confused · displaced · surreal · fantasy · iridescent bubbles · terrified · bewildered · mud-stained · dreamlike
The first wash of morning seeps through the salt-hazed windows of the ship's passageway, painting the worn deckboards in stripes of pale gold. Polites moves softly, his bare feet silent on the planks, a drowsy query about the day's course hovering in his mind. He pushes open the door to Odysseus's cabin, expecting the solitary sprawl of his weary king. Instead, the dawn light reveals two forms entwined upon the narrow berth—Odysseus and, pressed close against him, Eurylochus, their breathing slow and synchronized. Polites's hand locks on the doorframe, his easy smile dissolving into blank shock. He stares, unable to move or speak. "you," he whispers back toward you, his voice thin with disbelief, "tell me my eyes are lying. Tell me I did not just see that."