Dafni was still stalking the culprits of this most genius snail-napping when Melina stepped in.

“Oh, just leave the snails, will you? Take more of our grain- the people would like it more anyway. We have some”

Some squabbling and bartering later the solder who’s undeserving hands were still clutching her precious ones released them into her custody. But not without the watchful eyes and brandished wooden broom that came with Dafni’s current attentions. Without letting go of her mighty weapon Dafni snatched the snails from the soldier and held them close to her chest.

“It’s ok, it’s ok my darlings. You're safe now. Shh shh it’s ok now.” Dafni cooed to her coveted. Snails clutched with a deathly sort of possessiveness in one hand and the broom still in the other Dafni scuttled over to Melina and hovered by her sister with shoulders hunched protectively over her prize.

“What did they even want with my snails,” Dafni grumbled. “Like these barbarians could appreciate fine cuisine”. She continued on. Her grumbled and sniped little comments barely audible but full of poison and spite, the young leventi missing her sisters words in their entirety as she gripped without hesitation or pause. It was only as a glass of wine was forcefully shoved into her hand that she realized more existed in the world than herself and her snails.

“Gods Meilna watch the broom.” She muttered as her weapon was displaced with the fragile beauty of the wine glass and the enticing blood red liquid within. Leaning the broom against the bowl of snails snuggled against her chest, as she did not want to chance the protection it offered being stolen by these hooligans that had invaded her home, she grasped the wine firmly and nursed it with abandon. The liquid disappearing quickly past her plush lips and staining them an even more enticing color (near impossible I know, but it is true). It was only then, with her head tipped back and gem green eyes (that contracted beautifully with the red wine if she did say so herself) peeking over the glass, that she finally noticed Imma. Huh, when did she get here? It was of little consequence, she did not protect Dafni’s snails like real family would, like Melina did. The little blond angel was dead to her! Dead she said! Not protecting a woman's snails, what a bloody evil thing to do. Bloody evil.

Dafni narrowed her eyes wearily at Imma. Maybe this was all a plot for Imma to steal the snails for herself. She would not put it past her pretty cousin. Behind that Devine façade a snail stealing demon lurked, Dafni just knew it.

{House Condos]

Nikolias could not help agreeing with Arete. It wasn't just about his safe space being invaded by the politics of the day. " Your love is correct, Nikos. Indeed, how long can we support such hordes? Perhaps more funds could have been allocated for just such emergencies as this, but hindsight is hindsight." Besides that, who could tell how many would have agreed with him, and if it would have been a high enough number to actually pass a measure?

"Not to mention, where are they all going to sleep?" he continued. "Certainly not in our beds. And even if there might be enough space for them all outside...well, we have to do something."

By this he meant that even the poorest deserved to live in a hovel, if only because if a person got too sick, they might not be able to work the fields anymore.

Nikolias wasn't opposed to taking a spontaneous trip now and then. But things like this situation seemed to work better if prepared for in advance.

Perhaps when making a law, one should also make provisions so that the law could be followed with as little fuss and inconvenience as possible. But there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it now.

"I wonder if any of the other noble houses have some similar concerns. If there appeared to be time, I would suggest an emergency Senate meeting, but too late now."

He mentally kicked himself, even though it would do little good to berate himself for the present. Was the surprise of this situation because he was bad at being a Senator? Or was it simply because one had to be prepared for anything in wartime?

Right now, he certainly didn't feel prepared.

[KALOSPÍTI DIMITROU]

Gavriil did not usually walk around armed but today he had sword strapped to him and his bow and quiver full of arrows on his person. It had been a long time since he’d seen the capital city so full of people when there wasn’t a festival air. This was panicked and liable to turn violent if the right mix of people came together. The Dimitrou Lord didn’t like it. He’d gone out with Krateros, the Order’s leader and walked along the top of the city’s walls. From that bird’s eye view, Gavriil had seen what he’d wanted. He’d also seen the trails of people snaking over the rolling green of the surrounding countryside as more people than would fit tried to smash their way into Vasiliadon’s gates.

He did not want to be here if the Egyptians attacked and he’d left Alexa home with the servants, but he, Dorotheos, and Evangelina had all come to the city. It was his duty to be here and both he and his brother would be up on the walls with the rest of the archers, firing down arrows on their assailants if there proved to be any. That tour now complete, Dorotheos had broken off from him to continue helping the Order members while Gavriil made the chaotic journey home on foot.

A walk that would have taken less than an hour usually ended up taking near three hours to complete. There were too many people - though none from his own provinces. Those were too far away to be much of a real concern for the brunt of an assault from the south. People pulled on him and his clothes anyway, begging for food, begging for information, begging for coin, begging to know if he’d seen So And So. It was like swimming against a strong, swirling current and he had to risk the deeper crowds to take the shortest way home.

