Those two months passed, in what felt like, the beat of a heart. Astinos would stumble to my home every morning and he would let himself into the building. I would be woken up by a weight kicking against the bottom of the bed, and there he would be. Astinos would be stood, wooden swords in hand with a toothy grin on his face.
"Come on, Eulalia." He would whisper. He would then throw the wooden sword onto my curled frame and stand patiently for signs of movement. On the mornings where I persisted to stay within the warmth of the bed, his little feet would continue to kick at the mattress until I gave up.
He would leave the room for a split second to allow me to dress with the thin linen and the belt before he would rush straight back in and tug me from my home and down to the field. He would proceed to chop and slash till the sun showed signs of tiring. Occasionally, he would sit at the bottom of the tree and tell me everything. Everything about how he was feeling, about how he was worried about Agoge, worried about shaming his father.
"You need to stop worrying. You're going to do fine." I would assure him, countless times. He would smile in my direction before leaping to his feet and continue to slash in my direction.
I was dreading the day that he would be taken. My best friend. My only friend. But I had no way of preventing it. I just wished that it didn't happen when it did.
It was early in Metageitnion, almost Carneia. The sky was dark at the time, a dull dusk across the Spartan sky. We sat at the nymph tree, Astinos and I. The wooden swords at our feet, beads of sweat at our brows. I saw my mother wander into the field with hundreds of men and women at her back.
"Mother!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, stumbling to my feet as I ran toward her with flailing arms. "Where are you going?" I whimpered as my body smashed into her. Her muscled arms moved down to embrace my frame with a small frown spreading across her lips.
"I have to go away from a while, I won't be long." She whispered, planting a kiss on the tip of my crown before she straightened up. "Your father will take care of you." She added. Her fingers carefully untangled my grip before she continued, leaving me alone on the path with Astinos running to join me in confusion.
Twenty day tiptoed by, and still no sign of the group that had left under the lead of my mother. Father had began to pace around the house with his paw against his brow. He would leave early and make his patrol around the field with Artemis at his side. The two of them were now patrol partners, often whispering about the two children that would sit beneath the nymph tree everyday with wooden swords. Astinos and I.
Astinos would stay quiet for most of the time. I think he could see the worry on my face, he knew that I was in no state to be practicing.
Another ten days crawled past. I was forced to watch as my father span further and further into desperation. The sleepless nights. The lack of eating. His patrols became fragmented. Artemis would often wander out of the city gates alone, his eyes searching for us in the high wheat whilst we searched hopefully for my mother. But there was no sign. No sign of her, nor her party. We were forced to stay in the dark.
I had almost lost count of the numbers of days. The repetitive 'She will come home' had began to take it's toll. But Astinos was there nonetheless. His morning routine never faltered. Although, some mornings he would take the grumbles and would sit at the foot of the strawbed. He could sit there for hours just listening. Of course, I should have been listening to him too… But that never crossed my mind.
"Come on, Eula." He sighed, holding my hand tight as he tugged me to sit beside him on the steps of his home. I could hear his father inside, moving around with the occasional sigh.
"Eula, it's my birthday." He beamed, clapping his hands in delight. I allowed the small smile to slip onto my lips, but It could not last for long. His mother had given him the short necklace that clung to his collar, bearing a small tooth from an animal pelt this Artemis had retrieved. Astinos held in within his fingers as he spoke with joy on his face.
"But you're seven now… They're going to take you away." I finally whimpered. I could feel how my face flushed a shade of pink. His orbs edged toward me with a sense of fear washing over them.
"But I will be coming back." He whispered confidently. It took everything to believe that. "Its only ten years." He sighed with the sting of sarcasm. I glanced toward him with waterlocked eyes. I was going to lose my best friend. I was going to lose Astinos at the very time when I needed him.
"Astinos." We heard Artemis speak. Both of us snapping to our feet as his father walked out of the house. But his eyes were not upon us… They lay upon the two men that were slowly walking closer and closer to us. Thats when the tears broke through. I felt a small hand around my wrist as he clung to me, one last time.
I could not stop as I began to whimper the same word over and over. No. Thats all that came from my lips. No. Repeated to exhaustion as Artemis pulled me from my feet and held me back from chasing his.
"You can't stop this, Eulalia." He whispered, holding my frame close.
I lost two people. One would, eventually, return. The other, as we later discovered, was gone to the depths forever.