Her smile transformed her face, as it did on most faces. Yiannis always found himself tempted to study unfamiliar faces when he first met new people. There were so many secrets etched into the way someone laughed, the way their eyes changed when they were happy or sad, the way that they looked like their mother or father and knew it- he had many more important duties, as a prince, but Yiannis appreciated getting to know people more than all the rest.

Everything’s fine.

Yiannis did not believe that for a moment, but he would allow the lie to stand. His mother had taught him that politeness was as much a weapon to skewer their enemies as it was a way to defend oneself. Let no one question who had the higher ground, and he would never have to cede it. If this stranger met him with politeness, she would receive it in return.

He did not recognize her as one of the Thanasi. Yiannis tried to put together the clues- judging by her behavior shortly before he’d approached them, she’d been telling the younger boys that she was connected somehow to the priestesses. Perhaps he should ask, but then he would need to admit that he did not know something, and that was anathema to Yiannis.

When Euterpe turned to face him and curtsied, Yiannis blushed instantly. He tried to take it back- but unlike a misspoken word or misplaced foot, he could not simply apologize and move on. He couldn’t control his blush at all, he realized with growing dismay. Perhaps she would simply think he was cold. Girls would curtsy to him. That was what it meant to be a prince. He had seen it. He had less often been the recipient, and more often the witness. While everyone remembered his older brothers when it came time to prostrate themselves for royalty, they always forgot Yiannis and Athanasia, young as they were. Euterpe’s curtsy was gratifying.

Yes, everything is fine. My friend and I had a few tumbles along the way, but I think we’re all right.

Yiannis nodded once, firmly. His now stoic expression (difficult to maintain in this cold) projected the picture of serious, princely calm; he’d seen Vang do it enough times that he could mimic it easily, if with less intimidating certainty behind it. Where Vang might strike people as cold or unflinching, Yiannis knew his own attempts seemed ‘cute’. Still, it would do for someone his own age. She could not respect him less for trying to maintain decorum in front of Vangelis, of all witnesses.

“You and your friend are welcome to enjoy yourselves. Weddings are a time to celebrate the joining of two families, and how better to celebrate the union of Thanasi and Kotas than a grueling snowball fight? I would be happy to join the battle if you’ll have me- though perhaps I should hear from the other side?”

Yiannis gestured to Timaeus with his last comment, lightly teasing. The boy was much less impressive than Euterpe- he still hadn’t grown into his limbs yet. Yiannis wondered when he had last looked like that- or maybe he still did, by the standards of men, he thought, trying not to compare himself too unfavorably to Vang or Zanon.

Are you enjoying yourself, my lord? I’m sure there’s room for at least one more soldier in our snowball war.

Yiannis thought about it briefly. He would probably enjoy it if Euterpe was remotely challenging as an opponent, but it wouldn’t be worth embarrassing himself in front of Vang- let alone mother, if she saw him playing in the snow at his brother’s wedding. He shook his head, trying not to look too disappointed about it. He was too old for it to be purely fun for its own sake, anyway, a fact for which he found himself immensely grateful; it might have been more difficult to resist the urge, otherwise.

“As your lord, my role is to supervise,” Yiannis said, mustering up as much haughty superiority as possible, before winking at her. “I will join in if you need me, but you’re quite capable yourself.”

Being so young, Timaeus didn’t know a lot about the temple dedicated to Aphrodite here in Midas. If asked, the eleven-year-old would say that it was probably just like any other temple to the gods and not something that a good portion of the men in the upper crust of his social grouping took a keen interest in. This childish innocence to the future role of his newfound friend was made clear in his first question to the girl once she told him who she had traveled to this event with.

