DISCLAIMER - I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Everything in this story, bar the Plot, and a few Characters, belongs to Rick Riordan.
Feel Free to Review, I love hearing what I'm doing well, and what I'm doing horribly.
Warning - This chapter is pretty long, and probably pretty boring, so sorry about that hahaha.
Finally, Sorry for the pretty long hiatus; I've been doing a fair bit of University work, I'm hoping to be a bit more consistent from now on, but no promises :( thanks for sticking with me if you're returning from before my break :)
Chapter 7 - Vineyards.
"Lords you're slow aren't you! What's all that bulk for if you can't use it"
The corner of Perseus' lip curled, slight irritation marring his face.
"Back again small man. Don't you have some other poor fool to annoy?"
The dark skinned man - no, Perseus had come to realise this Man was more a boy, ran a hand through his brown curls, his ever present grin growing, surprisingly, even larger.
"But I've found a poor fool here, why make my job harder? Besides, I truly do find it intriguing that you're so bad at this new life of yours. I'd have thought a blooded like yourself could do such trivial work with ease."
Perseus simply glared, and shook his shackled wrist at the boy.
"Come now, we both know those didn't stop you before, why would they stop you now?"
Perseus glanced at his cuffs, before returning his attention the enormous cask before him.
Lifting the gargantuan barrel aloft his shoulder, he steadied himself, before turning towards the entrance to the cellar.
"Whoa, that has to be at least a tonne, what did they feed you in the arena?!"
The impish boy sounded genuinely bemused, but Perseus knew him better than to rise to the bait.
"I'll drop it on you if you're not careful."
The boy chuckled, circling Perseus while performing an odd jig.
"I wonder what you were looking at for so long… suppose I gaze out over the fields and find a view of the ladies picking grapes?"
For the first time in he didn't know how long, Perseus loosed a genuine grin.
"Suppose you did?"
The boy stopped circling, his own grin, again, widening.
"Well, I might perhaps inform the landowner? Wouldn't do well that a brigand such as yourself was eyeing up the worker girls"
Perseus' grin faltered for a moment
"Even if I did believe you small man, wouldn't mind meeting my benefactor. Haven't seen him since I arrived."
For the first time in the three months Perseus had known him, the small man frowned.
"Curious. Though I suppose they'd probably rather not draw the attention, after all the raucous she caused. Have you not been in the big house?"
Perseus set the huge barrel down on a wooden platform, before shouting into the cellar. He stepped back as the platform slowly lowered into a dark hole.
"I'm in there everyday, pouring wine for empty tables. Pretty fancy place up there." He nodded up the hill towards a beautiful villa.
"I thought you'd have known that, aren't you staying there as a guest?"
Perseus turned to see the boy staring up at the villa, a strange look marring his face.
"A guest, yeah I suppose."
"You suppose a lot of things. And talk a lot."
The boy turned back to Perseus, his smile having returned.
"So do you these days Jari, become rather talkative."
"How do you know that name?"
Perseus advanced
"Who are you small man?"
The boy didn't move, his eyes simply following Perseus large figure as it approached.
"What do you think I am?"
Perseus squinted.
"I don't know who you are, that's why I asked, you annoying little turd."
Again, as if it were the only thing the boy ever did, his grin widened.
"I know you don't know who I am, I didn't ask that."
Perseus' advance halted, and he simply stared at the boy.
"You're weird. That's what I think you are. And annoying."
He took a moment to pause, and glanced up and down at the boy.
"And you're a demigod. But I can't see you. Or more, I can't see your essence"
The boy's eyes lit up, and he resumed his odd jig.
"Very good Jari, very good. I suppose you've earned an answer yourself.
Perseus watched the boy for a few moments, silence deafening him.
"Most," he paused between hopping from leg to leg "Call me Wit. Though you" he stopped his dance for a moment, as if in contemplation.
"You should call me Leo."
Perseus frowned.
The name meant nothing.
"That's it? Your name is Leo? And how do you know my Untold name?
Leo smiled further, "It's not my name. It's a name, and I suppose you may use it in reference to me"
"You're useless."
