Prince Nico woke Reyna up early the next morning and asked her if she wanted to join him, Prince Will, and Hazel for a walk in the garden. She expected to shown flowers and lawn ornaments but instead she was taken to the part of the garden which grew herbs for the kitchen and apothecary. Prince Will and Hazel chatted about which herbs they would to need to bring with them on their quest.
"Cut some some of that mint," Prince Will said. "Mint is good for sea sickness."
Reyna noticed another plant growing near the mint. It looked similar to the mint though the leaves were smaller and thinner. Both had pale purple flowers growing in clumps on their delicate stalks.

"Is that another type of mint?" She said.
"That's pennyroyal," Prince Will replied. He leaned in towards her and adopted a confidential tone. "The ladies of the court use it to prevent a babe when they don't want to have one."
Reyna flashed him a wicked smile.
"My sister used rue and tansy before she was married." 
"Pennyroyal also smells nice and keeps away mosquitoes and fleas."
He broke off a stalk of the plant and handed it to Reyna. It smelt like peppermint but stronger and more bitter.
Prince Will again leaned in to whisper something.
"Rumor has it that Queen Hera has been using a tea made from pennyroyal, rue, and tansy she learned to make from a Cretan priestess since Prince Jason's birth."
"I think all of this will come in handy," Hazel added, as if to call attention to the fact that she had heard everything.
She blushed when Reyna and Will gave her an odd look. "I hope Frank and I will someday have a large family but I'd like to ... get used to being married first."
Will gave her one of his sunbeam smiles.
"I give you some of those herbs before you return to Athens," he said. "But be careful. If you take too much, it'll cause uncontrolled bleeding and infection."
"The same as a typical miscarriage."
"Seems like pregnancy and childbirth are as dangerous for women as war is for men," Reyna cut in.

Athenaíí sang her ballad about Prince Eros, Princess Psyche, and their untimely deaths, which had become something of a hit among the sentimental ladies of the court, at a banquet that evening.
Her conversation with Prince Will and Hazel about pennyroyal, and Princess Psyche's tragic fate had left Reyna feeling unsettled. Not only was it her fate to sold into marriage to a man who was in love with someone else, it was likely that trying to give him his precious heir would be the death of her.
Queen Hera stifled a yawn as she listened to Athenaíí's song. She was dressed in a gold colored sleeveless tunic and chiton printed with red and black geometric patterns and a wine colored veil. Her hair was pulled back by a gold diadem with spikes resembling the rays of the sun and swept up into a net.

Chunky golden earrings shook as she yawned.

That evening's banquet was going to be the last great social occasion for the foreseeable future. The court had been drawn together for two royal weddings, both of which were postponed indefinitely. They had to make due with the only ripe piece of fruit that gossip tree had produced in the past few weeks: Queen Aphrodite's, Lady Piper's mother, refusal of her summons to Macedonia.
"She's sent me a letter, ordering me back to Cyprus," Lady Piper said to Princess Thalia. "She says it's not safe here for me."
"I can't think of anywhere less safe for anyone than my parents' court," Princess Thalia took a sip from her kylix of wine. "So she has a point."
"She blames Queen Hera for my sister-in-law's death, and by extension, my brother's suicide."
Reyna recalled Prince Jason telling her that his mother had sent Princess Psyche medicine during her illness.
"She's acting out of grief. I know I'd behave the same ways if anything were to happen to Lukeides. A mother's job is to protect to her children and she'll do anything to keep them safe. If anything happens to them, even if it was completely out of her hands, she feels as though she is a failure. Perhaps she even regrets the lengths she went to protect them."
"If I ever have children, maybe I'll understand then."
Lady Piper wrapped her sheer, white himation around her shoulders. It's gold embroidery matched the pattern on her pale blue chiton.

After she had finished performing, Athenaíí approached Reyna.
"My lady," she said, dipping a graceful bow.
"Yes," Reyna replied.
"I would like to go with you to rescue Princess Annabeth. I'll cook and clean, whatever you need me to do. Princess Annabeth saved my life once, and I want to repay her somehow."
"She saved your life?"
"Let's just say this tongue of mine got the better of me and the consequences would have been dire if she hadn't spoken in my defense."
"We'd be happy to have you. Come find us in the garden at first light."

