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The arena is dark, empty but for your folded-over bulk. Stretching is a necessary evil, the beginning and end of training for any serious athlete or warrior. Limber limbs provide for finesse and power in blows. The rosy fingers of Eos have yet to creep over the walls of the palace complex.
It has been about a week since you agreed to join the peace talks with Troy. In that time you have continued to recover from the hardest bout of sparring in your life. The ribs are healed in full, although periods of mental fogginess still come and go. You’ve yet to recover any personal memories of the fight itself. This morning is an important benchmark- the first you’ve felt good enough to train in full since Diomedes beat you.
Over the week nothing very significant happened. Crown Princess Electra has continued to pretend as if you were just another guest and you have done likewise. Menelaus and Agamemnon cannot learn of the conspiracy for war which is so close to home. Princess Iphigeneia you have seen little of once her medical ministrations became unnecessary- the girl is a recluse evidently, at least compared to the outgoing Electra. Nor have you met Agamemnon’s third daughter or wife. Menelaus and Agamemnon have spent much time in private counsels, no doubt planning for the future whether or not peace with Troy is agreed to.
You and Menelaus Atreides are stuck waiting in Mycenae for the return of Palamedes and Odysseus. The former was sent by High King Agamemnon to retrieve the latter some time before your own arrival in the capital. From here the party will travel to Megara, whence you will sail to Salamis to retrieve Telamonian Ajax. From there your little diplomatic group will sail to Ilion.
As you begin to proper exercises, a commotion outside of the arena draws your attention. It must be at the gates of the palace- travelers hailing the watchmen to open. It is too early in the morning for the Royal Palace to have been opened to full traffic. As you reflect on the matter, you think on who could be important enough to visit the High King before his traditional hours of hearing petitions. It must be a king or important ally of the House of Atreus- or a delusional lesser noble.
Will you investigate?
>Yes, cease training and go to see who the visitors are. Curiosity calls…
>No, if they are important you will meet them at breakfast with the Atreidae later. If they are unimportant, then there’s no reason to interrupt your regimen for them.