Perseus stalked back to the row of Casks ready to be sent down into the cellar.
"Yeah you'd better hurry and finish that up, appears our hosts have finally arrived after their weary travels."
Perseus glanced back at Leo, preparing to lift the next Cask, as he saw a huge pillar of light flash above the Villa on the hill.
Fleeting rays of orange light flittered across the rolling fields of grapevine, darkness slowly growing bolder as the Sun retreated to other planes.
Perseus trudged towards the workers dorm, a woollen towel slung over his shoulder.
As he neared the entrance to the building, a wiry man with a balding head leaned through one of the exterior windows.
The man caught Perseus eye and waved, "Ave Perseus."
Perseus nodded in response, slowing his walk.
"Restis, how are you?"
The older mans lips curled upward, "I'm Well. You're wanted up at the Villa again. I told them you'd be up by the 18th hour, so if you want to bathe I'd hurry."
Perseus screwed up his face, "Restis I can't bathe until the 18th hour, It's the girls turn right now"
Restis cocked an eyebrow, "I forget you have to share the balneae. Well why do you all bathe so late anyway, you're supposed to have a bath during the day while it's warm."
Perseus simply stared back at the man.
"Right, well then take this" Restis lifted a chain from his neck. A Bronze depiction of the globe hung from it. "Take this and use the Villa's balneae. Make sure you enter the men's, and not the women's. You'd become an even bigger headache."
Perseus clung to the chain, gazing into it. A metallic draw filled his fingertips, the feel of bronze familiar to them.
"How do I know the difference?"
He tore away from the emblem, returning his gaze to Restis.
"Well if you hear screams when you walk in, probably the wrong one" Restis chuckled, and before Perseus, his face reddened, could respond, ducked back into the building.
Looking down at his hands, then at his Chilton.
Surprisingly, it wasn't too dirty, as his work today had been fairly clean.
Grumbling, he turned and began trekking towards the upscale bathhouses.
"Can I take that for you sir?"
Perseus turned sharply to the left, the noise having startled him. His usual heightened senses dulled by the cuffs on his wrists.
His eyes rested on a girl of no more than 19. Perseus instantly noticed she lacked a traditional Stola, like most women wore, and instead bore the same style tunic as himself.
"I've seen you in the big house, I thought you were a server girl, not a slave?" Perseus narrowed his eyes, perhaps she'd been punished for some trivial mistake, Romans were harsh like that.
The girls cheeks reddened slightly, clearly not used to Perseus blunt speech. "I'm not a slave, there aren't any here. "
She narrowed her eyes as she gained a proper look at Perseus' appearance.
"Also these are the private baths sir, I'm sorry."
She bowed slightly, and gestured to the entrance.
"Restis sent me, have to clean up here he said" He shook the chain around his neck.
The girl glanced at the chain, then shrugged, before turning and stepping further into the building.
"Follow me then, and hand me your towel and tunic."
Without waiting, she had left the entrance hall, and was out of sight. Perseus, shocked at how quickly she had accepted his presence, jogged to catch up.
He handed her his towel, then glanced around the new room he found himself in.
In the centre of a room were three pools of water, the centre one steaming. Behind the three pools was a waist high bench with a cushion at one end.
"Well?" The girl held her hand out patiently, an impatient expression adorning her face.
Perseus simply looked back at her, his face crimson.
"Give me your tunic." She looked him up and down "And your sandals, and the chain."
Perseus fumbled a bit with his rope belt, slightly confused at the entire ordeal. "Sorry, I'm not used to your Roman lifestyle. I wasn't allowed to bathe in the colosseum"
Pulling the barely white tunic over his head, he found himself looking at a shocked glare of the girls face.
She made a hissing sound, before her eyes darted around the room.
"Are you an idiot? You can't just say that"
She snatched his tunic from his hands, then stepped forward and yanked at the chain around his neck.
"Bend down a little you giant, quickly"
She'd gone from bored to panicked in a split second.
Perseus frowned, wondering what he'd said.
But he followed her instructions; he didn't want to get her angry again.
