𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎: 𝙰 𝙳𝚛𝚒𝚣𝚣𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗
Summary— It's been a couple of years for Odysseus and Penelope, and in that time, they decided to bear a child in their lives, a month before the baby is born, the King of Ithaca gets an unexpected meeting with some other kings about Troy...
Odysseus has never felt better, now as a king with the loveliest woman known to man. He stared at Penelope's sleeping face in a loving gaze, her face was soft, and the light that shone through the window hut her skin with such a beautiful ray that she looked like a Goddess he had in his bed instead of a mortal, but really, she was his Goddess all of the time, she was his light in every dark day and was his power in every weakness he has, she was everything of beauty, brains, and bronze in every way he could think of and he wouldn't change no matter, especially since she was due to give birth a month from now-Gods, he wondered if it was going to be a girl or a boy? Maybe both, maybe neither; he wouldn't care either way because he would love them all the same with all his heart. "Rise and shine, your majesty~!!" A familiar, high-pitched, bubbly, sing-song voice called jovially, making the Warrior of the Mind jolt in his bed, but he did try not to let it show which was a bit terrible on his end. "C'mon, Ody, I know you're up, I saw that flinch!" "Uh, Bali, can I get um, five more minutes..?" He asked of her sheepishly, looking over at his wine barrier, which was a young, small, and chubby ipotane, whose fluffy maroon hair bounced like a majestic lion's as she wore her usual broad smile on her muzzle, she really was like a dotting mother, but that was a bit expected when she was a servant for him but still, she was a goofy sweetheart. "Nuh-uh, Ody, as much as I think it's cute, you and Penelope are lovey-dovey. I can't have you missing out on your royal duties, sorry!" Odysseus groaned lightly, earning a small puff of laughter from the Queen of Ithaca, making him look down at her incredulously, but Bali beat him to it. "I'll get you up soon, Your Highness, exercise is good for the baby." She groaned softly and, in a ditch effort attempt, rolled over and grabbed the blanket, yanking it over her head.
Odysseus giggled at the sight, finding it perfect until the ipotane wrapped her arms around his waist and hoisted him in the air like he was a kitten to her mother cat antics as she bounced over to the bathroom, making him look back at her with shock and then he just went limp with a light shake of his head and a small smile, already knowing there was no way to free himself from her clutches. She happily bounced around the large bathroom while the King of Ithaca got into the already warm-made waters of his bath, dipping into the pool-like incision in the floor and breathing a heavy sigh of relief, slowly leaned back against the concrete and closed his eyes as his hands worked to clean himself, the only thing he had was olive oil, the finest this talented servant of his could make, and she could make plenty. Actually, Odysseus didn't know what she was talking about until he tuned back into reality. "I could make some cake, then sweet bread, poes, and some fritters, I could give Pene a mean granola mix with apples, oh! I'd she'd love it, would help with the baby too!" He smiled widely now, ah Bali, his most trusted servant ever to be as she was the ipotane who saw through everything and anything like a hawk, a bubbly, cheery hawk who was the biggest trump card known to man, and funny enough, the only reason why she became a close friend of his was because of her unpredictability, she was good, but she was a huge puzzle Odysseus wanted to figure out, yet failed every time in doing so.
After his bath, he checked himself out in the mirror, appreciating how he had a nice beard, even though it was stubble around his jawline and chin up to his sideburns hidden behind his fluffy brown hair while he kept his bangs apart for his eyes, he still heard Bali rambling on about his schedule, how he had to teach the children of his kingdom to whittle wood into beautiful sculptures, he needed to teach the teenagers to combat, and to teach potential students of archery, then he needed to do some letters of acceptances for the markets around, possibly change some prices, afterwards he had to have an officials dinner with other kings on how they were going to deal with Troy—"Wait, what?" He asked, turning away from the mirror as he stopped at his motions of styling his hair to look over at the maroon ipotane, who blinked her big eyes at him before repeating, "You have a meeting with some kings about Troy." Oh, shit, he forgot about that part, that the last time he and they spoke, it was about a way to deal with Troy, especially when they didn't accept the offerings of peace or agreement to find another way to co-exist so now was the time for war, something the King of Ithaca dreaded to talk about but he knew he was going to have to as his kingdom was soon going to be the line of sight to Troy and he couldn't have that, not to his subjects. "Fine." "But first, you need a big breakffeeeeaaasssstttt~!!" The servant sang, making him chuckle warm-heartedly as he went back to only pushing his bangs around to make him seem a little clean for his eyes. When he was done and got dressed in a soft white tunic with his red cloak held in place by a golden medallion with a split design of a representation of Ithaca and an owl for Athena, who he still needs to talk to about this, but for now, he was getting dragged about through his castle for him to eat.
