Orpheus would have to be lying if he said he did not enjoy the attention he received from the people of Olympia because of his status as a member of the ruling family. But the reverential gestures of the Olympians were something entirely different from the open goodwill he received in Atlantica.
Wherever he passed with Persephone in her majestic harness, heads were instantly bowed. Since this would most likely be the only homage he would receive in the coming days, he decided to enjoy it a little longer. By the time he swam through the portals of the palace, he would be nothing more than the unloved barnacle on the keel of his father's expensive chariot.
So for the time being, he steered a small round through the city, which was always full of hustle and bustle and anticipation at the time of the games. Everywhere you looked, Olympia was resplendent in the different colours of the seven seas. For the duration of the competition, the city was divided into quarters, each representing one of the seven sea kingdoms. For this purpose, the residents there decorated their dwellings in the corresponding colour and the shops adapted their offerings. In this way, a small duplicate of the respective kingdom was created on the spot. The inhabitants of Olympia and the many visitors to the Games who had travelled far and wide always took advantage of this unique opportunity to cross their cultural boundaries and try something that would never have landed on their plates or in their glasses.
Orpheus could already see the first athletes moving into their quarters, easily recognisable by the cluster of excited fans loudly chanting the names of their favourites, hoping to catch a brief moment of their idols' undivided attention.
Unable to put off the inevitable any longer, he finally headed for the palace. Perched high on the ridge dominating the landscape, the columned structure was a sight to behold. His father loved to have the common people at his fingertips. They should all look up to him. He handled this not only through the exposed location of his seat of power, but also inside it.
He always received supplicants in the largest of the atriums, where he could look down on the bowed heads of his subjects from an almost ridiculously high platform. Usually they were so far away from him that they had to entrust their requests to a courtier, who, having overcome the distance, addressed the king in turn.
Leaving the Ionic columns of the triumphal road behind him, Orpheus finally turned off towards the royal stables. Unlike in Atlantica, here some stable boys were immediately on hand to take care of Persephone. But Orpheus did not leave her to them. With practised hand movements, he hurriedly unharnessed her himself. Finally, he handed the straps to the stable boys and instructed them to bring the chariot underneath.
"Well, is someone still aware that he is an Olympian?" his father's voice greeted him shortly afterwards. Orpheus would not have expected that he would actually move from his throne to get on his nerves even now. But he had probably been thoroughly mistaken. Augustus had apparently just been waiting for it to be brought to his attention that Orpheus was moving his fin through Olympian waters again.
"Five minutes," Orpheus stated.
"What?" asked Augustus, confused.
"Five minutes. I've been here five minutes and that's actually quite enough for you to irritate me to the extreme with your stupid talk again," Orpheus explained to his father.
"Now, now, who's going to be so snappish? What water flea has swum over your liver?" another voice joined in.
Orpheus let out a resigned sigh and continued to bring his shark lady to the well-deserved rest of her stall.
"Dyo, spare me your comments," he retorted to the newcomer, who, however, was unimpressed as usual.
"Oh come on, Orphi," he persisted, swimming towards him.
"Don't call me that!", Orpheus hissed at his brother.
"But you can call me Dyo," he argued against it.
"You want to be called that, Dyonisos," Orpheus refused to be persuaded.
Taking advantage of the resulting silence, Orpheus led Persephone on to the entrance of the stables.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her in there?", Dyonisos' concerned voice finally echoed back to his ears.
"Sure, why not. The others won't hurt her," Orpheus replied lightly.
"That wasn't my fear either," replied his brother, who was apparently still uneasy at the thought of Orpheus letting his lady shark join his brothers' other sharks.
"Go ahead, go ahead. But if Hannibal and Hector aren't around tomorrow, you'll have to explain that to Thor," Dyonisos granted him with a goading gesture that was anything but serious.
"Listen, don't mix the boys up too much, my girl. We don't want our little Thor to have to cry for his two cuddly sharks," he whispered into Persephone's ear just loud enough for Dyonisos to hear.