The second she had the chain from his neck she knelt down and began untying the sandal straps around his calves, making Perseus even more uncomfortable.
"alright, in the right bath, quick."
She darted around the pools, and placed all his clothes in a big wooden chest, and began muttering to herself.
"No that wont do, I'll get you a new Tunic, that ones filthy. Or will you wear a Toga tonight? Of course not, you're not a Roman, that would be an insult." Perseus bore holes in her back for a few moments, watching as she held his tunic up to the torchlight, searching for stains.
After a few minutes, she turned back and scowled seeing him still not in the bath.
"Enjoying the view? Hurry up and get in"
Shaking his head clear, Perseus stepped into the pool, finding warm water. He was knee deep when he heard the girl hiss again, and looked up at her
"Take those bracelets off for the gods sakes" She knelt down to his height and grabbed his wrist, leaning across the water.
She yanked on the iron cuffs, then began twisting them, searching for the clasp that held them.
"They can't come off. They're to stop me from usi-"
"Stop. Enough, I get it" She quickly cut him off, backing away with wide eyes.
"Just get in and clean yourself."
He sat down in the pool, the warm water rising to his chest. Scrubbing his arms he looked up to find the girl pulling small glass bottles from a shelf on the wall and placing them on the floor near the bench at the back of the room.
"Uhhh… You're supposed to stay in here while I bathe?"
She turned to him, a puzzled smile adorning her tanned features.
"Well yes, I am a bath attendant. How else do you do the oils and strigil?"
Perseus simply gazed back at her, with vacant eyes.
"A strigil?"
The girl sighed and turned to face the back wall.
"Do you Barbarians not bathe?"
"Why does a man have such long hair? Takes too bloody long to dry!"
Perseus sat and glanced upward at the girl furiously rubbing his scalp with the white towel.
"Won't dry like that."
She scowled down at him.
"Doesn't suit you anyway, only creepy rich men with too much care for their looks wear hair so long."
Perseus frowned.
He had noticed how few Romans wore hair to their shoulders. It confused him; these people were so alike the Greeks he'd lived with in the past, yet subtle differences made his head swivel; one culture admired one thing, while the other despised it.
"It's the hair of my people. It is shameful to cut hair; we descended upon the world with this hair, and we will keep it when we descend upon the next."
The girl's eyes widened slightly, and she glanced towards the doorway.
"This is unnamed speak, yes?"
Perseus smiled slightly.
"I assume so."
"You assume? What does that mean?"
Perseus stood, and, feeling his wet locks with his right hand, pushed heat into his scalp, instantly drying it.
The girl held a hand to her mouth in shock, shrinking away from Perseus slightly.
"I've never met another unnamed."
Still inching away from him, the girls voice quaked.
"Then how do you know it is the hair of your people?"
Tying a knot in his rope belt, Perseus crouched down and began putting his sandals on.
"We know these things. All unnamed do. A freshly hatched sea turtle knows to crawl to the sea, a newborn human knows to suckle at it's mothers breast, and the Unnamed know."
The girl had recovered from her shock at his free use of the essence, and was now collecting the small glass bottles, replacing them in their initial spots.
"The unnamed know what?"
"They know."
She turned to face him, again, a puzzled look marring her face.
"You know? As in you know everything?"
He shook his head.
"I can't explain; it wouldn't make sense. It is the same reason you call us Unnamed."
Her eyes lit up at this point.
"As in we don't understand what your people are called?"
He grinned. "Exactly."
She smiled, "I would understand! I promise I won't tell anyone, if that's the issue."
Perseus chuckled.
"That's not the issue. It's as I say, you can't understand. I've told people before, no one understands."
She frowned.
"Try me."
She stared at his face intently, and watched as his lips opened, tongue forming shapes.
But no noise escaped said lips. He simply mimed speech.
"Well of course I won't understand if you don't say anything. No need to be rude about it. You should go up to the big house anyway. Probably due by now."
She turned and began walking toward the doorway, until she felt a hand grip her arm.
Turning, she saw his lips still moving, and an amused expression dancing upon his handsome face.