At last the walls of his own estate town house were in view but so was the glint of Order Armor darting to and fro from his front gate. Evangelina had evidently been waiting for him. She marched out into the courtyard, though she looked afraid. He’d rarely seen her like that, with her hand to her throat and her steps growing slower and less sure as she approached. He unshouldered his quiver when she reached him and looked down at it, but reconsidered putting it down. Likely as not it would be snatched up and he didn’t feel like fighting Krateros later about getting it back.

”Is there...Is there any news?” his wife asked. Her doe-like eyes were wide and searching. Gavriil’s attention drifted behind her at a squawking chicken ruffling its feathers while it was carried away.

“There goes breakfast,” he grumbled, thinking about the loss of eggs. Then he sighed and rubbed at his forehead like he had a headache. “No, no news of any relevance. Just baseless gossip.”

Ares had struck Achilleas down for being a coward. Poseidon had swallowed the king’s ship whole and dragged it down into the deep. Hades had a score to settle. Zeus wanted a different king on the throne. The Egyptians were coming this way on ill winds and would overwhelm them. Was a famine on the way like Athenia?

All this and more he’d heard in his travels back home but he repeated none of the idiocy to his wife. “There’s no news and that’s all it means. No news.” Not good, not bad. Just nothing. He made to move around her and gestured into the house. “What are they taking? Not the gold?” Not that there was too terribly much of it to take in this particular house.

Emilios knew he should have been worried after his brother too. He should have been focusing his everything into preparing for the possibility of invasion, actioning all of those plans that he and Achilleas had been over before the man had set sail. But even as he walked out to greet the Head of the Order of Vasiliadon, the Crown Prince could not quite dampen the spring in his step.

The bits of him that had felt broken and raw for the past months felt held together now, secured by the knowledge that his nights would be spent in Theo’s arms, between her thighs, that he could make up for every lost moment where they had been parted.

It was despicable, yes, he knew. But he couldn’t make himself care. Anything that feltso right could not truly be wrong, could it? Having been denied the touch, the taste and the tenderness of the woman he loved for so many months, he felt like a starving man who had just feasted.

If there was any taste of bitterness, it was that knowledge that he’d also fulfilled his end of the bargain with Lord Fotios. Emilios didn’t know if he even wanted to tell him, it made his reunion with Theo seem cheap somehow, and he wasn’t ready to have the shine taken off their love.

The reinvigoration that came with having mended things with her gave him what he needed to stride out to meet the man who sought him with all the confidence expected of a Prince Regent, and Emilios was quick to bid the man take what he needed from the palati stores. They had food aplenty, and it made no sense to deprive those needier who turned to the capital for sanctuary.

He nodded his thanks to Krateros and then ordered a horse be readied so he might go the Dikastirio himself. It had stung to be left behind as his men sailed to war, but now eyes turned to him to lead, and he’d do it, prove all those that had doubted him wrong.

He’d turned to go back inside and change when his eyes alighted on the Queen, and Emilios had to work hard to dilute the smile that wanted to light his face at her presence, the playful quirk of his lips enough - just for them - as he stood before her.

“My Queen” he bowed slightly, bright blue eyes sliding sideways towards Eliana for a moment who he flashed a wider smile though it was hardly his best. She disliked him, and he, in turn, was wary of her. He wished Theo might have chosen another handmaid, particularly now.

“I’m going to visit the Dikastirio and do what I can to help the efforts there, put a show and allay these people’s fears.” Emilios said, before adding “ It would boost them I’m sure if their Queen was to be in attendance too? We can go together, present a united front. I can have them ready a carriage?”

[KALOSPÍTI DIMITROU]

In this turbulent situation, where his home being bombarded by strangers and friends alike, where swarms of people pressed their faces to his closed gates, watching them, no, Gavriil did not have soft touches for her. His mind wasn’t on romance or anything close to it. He was on high alert, his body tense, and his mind whirling with plans. No one ever described Gavriil as a soft person and now even less so; not while there were jobs to be done. His top priority was her personal safety and in that circumstance, feelings didn’t factor into anything at all.

“I think the list is shorter of what they are not taking,” she said and he made an impatient noise in the back of his throat. She went on to say that the gold was safe but the rest of the house was a mess. He was running through lists of things they were likely taking and it annoyed him. Of course these poor creatures needed blankets and food but what about sentimental things? Things Sibyl or Dorothea or Alexa had made? Things that likely wouldn’t be returned...He hadn’t thought to hide any of those blankets or shawls or dresses or extra clothes of his or Iason’s or Dorotheos’s. What of his new wife’s things? She’d been here, though. Hopefully she, at least, had her things stashed away in a safe place.

