeling, to the love of his life. But he didn't see him, so there was no opportunity to do so. Instead of apprising Alexander to his feelings, he continued his conversation with Aryse, not knowing that Alexander had ever been near.

"Macedonia sounds wonderful," Aryse concluded, after Hephaestion had finished describing the land to her. He had also told her tales of the things he remembered doing there as a child. Most of his stories evolved around things that he and Alexander had done, and he had not left that out. In fact, he had told her everything.

There was something about the shimmer in her eyes that made him trust her entirely. He felt like he could tell her all of his heart's secrets and she would keep them for him. So as he told the tales of his childhood, he began to tell her of Alexander, and what the two of them had done together. He told her how Alexander had tamed Bucephalus, and told her how worried he had been. It had nothing to do with him really, it was Alexander's great narrative, but he felt that she should know of it. But the more he told her of his life, the more he knew that he had to tell her about Alexander, and as he watched the fascination grow in her eyes he knew that he could tell her everything.

He told her of how he fell in love with Alexander. At first it was just a feeling, something that he could not explain. But then it grew into something else. He wanted to constantly be around Alexander, and when they parted he was saddened. It could have been just a close friendship, at least as a child he had assumed as such. Yet as he came into his teenage years he knew that it was different.

He wanted to be around Alexander, and to touch him. Every time he brushed against him, no matter how he did it, he would get a shiver down his spine. It could not be explained at first. But it soon seemed to leap out at him, the answer to his feelings. He loved Alexander, as he knew he would never love another again. After some time of hiding his feelings, he made them known to Alexander, and was glad that Alexander felt the same.

They did not just share each other's beds. They shared something far more. They shared a soul it seemed, what effected one would hurt the other. It had been that way for some time. There was nothing they could do about it. Aphrodite had pushed them together, and they knew that they could not be separated. Yet at the same time they did not want to be separated.

Hephaestion told her this, and she listened quietly. She took everything in, even as he spoke of their conquests in foreign lands. He told her how his heart broke when Alexander took Bagoas as his lover. He told her that he knew it was not love, but lust, yet he could not deny that it pained him deeply. Aryse listened to this, and as he continued to tell her everything between him and Alexander, she never flinched.

He expected her to, though he did not know why. He trusted her completely, but telling her of his affairs with the king was something that he figured would have changed her mind about him. It did not seem to though. She did not seem to care that he found his love in the arms of another man. In fact, she seemed to find it fascinating. Hephaestion continued his tale, until they reached Babylon, and told her that he was now sitting on the balcony with her. She laughed, and he realized that he had never heard her do so before, and as she did he realized something else.

It might have come from the melody of her laugh, the way she smiled, or it may have even been her eyes. All of these things may have helped him realize that perhaps he loved her too. Not as he loved Alexander, but he did love her. He trusted her, and he knew that there would never be a day when he did not have to. Looking at her, he knew all of this, and it did not worry him.

Alexander had taken wives, many wives, and had always wished him to do the same. Alexander had even married him to Drypetis, the sister of Stateira, but he did not love her. Her company was good, and they spoke of things from time to time. But it was not like what he had just shared with Aryse. He would never have told Drypetis things so personal to him, not necessarily because he did not trust her or find her to be a friend, but because he knew that she would not care. Maybe not even understand. Aryse on the other hand listen as if it were a famous tale told by Homer, and she cared about the ending, and she yearned to know about Hephaestion.

It amazed him, that he could be feeling this for her. He did not know if Alexander would understand. Yet for the first time in so many years, perhaps all of his life was he to think hard about it, he did not care if Alexander approved. He did not need his permission, for Alexander had never needed his. This was about him, and him alone, what he needed in life. Right not, it seemed that he needed Aryse. He needed her not for her body, but for her companionship. She would be there for him, and she would listen, and Hephaestion had no one else to do such when Alexander was missing from his bed.

"What about you," he asked. "What is your story?"

She shrugged softly, and looked out at the sun. She then turned her face back to him. Her eyes held her secrets. He had known this from the moment he met her, and he did not try to pry into the depths of them, for it was not his place. He figured that she was not going to tell him, and this did not bother him. It was her story to tell, and if she did not trust him with it so be it, for perhaps one day she would. But as soon as he thought there was no hope of hearing the tale of her life, her moist lips parted, and she began to speak.

"I was born in Athens," she began the story, her voice soft, her mind reliving the memories she told him as she did. Hephaestion did not know how interesting her story would be. "I was not born a slave, as you may have thought. I was born into a wealthy Athenian family. My father was a rich merchant, my mother was the daughter of a rich banker. We had money, and I had everything I could ever want. But one day my father, while on the sea watching his merchandise, was killed by pirates. They were some far off island and there was nothing anyone could do to bring them to justice."