“You’re a bit young to be a priestess. Are you in training?” He asked with all the bluntness that his childhood afforded him. Even though the boy was almost on the cusp of legally becoming a man, there was still a lot that he had to learn about society and what defined polite conversation. Had he known more about the priestesses of Aphrodite and what they did, this wouldn’t have been something that he would have been bold enough to ask due to the sheer taboo that surrounded the sort of work that they did -- especially when it came to Court events like this. These sorts of things were just not talked about in this sort of social circles, but Timaeus was too young to understand that. Not when he had a bit of a natural curiosity about people becoming religious leaders.

This was due in part to a section of his family history -- something that wasn’t directly mentioned in his household but still captured Timaeus’s attention. “My aunt was supposed to be a priestess too. Well, she was gonna be one for Athena, not Aphrodite. She decided not to do it though.” He casually mentioned with a small shrug, explaining away his curiosity and unknowingly committing the same crime as before when it came to blurting out things that the young noble boy really didn’t understand. The Valaoritis family was not supposed to talk about Isadora. Timaeus knew that he was likely going to get into big trouble if his mother overheard the young boy talking about his father’s sister who was kicked out of the temple of Athena on account of breaking her vow of chastity as proven by the existence of his cousin Roxana. It was a dark family secret that Timaeus didn’t fully understand and couldn’t really grasp onto the fact that he really should not be talking about this sort of thing. Once he grew older and understood more about what it took to be both a priestess of both Aphrodite and Athena (though in vastly different ways) Timaeus would understand why their missing Aunt was one of those things that couldn’t be talked about in open company.

However, with these big concepts passing him by due to the naivety that came with his younger age, all thoughts about Priestesses and bastard cousins left his mind. It was an easy thing to forget about after all when Euterpe quickly agreed to seek revenge against Silanos for his misguided snowballs. A sly grin swept across the eleven-year-old’s face as he reached down and scooped up a snowball into his hands before running off after the younger boy. It was bound to be a surefire victory for the newfound pair of friends that were quickly bonding over tackling each other in the snow. Silanos was smaller and a bit of a crybaby. Tim knew that if the two of them couldn’t catch up to him, the little kid was bound to trip and fall before running back to their mother. There was no way that this was going to turn out any differently as far as Tim was concerned -- Silanos was his brother. He knew better than anyone what the kid was likely to do.

Though that changed the moment that Silanos decided to stop looking where he was going and instead run straight into a tank of a man.

Skidding to a stop, Timaeus took notice of the trouble that his little brother was getting himself into by running headfirst into the thigh of Prince Vangelis. Being a bit older when Vangelis had last been in Colchis, the middle Valaoritis boy had a bit of an easier time placing the features of the Crown Prince, but that didn’t stop a slight shiver of fear from rolling up his spine. Vangelis was huge. He towered over the rest of them like the courtiers were nothing more than ants and he seemed strong enough to snap any of them in half if he so which. Granted, some of these features might have been exaggerated in the mind of the eleven-year-old, but that didn’t make them any less terrifying.

Immediately the young boy started looking around for someone older to save Sil from this monster among them. Mom, Dad, or Nico -- anyone really who was an adult and cared enough about his twerp a brother to handle the situation as there was no way in Hades was Tim going to rush forward on his brother’s behalf. Why should he? Didn’t this kid just pelt him with snowballs? This wasn’t his problem to solve as far as he was aware -- little did he know though that Euterpe was about to make it something that the Valaoritis lord was going to have to deal with as she lobbed a snowball right at the crown prince and then promptly blamed it on the boy next to her. Even though Timaeus missed seeing the snowball hit, he did notice how she pointed at him while looking at the prince. That alone made it easy to put together.

“Hey! I didn’t do anything!” He quickly protested before throwing the one snowball he had in hand at Euterpe but missed horribly on account of anger not being a good tool for accuracy. Euterpe might be very pretty and cause all sorts of weird butterflies within him, but that didn’t mean he was going to be blamed for hitting the crown prince because of her. She wasn’t cute enough for him to get yelled at by a man who looked like he could fit in all the scary stories about the monsters that the gods defeated and whatnot! Reaching down to form another snowball, Timaeus was going to get her back with the weapon of choice of the evening but didn’t get the chance when another prince approached, forcing Timaeus to drop the snowball lest he might have another prince angry at him if Euterpe’s lie was to be believed.