“How is it out in the city?” Evie asked as she moved beside him towards the house.

“Like watching a crate of rats crawling over each other,” Gavriil muttered, also spotting the jewelry box. His own eyes widened at that one and if she hadn’t snatched it straight out of the Order member’s hands, he most certainly would have. That, of course, made the man whirl around and thunder, ”Hey! It’s for the cause!”

“I just left Krateros’s side,” Gavriil growled, his finger jabbing against the young man’s armor. “I didn’t see him taking anything but food and clothes for the needy.”

”That-” the man began to argue, leaning around Gavriil as though he was going to make a swipe at the box in Evie’s hands.

“That-” Gavriil interrupted. “Belongs to Lady Dimitrou and will be staying with her.” He shoved the man back with uncharacteristic force and watched with steady unconcern while the young man stumbled and nearly fall. He caught himself at the last and glowered openly at the two of them.

”I’ll mention this to my captain,” he warned.

Gavriil turned away. “Mention that and send him to me. I’ll speak to him about you, too, and see that your house is personally searched at the end of this.” That threat appeared to have the effect Gavriil wanted. The young man shut up and no captain was ever summoned. “Come on,” Gavriil put a hand on the small of Evangelina’s back. “Let’s see what else they’ve been taking.”

It did not fail to escape her attention how even though Nikolias had agreed with the girl, Nikos was quick to dismiss her concerns. Really? Did he seriously think that Arete was only concerned about needing to share her rooms with some sort of rabble? Did he not realize how devastating a mass migration like this could be in a few weeks when the supplies that the order would gather would surely run out? Then the chaos that would follow as everyone realized that there weren’t enough farmers left in the countryside left to feed the booming population of the capital? Nikos might take the fact that food would always be on his plate for granted, but Arete sure didn’t. Her background gave her a unique perspective on this disaster. This title was not a mistake either. This was what this would become if everyone’s biggest concern was about whether or not they would be sharing a bed with a peasant.

Arete opened her mouth to say as much and double down on her insistence that as the men with power here, the two of them needed to do somtething, anything to prevent this unfolding calamity. However, Arete quickly realized that she was not going to get a word in. Not when her words had been so quickly dismissed as just the jealous grumblings of a girl who didn’t want to have to change her new lifestyle.

To say that this was frustrating was a severe understatement.

In Arete’s eyes, this was downright infuriating.

“Forget it.” She finally said after a tense moment. Even though Arete had snapped, her quiet outburst contained no hint of the rage that currently enshrined her heart. She longed for nothing more than to scream at Nikos so that she might release all the pent up anger that came with her finding out about whatever it was between him and Evie. For days Retta had wanted to slam her fists against his chest until he listened and understood that this limbo he kept her in was more painful than anything else he had ever done to her. Could he not see how brutal it was to play the part of the dutiful wife without having any of the benefits? She didn’t even have his name as he was too much of a coward to keep his promises. Instead of being a man and making good on the things he said, he’d rather lie to her face and run around with girls who were going to marry other men -- funny, Arete wished she knew what it was like to be in their shoes. To have the option of running around with others knowing that there would always be some sort of stability to return home to once the fun was over. Wouldn’t it be absolutely grand if she could spend one day not having to walk on eggshells because she was that woman at the mercy of a spoiled brat who was too afraid to grow a pair and commit?

However, like everything else in her life, expressing her true emotions was a luxury that Arete simply couldn’t afford.

She was not blind to her position in this household. As far as everyone was concerned she was a glorified flute girl who could be turned out at a moment’s notice. There would be no consequences to Nikos if she were cast aside besides needing to keep looking over his shoulder every time he was in Doralis until Arete eventually starved to death. The young woman knew that this would be her fate if she gave Nikos the slightest reason to be displeased with her. The stakes in this for the Doralisian were just too high for her to ignore. That threat of no longer being seen as useful in Nikos’s eyes was the only thing that had kept Arete’s tongue in check so far. However, being overlooked like this and treated like some dumb girl who didn’t know how peasants functioned was truly threatening to be the boiling point that had been building up for a long time. Retta knew that if she didn’t remove herself from this situation right this second she was going to say something that she would deeply regret.

That’s why Retta didn’t try to force her way into the conversation between the two Condos men as they started to discuss the new living arrangements without her. Instead, the potter’s daughter merely shook her head and took her to leave the courtyard. She half-heartedly mumbled something about needing fresh air as she moved past the soldiers. This was true as Arete needed to get a nice big gulp of air that did not reek with the two-faced stench of Nikos. The girl just needed a chance to walk around the Quarter in order to clear her head. Hopefully, the frigid air of the early winter months might do a thing or two about cooling her temper before she would be inevitably be forced to play hostess to whoever the Order decided to place in the Condos home. For both her own sake and Nikos’s, Arete prayed that they’d all be old couples who were happily married and utterly uninterested in the lord she shared a bed with at night.