"Marie, come on out with the food, I gotta check on the queen next!" Bali exclaimed before bouncing away back upstairs to wake Odysseus' beloved wife after she had sat the king down at the head of the table just when Marie; a young woman with caramel brown skin and black hair tied into a bun with a light green servant dress that complimented her appearance, she carried the tray of food over to him. She bowed before placing the gold platter on the table and lifted the lid, revealing a healthy portioned dish of grapes, sliced apples, strawberries, a big stack of thick pancakes, and some eggs with asparagus. He also had maple syrup and freshly squeezed orange juice, and the king smiled widely, impressed with the ipotane's ability to even do all of this for just breakfast, which had him realize how much of a hard-working woman she was. "For you, Your Majesty." "Thank you, Marie, tell Bali she's doing a wonderful job as always." "Of course, Your Majesty." Marie bowed again be she went back to her duty of cleaning the palace floors just as Penelope walked over to him with Bali bouncing with her, helping her into a chair next to her husband's right as Marie brought another tray for her, lifting the lid to show a plate of eggs with asparagus, bacon, sausage, biscuits, grapes, strawberries, and sliced apples with coffee. "For you, Your Highness," the servant said sweetly, earning a nod from the Queen of Ithaca. "Thank you, Marie, it looks great." She said with a warm smile, getting another bow of gratitude and then turning to Odysseus, leaning toward him and placing a light kiss on his cheek, making him giggle happily before the two shared determined smirks. "The first one finished gets to decide if there is dessert tonight."
"Love, I think I can eat you under the table now." He said, tapping on his stomach in teasing over how she needed to be careful with the baby belly, making her pucker her lips in feigned annoyance. "I see, well, better prove me wrong then." She said, pout turning into a wide smile, lifting her fork up as Odysseus did the same. "Deal!" Soon, the two began eating their meal with Odysseus going as fast as possible to munch down all of his food while Penelope took it slow with a smile, savoring every bite. "Isn't Her Highness going to lose this little contest?" Marie asked herself, but the ipotane hopped up next to her with her right ear twitching as she spoke. "Oh no, she'll be fine; that's Ody, you need to worry about!" Just as the words left her, the King of Ithaca then started hiccupping, loud but not harsh, yet annoying as any time he tried to take a bite of food which automatically allowed the queen to finish her food with ease. "Do make sure that he's drunk water before eating further, will you?" She asked softly, wiping her mouth clean as she stood up from her chair and leaned over to kiss her lovely husband on the forehead, chuckling when she got his hair to puff up in a bigger fluff of brown than it already was, making him look like a mad cat, especially as she spoke further. "Also, let the desert simply be marzipan." The look Odysseus gave her was priceless while he squeaked. "My starlight, why!?" "Why not? You eat too much sugar anyway, my daybreak, so why worry when I'm only worried about your health, my sweet?" She said it so cocky with a wink that it almost made Odysseus get up from his chair just to take the love of his life upstairs and treat himself to her perfect ways of seduction but stopped himself from doing so, allowing her to walk away from the table with a parting sentence. "Go spend time with the kids of our kingdom; I'll handle the paperwork." "Wow..." Seriously, how did he get so lucky to have this woman?