He gripped her hand and placed in on his throat.
Her fingertips touching his voice box, she felt the vibrations as his mouth opened and closed.
She looked at him, still puzzled.
"You're actually speaking"
He stopped his silent speech, and grinned at her, nodding.
"I told you. You can't understand. You don't have permission."
"Permission? From who?"
He walked passed her, to the doorway.
"Hard to say, you simply wouldn't hear it. Besides, I don't really know myself."
He stood in the doorway, as if waiting for her.
"What?"
"Are you coming? As you said, I'm probably late to the big house by now."
"Why do I need to come?"
"Well, I don't know where to go, I've only ever carried things to the kitchens and guest rooms."
Glancing around the room, the girl gestured toward the bench.
"But I'm working. I can't just leave, what if someone comes in?"
He shrugged.
"You're the only one working here right now?"
She shuffled from foot to foot.
"Well no, there are about 12 other rooms with other bath attendants."
He smiled, nodded, and then walked from the room.
She looked to the doorway, then back at the bench, and then to the small pools of water, before rushing out behind him.
Catching up, she sidled up next to him, trying to walk in stride.
He continued to smile, looking straight ahead.
"I like this place. It's quite odd."
She smiled in turn. "The bath house? Yeah, it is pretty nice compared to the other one we use."
He chuckled. "I meant this vineyard. Though I suppose the bathhouse is okay. Too uptight for me; the only woman a man should bathe with is his shieldmaiden."
Her cheeks pinked.
"What's a shieldmaiden? Is that like a wife?"
"A wife is who has your children no?"
She smiled. "Yes, the woman who looks after your kids while you men run off and fight each other." Her smile faded toward the end of her sentence.
"Stupid concept. Why don't your women fight?"
She turned to him, incredulously
"Your women fight?"
Slowing his pace, he frowned, and glanced upward at the dark sky. He'd been in the bathhouse a long time. "Of course, how couldn't they?"
"That sounds amazing! Your women have the same status as men?"
Crinkling his brow, Perseus thought for a moment.
"Sort of; Status is not dictated by gender or age or wealth. Life is different for Unnamed I think. There isn't money or trade, the only possessions a man has are his sword and shield. Perhaps axes as well, this I'm not sure of, It is not as known."
A somewhat horrified look spread across the girls tanned face.
"Your people live for war, same as everyone else. If not more."
Disappointment dripped from her tongue.
"No. War is not to be revered. It is a necessity, but it is not loved. Doing so brings madness. This is known, and I have found this out personally."
His gaze dropped to the sandy path beneath his feet.
Images of intestines spilling from torn open stomachs, and lifeless eyes staring from severed heads flooded his brain.
"I'm sorry."
From the corner of his eyes, he saw a saddened expression marring her otherwise pretty face.
"I never asked. Do you have a name, or will I not understand?"
She forced a smile to her lips, an attempt at lightening the mood.
It worked.
"Unfortunately, This is permitted, as I freely gave my name long ago. Though I use my Greek name these days."
She arched a brow.
"Perseus." He smiled.
"Boring name. Did you choose it?"
He chuckled.
"Definitely not. Though the person who did might not like your criticism."
"And your other name?"
He grimaced slightly. He anticipated her Reaction.
"Jari."
She smiled. His eyes widened.
"Yar-ee… It sounds nice."
"You don't know it's meaning?"
She stopped walking, and he turned to see her pointing forward, towards a large marble archway.
"Go through the large door, and turn left after the Atrium."
He nodded to her, and began pacing through the archway.
"I never caught your name?"
She grinned and simply turned away, responding without looking back.
"Probably wouldn't understand it anyway."
He just watched as she walked away, glancing at her tanned legs, barely visible in the dark light.
She turned to face him, continuing to walk backwards, and opened her mouth as if to speak.
Perseus flooded his eyes with essence, zooming in, focusing on her lips, and strained his enhanced ears for anything audible.
No noise left her mouth, though his pulsating; glowing eyes caught the movement of her lips perfectly.
"Calypso."