Arete had no real plans once she made her way out of the Condos manor. She just needed to put distance between her and Nikos for now. However, Arete was oddly surprised to find her feet leading her in the direction of the market. She wasn’t even thinking about it, her body was just remembering all the other times she had walked down this street -- though this time the dreams she held of one day truly belonging to these cobblestones as a Lady of Condos now felt hollow in the wake of what Nikos had done. As long as there were other women who were just as pretty as Arete, her chances of having this simple dream become a reality were grimly low and now Retta had none of the optimism that she needed before to still think that they could possibly come true.

Knowing full well that these sorts of thoughts would not do her any good while her heart was in turmoil like this -- Arete tried to keep these things far from her mind as the Dikastirio slowly came into view. It would do her no good dwelling on things she had no power to change, after all. However, it was hard to think about things other than the anger she held towards Nikos right now. Her entire life swirled around that man, making untangling her thoughts from him a near-impossible task. It would take a lot to rid her of these tense emotions. Arete honestly thought that it would be near impossible, but as she grew closer to the building where the Order was sending the gathered supplies, she started to realize that the sheer noise coming from this place was equally impossible to ignore. There were just so many people milling around that the snippets of chatter were hard to miss as Arete overheard countless conversations all at once. Arete knew that she needed a distraction, but she did not want to find it here. Heading into this building to help in the organizational efforts was the last thing that Arete wanted to do -- if for nothing more than her sheer pride. She knew that she was just above these people, having only just been lifted out of the rabble. Even though some would say that should give Arete enough reason to be grateful for what she has and help -- the desire to not have the remainder of what would happen once Nikos grew bored of her hanging over her head again.

But then again, where else was she going to find a distraction in a city that was being turned upside down by the populace moving into the city walls?

Groaning at the prospect of helping the people that the girl had just spoken against, Arete headed inside just the same. The girl dressed in nice clothes thought that maybe she could mill about, for now, not needing to do anything in particular, Arete was instead surprised to see some familiar faces just outside the entrance that faced the market. It was Avra -- the girl that Arete had commissioned to make a gift for Nikos. It was almost funny now how she had done such a thing as such a present would be utterly worthless to him. However, she had paid for the tapestry to be made and she had already put a good amount of coin on the work as a down payment. Even if she thought that Nikos didn’t deserve it, she had already invested too much into it to tell Avra to throw it out as Arete didn’t have the desire to give Niky anything nice.

Hitching up her skirts, Arete made her way over to the merchant, fully expecting to have a pleasant conversation with the girl about the progress of the gift. However, instead, she was greeted with an angry and confusing scene. Avra seemed to be in the middle of an argument with two other people. One of them was a young girl and the other man seemed to be… that kid she met in the bar? What? Furrowing her brow in confusion, Retta drew closer to hear what was going on, but before the girl could hear the tense words being passed between the merchant and the other figure or the calmer words of the girl trying to bring peace to it all; Arete noticed something in the man’s grip. Something that most certainly did not belong to him. After all, she had been the one to pay for the tapestry in his grip. She did.

As the anger that had been bubbling within her all morning returning once again to the surface, Arete stormed over to the group to find out why exactly someone else was touching her property. At first, Retta naturally assumed that Avra was letting this man examine it, something that she was most certainly not pleased about -- but at the very least she could understand. This kind likely knew how to be careful with precious things, but still. It wasn’t his to touch. However, when she caught wind of the words that the calmer girl was saying, she did truly understand what was happening here. Avra had not given him permission to touch the tapestry that Arete had invested what equated to a small fortune in. The kid was taking it. The self-righteous brat who was stealing it.

How dare he.

“Alastor!” Arete angrily called, announcing her presence before she even walked fully up to the scene. The warm expression he has seen when he had been well on his way to drunkenness was replaced with a stony blank coldness that silently conveyed the anger she was feeling over this turn of events. All the boy would need to do was take one look at her face and know that she was not messing around. That tapestry was not his to mess with and Arete was not going to let him take it and give it to some poor peasant. Not after she had already paid so much for it. “Why are you taking something that does not belong to you? The last time I checked, the bill for that is in my name and it was not made to be a gift to you.” Her tone was terse as her gaze leveled with him, daring him to challenge her on this matter. They might not know each other that well, but hopefully, the boy would know her well enough to be certain that Arete was not the sort of woman who should be easily trifled with -- and if he didn’t? Well, he was going to learn real quick.