Annabeth's loom was placed in her chambers where everyone could see and admire the tapestry she had been working on for the past several years. She was nearly finished with it, only the border needed to be completed.
The border was woven from yellow and purple wool and its design shifted from a purple key pattern on a yellow background to a yellow key pattern on a purple background. Annabeth explained that the deep reddish-purple dye had come from Tyre in Phoenicia and was produced by crushing thousands of murex snails and the orange-yellow wool had been dyed from saffron picked by high born maidens in Crete. Both were gifts from her future mother-in-law, Queen Sally.
The loom itself was a marvel; made in the Egyptian style with the warp wound around a beam at the bottom, instead of tied to dangling weights, and an attached seat. It was given to Annabeth by her parents for her twelfth birthday and was one of her prized possessions.
"Percy and I will hang the tapestry in our bridal chamber," Annabeth mused to Piper, "And when our first born daughter is married, I'll pass it on to her."
As Annabeth's hands wove vibrant and explicit images of women mating with sacred bulls and heroes killing monsters, her mind wove plans for the future.
"I imagine Patír and King Poseidon are going to formally announce our betrothal at the banquet tonight. I know Mítir and Queen Sally have been planning the wedding for years."
A/N At the Percabeth wedding, I imagine Sally wiping back a tear and saying "I always knew this day would come."
Annabeth had talked enough about her betrothed, Prince Perseus, that Piper felt as though she knew him. Perseus could swim like a dolphin and ride like a Scythian. At age thirteen, he had tamed the wild horse, Black Jack, and made him his war mount. The two of them had been competitive growing up. Being the stronger swimmer and the better equestrian, he always beat her but she was the faster runner and did better in their lessons with their tutor, Master Chiron.
Piper imagined that this Percy must be something if he could humble the proud Annabeth. Even those who loved Annabeth, Piper included, admitted that she could be arrogant and willful: a girl who was unused to being wrong and not getting her way.
"I'm seventeen, it's high time I'm married," Annabeth placed a gold circlet set with lapis lazuli from Afghanistan on her head. For the banquet, she had put on a one-shouldered chiton made from turquoise-colored silk and a veil of gossamer-like grayish-blue linen.

Piper wore a simple green chiton and a matching himation. Her hair was loose and adorned with her wreath of golden leaves.

"Prince Jason was admiring you at the triumph today," Annabeth told her, "And know doubt he'll look at no one but you the entire evening. You're quite the prettiest girl at court."
"Please stop, Annabeth," Piper cut in, "You know how all this flattery embarrasses me."
"You're a fool if you actually think that."
A small boy with large blue eyes and close-cropped blond hair walked into Annabeth's chambers, accompanied by two nursemaids. His rosy, apple cheeks and dimpled grin brightened up the room, like a sunbeam dancing around the halls of the palace.
"Àdelphé (sister but could also be used for aunt) Annabeth," he prattled, "Sing me the song."
"We're sorry to disturb you, Princess," one of the nursemaids apologized, "But Prince Lukeides insisted on hearing his favorite song before bed."
"I don't mind," Annabeth insisted, "Come here, darling."
She sat down on her bed, settled the little boy in her lap, and began to sing a song in Minoan, an ancient dialect still spoken in remote parts of Crete. The song described a journey by a dolphin to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, where the God of the Seas holds his court of mermen and mermaids. Her voice was sweet and tuneful but untrained.

https://youtu.be/m2uTFF_3MaA

Annabeth had learned this song from one of Queen Sally's handmaidens, who claimed that the tune could lull any child to sleep. It always had the desired effect on Prince Lukeides, who fell, snoring, onto Annabeth's shoulder.
"How is his mother?" Piper asked the nursemaid.
"She hasn't left her chamber since the triumph," the nursemaid explained, "She says she's not in the mood for the banquet tonight."
Piper tried to imagine Princess Thalia as she had been before her marriage: a defiant and restless girl who ran barefoot in the woods and could outshoot any archer in Macedonia. A girl with a loud, infectious laugh who could drink and dance all night. Since Prince Luke's deployment to Anatolia and subsequent death, she had become sullen and withdrawn, no longer enjoying what she used to. The only thing that could bring her out of depression was her son, Lukeides. She would watch the boy play in the gardens while discussing his education with Master Chiron, who was already teaching him how to read. There was already talk of betrothing him to Little Princess Estelle of Crete. The two children got on pretty well, so it was a promising match.
Lukeides was fast asleep by the end of Annabeth's song and she handed him over to one of the nursemaids.
"Good night, my love," she whispered, kissing him on the forehead.
The two nursemaids left Annabeth's chambers with their snoring charge.
"I pray to the gods every night that they send me a child as sweet as he is," Annabeth told Piper, "It doesn't matter if they send a boy or a girl. Women can inherit the throne in Crete."
There was a note of bitterness in her voice. Annabeth often spoke of her resentment at being passed over for the throne of Athens in favor of her half-brother Mathew. Her pride and ambition would have to be satisfied with the position of Queen Consort of Crete.

