Hazel knew that she would soon have a choice to make. She was aware that Frank and Leo had been in love with her for years and now that she was old enough to be wed, she expected that they would both ask for her hand in marriage. Frank had just been made a guard at the palace and Leo had taken over his master's blacksmith's forge. Both were now in a position to support a wife.
The three of them were inseparable and had been since childhood. Frank was a broad shoulder for her to cry on and Leo was always there to make her laugh. They were the only ones who had ever stood up for her when people called her mother a whore and mocked her for being a bastard.
Hazel and her mother lived in a modest white stucco house with a terra cotta shingled roof near the Athenian agora. It was built around a central courtyard with two one-story buildings on the right and left sides. One contained the kitchen and store room; the other acted as a barn for their donkey and goats. The two story building in the back was where they lived with the first floor being the public part of the house while the second held the sleeping quarters.

Hazel's father had given them this house a long with a pension which allowed them to live comfortably. They supplemented this income by selling their homemade goat cheese, cloth, and pottery. In order to make their pots more attractive, Hazel painted designs on them as well as scenes from the lives of gods, heroes, and of ordinary mortals. She painted in both the Corinthian black figure style- black silhouetted figures on a yellowish or reddish background with enhanced by adding touches of red or white paint and the Athenian red figure style- the reverse of the black figure style, where the  figures are outlined first then the background is colored in black, leaving the outlined area orange-red. Two of her most recent pots were in the black figure style: an amphora (a jug for wine or olive oil) depicting the Goddess of War and Wisdom charging into battle and a hydria (water jug) featuring a line of women waiting to fill up their hydriai with water at a fountain.

Her other two were in the red figure style: a lekythos (a narrow, one handled vessel with a handle attached to its long neck used for storing oil) painted with a scene of the Maiden Goddess of the Moon out hunting with her hounds and another amphora showing the Goddess of War and Wisdom ready for battle- those were particularly popular.

Hazel had risen with the sun like she usually did. She milked the nanny goat, prepared the next batch of cheese, and set it out to age. While the rennet ripened and coagulated the milk, she formed balls of dough for flat bread and put them in the oven, which she had lit shortly after waking up.

Her mother, Marie, prepared a pot of white bean soup. It's aroma was seductive and delicious.

"It smells wonderful," Hazel told her.
"I thought I'd whip up something special ," Marie explained, "Since Leo and Frank are staying for dinner."
Hazel knew that today she would have to make her choice, the most important choice she would have to make: which of her two suitors would become her husband.
"We'll have to sell a lot of that cheese to pay for a proper wedding," Marie continue as Hazel began to stir the milk to clump up the curds.
"You've finished two new bolts of cloth," Hazel added "And I've painted four pots which should bring in a fair amount of money."
She dreamed of a new chiton and himation for her wedding, the house decorated with spring flowers, and a delicious spread of all her favorite foods.
"We should have a small fortune when I return from the agora today."
Frank and Leo were to accompany her when she went to the agora to sell her cloth, cheese, and pottery, since it was unseemly for a Athenian girl to leave her house without male escorts.
She had finished taking the flatbread out of the oven when her two suitors of arrived. Marie showed them into into main public room of the house. It had a rough stone floor and walls and small, narrow windows with wooden shutters. Sheep fleeces were spread across the large slabs of stone which served as benches.

Frank and Leo were bidden to recline on the rope couches spread with colorful woven rugs.

Leo had attempted to comb out his wild dark curls into something resembling neatness and held them back with a simple leather fillet so that his pointed ears were visible. His face was thin and angular with large, cat-like, dark eyes and a wide, toothy grim. Normally, his chiton was filthy with soot but today we wore a clean one and he carried two a set of iron cooking utensils with him.
In full armor, Frank was an imposing site. His height and muscles made Leo look even scrawnier. Frank had been a bulky and awkward boy but upon his reaching manhood, he grew into his Heracles like strength. But when he removed his helmet, the intimidating affect was lessened a little by his kind brown eyes, warm smile, and gentle expression. Frank's smile always made Hazel melt. Under one of his muscular arms was a ewe lamb.
Hazel was not dressed to received suitors. She wore simple chiton of yellowish wool, belted with a piece of cord around her waist. It's long skirt was rolled up and tied at her knees. Her cloud of cinnamon brown curls had been pulled back out of her face with a single fillet.

