> I had never seen Endymion so passionate as when he sought to convince our charge of the merits of House Leos. I knew he was Laconian, but I never dreamed he’d hold any one family in such high regard. I wonder if that was the start of our mistakes. I wonder if that was where our turning point was, and it was that moment which sealed Graecia’s fate. I may never find out the answer.

Arthur sat down at the table indicated by the waiter with a smile of thanks, and set his backpack down beside him when he did. The restaurant that Diogenes had sent him to, named the ‘Delight of Dionysus’, was apparently one of the best for day-meals and casual luncheons on Asfalís. It had only taken a quick aircar trip to arrive, and thanks to the parking priority claimed by the Kidemónes they had not had to worry about finding somewhere to stow the aircar first.

When both Endymion and Perseus took up guardian positions nearby, Arthur glanced over at them. “Not going to join me?” He asked curiously.

“We were instructed to watch over you while waiting for Lord Atreus.” Endymion rumbled gruffly in response.

“And that means you can’t do that while enjoying a meal?” Arthur questioned skeptically.

“It would be inappropriate.”

“Do you really think someone’s going to attack me here, Endymion?” Arthur pressed with a mild amount of amused exasperation. “We’re in the middle of Port Asfalís, I can see police nearby, and there are cameras and people everywhere. Not to mention the fact that nobody even knows who I am. Standing there like silver-and-blue ‘look over here!’ signs is just going to draw more attention.”

“Us eating with you could be just as strange a sight.” The Kidemónes said dubiously.

“Could be. Probably less obvious than standing guard as if I’m royalty, though, right?”

“He has a point, brother.” Perseus said with a small chuckle. “We look very conspicuous standing guard over him.”

Endymion turned his helmet to Perseus, and then back to Arthur, and finally let out an audible sigh. “Very well. You’ve made your point, Arthur.” The more senior Kidemónas said while moving to join Arthur at the table, and reaching up to remove his helmet with a hiss of depressurizing air.

The face that was revealed was both expected and unexpected in equal measure.

Endymion appeared to be in his prime, with close-cropped brown hair and a beard that erred toward red, which was meticulously maintained to surround his mouth. His eyes were a deep brown and surprisingly soulful, giving Arthur the impression of an artist or scholar more than a warrior.

Were it not for the military haircut and powered armor, in fact, Arthur would have mistaken him for a very fit librarian or poet.

“You don’t look like what I was expecting.” Arthur observed thoughtfully.

“I’ve heard that before.” Endymion muttered while setting his helmet aside on the table. “And it’s irritating every time.”

Arthur smiled at him in amusement.

“The look of annoyed sufferance is certainly very you, though.”

Endymion just grunted and looked at Perseus when the younger and taller of the two Kidemónes joined them both, and similarly removed his helmet.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Perseus looked far more like the poster boy for Graecia’s classical heritage: olive-skinned, curly black hair falling to his shoulders, an easy smile, and a strong and handsome jaw. Someone could have taken his face and put it on the poster for a movie about Hercules, and Arthur would have thought they’d actually gone and found the man.

Mythological or not.

“Endymion’s only setting is ‘professionally dissatisfied’.” Perseus said while easing himself into the chair and setting his helmet on the table.

“I thought it was ‘annoyed with everything’.” Arthur jested with an ease that surprised him. His regained memories told him unequivocally that he was not a person prone to jesting, yet he found it shockingly easy to do around the two Kidemónes.

“Currently, my setting is ‘wondering why I am here’.” Endymion griped while picking up the laminated menu with a faint whine of his gauntlet’s servos. “Though I will admit, I enjoy the food here.” He muttered. “The Delight is one of the best places for day-food on Asfalís.”

“That’s what Diogenes told me.” Arthur agreed while picking up his own menu. “Though I’m surprised it’s a physical menu.” He commented while wobbling the laminated material in amusement.

“Plays into the classical vibe.” Perseus said with a laugh. “Though since I don’t think they had laminated paper in the old world, it’s just more ‘classical’ than holo screens.”

“Classical vogue, then.” Arthur laughed in kind.

It felt good to laugh, he admitted to himself.

Arthur Zacaris, he knew, had not had very many opportunities to laugh freely.

Endymion set down his menu at the same time as Arthur turned to look at his own properly, and perused the options without any idea of what to pick.

“Can either of you recommend something?” He asked idly.

“Lamb.” Endymion said with surprising zeal.

“Lamb is good.” Perseus agreed. “Steak is good too.”

“You have Lamb and Steak on the station?” Arthur enquired. “Is it imported from Hellas, or is it vat-grown?”

“Graecia only does vat-grown for rations.” Perseus said with a shake of his head. “The restaurants and day-to-day stuff are all genuinely farmed. It’s considered pretty prestigious to be a proper farmer in Graecia. Macedon, the third continent of Hellas, is almost entirely dedicated to farming and food production. We also get a lot of things from Demeter.”

“I had heard you had an impressively well-developed Agri-World.”

“Yeah.” Perseus said with a nod. “Largest supplier of food in the cluster, actually. We got real lucky settling in Graecia. The System is absolutely stacked with resources and vital world-types. With access to proper terraforming technology, we’re hoping to be able to make more of it habitable. Zeus and a couple of the other worlds are exceptions, but the gas giant has its own benefits.”

“Like free hydrogen fuel for the fleet.” Arthur guessed.

“And a lucrative income from merchants stopping in to refuel, too.” Perseus agreed.

“Do the other nations not have gas giants?”

“Byzantium does, Parthia does, but Espania, Temujin, Liberty, and Sicilia are all pretty out of luck as far as that goes. I think Liberty and Sicilia share one at the gateway system between them and us, but their entire sub-cluster only connects to Hyperion through a single hyperlane.”

“I’m surprised Graecia doesn’t control it.” Arthur commented while perusing the list of drinks instead, and putting off his meal choice for the immediate moment.

“We provide security for the merchants, given the size of our military, but we agreed to make it neutral territory early on in the colonial development. We ended up becoming one of the two big nations in the cluster, but we’ve stuck by the treaty.”

“The star map of Hyperion is pretty rigid.” Arthur said while deciding to go with some sort of mango-vanilla hybrid drink. “I saw several micro-clusters connected to Hyperion’s main hyperlane network, and several of them were colonized by small nations.”

“There are ten star nations in the Cluster.” Perseus said with a nod. “But of those, Liberty, Sicilia, Iroquois, Bretonnia, and Madrid are minor players. Liberty tends to puff up now and then, but it’s mostly just to show they aren’t willing to be bullied by Graecia—not that we even care to do that.” Perseus finished with a sigh.

“So Graecia, Parthia, Byzantium, Espania, and Temujin are the major players?”

“Temujin… Well, sort of?” Perseus said with a look at the still-silent Endymion, who caught the glance and sighed.

“Temujin is borderline as a major player.” Endymion said with a resigned grumble. “We rate the power of a nation based on its capability for projection, its population, and its gross system product. I’m sure Aurelia was similar.”

Arthur simply nodded in agreement and continued listening.

Truthfully he had no real idea, but it seemed consistent with his false memories.