Day Thirteen: Friendship of a Woman.
That first night after Olympias's arrival had been a real nightmare; anything that had been planned, on both sides, could be fulfilled. Alexander's idea of wooing his Phai by the river had to be postponed until further notice; he also had to add the confrontation with his mother and his lover-to- be, a situation that had put Hephaestion on a defensive and, at the same time, retreating attitude, and Alexander could not pamper his friend when he was feeling like that.
On Olympias's side, her manipulation would have to wait until the morning, she had never had in mind such an early confrontation with his son's lover and she had not been quick enough to hide her real feelings towards the brunette or to mask the real goal that was bringing her to Mieza.
The only guilty person of all this miscalculation was poor old Master Aristotle who, on knowing that the Macedonian Queen had just arrived at Mieza, wanted to present her his respect by organizing a small banquet for her and the six young ladies who accompanied her. The poor old man was totally oblivious to the undergoing situation between the mother Queen and the prince and so he had followed that ancient protocol he had been raised with.
On top of all that misunderstanding, the girls were truly distracted by the rest of the present companions, all of them young and noble boys and youths, who were more than happy to have such beautiful female company after long months without seeing or having any kind of interaction with them. Not many of them were active sexually speaking but the ones who were had been having some problems in releasing their pent up tension.
Two of the young girls had set their eyes on the brunette Cassander who was flirting with them shamelessly. The brunette knew he was handsome enough to attract any of the present maidens; he could rival Alexander any time, however he was doubtful of his charm if Hephaestion was nearby, the brunette had a way to lure people under his spell without knowing or doing it on purpose. A very voluptuous black haired girl was throwing lusty looks towards Ptolemy, who even been a taken young man, was giving her bedroom eyes. The girl was gorgeous and the youth had felt his groin stir at the mere sight of that long silky dark hair that caressed the maiden's slender waist. His hands were fidgety and eager to go and run along that mass of hair and if he could touch some of the skin beneath it, he would certainly not protest. Unfortunately for the elder blonde, his lover appeared unexpectedly and, seeing the situation revealed in front of his eyes, decided to claim his lover by kissing him on the lips quite passionately in front of such lady who felt offended for being led on and walked away fuming. Ptolemy got lost between Perdicas's lips and if the elder blonde suffered the bruising of his own lips and the pinching of his buttocks due to his recent flirting, he did not let anyone see it and he finally decided to enjoy the well-known body of his male lover.
The other two girls that had been wandering around the place, whispering and gossiping between them while looking at the prince and appraising his royal posture and manly beauty, had quickly realized that they were no rival to Hephaestion who seemed to have the young blonde prince totally bewitched. They also realized that the sentiment between them was totally requited, no one could fake so much love in order to anger another person, this person being the queen herself. There was too much love, or at least, caring between those two and their eyes revealed an intimacy that went beyond their own bodies. They decided to look for an easier prey before they were empty-handed and enjoyed the banquet in the company of some willing young men.
Queen Olympias tried to follow Aristotle's never ending chattering, nodding and exclaiming in the correct places but without listening to a single word the old man was saying. She let her cold green eyes wander around the room, looking at the interaction among the young people around the table and she could not believe what she was seeing and, most of all, she could not understand what was happening and how nothing had resulted as she had so carefully planned. She was a master at cunning actions to get what she wanted but she had been surpassed by a bunch of youths who did not followed her plans as people always did. She had learnt, in that hard way, that young people were more unpredictable that elder people, and so she decided to think better for her next movements.
She saw her special guests flirting with everyone except with Alexander who was sat next to Hephaestion, so close to each other that it seemed they were glued to the other by their hips. Both young boys were lost in their own happy world, unaware of the movement around them, only paying attention to what was happening between them. They were sat at the table, sharing a plate of food and a goblet of watered wine and eating out of it as if they were an old married couple. Queen Olympias was about to scream her despair and wrath when she saw Alexander taking an apple from a nearby tray, polished it against his chiton, cut it in quarters and offered it to his brunette as if he were a mere servant or a inferior page. The whole action was done while Alexander graced his lips with a tiny and intimate smile that only grew broader when he set his two coloured eyes on his cyan partners. The handsome brunette smiled back and blushed slightly at the ender gesture and nibbled at the apple while giving furtive looks at his prince's lips that were brilliant due to the apple juices. The brunette had to control his desire to take those lips there in a searing kiss and snogged his owner senseless, until no one in the room could doubt who the blonde belonged to and who the only owner of his heart was.