Leo and Frank's visits were such a common occurrence that usually did not worry about her appearance.
It was customary for a suitor to present gifts to his hoped for bride's family when pressing his suit. That's why Leo carried iron kitchen utensils and Frank had brought along the lamb.
"Such a darling creature," Hazel declared, taking the ewe lamb from Frank arms. She stroked the lamb's grayish fleece and the lamb licked her hand.
"I'm glad you like her," Frank said shyly, his eyes lowered and his cheeks flushed.
Hazel found this nervousness as endearing as the little ewe lamb. Her new pet was a thoughtful gift. She could sheer her wool and use it in her weaving, which would save them money.
"I made these ladles and spoons, myself, especially for you, Hazel," Leon cut in.
She admired impressive the array of utensils spread out on the stone table.
"I doubt the kitchens of the King of Persia have finer ones," she exclaimed.
Leo's skill with metal working always amazed Hazel. Each ladle and spoon was simple in design but exquisitely crafted. They were another thoughtful, practical gift.
"Lady Marie," Frank addressed his prospective mother-in-law with a bow as if she were the queen of Athens, "I have just been made a guard to the King Frederick and Queen Athena. Along with the pay, the position comes with a generous pension and lodgings at the palace. Hazel will be well looked  after."
Leo then approached Marie and bowed. 
"I have been running my former master's forge since his death," he began, "We are prospering. Our forge has a comfortable home, much like your own. Lady Marie, I promise I'll do my best to give your daughter the life she deserves."
"You are lucky, Hazel," Marie told her daughter, "To have two such fine young men ask for your hand. Which ever you chose, you will have a good man who loves you and will support you. If only I had been so fortunate at your age."
Marie's family had been Nubian nobility who had the misfortune of running afoul of the Egyptian pharaoh. They fled Nubia and wound up in Athens where Marie grew up poor but filled with stories of her family's former glory. Though she was poor, Marie had been beautiful, ambitious, and determined to have the life she felt she deserved. She started an affair with Hazel's father, who she described as a wealthy and powerful man, hoping to become his official concubine. But it was his wife he truly loved and he returned to her in the end. He bought Marie a house during their relationship, which he allowed her to keep after his abandonment, and sent her money every month to support herself and their daughter. Among his promises was that he would provide a dowery for Hazel when she wished to marry.
"So, which one of them will you choose?" Marie continued.
If Hazel was honest with herself, it was Frank who she loved, so after some consideration, she announced that she would marry him.
"Keep the utensils," Leo replied to this rejection, his eyes downcast and his tone dejected but resigned, "Consider them a wedding present."

"Wear your thick himation when you go out," Marie instructed her daughter, "There's an unseasonable chill today."
Hazel obeyed her mother and wrapped herself up in the warm woolen cloak which was the same yellowish color as her chiton. She put a conical Boeotian petasos on top of her head.

With her, she carried a basket filled with pieces of goat cheese wrapped in cloth and one of the amphorae. Leo held two bolts of cloth under one arm and the hydria under the other. Frank managed to balance the other amphora and the lekythos on his shoulders.
"King Frederick and Queen Athena are supposed to return home today," he told his companions. "I've heard that Princess Annabeth is coming with them."
The princess had been away from Athens for the past decade. Her parents sent her to be educated by the philosopher Chiron at the Macedonian court. She was betrothed to Prince Perseus of Crete and the couple were said to be very much in love.
"I imagine she's beautiful," Hazel exclaimed.
"Not as beautiful as you, though," Frank added.
Hazel blushed. Frank always had that affect on her.
Athens was bustling that afternoon. Its streets were clogged with people, animals, chariots, and carts. Hazel used her himation to protect her eyes, mouth, and nostrils from all the dust kicked up by feet and wheels. The entire city had come out in hopes of seeing their long absent princess. Frank walked in front of their group, knowing his large size and official looking armor would get people to step out of his way.
Leo was quiet all during the walk to the agora, which was odd for him. Normally, he would talk their ears off with jokes and gossip but today he was unusually subdued.

