Eternal Lovers In Greece

The dirty, cobbled street was busy with the morning crowds. Overhead, a flock of crows circled, cawing in their throaty voices. They were large crows and black as tar. They would swoop down and take people by surprise, pecking them on the head or the back of the neck. It was not unusual to see a woman clutching her hair or a man rubbing his shoulder after the pass of a crow.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked him as we made our way through the throng of people.

Tothes gave me a quick glance before turning his face forward again, “Of course it is!” he said with a smile. “I know this city better than anyone else and I have never heard of any ill that could befall us here.” He held out his hand to indicate the group of men in front of us who were passing around a small bottle of what looked like liquor, laughing and joking loudly. It made my heart flutter to hear the sound of Tothes' laughter among them, but I couldn't bring myself to join in. My father had always told me that drunkenness was not becoming for women, although he would take a drink now and then himself when he entertained guests at home.

The men passed the bottle along until it reached Tothes. He took it into his hands and drank deeply from it before passing it back to one of the other men where it continued its rounds. A woman walking near us gave me a look as she caught sight of Tothes drinking from the bottle. Her eyes narrowed into an angry glare and she spat at him as she passed by us. A globule of spittle flew from her mouth and landed on his cheek where it glistened for a moment before falling away onto the cobbles below us. He wiped it away with his sleeve without even looking at her but smiled brightly at me that I knew he hadn't been bothered by her actions at all.

My heart swelled with pride for him at how unaffected he was by her spitefulness, but I didn't let him see my smile as we continued walking through the streets toward my father's house which was on the edge of town near the river bank where they made their living catching fish and selling them to merchants who came through town once every month or so to sell their goods at market day. The houses along this street stood shoulder to shoulder together with their doors facing outward toward the street making it difficult for even two people to walk side by side without knocking shoulders together or brushing shoulders together as we did now and then when someone passed between us inadvertently blocking our path forward forcing us to sidestep each other awkwardly like dancers on stage pretending to be graceful while all along being clumsy as bulls in need of horns!

“I wonder if they'll be able to tell that you've been drinking?” I whispered across to Tothes loudly enough that others could hear me too if they cared to listen which some did but most didn't give us more than a cursory glance before returning their attention back to whatever they had been doing before we had interrupted them. We passed another group who were playing dice on a blanket spread out across the cobbles in front of them shouting instructions at each other and calling out numbers loudly enough that I could hear some of them despite how far away we were from them only moments ago when we were nearly jostling against everyone around us making everyone grumble or shout in annoyance or irritation at whatever slight they had just received from someone else causing them to turn on whoever may have caused it without thinking about what they were doing since they needed something else to vent their anger on because they had no control over what caused them so much anger in the first place.

I wondered if my father felt any relief when he received my letter telling him why I wanted him to allow Tothes to stay with us until his father returned from visiting family in another province far away after leaving less than three moons ago–to marry his betrothed who was supposed to arrive yesterday afternoon–whereupon he would return home with her as his new wife, thereby replacing me as his son's lover with her instead. Even though we loved each other more than anything else in this world, I knew he allowed me some freedoms that weren't permitted for women in general, including allowing me time alone with Tothes during which time we could kiss and embrace among other things, until my monthly blood took away all desire between us while letting me sleep with Tothes' warm body beside mine all night long–not allowing his betrothed such privileges–and so there would be no reason for him to permit Tothes such freedom within our household, even though Tothes was not from our province nor tribe since he lived so far away from here! Furthermore, Tothes had come here yesterday claiming he was sent by two traveling merchants who stopped by their village last week, buying fish from his father, hoping that perhaps