"King Odysseus, I'm not sure I got it..." A small boy with a fair complexion, blond spiky hair, and big blue eyes said to him as he got up to show the King of Ithaca the wooden whale they were working on, which was easy to shape, carving it from a log was the only difficult part to it, but he should've expected a kid or two to not understand it, very well. "What are you not getting, little one." "I'm not the 'carving it out of the wood' part." The boy said as Odysseus bent down to his level to see the problem. This boy loved his classes on wood carving, but he was the one who couldn't get it down properly, something the king wasn't put off by, like the boy's peers who he heard whispering among themselves about it. "I think he's slow..." "Why does the king still allow Pantelis to do this work?" "If you seem to have something to say on the matter of your classmate, you can say it to my name." That had the kids silent over this as Odysseus continued to help Pantelis with making his whale. "Shoot the arrows high until you hit your mark." "Gods be damned!" Yelled a chocolate brown man with long darker dreads as he watched the tan-freckled man with wavy red ringlets hit another wooden target with a perfect bullseye. Despite having one of his green eyes clouded with blindness, the redhead knew how to take aim and hit with precision, and as he got ready to shoot another arrow at a far-off target, the other man couldn't handle his jealousy anymore and rushed over to him, tackling him to the ground, signaling the King of Ithaca to rush over to them in slight annoyance, as this wasn't the first time one of these young men allowed jealousy to cloud his mind towards the sparkling student.
"Sokratis, get off of Charis, NOW!" He barked like a wolf leader of a ruthless pack, yet that didn't seem to deter Sokratis until he noticed how close the king was, making him hop off of the struggling redhead, whose skin was slightly reddened by the struggling so he now glared at the dark man with clear agitation, something Odysseus didn't fault him for having but he knew he should teach this young man how to fight back as he was a stick in that regard. "Sokratis, I have told you and the other men not to let your emotions get the better of you, to not let it go against you-or the other men who you will be fighting with as if you are brothers, so why do you have to pain me by hurting him, all because he is better than you in the aiming aspect of life, okay, I get it, but I don't understand why that would affect you so." He said hotly, glaring down at the teenager with evident disappointment but underlying understanding, arms crossed over his chest as Charis got up from the ground, checking himself before a small grunt left him and the king could clearly see the dribble of blood that ran down the tan skin of this exceptional boy's thigh underneath the white cloth of his tunic. 💭He must've gotten cut with one of the arrows...💭 Warrior of the Mind thought with a heavy sigh of further disappointment that had him rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly, but he spoke with authority again. "You're down with training as you'll be tending to Charis' wounds as punishment for what you have done, am I clear?" He saw Sokratis wanting to say something but clamped his mouth shut when he saw the king's disapproving stare, only opening his mouth to say: "Yes, Your Majesty..."
The day soon turned into night quickly for Odysseus, but that was bound to happen when he only had requests to accept and write down for his kingdom. Bali bounced around happily while carrying a bowl of wine, refilling the goblets of the other kings who sat at the table, discussing ways to deal with Troy. "I seriously don't understand why I'm here..." said a tall man with a slim figure, dark, rich skin, and black dreads tied back in an updo that seemed to resemble a rose. He was none other than Euryphinx, Little Ajax's advisor, dressed in a purple and trimmed gold doric as he took another sip of wine from his chalice while he only stared at the food bound before him and the other kings, but his nonchalant comment earned him and his unicorn ipotane a questioning look from Menelaus; king of Mycenaean Sparta and Agamemnon; king of Mycenae at him. "Aren't you just here as Ody's advisor?" They both asked in unison and then looked at each other before they laughed with each other, making the advisor roll his eyes heavily as he took another sip of wine from his chalice, but his humanoid equine companion answered for him. "We are here on behalf of King Ajax." "Little Ajax!?" The brothers asked in sync, chuckling a little due to the growing continuous of this simple act, yet that didn't seem to deter the unicorn ipotane from explaining further. "Our king has requested his most trusted advisor to be present in his absence yet wanted my presence in the castle." "How come you didn't stay?" Odysseus asked in question, now curious as to why Ajax couldn't even be bothered to show up to this important meeting, which did sour his already worrying mood. "I wanted her to come for my "protection" when really, and forgive me for saying this, but I don't trust him with Lyke." Again, there was no elaboration from him as Lyke allowed her horn to illuminate a bright magenta glow that had everyone sitting at the table gawking at it as she levitated a carrot to herself and, took a bite, and soon spoke again after a swallow. "I do remember his words being we should fight the Trojans."