King Zeus and Queen Hera were furious when their daughter sent word through a maid that she would not be attending the banquet, especially since the purpose of the banquet was to introduce her to potential suitors.  They decided that Thalia had been a widow long enough and invited the other kingdoms to send their sons to compete for her hand. A large number of candidates had step forward which was unsurprising. Thalia, being the daughter of the High King of Greece, was the best catch in the land. She was also a celebrated beauty with her milky white skin, dark, almost black hair, large blue eyes, and freckles which covered the bridge of her nose like a constellation of stars.
The suitors were mostly lords from client houses and minor princelings from the islands, no one suitable to be King Zeus's son-in-law. Only three of them stood a chance of being Princess Thalia's husband: her cousin, Prince Nico of Epirus, Prince Will of Phocis, and Prince Pollux of Thebes. Each of them was rich and not bad looking though they were all significantly younger than her
Fifteen-year-old Prince Will was quite handsome, taking after his father King Apollo: tall and strong with lean muscles, bronzed skin, and sandy hair streaked golden blond in places-a sun to Thalia's moon. It was said that he preferred men, so he would probably not sire any bastards for her to worry about.
Thalia had known fourteen-year-old Prince Nico his entire life and enjoyed teasing him, calling him her little crow. The boy clearly did not want to be there. He sulked on his dining couch, refusing to interact with anyone. According to Annabeth, Nico had been a cheerful and energetic child, obsessed with dice playing, when he first came to court but the death of his older sister had changed him. She remembered Princess Bianca as a shy, sweet-natured girl who was loved by everyone who knew her and they had all been devastated when a fever carried her off to the underworld. Bianca and her brother had inherited their mother's wan complexion, delicate build, and frail health as well as their father's dark hair and eyes and gloomy expression. Nico looked young for his age and seemed more like Thalia's younger sibling than a potential husband.

A/N  Inbreeding was extremely common among royalty for most of history from the Ptolemaic pharaohs of Egypt to the Hapsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire. For a royal, the only appropriate spouse was another royal, so you would likely marry someone who was a relative, either close or distant. This continued up until the early 20th Century, making World War I pretty much the largest and deadliest family feud in history. 
Homosexuality and bisexuality were common and accepted parts of Ancient Greek cultures, at least among men. A man could marry and have children, especially if he needed to marry in order to form political alliances and produce heirs, while still taking male lovers.

Prince Pollux was the oldest of the suitors at sixteen. Though he took after his Cretan mother with his tall, muscular build, olive skin, dark, curly hair, and blue-green eyes, Pollux had his father's fondness for wine and groping the slave girls.
Queen Hera looked less than thrilled with her daughter's marriage prospects. She wore a red one-shouldered chiton and himation trimmed with golden embroidery, a diadem set with rubies, and a pair of large, dangling earrings.

On the dining couch next to her, King Zeus pawed at a slave girl named Maia, who had come from Egypt. Like most Egyptian beauties, she was tall and slim with a high waist, narrow shoulders and hips, small breasts, and long, graceful limbs. Her features were strong, elegant, and symmetrical, her long, black hair was thick and straight, and her skin was a rich shade of ebony. Maia was a sly, ambitious girl and allowed King Zeus whatever liberties he wished. Perhaps she hoped to be promoted to royal concubine like Lady Helen was to King Frederick.
Watching Lady Helen simper and fight for King Frederick's attention, Piper knew that her example was not one to follow. Even what she wore that evening, a white chiton with colorful, geometric printed peplos and a wreath of golden leaves, made her seem desperate to be noticed.

