Prologue
"Of all creatures that can feel and think,
we women are the worst treated things alive"
― Euripides, Medea
Meg leaned forward, trying her best to catch even the slightest breeze. Even though it was evening, the air was still humid and she felt almost claustrophobic, even though she was on a balcony of the villa, trying to catch some fresh air.
But during this time of the year, air hardly ever felt fresh. The summers in Campanian peninsula were always almost too hot to bear, but this particular summer had been even worse than usual. The word among the people was that the Gods were displeased with the people and had punished them with the heat. The rumor got even more wind under its wings when even the old mount Vesuvius seemed occasionally restless and the ground itself was shaking under her fury.
Meg, however, did not believed in Gods. She hadn't had such luxury for ages. In tender age of twelve, she watched her two brothers and grandmother pass away from a terrible epidemic disease which made them cough up blood and feverish, eventually withering away.
Her mother was so broken and bent after loosing both her sons and her mother-in-law at the same time, that it wasn't much of a surprise when Meg's father announced that they were leaving Greece for good and moving to a province belonging to imperial Rome. Officially he reclaimed that the reason was that his commerce had better chances in succeeding in there, but Meg suspected that he just did his best in trying to give his wife a fresh start. He had, after all, always put the needs of his wife first. And even though his efforts, even though all their efforts, she was still barely a shadow of her old self, a frail and withdrawn.
Sometimes, Meg still missed Greece. She did still consider it her home after all these years. But perhaps it were those childish, carefree years that she yearned after all. Whatever her reasons, she did yearn for something she could comprehend or put her finger on it. Was this really all life would give her?
As the eldest of the three daughters remaining in their family, Meg knew that it was only matter of time her father would accept one proposal from one of her suitors. Meg considered them all as a pest with much distaste: she had no interest at all in becoming someone's trophy-wife and be paraded around like an animal waiting to be offered to the Gods. She had heard the hushed voices of her parents discussing the matter, but she tried to avoid the thought at all costs. No, she wanted more from her life, but what exactly, she did not know herself.
Meg pursed her lips in displease as she felt almost an ashy taste filling her mouth as she breathed the night air in.
Ash and dust, that's what her current life seemed to be. She grit her teeth together, willing herself not to cry. It was almost a welcome interruption to her thoughts as her maid came in, claiming it was time for her to get ready for the night.
Another day somehow pushed through, yet another one already waiting.
But she was tough. She had to be. So she would always manage, somehow.
She got up and returned to her duties, as she was supposed to do and behaved exactly as she was expected of.
But underneath, she never really let go of the thought that her life was somehow supposed to be different from this.
That she was really waiting for something, or someone, to come along and change her life.
-A/N: So here it is, the prologue of my new fanfic. Whoo! So I have played around with this idea for a while now and decided to publish this small fragment of it.
But I have to warn you guys: I only have the concept clear and I have no planned publishing schedule of any sorts planned for this. What do you think, are you interested with this concept? Should I continue or not?
