Chapter 5: Hypatia and Greece
Greece leaned against the hard, stone back of the bench. Looking past the flowers and bushes of the lush garden (which he was, at this point, half in a bush himself), he spied into the classroom of one of the scholars. As he watched, she came into view.
He was immensely proud of Hypatia. With her achievements, how could he not be?
Disregarding the curious glances of bystanders, Greece shifted so he could see her better. He idly stroked the cat that had jumped up on the bench next to him; the felines always seemed to congregate near him.
Lazily, he stood up, ignoring the twigs that snagged his tunic and the leaves stuck in his hair. He gave the cat one more scratch behind the ear before slowly walking towards the classroom and Hypatia.
"Can I help you with something?" She kindly asked, looking up from the paper that was covered in equations and sketches.
Greece analyzed the room, eyeing every scroll on every table and every embellishment on every wall. "I was wondering if you had any scrolls I could borrow." Honestly, this was just an excuse to talk to her.
Hypatia took a step towards the large shelf pushed against the wall and quickly pulled out a few scrolls. "Here's a couple on astronomy and one on philosophy that I can spare for now. You can borrow them for a few days as long as you promise to bring them back." She was more than willing to share knowledge to anyone that wanted to learn.
Greece slightly smiled and carefully took the scrolls. "Thank you. I'll be sure to return them."
After a quick 'goodbye', he exited the classroom and absentmindedly started walking down the path, away from the library while inspecting the scrolls.
It had become routine. Greece would visit Hypatia, borrow a scroll or two, return the scrolls a few days later, and repeat.
"What is your opinion of the conflict?" Hypatia asked him, one day.
It hurt Greece to think about the problems of the city. Two groups were fighting over religion and power and, honestly, Greece was tired of it. "I just want there to be peace." He truthfully answered.
She sighed and looked at her collection of scrolls. "Me too."
He strolled through the streets of Alexandria, towards the library. Ignoring the angry groups around him, he clutched the scrolls (and the cat he happened to be carrying at the moment) tighter.
But, once at the library, instead of a smiling Hypatia ready for his arrival, he was greeted with a mob outside of her classroom.
Insults and accusations flew everywhere and all he could do was watch as they killed her. He hung onto those scrolls as if it was a lifeline while the mob burned her classroom.
A/N: It would probably be more accurate if I used Ancient Greece for this but I don't know much about that character and modern Greece is more popular/interesting along with being easier to write.
Again, not everything is accurate. I haven't read anything about the mob burning down her classroom so do not take that as fact. I only added it to make the ending more dramatic and the Library of Alexandria is notorious for being destroyed anyway. I also had a hard time figuring out and making sense of the details of the conflict so I may have gotten something wrong there too.