When the banquet ended, there were only a few hours left until the Orestes was to set sail. Reyna decided that it wouldn't be worth it to try to get some sleep. She changed out of her sky blue tunic and removed the crown of golden leaves from her hair.

The first layer she put on was a stethodesmos, a version of the apodesmos which features straps, and a diazoma, a type of loincloth.

Over these, she put on a short, wine colored tunic, cinched with a belt of interlocking bronze links.

Her good sandals were switched for a pair of pointed-toed leather buskins.

"Ready to leave, little sister," Hylla entered the koraiceum, wearing the white tunic, red veil, and wreath of wilting roses she had worn to the banquet.
"As I'll ever be," Reyna answered, fastening a pair of leather wristbands.

Hylla pulled her into a rib crushing hug.
"Please be careful."
"I've gone into battle before, you know."
"But all those times you had me to look after you."
Reyna scoffed and bent down to tighten the buckles on her bronze greaves.

"I'm glad you took my advice and swore fealty to Prince Jason as his hetairos. If anything, you'll earn his respect as an ally."
"I imagine, that's all I'll ever be to him, an ally."
"That's better than nothing."
One of Reyna's maids held up a mirror so that she could strap on her breastplate.

"I'm going to tell you want I told you the first time you went into battle... stick them with the pointy end and use the round thing to keep them away from your face." Hylla handed Reyna her sword and shield. "Go kill some witches for me, little sister."

Reyna gave her sister one last hug before going to join the rest of her comrades in the garden.

Princess Thalia was stumbling drunkenly back to her quarters, guided by her maids, when Reyna passed her in one of the palace corridors.
"Gg-oo-d eve'ing, Onion-Head," Thalia said.
Reyna had to admit that her dome-shaped helmet did look rather onion-like.

"She should have been ready to leave by now," Reyna grabbed onto Thalia's pleated bronze silk chiton and dragged her into her chambers. "But no, she gets drenched in Bacchus."

A/N I got the one phrase "drenched in Bacchus" from a Roman epitaph and I plan on using it frequently.

"You know, armor suits you, Princess."
She leaned in and kissed Reyna on the lips, which Reyna responded to with a slap.
Thalia was thrown on the bed. One of the maids dumped a bucket of cold water over her. She shook her head like a wet dog while they dried her off and changed her out of her damp silk chiton and gauze himation and into a shorter chiton and a pair of buskins, something more appropriate for a quest.

Thalia was still groggy but would be able to make it to the ship. There she could sleep off the rest of her bender.
"Why on earth did you kiss me?" Reyna said as they walked into the garden.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Thalia replied.
The sky above the garden was turning into its early morning shades of rosy pink and royal purple. The rising sun cast long shadows over the trees, bushes, and statues. Frank, the bulky palace guard from Athens, bowed to them as they he approached him. His betrothed, Hazel, chatted with Athenaíí and Aphrodisia, who had tagged along when she heard that her friend Athenaíí would be joining the crew of the Orestes.
Prince Will, with a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to his back, entered the garden arm-in-arm with Prince Nico, who carried a large sword which looked too heavy for his slight frame. Lady Piper and Prince Jason followed behind them.
Prince Percy was in the middle of a conversation with Queen Athena, who was resplendent in a white chiton with a teal long-sided diploidion, a fold of fabric which hung from the front of her chiton over the waistband. The garnet in her gold necklace glinted in the dim, early morning light.

"Bring my daughter safely back to me," were Queen Athena's parting words to her prospective son-in-law.

"The Orestes," Reyna said as she boarded the ship an hour later. "Is there a meaning behind that name?"
"Orestes was a Mycenaean prince," Prince Percy replied. "The lovely Spartan princess, Hermione, was promised to him in marriage. But she was stollen from him and he had to fight to win her back. The Hermione was name of the ship Annabeth was on when she disappeared. I choose this ship because I thought its name would be a good omen."
The Orestes was a small, compact trireme. It's shorter mast had a sail made from a sheer, shimmering golden fabric.

"What was...is Princess Annabeth like?"
"She's spoiled, willful, arrogant, infuriating, strong, clever, loyal, and the only girl I've ever loved."
"She sounds like something."
"I think the two of you are going to get a long very well."
They looked out onto the horizon and watched the sun rise over the Aegean. An archipelago of islands was spread out before them.
"Now which one of them is Ogygia?"