In the agora, a storyteller was entertaining a group of children with the tale of Prometheus and the creation of people and animals. He was an old man who walked with a stoop and sported a long, scraggly grey and white beard which nearly reached his navel.
"Seeing that there were many beasts," he told the enthralled youngsters, "Prometheus changed some into men. Because of this, there are still those who have the bodies of people and the souls of beasts."
He noticed Frank, Hazel, and Leo approaching him and interrupted his story to shout a greeting to them.
"Good afternoon, Hephaestion," Leo replied, "Any news about the king and queen?"
"A messenger announced about fifteen minutes ago that the royal trireme had docked in Piraeus. They should be here anytime now."

"Many thanks, Hephaestion. I like your beard, by way. You look like Diogenes on a bad week."
"Well, you look like the scrawniest and ugliest of the satyrs."
There's the Leo I know, Hazel thought. The three of them had once been among the children who gathered around Hephaestion the storyteller. Leo was a particular favorite of his and the two exchanged banter whenever they crossed paths.
Hazel's first destination was the shop of Aegeus, the pottery seller. Aegeus was a portly man with thinning, black hair and a wispy little beard. The shelves of his pokey little shop were cluttered with pots in all shapes and sizes. Hazel found him struggling to carry a massive  krater (a large vase, something like a punch bowl).
"Hazel," He called to her, his fat frame wobbling as he tried to bring the krater to a shelf. "What a pleasure."
Frank went over to help steady him.
"I have some more pots for you," Hazel replied.
She placed each of her pots in front of him and he looked them over them.
"I'll pay you five silver obols for each pot."
"Five silver obols! They're each worth twice that much and you know it."
"If you don't like my price, then there are other ways you can make money. Your mother would be able to tell you all about it."
Frank was tempted to draw his sword.
"So could your wife," Leo cut in.
"I'll raise my offer to seven obols a pot if you throw in one of those bolts of cloth," Aegeus conceded. "I won't go any higher than that."
That would be eight obols for the bolt of cloth. Hazel was originally planning to only ask for six obols.
"You have a deal."
Twenty-eight obols richer, Hazel left the shop.
Their next stop was the home of a woman named Arachne, the widow of a cloth merchant. Though her son was the public face of his father's business, it was she who truly ran it and it was said that this had been the case during her husband's time. Athenian women were forbidden by law from participating in politics and business and had to depend on their nearest male relative to look after their interests. The ideal female citizen rarely left her home and did not interfere in the city's public life, though this was rarely the case. A clever woman could act through her husband or son like Arachne did and her poorer country-women, without slaves to run their errands, did not have the luxury of staying home.
"Hazel, my dear," Arachne called to her guest as she entered the gynaeceum, where she sat at her loom, "Come in. What do have for me?"
Arachne looked over Hazel's remaining bolt of cloth, examining the texture and weave.
"This is fine work. I'll give you five obols for it."
"It's worth six obols at least," Hazel insisted. "I won't accept anything less than that."
"So young but so shrewd. Fine. I'll give you six. Do you have any of your mother's goat cheese?"
"Yes, in this basket."
"I'll give you two obols for the lot."

Hazel walked out of Arachne's house counting the money she had made that day. Thirty-six silver obols in total, which was equal to six gold drachmas, a week's pay for a skilled laborer.
Frank and Leo waited for her outside the walls of Arachne's house. They were listening to Hephaestion tell the story of the witch Hecate, who lived on the island of Ogygia with her coven and was said to turn anyone who washed up on their island into animals, to his crowd of young followers.
"The most powerful of the witches is the one named Circe," Hephaestion told them, "She is also the most spiteful. She once turned an entire crew of sailors into pigs and ate them."
Hazel remembered her mother warning her that if she misbehaved, the witches of Ogygia would get her, turn her into a pig or a goat, and eat her.
"Circe is the daughter of the traitor Helios, the last of a treacherous house. Our good King Frederick, in all of his wisdom and mercy, allowed her to live but she snuck away to join the witches of Ogygia. Since then, she has sworn revenge on the Polis of Athens by killing and eating Athenian sailors." 
The story was interrupted by the blasts of trumpets, announcing that the royal entourage had arrived.  Frank helped Hazel and Leo fight their way through the crowd to watch the procession.
The Athenian army marched down the Panathenaic Way, the main thoroughfare which ran through the city. After them were Anatolian and Persian captives destined to Athens's slave markets. Wives and sweethearts rushed over to embrace their returning husbands and lovers. Jeers and garbage were hurled at the captives.
King Frederick and Queen Athena rode in a chariot towards the back of the procession.
"Onion Head!" Some jokers among them called King Frederick, who was known for always wearing his Corinthian helmet in public.
Princess Annabeth rode in the chariot behind her parents. She was a tall girl, a couple of years older than Hazel herself with strong, regular features, elevated to beauty by her regal, challenging gaze. Her blond hair was worn in an elaborate braided style, held in place with silver combs.

