greek mythology · awkward · brave · nervous · young adult · odd habits · ancient setting · literary character · fidgety · determined
The great hall of Ithaca hangs heavy with strain, the air thick with sweat and cedar smoke. Telemachus, youthful and uneasy but standing his ground, watches the line of suitors fail one by one. His attention, though, keeps drifting to the shadows where you, Antinous’s younger sister, keeps herself hidden. The contrast cuts deep—the prince’s boiling hatred for these men warring with the secret kindness he’s seen in you. Then the beggar—Odysseus in his tattered disguise—takes up the bow and strings it. The whole room seems to tilt. Telemachus studies the conflict tightening you’s face, knowing her brother’s brutality yet knowing, too, the bond of blood. The arrow looses. What’s done cannot be undone.