Even though the two boys were not exactly close as the few years that they were apart in age made a massive difference when they were children like this -- Timaeus knew who it was that approached them. The third Kotas boy, Prince Yiannis. It was impossible for Tim not to know who he was on sight given how the Valaoritis were the most loyal vassals of the Kotas family. This wasn’t something that was done by the two families being distant and being complete strangers to each other -- though there was still always a distinct formality between the two clans as the Valaoritis were just nobles and weren’t on the same social level as their liege house.

“Hello, Prince Yiannis,” The young boy said, calling attention to himself and completely missing the fact that the elder boy seemingly only had the intention of speaking to his new friend and not the younger kid that was trailing around after her. It was a good thing that Tim was a bit oblivious as his schoolboy crush on the pretty girl who was willing to throw snowballs with him developed. Otherwise, Timaeus might get a bit grumpy that someone else was trying to butt in. Someone who Euterpe would likely play more attention to given that he was older and had a crown, unlike the boy who had no qualms about tackling her in the snow. Oh well, at least that might make the snowball war a bit interesting if Timaeus had a bit of a vendetta against the Prince because the stirrings in his heart shifted toward childish jealousy.

Though that would be something that could be tackled later once the snowball fight got underway. In the meantime though, Timaeus was grateful that the Prince asked for his opinion on the matter, something that the boy was quick to give an enthusiastic nod to. He knew that Yiannis was a bit of a fighter, which would make things interesting to say the very least. After all, it was one thing to fight in a snowball fight against a girl, but it was another thing entirely to fight against someone who had been training for war their whole lives as Tim had been. (He might be young and a bit lanky in the arms and legs that were growing faster than the rest of him -- but that was no excuse in a family like the Valaoritis who made their legacy through their militaristic might.) As fun as Euterpe was, having Yiannis get involved promised that it was a real and proper snowball fight.

His eyes lit up in anticipation but faded a bit when Yiannis made it clear that he was going to referee. Oh no, he wasn’t. Not on Timaeus’s watch, at least. That was something he was going to fix while the prince and the priestess were too busy focusing on their own conversations with each other to notice that the younger boy was reaching down to form a snowball in his hands. Hiding it behind his back for a moment, Tim waited for the perfect moment that the Prince would not be watching before throwing it right at his face. That was sure to grab his attention. Not thinking through the consequences of such an action, Timaeus laughed his head off as he turned on his heels and began to flee, assuming that Euterpe would be right behind him as he shouted over his shoulder, loud enough for most of those who were at the event to hear, “Yiannis is it! Yiannis is it!”

However, would the so-called ‘bigger kids’ want to join in this impromptu game of snow tag?

Smack. The snowball hit her right in the face. In normal circumstances, she would have been angry. She would have lectured whoever to not act like a child. But instead, Tythra giggled, a giggle that faded quickly when her mind had finally registered that Yanni had been upset. Well, really! It was just a bit of fun. Nothing was ruined. Tythra admitted that she hadn’t acted properly, but she was always so frigid all the time. The wine did wonders to… warm her up.

Tython was right, of course. And while Tythra would never admit to any wrongdoing, Tython certainly should make right by his wife. Her eyes moved around and they saw Imeeya, playing in the snow. She was throwing snowballs at her cousin. It was cute, really. And Tythra wasn’t in the mindset to get annoyed with Imeeya having not gone to her uncle. She couldn’t even really blame her really. Imeeya was a child, and playing in the snow was a much more… fun choice. Tythra certainly giggled at the brief interaction with her brother.

But… where was Essa?

