Iliad, Book 1.3

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Minerva was in her room, packing a light bag for the trip to Ethiopia. She grabbed a few tunics from her Spartan closet, a hairbrush from the bedside table, and an extra pair of sandals, and slipped them into the knapsack. Done. And with plenty of time to spare.

"Minerva?" She heard Juno calling for her down the hall. Her eyes darted to the owl in the cage near the window. Crap. She would not have time to get her out the window, too--

She was too slow. Juno was already in the door, giving her that "I need a favor" look. Stifling a sigh, Minerva tossed her aegis onto her bed. "Yes?"

Juno tried to smile sweetly, but it came out manipulative. "You are SO good with humans, Minerva. So... HELPFUL when things get out of control."

"Is this about the Achaeans again?" Minerva asked, plaiting her brown hair deftly, over her shoulder.

"I KNEW you would be willing to help!" Juno gushed. "If you could just HURRY. I'm pretty sure Achilles is about to do something RASH."

"So Achilles is being Achilles, and you would like me to...?" Minerva trailed off, finishing her braid with a silver ribbon.

"Well, just keep him from killing Agamemnon," Juno said, as though it were nothing. "I mean, I would do it, but I have ALL of this packing to do..." she trailed off, nearly succeeding in looking helpless.

Minerva grabbed the aegis from where she'd thrown it and slung her knapsack over her shoulder. "Afterwards, I'm going to take a few days off. I'll meet you in Ethiopia." With that she walked out of the room and onto the beach.

Achilles was raving by the time she got to him-- yelling and reaching for his spear. "YOU TOOK A PRIEST'S DAUGHTER AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE OKAY??? AND NOW YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE MY BRISEIS??" Minerva barely noticed the tall, dark Briseis being led over to Agamemenon as she grabbed Achilles by his yellow hair and yanked his head around to face her.

"You," she said, looking into his wild eyes. "Stop."

It was like throwing a bucket of water onto a fire. He clamped his mouth shut, swallowing hard, averting his eyes to the ground in respect.

Something in Minerva didn't like seeing the wild man tamed so easily. "Talk to your mother about it," she said, letting go of his long hair. "But don't start something with him now."

"Th-thank you," he said, his muscled shoulders loosening as he took a deep breath. "I'll do that." He threw a hateful look over his shoulder at Agamemnon, then turned toward his tent without a word.