"Ha, you've got a lot of nerve," Dyonisos laughed as he watched his brother open the gate and release his shark.
"If it causes harm to your brothers' noble fish, you will be held accountable," Augustus now joined in again.
"They are sharks, father, so a few scars in a scuffle are bound to happen. I thought you would know best," Orpheus countered, unimpressed.
Father and son glared at each other silently for some time and the tension that built up around them made the water almost crackle, as if a whole bunch of electric eels had just swum by.
"Hey, hey. Is one of you part düstra or how do you always manage to get your surroundings in such a tense mood in such a short time?" joked Dyonisos, trying to keep Augustus and Orpheus from stabbing each other with their gazes.
To his relief, it was his brother, as so often, who finally thought better of it and seemed to give in. To give it the final push in the right direction, however, he decided to create a distraction for safety's sake.
"Come, little brother, let's swim to Mater first and tell her you're home," he suggested, knowing full well that Augustus would not go along with it.
"First of all, you should pay your respects to Apollo before considering such a pointless waste of time," Augustus remarked snidely, but then, as expected, simply swam away.
"I should have Apollo first...", Orpheus started to shout angrily after his father, but was then stopped by Dyonisos, who grabbed him and pulled him out of earshot of their father.
"Really, you two are a disaster. Can't you just be glad he let you off the hook so quickly? Come on now!" he vented, shaking his head at the two of them.
Orpheus stifled the justification that was burning on his tongue, not wanting to argue with the brother who was dearest to him of all people. Besides, it was not far to the temple where their mother lived as the highest priestess. He didn't want this to be the first words she heard from him after such a long time.
"Mater, look who I have here with me," Dyonisos announced to them from afar, causing the heads of the priestess candidates to turn towards them. Well, at least after Orpheus. It was not necessary for him to raise his lilting voice to make the young mermaids turn towards his elder brother. With his wine-red tail fin and sun-kissed hair, so rare in the Aegean, Dyonisos was, after all, a truly handsome apparition who attracted everyone's attention as if by magic.
Such an apparition had just left the protection of the temple. Her mother was a true beauty who lived up to the name she had been given. Orpheus was not surprised why his father had chosen her as his wife. But he knew just as well that if she had had a choice, she would not have agreed to this union. Why should she, she could have had many, but a king, especially one of Augustus' calibre, was not simply rejected. Orpheus knew the story and she had not surrendered to her fate without a fight. It was precisely for this reason that she held the position of high priestess, which she had accepted at the time as a way out. But as had been expected of Augustus, even the priesthood had not deterred him from his desire. The laws were unceremoniously adapted and Aphrodite became his wife. The relationship between the two was accordingly strained.
"Orpheus!" his mother greeted him when she caught sight of him with her eyes.
"Mater," he replied and immediately swam past the broadly grinning Dyonisos to his mother spreading her arms.
"How nice to see you again at last. How are you, my darling?" she greeted him as probably no one else in this city would.
"It's good to see you too, Mater. I'm fine," he replied, tightening the embrace a little more.
"How heartbreaking," Dyonisos joked, grabbing his heart theatrically, which earned him quiet giggles from the priestesses who were watching them more or less conspicuously.
Mother and son gave the third family member a meaningful look, which, however, only made him laugh.
"Come on, let's swim to a place where we're a little less on display," Aphrodite advised her sons to follow her inside the temple, where their own personal retreat was also located.
Once there, they settled down on the comfortable couches. Dyonisos immediately helped himself to the ceremonial wine without being asked.
"Dyonisos!", Aphrodite commented sternly. She tried in vain to take the golden goblet from him again, but he only turned elegantly on his own axis once, dragging her into a little dance.
As was to be expected, Dyonisos thus finally got his way.
"Someone has to test whether you are offering appropriate stuff to the gods there," he lightly dismissed his sacrilegious action.