She was draped in a grey woolen himation loosely fastened at her shoulder with a silver fibula brooch.

Her grey himation and and silver jewelry were simple, even a little austere, but elegant. She carried herself like a true princess, with her back straight and tall and her chin raised with confidence.
The crowd murmured what a striking and dignified young woman their princess had grown into. She truly was King Frederick's daughter.
At Princess Annabeth's side was the most beautiful girl Hazel had ever seen. This mysterious maiden resembled a statue of the Goddess of Beauty and Love in the temple: perfectly symmetrical features, a clear, coppery complexion, large almond shaped eyes, full, sensual lips, and dark brown hair. Next to her, Princess Annabeth was a plait of dried straw beside a bouquet of roses. Her nearly perfect appearance made Hazel hate her, and hate herself as well. She hoped that Frank was not looking at this girl like the rest of the men in the crowd were.
Princess Annabeth's chariot passed by where Hazel stood. She waved to her subjects with enthusiasm, causing the fibula brooch holding her himation closed to come undone. It fell at Hazel's feet and she picked it up. The silver was finely etched with olive leaves and the Athenian owl.
"My lady," Hazel shouted as she ran after the chariot, Frank following close behind her.
Princess Annabeth signal for her driver to stop.
"You dropped this, My Lady," Hazel told her, holding up the brooch.
"Thank you," the princess replied. "What is your name, My Dear?"
"My name is Hazel, My Lady."
"And who is this fine gentleman at your side?" She gestured towards Frank.
"My betrothed, Frank."
"I'm a guard at the palace," Frank explained.
"My parents and I thank you for your service, Frank, and Hazel... keep the brooch. Wear it on your wedding day or sell it for a dowry. Do what you will with it."
"Thank you, My Lady."

As they walked back home from the agora, Hazel asked Leo how much money he thought she would get for the brooch.
"It looks expensive," she told him, "Though Princess Annabeth gave it away like it was nothing."
"I think you should keep it," Leo answered, "It would look lovely on you."
"Frank?" Hazel asked her betrothed. "Did you think that girl with Princess Annabeth was beautiful?"
"Which girl?" Frank replied.
"The one with the coppery skin, dark brown hair, and dazzling eyes."
Frank gave Hazel a confused expression.
"I guess I didn't notice her," he shrugged, "I only had eyes for one girl there."
Hazel remembered Frank saying she was beautiful earlier that day. If he thought she was beautiful, then no one else's opinion mattered.
"Do you think I should sell or keep the brooch?"
"I agree with Leo. Keep it and wear it on our wedding day." 

With some of her newfound fortune, Hazel bought some fresh prawns to cook up for dinner and some pasteli, a sesame honey candy.

"How did you do?" Marie asked her when she walked through the door.
"I made thirty-six obols," Hazel exclaimed, "I've spent six obols on treats for dinner so we have thirty left."
"Good girl."
Marie took the prawns and began to cook them up with a honey glaze and walnuts.

"What is that you have there?" She asked when she noticed Hazel looking at the brooch Princess Annabeth had given her.
"I met the princess today. She dropped her brooch and I picked it up for her. She thanked me by letting me keep it."
Marie walked over to examine the brooch.
"You could eat for a month at least on what this probably cost. It would be a good nest-egg for you and Frank to start your married life with."
"I'm going to wear it on my wedding day, then I'll sell it."
Leo and Frank had arranged the benches in the main public room around the table. Hazel came in and set the table and Marie brought over the food: the pita bread, the white bean soup, the honey-glazed prawns, and the pasteli.
Leo raised his kylix and toasted the betrothed couple.
"To Hazel and Frank," he intoned.
Hazel leaned and kissed Frank, thinking that she was the luckiest girl in Athens. She was going to marry the man she loved and live a comfortable life.