Tythra saw her brother in law a bit away talking business with some of the other lords. Essa wasn’t with him though… and she wasn’t with Imeeya. Did Imeeya just abandon Essa? Was her baby lost somewhere in the snow? Tythra’s heart stopped and the world slowed. What if Essa was stuck under a mountain of snow? What if her little baby was cold?

Surely the drugs are making you paranoid. Tythra thought to herself, but her heart did not stop beating. She knew she was not with Imeeya, nor was she with her Uncle. Essa was only three years old. There were so many people here. She could have been taken or wandered off somewhere. Calm yourself Tyt-

Before she could finish that thought a ball of cold hit the back of her head. She turned around hoping that it was Essa, only to be disappointed when it was little Mihail. I think I drank something funny. Can you play with me?

… Where was his father? Dionysios was a perplexing man that tried her patience nearly every senate session, but surely he wouldn’t be happy with his daughter also spiking his son’s wine? It was one thing for Tython and Tythra, they recognized the taste and made an informed decision. But Mihail?!

No, no Tythra. Focus. This isn’t the problem right now. That was right. Tythra’s mind was far too foggy to focus. But she had to find her baby. That was her priority. And… Mihail could help with that. So Tythra smiled at the young boy, “I was playing with Essa, Mihail. If you’d like, you can help me find her and we can all play together. How about that?” And then Tythra could chew Dionysios’s ear off. His son was not her responsibility. Really, where were the Thanasis to watch over him?

Yiannis didn’t mind having to entertain Timaeus. He liked the challenge of keeping the younger kids busy while his brothers did all the boring stuff of pretending to be very serious and sensible. Yiannis lacked the sense of his older brothers. He much preferred to make a statement than to make a point. Amused by Timaeus’ antics, Yiannis thought about ruffling his hair- he had always hated that as child, but now he understood the appeal, the younger boy would probably make such a face about being babied- but he wanted to seem composed in front of Euterpe. Timaeus could see a sillier side of him, but women should only see the best side.

Yiannis searched the crowd for his mother. She disapproved of roughhousing without cause. He would ruin the Kotas name by galivanting with commoners or servants in the snow. His search was fruitless, however. He could not see Yanni, and his father was nowhere to be found either. Perhaps they had gone inside, he reasoned. Maybe he could join in without embarrassing himself. He was thinking about how to explain his change in attitude when the snowball hit him in the face.

Yiannis coughed, reaching up to clear his eyes of the cold debris. Where had the little hellion gone now? Yiannis did not have to wait long for a clue, though, as Timaeus called out loud enough for every Kotas and Thanasi to hear. He had been tagged by an over-eager, shameless child, and now he really did have no excuse not to play along, by the rules of children. He could afford to follow those rules for a little while longer; he was tired of pretending to be grown up.

Yiannis flashed a smile at Euterpe. “What kind of prince would I be if I didn’t honor the sacred rules of snowball fighting? I am a man of honor!” His words were light and teasing, but his eyes scanned the festivities for signs of a fleeing boy. Just as he spotted Timaeus (who had made very little attempt to hide, or maybe just a child’s attempt), Yiannis felt the impact of another snowball, this time against his chest. He watched in mute surprise as Euterpe ran off.

This was a girl who understood how to have fun! Yiannis formed a snowball of his own. One to keep in reserve, melting as it was, would give him the leeway to make more during pitched battle, if necessary. His hands and face felt cold now, but the clothing protected him from the worst of the weather. Too many more direct hits and he would need to rest, though. Yiannis did not plan to take ill over a snowball fight- his mother would never allow him to roam without an armed guard ever again.

Chasing after Euterpe and Timaeus, Yiannis ducked and weaved throughout the throng of adults. Prattling through boring conversations about matters of state or marriage, they gave no notice to someone pelting past on a mission. He ignored the odd glare here or there; none of that was as interesting as securing his target. Finally, he spotted Euterpe by her distinctive hair. He took cover behind- there was nothing to hide behind. Instead, he threw a snowball for her shoulder.