Annabeth had often told Piper that she did not see what an intelligent man like her father could possibly see in such a frivolous and impertinent creature when he had a brilliant and cultured wife like her mother. Piper could tell by the way King Frederick looked at Queen Athena, that it was her who he truly loved. He respected, admired, and trusted his queen but she was a woman who challenged him and expected to be treated like an equal.
King Frederick's claim to the throne of Athens had come through his wife. Queen Athena was the only child of the late King Pallas. When she came of age to marry, all of the lords of Athens had courted her in hopes of becoming the next king. She chose Frederick of House Chase who, like her, was descended from the hero Theseus. He had worked his way up through the military to become polemarcos, the head of Athens' army, and was also a leader among the archons, the highest-ranking magistrates in the polis, and adored by the citizens. She could have chosen a strong, good-looking fool who would be her puppet but she chose a man who she could love as an equal and who was worthy of being her king.
Piper imagined the fact that his wife had never needed him and his position was entirely dependent on her bothered King Frederick. As much as they might love them, Men are afraid of strong and capable women and choose stupid, simpering women because they are less threatening. They preferred women who flattered their vanity rather than women who challenged them.
Percy and Annabeth reclined together on the same dining couch, exchanging the banter which was their idea of flirting. Annabeth demonstrated to him how she had practiced speaking Greek in the Doric dialect, the language of their future subjects. She spoke with an exaggeratedly coarse and rustic accent, playfully mocking the slight drawl and harsh vowel sounds with which Percy spoke. This was an inside joke between the two of them: Annabeth had often teased Percy about speaking Doric as opposed to the more refined and lyrical Attic of Athens.
A/N Doric was the most widely spoken Greek dialect but Attic was the most influential since Athens produced most of the literature which survives. In Athenian comedies, the Dorian dialect is associated with country bumpkins- English translators interpret it as a Scottish accent and American translators interpret it as a southern accent.
In response, Percy pinched her buttock.  When she giggled, he pinched her nipple. They fed each other cucumber slices, grapes, and olives dipped in tzatziki (yogurt dip), and discussed their plans for the future and the changes they would bring to Crete once they were king and queen.

They were young, in love, and heirs to a kingdom: the future belonged to them. Though Annabeth had told Piper that Percy was no scholar, Piper could see he was intelligent though more sly and crafty than bookish and erudite. Annabeth's stories about when they were children were full of instances of him coming up with brilliant ideas for games and pulling off cheeky pranks with Connor and Travis, two illegitimate sons of King Hermes who worked at court as servants.
With his roguish, crooked grin and the up-to-no-good twinkle in his eyes, Piper could see what Annabeth saw in him. While his friend Prince Jason was an Achilles, Percy was more of an Odysseus.
Queen Athena kept a close eye on them from the dining couch she shared with King Frederick. Percy was not a youth who a mother would trust around her daughter, even if he was the girl's betrothed.
The queen was dressed in a pale pink chiton and himation with crimson embroidery and resembled the rosy-fingered dawn herself. An elaborate crown of gold leaves and coils graced her head.

She turned away from the lovers when her husband stood up to address the other guests at the banquet.
"My lords and ladies," King Frederick began in his fine orator's voice, "Queen Athena and I are pleased to announce the marriage of our daughter, Princess Annabeth, to Prince Perseus of Crete. Join us in wishing them a long and happy life together."
The other guests lifted their kylixes (drinking bowls-the Ancient Greek equivalent of a red Solo cup) to drink to the happy couple and gave their blessings. Their wedding was the first of a number of proposed marriages between the heirs and heiresses of the Greek poleis (city-states) which were meant to ensure lasting unity between them. It was also a sign that the war was over and life could continue as usual. The young men and young women of Greece could marry, start families, and live prosperous and peaceful lives.
After King Frederick's announcement, the food was served. Piper helped herself to barley cakes, faikes-lentil soup, souvlakia-marinated lamb grilled on skewers, baked fish with feta and herbs, and Delian sweets- honey-soaked cakes.

She chatted with Queen Sally, who reclined on the dining couch next to hers, about the upcoming wedding. That evening, Queen Sally wore a tight blue blouse with short sleeves and a full blue skirt decorated with yellow chevron.

A crown of large golden rosettes was placed among her coiled curls and a necklace of smaller golden rosettes hung around her throat.

