Astinos' P.O.V
Ten years of intensive, Spartan training was over. Not a day had gone past that I wasn't thinking of what I had left behind and what I had missed in my absence. Ten years was an awfully long time.
The walk back to the Spartan city was a long one that curled down the mountain pass. But, for the entire journey, I could see the field that had filled the two months that meant the most. The field that I had spent my time with my best friend. Eulalia. Was she still in Sparta? Would she look different, be different or be entirely the same? Would she even remember me?
Finally at the bottom of the mountain path, I could see the flat walk through the wheat field to the city. And I could hear the faint giggle of children. I could see the occasional movement of the tall crop. And I could see the nymph tree.
The nearer that I got, the more the nerves tugged at the strings of my heart. Then, from the shadow of the mountain, I saw her… A face that I recognised in an instant. It was her.
"Name yourself, stranger." I heard her shout as the bow in her grip was trained to my frame. I knew her all too well to know that she would fire that arrow. So I stopped, lowering as I planted the shield to ground below. Next the helmet. My fingers moved up, curling around the face-piece of the helmet as I tugged it away from my face and placed it upon the shield.
"Name yourself." Eulalia repeated in a stern snap.
I couldn't help but take a small step toward her as my eyes admired every inch of the woman that she had become. A smile tugging at the corner of my lips as i stared, dazed toward her.
"You knew me once." I said.
"What?"
"You knew me once." I repeated, taking another step toward her. I watched as her frame took an instinctive step back. "Think about it." I muttered as my paws peacefully raised.
My words repeated again, each time taking a small step toward her till she stood less than two meters away.
"Have you forgotten me already, Eulalia?" I allowed myself to say in a hushed voice.
I saw the change in her features as it hit her.
"Astinos?" I heard her say. Her bow was thrown to the floor as she leaped into my grip, my muscled arms catching her frame.
"I told you that I would come back."
I admit, I could hardly take my eyes off of her. When I left, she was a child. Immature and flat with no signs of the lady that she could become. But now? She was curved, and muscled with blonde cascades and blue orbs like the ocean. She had grown more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.
We walked through the city, the shield and helmet in my hand as I followed Eulalia's lead. Her long bow held to her frame whilst her fingers clung to the sheath of arrows. And, at a home that I recognised too well, I watched my father emerge.
"Astinos." He immediately said. His frame tumbling down the steps till his hands slapped against my back. "You're finally home." He sighed.
"It's good to be home, father." I muttered in return, my hand repeating the actions of my father.
"And I see that you found Eula." He smirked, his eyes flicking from her to me. The grin saying all that It needed to. "Alexios and Theron came running back saying that you had a man at arrow point. I wouldn't have guessed that it would have been my own son." My father added. My brow raised, glancing into the house at two faces that peered out from behind the white marble.
"Come on out, Alexios." Eula sighed, her hand reaching out toward one of the two boys. As soon as he left the shadow, I could see who this child was. "Time to meet your brother." She added as the clung to her arm. His eyes were dark and his hair was too. He looked just like me.
"I'll see if I can find the your sisters." My father groaned, spinning on his heels before he stalked off into the home.
"How much have I missed, Eula?" I chuckled, my body lowering into a crouch as I looked toward the anxious child. "It's nice to finally meet my little brother, I see that my friend has been taking care of you." I whispered. His little head began to nod, his brown hair swinging with the movements. Slowly, he emerged from her shadow till he moved toward me with arms outstretched.
"Theron, maybe you should go and find father?" Eula whispered as the other boy slipped from the shadows. He was short, with blonde hair and blue eyes like the ocean. He was noticeably her brother. The young boy nodded his head before running off toward the centre of the city.
Dusk had fallen by the time that the reintroductions were over. I had my fill of embracing relatives and discovering new siblings. Two brothers and two sisters was not what I had expected. But I suppose it was Eulalia's situation that I had least expected. She had told me of her mother. Of the new woman that had given Ariston two children. But of the effect that Clio's death had created upon him.
That night, I was below familiar stars in a familiar field with familiar company. My back rested against the trunk of the nymph tree with Eula sat beside me with her blue orbs staring off into the distance. On countless occasions, I found myself staring toward her flawless skin. She wore white linen that hugged to her torso with a leather strip that held it in place, but her stomach was bare. I could see the small scars from her father's training routines or just her own accidents. But she still looked flawless to me.
"So, how is your work with the sword now?" I teased in a whisper. Her gaze snapped around with a smirk curling into her lips. Nobody could miss the Spartan blade that sat at her hip. The Spartan blade of her mother.
"Get off your ass and I suppose we'll see." She laughed, her arms nudging against my frame. Of course I took that challenge. My built figure rose, while my hand stretched toward her as I helped her to her feet. My hand drew the sword from it's sheath as I watched her closely. Eula was too busy brushing the dirt from the linen to notice.
But her sword was drawn in the blink of an eye. The blade span at her hip as we found ourselves circling at the foot of the nymph tree. She lunged first, striking toward my arm which was easily tapped away. She saw the opportunity in that, her frame moving forward to crash into me with force. I stumbled back, my hand moving to steady myself… My hand planting onto the bare of her stomach. Her body froze, glancing behind her shoulder to meet my gaze. I could feel the breath as it trickled past my lips.
I was lost in the moment. But her arm came crashing back, knocking the air from my lips in one move.
"Oh, that's cheating." I laughed, hunching over as I attempted to catch a breath. Her head shook with the smile on her lips. My blade moved, smashing against her sword with a spine chilling sound. Her blade smacked it to the side, giving me room to snatch her arm as I flipped her figure over my shoulder and to the ground. She yelped as her back hit the ground. Her eyes closed as I glanced down to her with a victorious grin.
"I think that I win that?" I whispered, leaning down with my hands resting on my bare knees.
Her orbs inched open, staring up to me with a brow raising.
"Oh yeah?" She questioned. I couldn't get a word in before her leg came spinning around as she knocked my feet out from beneath me.
I fell forward, crashing down onto her frame. I could hear her wheezing laugh as I slowly moved onto my knees, straddling her hips.
No words were exchanged at that moment. Just silence. Just eye contact. One hand moved to her features. Gently landing upon her cheek, my fingers tracing her jaw as my thumb drew circles on her cheek. Her orbs was connected with mine as her teeth bit down on her lip. Her body shuffled as her hand raised. Eula's fingers gripping the brooch at my neck as she tugged me lower… And her lips crashed upon mine.
It was an explosion of emotion. Our lips dancing as my hands lowered, moving to the slither of bare skin at her stomach. My thumb tracing patterns along her skin as my fingers held her hips. I could hear the quiet moan as it rippled through our lips. I felt her hand rise as she gently pushed against my chest.
I pulled away, looking down at the woman below me. She was still sporting the smile that I had once admired as a friend, but now admired as more. "I can't." She sighed. My frame slipped from her waist, sitting beside her as I silently watched the smile on her lips.
"This is your decision. If you're not with it, then we don't follow it up." I whispered, planting a final kiss to her brow. She shuffled around, pushing my frame to the ground as she curled close to my side with my arm around her. I watched her orbs close with beautifully gentle features.