Olympias could also realize that that simple gesture of sharing their food seemed to be born from their deep love and that fact revealed that it was a commonly shared gesture in the relationship between those two.
She tried not to look at them again because she knew she was going to lose her temper and she had already done that earlier in the day, so she continued looking at the rest of the presents while trying to get her nerves to a calmer state.
The queen suddenly noticed that only one of the six girls was not taking part actively in the banquet and she thought that that girl could be her salvation after all. She looked at the red-haired girl and tried to remember her name; she had been the last chosen maiden to accompany her and the queen had not liked her a lot as soon as she met her but she had accepted her company, one more girl meant one more rival that sneaky Hephaestion would have to deal with. Her name came suddenly to her mind, the girl was called Megara and she looked like a girl with a temper of her own. She looked as if she was not going to be an easy person to manage and convince but she also knew that if she could, she would have a formidable weapon against the brunette.
She saw that Megara was looking at all the people in the room, with her eyes almost closed into two thin slits, but that she was especially paying attention to Alexander and Hephaestion and the interaction between them. Olympias thought that maybe Megara was assessing the situation and getting to know her preys without being seeing. She liked that attitude in a woman, ready to think first and then strike to get what she wanted, so similar to her own nature. She had perfected her techniques along the years and she was ready to share them with that youth if she was willing to follow her commands.
The queen soon discovered that she was being looked back by the red haired girl and when she looked into her warm green eyes, so different to her own cold ones, she did not know what to think because, for the first time in a long while, she had found a pair of eyes she could not read. Her physical posture and the expression in her eyes did not match at all, that confused Olympias a lot, and that was unacceptable, she had always been good at reading people but that girl remained closed to her skill.
Megara nodded at her, acknowledging her observation, and walked towards where Alexander and Hephaestion were still sharing their dinner, without caring what was happening around them. They were so lost in each other that they did not notice her standing by their side. She cleared her voice, let an "Excuse me" leave her lips in a voice that sounded quite melodious in spite of her hard face expression, and made them look at her.
"Is there anything we could do for you?" Alexander asked gently without letting her know about his annoyance for being interrupted in his time alone with his Phai.
"In fact, I think I am the one who could do something for you two" she answered in such a straightforward way that made the two youths looked at her a bit surprised.
"What do you mean? Why would we need your help?" Hephaestion asked, his baritone voice laced with preoccupation; that girl had picked his attention.
"I imagine that you have already realized why we are here, the Queen had already made the mistake of revealing her secret agenda in a moment of anger earlier today. You, my gorgeous boy, made her mad" Megara said running a finger over Hephaestion's strong covered chest.
Alexander looked at her and frowned at the intimate gesture the recent newcomer had dared to do to his Phai, especially when he was still present. The red haired girl saw Alexander's anger and Hephaestion's discomfort and a broad smile appeared on Megara's freckled face.
"That is what the Queen is looking for" she said seriously again.
"What is that?" Alexander asked puzzled but letting his annoyance show in his voice.
"What no, she is looking for a who!" she said more animatedly and really enjoying the confusing situation.
"A who? Do you realize that you are not making any sense?" Hephaestion added, his own face graced with puzzlement.
"Someone who meddle with you and tear you two apart" she said mockingly because those two boys had not been able to grasp the concept yet. That fact spoke highly of the good and innocent nature of their hearts.
"Why? All this girly thinking is so confusing" Alexander said, grabbing his head between his hands.
"I cannot believe you are so thick-head, Alexander! You need a woman!" Megara said almost shouting, not believing that the prince, whose mind was one of the quickest, had not caught the concept yet.
"A woman? What for?" he asked again but Megara could see the wheels in Hephaestion's mind turning round quickly, already realizing what she wanted to explain.
"A woman who could bear your children, your future heirs and, even though I have to recognize that Hephaestion is a sight for sore eyes, he does not have the correct equipment to give you that" Megara explained and she immediately realized that the prince had truly understood when a flash of pain covered his two coloured eyes.
Hephaestion blushed deeply at the plain talk of the red haired girl and Alexander, quickly recovered from that serious and deep pang of pain, started to form an idea inside his head; and the strategist had been born in that same moment and the idea of a future alliance with Megara would be forged in that warm evening in Mieza.