"It's hard to believe that my boy is getting married," the queen sighed, "To think, a year from now, I might be a grandmother."
"My Lady," Piper replied, "You are much too young and fair to be a grandmother."
Threads of silver had begun to streak Queen Sally's curly chestnut hair and feathery creases surrounded her gentle blue eyes, the effect of decades of warm smiles and merry laughter, but she had a type of loveliness that did not fade with age. Piper could see why she had been given the epithet "laughter-loving", one associated with the Goddess of Love and Beauty
Athenaíí played her lyre as the guests dined and entertained them with songs about Ogygia, the island of witches where the sorceress Hecate dwelt with her coven. It was said that unfortunate sailors who washed up on Ogygia's shores were turned into pigs, sheep, goats, and other barnyard animals and then eaten.
After her song, Athenaíí went to get a drink of wine from her friend Aphrodisia, who was chatting with an Egyptian mercenary named Mantu. A large grin was plastered on Aphrodisia's face, making her small eyes look like crescent moon-shaped slits and she giggled and simpered more than talked, which gave those who looked on something to laugh at.
After filling Athenaíí's kylix with wine, Aphrodisia reluctantly left her suitor to go fill Lady Helen's. She let out a shrill, ear-piercing cough as she poured wine from a bronze pitcher into the concubine's drinking bowl.
"Someone shut that useless girl up," Lady Helen shouted, "If I have to listen to that coughing any longer..."
Aphrodisia ran began to sniffle and cry as she went to pour wine for Prince Jason. 
"I told you to go see a healer about that cough," Athenaíí scolded her, "But no, you insisted on driving us all mad."
After finishing her kylix of wine, Athenaíí returned to her performance. She took up her lyre and sang a tune about Helen of Troy, which presented the mythical queen as a flighty, spoiled, vain, and frivolous creature who preens in front of a mirror and wears glittering jewels while others fight, die, and suffer for her mistakes. A woman who cares for nothing but her own pleasure, who gets away with everything because she can turn men into fools who only think with their cocks.
"Helen pouts and flashes her tits," she sang, "The sword in Menelaus's hand drops while the one between his legs rises. Brave men killed in battle; virtuous women widowed, raped, and sold into slavery; innocent infants thrown from walls to bloody deaths. What do all these matter when Helen's lovely breasts are before you? Helen, the shame of womankind."
Taking this as a thinly veiled attack at herself, Lady Helen stood up, fuming with anger.
"How dare that slave insult me!" She shouted, "She should have her hands cut off and her tongue cut out so she can't slander anyone again."
Athenaíí's face went pale and she looked as though she might drop dead from terror. Losing her tongue and her hands were perhaps the worst things that could happen to her.
"My Lady," King Frederick replied, "She is only a foolish girl speaking out of turn..."
"I don't care! I will not allow this aulétris to insult me!"

A/N aulétris translates to flute player and was a rank of the Ancient Greek sex trade which was made up of dancers and musicians who were hired to "entertain" at parties

Annabeth stood up from her dining couch.
"Takes one to know one," she cut in,
"Annabeth, that's enough," her father insisted.
"No, I will not allow Athenaii to be punished just for..."
"I said, that's enough."
"Athenaíí sang a song about Helen of Troy and her misadventures, if Helen of Athens sees her own faults in those of the Spartan queen, then that says more about her than anything Athenaíí has said."
King Frederick glared at his wife for doing nothing to control their daughter. Queen Athena simply smirked with pleasure from seeing her rival denounced. It took all of her composure to refrain from crying "well said, my daughter."
"Annabeth, you will stop making a scene over an impertinent slave," King Frederick growled, "or you will go to your chambers."
"Patír, I'm not a child. You can't just send me away!" Annabeth shouted.
"Enough! The slave girl will be punished for her insolence and that's final. She will receive twenty lashes of the whip."
"Patír..."
"Annabeth, it is not your place to question my judgment. You dishonor yourself with this outburst and you dishonor me. The slave is lucky to get off with a few lashes, do not make me change my mind."
Two guards grabbed Athenaíí and tied her up like Andromeda being left for the Kraken. Her chiton was ripped open, exposing her back and chest.
"Good!" Lady Helen added, "Now we will finally get some decent entertainment."
Piper imagined that having her sentence commuted from the removal of her hands and tongue to being whipped was not much comfort to Athenaíí. The slave took each of the twenty lashes stoically. She was too proud to give Lady Helen the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

