Truth and Sparta (11 page)

“
This way,” the man said and stepped aside for her. She
followed him through the building and the small courtyard. Chara
could not make heads of tails of the numerous buildings in the
complex, but she was eventually led to a small door at the back of
one of the buildings.

Chara felt
sheer joy when her mother opened the door and she rushed to embrace
her.

“
How is she?”

“
She is sleeping.” The last piece of worry left Chara, her baby
was fine and alive—anything else she could deal with later. Chara
walked over to the small cot where a bundle wrapped in white linen
lay. She gazed at the tiny face of her baby as she lay in peaceful
repose. Her pink mouth was tiny and golden lashes rested on large
round cheeks. Chara had to stop herself from picking her up and
cuddling her. She knew instantly that all she had done was worth
it—Elphia was worth fighting for.

“
How was your journey?” Chara asked her mother.

“
Hard,” her mother said and placed her hand on Chara’s shoulder
as they watched the sleeping baby.

“
I am sorry. But we are here now.”

Chara spent
the rest of the day being with Elphia, feeding her and playing with
her. Chara could not get enough of her, her perfect tiny little
hands and she smelled so incredibly lovely.

“
Now what?” Chara’s mother asked.

“
Now we must go to Attica.”

“
What if they won’t accept us?”

“
They have to.” There was no other choice. If things went
poorly in Attica they would be in great trouble. “Tomorrow I will
find out who to talk to.” Chara knew she had to find the right
person to petition. If there was anything the Athenians did well it
was administration. There would be an administrator for Attica she
guessed she needed to reach them. She wasn’t entirely sure how this
worked, but somehow she would make them officially accept her
family into the community. If it was true that Athens was desperate
with the ravages incurred to Attica due to war and the plague, then
she had a real chance.

Finding the
administrator for Attica wasn’t difficult. The city had a clear
administrative area surrounding the Assembly and it was only a
matter of finding the right office. This was where the illustrious
figures of the Athenian society went about their business. The man
she needed to deal with was in his forties, a sober thin man with a
sharp nose. He sat at a desk at the back of the office, but his
clerks restricted access to him.

“
Are you lodging a petition?”

“
I seek to establish in Attica,” she said trying to clear the
nervousness out of her voice.

The younger
man looked her up and down. She could tell that he had serious
reservations about her and her claim.

“
I represent my family. We are farmers.”—technically they were
slaves, but effectively they were farmers—“My family has been
working land for generations and we have the skills to grow crops.”
The man gave her more seriously consideration. “My brother is young
and strong and my father has considerable experience.” Chara held
her breath; her entire future depended on convincing this man that
she had something substantial to offer. The man didn’t say
anything, but he nodded his head slightly toward the
administrator’s desk.

She approached
the man sitting at the desk writing hurriedly on parchment. He had
an air of importance around him—an assurance that he belonged in
office.

“
Yes?” he said without looking up.

“
I seek to settle in Attica with my family,” she said feeling
more confident as she had managed to convince this man’s underling.
The man looked up, his serious gray eyes looking her over without
really settling on her.

“
And from where to you come?”

“
We are Helots,” she said and straightened her back.

“
You’ve come a long way for a Helot.”

“
We are motivated to seek a better life and I understand you
required skilled farmers. I and my family have produced strong
harvests consistently all our lives.”

“
So you say,” he said and finally looked her in the eye. Chara
was worried that she had lost him, said the wrong thing.

“
You need farmers and we are farmers.”

He sighed and
leaned back into his chair looking her over.

“
Barley, olives, grapes, whatever you need, we can grow it.”
Chara held herself tensely as he assessed her. She couldn’t think
of anything else to say. “We even have an ox.”

“
Why is your father sending a girl to petition in his
stead?”

“
The Spartans are making things difficult,” she said carefully
without elaborating. She had no other real reason to give and she
hoped he would accept her answer.

The man
narrowed his eyes and picked up his quill. He scribbled quickly on
a bit of parchment and handed it to her. “Show this to Klenias in
Archernae,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Chara had
to reach across the desk for the note as man had returned his
attention to his writing.

She clutched
the note to her chest as she left the administrator’s office,
nothing would make her let go of this note; she knew it was the
ticket to her future. This introduction would get her seen by the
person who could achieve her official settlement in Attica.
Archernae she said to herself—that was the place where her future
lay. She’d never heard of the place and knew nothing of it, but it
was shining hope as far as she was concerned.

Chara and her
mother departed for Archernae a couple of days later. They both
thanked Panos’ cousin profusely for the assistance they’d been
given and the woman was good enough to send them off with some
bread and cheese. Chara tied Elphia around her chest in a sling
where she slept quite happily there throughout the journey.
Farmers’ generosity meant that they didn’t have to walk for long
stretches.

When they
arrived, Chara settled Elphia and her mother under a tree near the
village square while she searched out the man recommended to
her—Klenias—who appeared to be the Administration’s man in the
town. He wasn’t hard to find and she should have guessed as it was
the wealthiest looking villa in the village. She had to wait in
line outside with other petitioners before she was given admission
into the villa’s offices.

She dutifully
passed on the note the Athenian administrator had given her to the
man. He looked much kinder than the writer of the note, which gave
her hope. He heard her plea and seemed to think it over before
suggesting a property that was currently occupied by an elderly
woman with no family left. They could settle there provided they
were willing to care for the woman who was frail and alone. The man
looked a bit uncertain about his own suggestion, but she quickly
agreed before he could think of a reason to change his mind. She
would care for a garrison of elderly women if it was a pass to a
safe future. She felt like jumping and clapping, but she contained
herself until she got outside. She still couldn’t believe she had
pulled this off—they had a place, a place where Elphia could live
and grow. There had been times when she thought nothing would come
of this mad venture and it had all come to fruition.