“Happy to return the favor! A debt repaid is a debt honored, I say.”

As for Timaeus- Yiannis was already working on his second snowball. Spotting him again was difficult- he wasn’t very subtle, but he was small and faster than Yiannis remembered being at any age. Maybe there was a better method. Yiannis was still growing, but his voice sounded more like a man’s than a boy’s, now. Perhaps-

“Yiannis! What are you doing with the Valaoritis boy!”

Euterpe would not be fooled, but perhaps Timaeus did not know the difference between Tython’s voice, and Yiannis affecting a deeper voice than his own.

Sil had been so distracted by running into the wall that was the Crown Prince that he completely forgot about the fact that he was running away from Timaeus and his stupid girlfriend. Right up until the point a snowball hit him in the back, and he turned, scowling , just in time to see another sail above his head and smack Prince Vangelis right on the head.

“Ummmmmmmmm,” he said, biting his lip and making that noise that signalled to children everywhere that someone had done something bad. And he looked wide-eyed from the prince to the silly girl who was surely going to be executed now. Well, that’s what Tim got for playing with girls. Served him right. Maybe his brother would pick better playmates now with better aim.



Sitting in the snow he was getting a bit cold, his hands tingling and burning, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to sit here to witness the telling off Tim, and his friend were going to get. Or...maybe he did. Either way, he shuffled back a bit and was about to get up when some big lump crashed into him, and Silanos gave an indignant squawk as something landed on top of him. Flailing his arms and legs because it was probably definitely a demon or monster, he paused when there was a normal sounding voice.

Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I’m Lady Imeeya of Drakos. What’s your name?

Urgh it was a girl. Sil pushed her off him none too gently and scrambled up to his feet, forgetting for a second about the two princes standing nearby as he shook off the snow and shivered a little. Hair mussed and nose and cheeks reddened from the cold he was most put out.

“I was getting up!” he protested “And then you went and sat on me”And then because he’d been told a million times not to be rude, he added on sulkily “I’m Silanos. Of Valaoritis”

And then he stooped to gather up some snow because he had some very serious business of snowballing to do. “ I’m going to get my brother,” he said to the girl called Imeeya, before setting off at a furious pace and hoping she wouldn’t be able to keep up. He only stopped when he heard someone yelling, and the word Valaoritis, and Sil turned guiltily only to see Prince Yiannis himself, talking...to himself.

The seven-year-old frowned and considered this. He knew it wasn’t really the done thing to question the behaviour of the royal family, but also there was the fact that the bigger boy was just strange.

“Why are you speaking like that?” he asked suspiciously, coming to a halt not far from the Kotas youth, snowball still clutched in his hand “You don’t sound like a grown-up. You sound stupid.”

Mihail did not want to help his cousin find Essa. She was small and boring and, anyway, he had not come to ask Cousin Tythra if he could help her with other things, he had come to ask if she would play with him. None of his sisters was giving him any attention at all, which wasn't fair and was probably because they didn't love him really, even though they said they did. Thea had pushed him away and told him to play with the others even though she knew he didn't like to do that, and now he felt funny, and Evras was busy, and Nethis was with Father, and he was stuck having to look for a baby. He had been a baby not so long ago, and nobody had cared about him as much. Mother wouldn't have cared if he'd gotten lost in the snow. Father didn't even know he was here, probably. He could sit in the snow in his pretty furs, and nobody would ever notice if he just melted away.