When it grew late, the women were expected to retire to bed while the party began in earnest for the men. Annabeth asked Piper and Prince Will to accompany her down to the slave quarters to go check on Athenaíí. She was housed in the dormitory where the bondmaids who were not married or someone's bed-slave were housed.
They found her sitting on her bed, crying while Aphrodisia cleaned the gashes that the whip had left on her back.
"You were so brave back there," Aphrodisia told her friend, "I would have started crying immediately. How did you get through it all?"
"Seeing the look on that bitch's face was worth every sting of the lash," Athenaíí replied.
"Athenaíí," Annabeth called to the slave.
"Are you lost, My Lady?" She replied.
"No, we've come to see how you are. Prince Will has brought a salve for your wounds."
The salve had been made from beeswax, olive oil, pine resin, and comfrey. Piper helped spread the mixture on strips of cloth which they wrapped around Athenaíí's chest like an apodesmos (a band of cloth wrapped around the chest which acted like a bra).
"I brought something for you as well," Prince Will told Aphrodisia, "I brewed this up myself."
He produced a small aryballos which contained a potion made from sage, honey, lemon, ginger, and turmeric.
"Take three drops of this in the morning and three drops at night and that cough of yours will be gone in a week."
"Thank you, My Lord," Aphrodisia replied before pouring three drops of the potion down her throat.
"Make sure your friend changes her bandages and applies more salve at least once a day. The greatest danger is an infection, so the wounds must be kept clean."
"I wouldn't trust her to keep anything clean," Athenaíí scoffed.
Aphrodisia rolled her eyes.
"You've all been very kind," Athenaíí continued. 
There was a note of hesitancy in her voice. She seemed more confused than grateful that a Prince, a Princess, and a high-born lady-in-waiting would come to help her.
"Feel better, my child," Prince Will replied, Athenaíí raised an eyebrow at being called "my child" since she was a couple of years older than him, "I'll come to check on you in a few days.  And Aphrodisia, make sure you take your medicine and get rid of that cough so your friend can get some sleep."
A/N People talk about Jason being a mom friend but I imagine Will also being a mom friend. Being from Texas, he probably calls everyone "darlin'" and "sugar."

Piper walked through the labyrinthine halls of the palace back to the chambers she shared with Annabeth. Even after a year at court, she had not yet figured out how to navigate them. Pine torches were placed in sconces that hung on the walls and cast dancing shadows and evergreen scented smoke over the dimly lit corridors. Anything, or anyone, could be hiding in the darkness.
Piper felt like the Cretan princess from Annabeth's tapestry, the one who helped Theseus find his way through the labyrinth.
The sounds of drunken carousing signaled that she was getting close to the megaron. Crossing through the megaron was the best way Piper knew to get from where she was to the gynaeceum but the megaron was the last place she wanted to be. At this time of night, the God of Wine and Revelry and the God of Passion and Desire would have taken over the banquet, making it not a place for a respectable maiden like herself. She wasn't supposed to even be out of the gynaeceum this late.
Under her breath, Piper cursed Annabeth for sneaking off into the gardens to meet with Percy.
"Don't worry," Annabeth had said with a sly smile, "I have no intention of giving him my maidenhood until we're married."
While Annabeth was strolling in the moonlight with her lover, Piper was left to wander the halls of the palace, lost and alone.
"My Lady," a deep voice called to her, "May I be of some assistance?"
Prince Jason walked into the light of a torch, which made his blond hair shimmer and his blue eyes sparkled. Piper was distracted by how handsome her look but she quickly remembered herself and swept him a slight bow.
"My Lord," she answered, "Princess Annabeth and I were down in the slave quarters, helping treat an injured slave."
"Oh yes, the singer."
"...and I was making my way back to the gynaeceum when I got lost."
"You're not far from there. There's a shortcut I could show you."
"You're too kind, My Lord."
He showed her to a veranda that encircled the central courtyard. Down below, slaves were going to and from the kitchens and the megaron, bringing pitchers of wine and platters of food.
"May I ask your name?" Jason asked Piper.
"Piper of House McLean of Cyprus," she replied.
"Queen Aphrodite's daughter? Prince Perseus told me that a daughter of Queen Aphrodite was a lady in waiting to Princess Annabeth."
"Yes, that's me."
Piper expected to hear the line that men typically used when they found out she was Queen Aphrodite's daughter: something to the effect of "I could tell you were her daughter by your beauty" but instead, he told her how Percy had heard from Annabeth that she would be dancing in a performance during Prince Luke's funeral games.
"The theme of the performance is the life of Perseus," she explained, "I will be dancing the role of his mother, Danaë. Will you be competing in the games?"
"Prince Luke was one of the greatest heroes of his generation; we all looked up to him," Jason began, "It was a shame he died so young, leaving my sister broken-hearted widow and my nephew a fatherless orphan but it will be an honor to compete in his funeral games."
"I look forward to watching you compete."
"I look forward to watching you dance."
An entrance to the gynaeceum was at the far end of the veranda.
"Good night, Lady Piper," he whispered to her as they stood in front of this entrance.
"Good night," she whispered back.
They both went to open the folding doors of carved wood. Jason's hand softly brushed Piper's. She blushed and disappeared into the gynaeceum.