"One cup, no more!" she gave him an ultimatum, which he accepted with an indifferent shrug and filled the cup to the brim. Orpheus, meanwhile, secretly wondered if his mother had ever been able to resist his brother's charm. For as long as he could remember, that had never been the case.
"I can't believe it, but I've actually missed this a little bit," Orpheus said, drawing their attention back to himself.
"Well, I should hope so," Dyonisos indignantly said before taking his first sip, "Hmhm, good vintage, Mater. The gods may rejoice."
"You're really sure he's related to us?", Orpheus asked his mother jokingly, making her laugh.
"Yes, quite sure," she replied cheerfully.
"Not everyone lets a pinnate child be foisted on them, brother dear," Dyonisos replied lightly.
"I beg your pardon?" echoed Orpheus, irritated.
"Father thinks this wouldn't have happened to you with an Olympian," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Stunned, Orpheus looked at his brother, who didn't seem to understand the whirlpool he had just kicked up inside him.
"What's wrong?" he finally asked when he noticed the silent stare.
"What's wrong? You're not really asking that right now!" it burst out of Orpheus.
"Boys, please," the mother tried to smooth the waters.
"He's serious, isn't he?" asked Orpheus accusingly, pointing his finger at his brother. Never before had he wished Dyonisos would just make one of his silly jokes. But in this matter Orpheus could not see the joke in the least.
"All Olympia knows the rumours, Orpheus. Why are you so astonished about it? You know what Pater thinks of your wife," Dyonisos tried to comprehend.
"He did. My own father spread those rumours," the scales fell from Orpheus' eyes.
"Well, yes, it may be so. We all know his twisted way of thinking. But you have to admit, it's not too far-fetched. After all, Ares doesn't look anything like you with his red hair and that blue tail fin, and you don't seem to have much in common character-wise either, from what I hear," the older of the two brothers argued.
"Did you forget to look at yourself in the mirror today? You yourself are the best example that not all of us have to be a model Olympian to be a blood member of our family. He just takes after his grandmother who, mind you, was also an Olympian. May Mazu rest her soul. I can't believe it, father actually meant what he said to me in Atlantica!", Orpheus was indignant about Augustus' statement at the time regarding his stolen manhood.
"I didn't mean to upset you like that, I'm sorry," Dyonisos finally rowed back.
"So all of Olympia thinks Ares is not my son? Of course he is!" clarified Orpheus again.
"If you are quite sure of that, then so be it," his older brother agreed and handed him a filled goblet as well.
Orpheus hesitated and did not accept the drink.
"You are sure, aren't you?" his brother finally asked him suspiciously.
"I... yes. Yes. Attina would never..." uttered Orpheus.
"Now that wasn't quite so convincing, little brother," Dyonisos remarked.
"Oh, I don't know either. Why does he do that? Why does he sow such thoughts in me?", Orpheus tried to find answers to his father's motives.
"Because he can't stand the fact that you embody all that he will never find in himself. You are like a mirror for him, but one that shows him not what he is, but what he is incapable of being," Aphrodite explained.
"You mean to say he's jealous of me?", Orpheus formulated the quintessence of her words.
"In a way," she agreed with him.
"Why should he? And then why is he putting me down with all the means at his disposal? If it were true, then why does he praise Apollo so much. He is just like him!", Orpheus could not understand.
"You have just given yourself the answer. Apollo is just like him, if Augustus were to condemn him, it would mean that he would doubt his own way of thinking and his own actions," the mother pointed out.
"With all love, Mater, I think you're giving him more capacity for self-reflection than he'll ever have in his life. He doesn't care about me, he doesn't care about you," Orpheus refused to be disabused.
"Don't say things like that. He's not us," she virtually pleaded.
"Orpheus," Dyonisos hissed angrily in response, finally ordering him to be quiet while he took care of her mother.
Reluctantly, he kept silent and watched as his brother and mother disappeared into one of the adjoining rooms.
"Welcome home," he whispered to himself and then swam out. These were going to be truly great games once again.