Only he didn't really want to melt into snow. He had been staring at the white ground for a long while now, watching it turn to slush around his feet, thinking about things that he suddenly couldn't remember - all his thoughts felt very pressed together and separate all at once, and they drifted through his mind absently and fearfully without any distinction - and forgetting to answer his cousin. Mihail looked up at her with a little pout on his lips, nodding slowly. "I can help. But you have to be nice to me! And..." He reached up with his gloved hand, waiting for her to take it. "You have to hold my hand so that I do not get trapped in the snow and drown horribly." Because it was just the same as water, really, and the eleven-year-old did not like the idea that he might get stuck in some snowdrift and find himself unable to escape, with slivers of ice falling down the back of his throat and sticking up his nose, stopping him from breathing. He did not want to die now, in the snow, when everyone was busy and having fun and would not notice. He really was going to melt, wasn't he?

Mihail had no idea where the girl was supposed to be. He was pretty sure that she was small enough to step into a pile of snow and sink into the depths of it, just as he was afraid of doing, but he didn't quite believe his cousin would want to hear that news. It was probably better if he just kept on pretending that she was alright, like Cousin Tythra was doing too, and pretending to look around.

"Essa!" he shouted, though his voice was a little weak as he attempted to speak much louder than a pathetic little whine. It was rather cold, and his voice was not made for the cold. He tried another call, though the sound did not carry much further than it had the first time. "Essa!" This felt a bit dumb, anyway. He glanced up at his cousin again, frowning a little bit. "I think that you should ask the other one about her. Imeeya. Big sisters are supposed to look after you, you know. Like mine do with me." Except not today, apparently.

Yiannis heard the younger Valoritis question his strategy. His face flushed- he couldn’t wait for his voice to deepen enough that he would be taken seriously as a man- but he only gave a mischievous smile and a shushing motion in return. Children appreciated being included in things, even gremlins like Silanos. Yiannis carried on, trying to ignore the jibe. A baby insulting him shouldn’t penetrate his skin so easily; he was made of sterner stuff than that! He had allowed himself to have fun with children, and apparently had invited name-calling with that frivolity. He shook off the hurt feelings; a prince needed to let the comments of others wash over him without doing real damage.

Still, perhaps the boy was right. Despite his 'clever' gambit, Yiannis waited expectantly for some kind of revelation about his quarry’s location. Timaeus ran too quickly for Yiannis to keep him within his sights, and he had all but lost him. His last-ditch effort might yield nothing at all. Better not to have joined in at all than lose, he thought petulantly. He scanned the crowd but found no sign of the smaller boy- he’d vanished among the chaos of the large celebration. He continued, though. Although Yiannis lacked the unparalleled vigor of youth, he was training for a life of military prowess. He could hold his own, at least for a short time.

When he heard the older Valoritis cry out, though, Yiannis sighed in relief. His plan had worked. At least within the realm of snowball fights, he could outcompete children. Anything else would have been quite a blow to his estimation of his own skills. Yiannis moved towards the source of the sound, looking for the shorter figure. He shivered in the cold, grateful for his warm clothing. Finally, he spotted the source of the shriek: Timaeus, clearing snow from his eyes. He rushed towards him, tossing snowballs with renewed enthusiasm. He managed to fire off three shots (one of which grazed the young boy) before Timaeus vanished out of sight behind- Euterpe!

At the sight of a young woman used as a shield, Yiannis paused. He couldn’t simply pummel a girl with snowballs. Had he managed to hit Timaeus already, this battle would already be won, but now it would be craven to continue normally. How could he get around this? Well, as he considered that, he realized the solution was staring him right in the face. He would simply have to talk to her. Yiannis let his accumulated snow fall to the ground unceremoniously. Now was not a time for feeling precious about his technique. Winning mattered more than how one did it, and respecting a woman mattered more than either. Pretending not to see Timaeus, Yiannis approached Euterpe with a playful smile.

“I’m sorry to bother you again. It seems I’ve lost a small Valoritis, so you’ll have to do.”

He winked, hoping she would take his meaning. While snowball fights could be fun, pranking Timaeus could easily be more fun. Yiannis did not have a specific plan in mind, but he thought that the boy might become complacent if he thought he had fooled his betters.

“I’ll tag you if you don’t tell me where he is.”