She had the
crude map that the man had drawn for her. He’d assured her it was
three hours walk from the village and they set out immediately in
the direction they’d been shown.

They found the
farm as it had been described and it was a site of devastation. The
olive trees had all been felled and the vines had been burnt. As
far as Chara could see, there was nothing actually growing on the
farm apart from weeds. This was the handiwork of the Spartans and
the woman here was clearly incapable of managing it.

There was an
uncomfortable moment when Chara explained to the woman that they’d
been sent to manage the farm. The woman wasn’t entirely welcoming,
but the sight of Elphia seemed to soften her a bit. It turned out
that the woman’s family had suffered greatly with the plague and
she alone had survived its ravages. She eventually invited them
into the modest stone house she lived in.

Chara only
spent a few days in Archernae before having to return to her
father. The shorter her absence, the less likely it would be that
it had been noticed. Her mother and Elphia settled into the room
they had been allocated as the elderly woman slowly accepted
assistance around the house, alleviating some of the burden on the
woman’s severely arthritic knees. Chara was sorry to leave Elphia
again, but hopefully this would be for the last time. They would
all be here soon, starting their new life as free people away from
the tyranny of the Spartans.

She knew that
she could get Doros to pay attention now that they had a farm that
desperately needed them. She suspected he’d dismissed her claims
and intentions outright, but she’d proved him wrong—she’d gotten a
farm for them and there was no reason for any of them to stay in
Sparta now.

It took her
awhile to get back and she had to traverse the village before she
reached her father’s farm. It turned out that many in the village
were happy to see her back; she hadn’t realized how many had known
she’d been gone, but they all reassured her that her absence had
been well hidden. Chara sought out her friend.

“
I’ve found a place for us,” Chara confessed to Della after a
quick embrace.

“
Truly?” Della said disbelievingly.

“
A farm. It requires a great deal of restoration. It will be
hard work and it may produce little to begin with, but once it
comes right, it will be a good life.”

“
And what if they take it back off you when you have restored
it?”

“
There is no one to give it to,” Chara explained. “They would
have restored it already if there was someone to do it. It has been
close to a year since the Spartans stopped their assaults on the
place and nothing has been done to the place since that time, and
many others as well.”

“
I hope you are right, I worry so much about you—and your
brother.” Chara realized that Della might have developed more
tender feelings for her brother than she’d realized. This also
meant that her activities were taking him away.

“
You should consider joining us,” Chara stated. “I know it’s a
scary proposition, but so far, it has worked.” Della looked
uncertain, but she finally said she would think on it.

They parted as
Chara needed to find her brother and father, and convince them that
it was time to leave. She expected that she might have a battle
ahead, but she was not going to lose. Her father would likely be
more open to the idea, especially when she reported how much her
mother had liked the farm and had seen good potential in it.

Nicias had a
few days of rest after fierce skirmishes to regain and protect
Cythera—months of campaigning had further depleted the men. Now
there were disturbing reports that Athens were preparing to move
against Megara. The Spartan spies had all confirmed that they were
preparing for something substantial.

The generals
were meeting with the Assembly to decide on Sparta’s actions and if
their key ally needed defending. They were just too few to do all
the things needed and they were all tired. He didn’t mind the
campaigning; in fact he’d been doing it his whole adult life, but
there was something new on his mind now. His mind had started
turning to more domestic matters and the potential life he could
have if they ever reached a state of peace. He could not stop being
a soldier, but there would be more room for such considerations if
the war concluded—not that it was looking to any time soon. These
were things he never used to consider at all. He knew his girl was
a part of the reason his perspective was changing.

She was coming
around, he could feel it, her body reacted to him—she welcomed him.
It was a heady knowledge that sat in the back of his mind
constantly. He now longed for the days when he could have a few
days to return to his father’s estate and if they were marching to
Megara, he would have a chance to return. He wanted to move her to
his own promised estate and to keep her there, but this war left
him with little time for personal pursuits—and the Assembly with
little time for matter such as assigning estates.

But the idea
of marching north was building excitement in him, the kind of
excitement he used to feel heading into battle.

“
Doros, you have to come. The farm in beautiful and it’s all
ours.” Chara was pleading with her brother. He hadn’t outright said
no, but he had a look of suspicious disbelief—like she would lie
about it, she thought to herself. She suspected that she might have
to change tactics. “I’ve invited Della to join us.” She just wanted
to see what his reaction would be. He frowned. Well, that was an
interesting reaction, she surmised. Maybe Della’s apparent feeling
for Doros was returned—this could mean that she might be better off
trying to convince Della.

“
I am a Helot and I am proud of it,” he said, but Chara could
tell there was an edge of detached interest in his voice. He hadn’t
outright dismissed it. She knew it was no use speaking further—he
needed to think things over. The stubborn little mule he was could
only take on so much before he ground his heels in and she knew not
to push further. She would just work on Della in the meantime. Her
success so far had given her confidence—had achieved the
unthinkable—she had worked with the cumbersome Athenian
administration and achieved the outcome she wanted. Growing up
under the thumb of the Spartan’s, it wasn’t an expectation that
one’s efforts would ever meet with any kind of success.