"My mother," she continued as Hephaestion listened in silence, "loved my father very much. She did what she could, but soon the money disappeared. Her parents were dead and her brother would not take us in because he had a family of his own. Yet my mother was proud, and stayed at our home, until there was no money at all. She told me that she would rather starve than do anything else.

"And that is what we were doing, starving. But before she could starve my mother died of a broken heart. She left me, alone, and I was but a little girl. I was five when she died and was alone in the world, like so many orphans are. One day a man came, the new owner of the house and land, and he looked me over. He said that I was a good girl, and that he was going to make sure that I had a good home. That is when he took me to a slave trader.

"The man was nice I suppose. He never raised a hand to me, but he sold me to someone that did. A rich Athenian family bought me, to play with their daughter. Yet they too were loosing money and needed to sell me to put more food on the table. By then I was fourteen, and nothing but a slave. So they sold me to the first person that appeared with money. That is when I was sold to Olympias.

"I did not know who she was at first, but she was very kind to me. Besides, who was I to complain? She took me back to Macedonia with her, and it was then that I found out that she was queen. She told me that it could change nothing between us, for I regarded her as a friend, and perhaps a mother by the time we reached the palace. She showed me the ways of a woman, taught me what I needed to know to stay in her service, and I told her I would not disappoint her. She told me that I would someday have a purpose.

"Then, two years later, she told me to pack my things for we would be travelling to Babylon. I had heard of the place before. She spoke often of her son Alexander, and told me of his campaigns, and how he had won Persia from a man named Darius. She told me that Alexander was the son of a god, and after telling me of how he defeated army after army, I believed her. She told me as we were on our way that it would be in Babylon that I would find my purpose.

"And then, I saw you, when you first arrived. When you first walked into the rooms of the queen I sensed something about you. It took everything in me not to look up at you. But I knew when Olympias called for me that it was you that would show me what my purpose was. Does that sound odd to you, my knowing that you would lead me on my way?"

"No," Hephaestion said, shaking his head.

"Good," she said with a soft laugh. "I thought that you would think me insane. That is my story though, up till now. Where I will go from here I do not know. Perhaps not even the gods know. It seems that they do not really care one way or another about me."

"They brought me to you," Hephaestion whispered. He then brushed a piece of dark hair away from her cheek, tucking it gingerly behind her ear. "I will thank them for that, everyday as I wake. Just as I thank them for Alexander."

"Am I the only one that knows, about you and Alexander I mean?"

"No," he laughed now. "You are not the only one that knows. Others know, in fact, everyone that saw us on campaign at least thinks that we share a bed. Most of them are bold enough to say that they know it is true. It is, of course, but they do not know how we feel. They just write it off as the frustrations of war. On campaign many men will take another male lover, they don't think anything of it."

"I see."

Hephaestion stared at her as the sun shone down brightly on the two of them. There was something about the way the rays fell over her soft skin that made him think of bedding her. She was the only woman that he had ever thought of doing such with. She was the only one that he wanted to be with, out of all the women he had seen in every land that he had traveled, but it was not as if she tried to make him feel this way. She only had but to sit there, and he thought of her in such a way. He wanted to be with her again, as he had been just two nights ago.

Then, he felt something else, and the realization of the feeling hit him as the wind passed by them. He did want her for her companionship, above anything else. Except that was not all that he wanted of her. He wanted to be her lover, to treat her as a man should a woman, and he wanted to keep such a relationship with them for the rest of his life. He wanted to marry her, and have children with her, and do everything else that Alexander would be doing with Roxanne as a husband.

Perhaps she knew what he was thinking. Maybe that was the way of a woman, how they knew all of the secrets that a man held. Maybe they could hear such private thoughts as they drifted on the wind. For as he thought this, she turned her face to him, and smiled softly. Hephaestion looked at her for a moment but he then leaned forward, and putting a hand on her cheek, he drew her to him and kissed her. The kiss sealed his fate it seemed.

"Aryse," he spoke softly into her ear, his lips kissing the lobe of her ear and her neck, "I have something to ask of you."

"Yes?"

"Marry me," he said as he drew back, so that he could look deep into her dark emerald eyes. He felt his heart jump. He knew that she could refuse him, and if she had a mind, she would have. She did not know him, and he had proven nothing to her about himself. Yet she smiled, and did not say no, but instead nodded.

"Of course," she replied.

Hephaestion did not know whether to scream or cry. So he did neither. Instead he leaned back to her and pressed his lips firmly against hers. He kissed her, kissed her how he used to kiss Alexander when they were younger and Alexander wanted nothing in the world but him. It was decided then, that they should be married. Hephaestion had nothing left to do, but to tell Alexander.