A year passed before I saw Milo again. He arrived in the company of the young merchant I’d last seen in Mykenae. They were brought into my father’s presence because of the richness of the goods they had to offer, things too beautiful and costly to be acquired without the king’s own say-so. Mother and I were there when the trading party was escorted into the great hall. We came as soon as we heard that Father was receiving men who’d traveled far before they reached Sparta.
We were always avid for the news that merchants carried along with their wares. After all, a band of tradesmen brought us word that my brothers were alive and well when the Argo finally returned to Iolkos and the crew went their separate ways. The merchants also carried dark and bloody tales of the Argonauts’ escape from Colchis, all involving Medea. Had she really contrived her own brother’s murder to distract the king from pursuing Jason and the Fleece from Ares’ shrine? I wouldn’t have put it past her, and I was glad Castor and Polydeuces were safe after a voyage in that company. I only wished the quest for the Fleece hadn’t given them such a taste for heroism. Once they left the Argo, they’d promptly set out on fresh adventures. The gods alone knew when they’d come home, but their exploits were often on the tongues of traders.
There was another good reason for my attendance in the great hall. Ever since my return home, Father had insisted that I be present whenever he gave anyone a royal audience. He said it was best I started learning how to govern Sparta sooner rather than later, even if he wasn’t about to hop aboard Charon’s ferry tomorrow.
I nearly didn’t recognize Milo. I saw a tall, strong-limbed young man with long, gleaming curls and a neatly trimmed beard. His bright blue and green tunic was banded with rich red and gold, a far cry from the cast-off garments he’d been forced to dress in before. He was hard at work, spreading out all manner of glittering wares at Father’s feet, when he looked up at me, and all at once I knew him again. I couldn’t help uttering a cry of delight. If he hadn’t been holding an especially fine vase in his hands just then, I think I would have rushed into his arms.
“Well, well,” Father remarked fondly. “I think our daughter has seen something she likes.”
Milo’s presence transformed the trading party from merchants to guests. As Mother said, it was the least we could do for the people who’d helped me in one way or another ever since I struck out on my own. That night, over dinner, the younger merchant told us the fate of his absent partner, my persistent suitor.
“He died on the way back from Corinth. He thought he knew how to tell good mushrooms from bad. He was wrong. That was when this one proved himself.” He clapped Milo on the back. “It was just the two of them on that first journey, because my partner wanted to test the lad. When there are tasks to do and only one extra set of hands to do them, you learn soon enough whether you’ve taken on a worker or a drone. So there Milo was, left all alone with a load of valuable goods. He could have vanished into the hills with it all. Instead he came straight back to Mykenae, handed me my late partner’s tally sticks, and apologized because he’d had to trade off part of our profits in order to give the poor man a decent burial. I’ve trusted him utterly ever since. He’ll be ready to undertake his own trading journeys before you know it. And I think we all know the first thing he’s going to do when I let him go out on his own.”
“I’m afraid we don’t,” my mother replied pleasantly.
“Why, marry his sweetheart, of course!” The merchant grinned. “She’s a nice little thing, just a fisherman’s daughter he met when we sailed to Delphi, but there’s something about the way she carries herself that almost makes you think she’s a princess in disguise.”
Father looked at me closely. I don’t know what he was expecting to see.
That night, when I was already undressed for bed, someone scratched at my door. It was Ione, my former nursemaid. Even though all of us royal children were grown up, my parents had kept her on. Just the sight of her face called up comforting memories of childhood, before my sister left to become a queen and my brothers set out to win the fame of heroes.
“I’ve a message for you,” she said. “From him. That boy you bought.” Like my parents, Ione knew the full tale of my adventures, including how Milo got his freedom.
“That boy is going to be rich enough to buy all of Sparta someday,” I replied lightly. “What’s the message?”
“He wants you to meet him somewhere…private. He says he’s got something to tell you. News from an old friend.” She bit off the words sharply, just to let me know that she didn’t believe them for a moment.
I asked her to send him to the rooftop shrine my parents had dedicated to Aphrodite. She trudged off so slowly that I wondered whether she’d obey me or conveniently “forget” all about it. But by the time I’d put my clothes on again and climbed the stairs to the sanctuary, Milo was waiting for me in front of the painted image of the goddess.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, Helen,” he said. “I’m sorry I left Mykenae without—”