"Good, I don't even want to know what the reason is behind that. Anything to get my wife back from those brutes is good enough for me." Menelaus said proudly, earning a nod from Agamemnon in agreement. "I agree, a man's woman shouldn't be in such danger for helping a disrespectful prince." "Agreed!" Exclaimed Nestor, king of Pylos, with a turkey leg raised in the air to show his eagerness that had the royal brothers and Odysseus chuckling just as Bali bounced over to the window, leaving the jug of wine alone at the basin, Odysseus looked over at her but smiled in content, knowing that she was talking to a winged ipotane named Ahe, a kind-hearted freelancer who seems to be doing her job mainly for the animals, however at this time, she bathes in secret in a waterfall near his palace. But the king of Ithaca wasn't the only one who took notice of this, Euryphinx looking at her with a raised eyebrow before glancing at him with an unamused expression. "Odysseus, do you normally allow her to speak with others while on the job?" He mainly asked this because he preferred to have his servants at the ready; no communication, unless it got the job done was his king's motto after all motto, so this certainly confused him. "I have no idea what Ajax has taught the two of you in his kingdom, but if it's anything like how he can't allow you to have civil conversations with each other, I find that very sad." The advisor hummed solemnly, taking another short sip of his wine before he made a small comment. "You're more wise than I thought." That had the Warrior of the Mind smile warmly before he said, "You two can stay here as long as you need," "As much as your kindness is needed, I doubt His Majesty will be pleased." "Then maybe for the duration of the war, he can't exactly say no to that when his king is closer to Troy than mine." "He does have a point, my counselor." Said Lyke, lowering her head to say this while making eye contact with the dark-skinned man's silver eyes, making him nod in reason. "Very well, thank you, Your Majesty." He and the ipotane smiled warmly at the other man, who returned in full and raised his glass. Though he was panicky on the inside, he held his bold demeanor for the men before him, the men he would fight and kill every Trojan with. "A cheer to the promise of Troy's downfall!" "Cheers!!" The men around the table beamed and went into nonsensical conversations that lightened Odysseus' heart just enough to have him forget about his woes but that lasted not very late in the night.
As it got late for them, Odysseus waved Menelaus, Agamemnon, and Nestor off as they headed to a boat that would take a letter to Little Ajax explaining that his advisor and companion were staying with him while they planned to attack Troy when he had a maid lead them to their guest room, he walked further up the stairs and down the halls until he had made it up to his and his wife's room, opening the door to walk in and walk over to their marital bed to lay down on to of it with a heavy sigh in his soft pillow just as his wife walked out of his study after completing most of his work a moment later, Penelope giggled at seeing him there, tired. "My love was dealing with them truly tiring?" She asked softly, sitting down on the other side of the bed, turned to him, and moved his head back to show his face but then paused in shock and concern as she noticed the tears rolling down her husband’s face and his shivering, all signs of clear distress which in turn had her extremely worried. "Odysseus, sweet-tart, what's wrong!?" "I have trained for this...heard stories from my father about them...but I always thought I would see my child grow up before a war happens. Now, I'm more worried about leaving to even deal with childbirth, panicking about it too...I even worry about my life to get back to you both if I leave..." Odysseus replied softly, letting his strong facade give way to the fearful side of him as the Queen of Ithaca laid down next to him, petting his head as she listened, allowing her husband to wrap his arms around her gently and hide his face in her bosom, his shaking calming to stillness as he grounded himself while his wife held him just as close, shushing his sniffles softly. "I'm sorry for letting you do this." "Not this again, Ody; I don't care if you are on your knees weeping like a newborn; you are my husband, and I will always be here for you in more ways than one; I will be here for you, even in death." Odysseus looked up at her with wide eyes, but then they glazed over with tears again and smiled, laughing happily as he let these cheerful, grateful tears fall down his cheeks as Penelope chuckled warmly, kissing his forehead lovingly. "I love you, Pene..." "I love you just as much, Ody." As sleep finally took them, the Warrior of the Mind forced himself to remember a little longer that he had somewhere to be tomorrow.
Sorry for the looong ass wait on this one for you guys; I was just super busy with schoolwork and home life, so there you are; oh, and guess what? I GOT AN AO3 ACCOUNT!!🥳🥳🥳 So I'll be mainly posting new updates on that but I'll be using Tumblr to keep the drafts, tho, if you guys want me to post on Tumblr still, let me know, please, I really am just doing this for fun and to test my writing skills but I don't mind requests!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/62905144/chapters/161078215#workskin
