"You know how the story begins, for everyone knows; the war was for the wife of Menelaus, Helen whose beauty launched the greatest fleet the world has every known on to Troy. What you don't know is how it came to be; Paris had no part in the argument between the goddesses Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera over who was the most beautiful, that is saying that there ever was such an argument. The gods are of no consequence in this story, they never have been. Rather Paris met her on a peace mission to Sparta with his brother Hector."

The old woman looked up and smiled at the men before her. Her blue eyes held laughter and some bitter joy as she continued to talk about the two princes.

"Hector and Paris were the sons of King Priam of Troy and the cousins to Briseis, but we will talk about her later. Hector was the golden boy; an exceptional fighter and a great leader. Paris was instead the one who was loved by woman and had a boyish naivety and childish innocence when it came to matters of war and politics. No one minded; in the eyes of the people of Troy, Paris was the comic relief, the one they could always count on for scandals and gossip to keep the populace entertained. But Hector was adored and loved and honored by all. When he married fair Andromance and later produced a son, many women were disappointed at not having the chance to be with Hector. Troy and her people were proud; they were proud of their Prince, proud of their fortress, and proud of their culture. What they did not seem to realize is pride would be their downfall; pride is the greatest tool an enemy can use to create complete and utter destruction."

The woman began to laugh bitterly at her statement, the mirth slowly fading from her eyes, "The Trojans had to learn this the hard way. But let me continue to the point. The Spartans and Trojans had been fighting or had a rivalry for numerous decades; peace was a luxury they both desired greatly. So the Trojans took initiative and sailed to Sparta to be greeted by Menelaus, brother to the conqueror of all of Greece, Agamemnon."

Srry its so short…had a bit of trouble with writer's block but hopefully I'll update in the next week or so.

Thank you so much to all who reviewed: Ferr89, Kal's gal, jean, and ChrissyKat; its very much appreciated.

Happy New Year!