Forever Your Mother,

Entry I | The Trojan War

My Dear Lysandros,

As I am writing this to you, my child, the blood of lesser men drips off of my body. With every stroke of my lead, I must be careful to not soak this page with the red that once fuelled the lives of the men who have fallen victim to our calculating ploy. It has been around 10 long years, yet our men of Ithaca have reigned victorious, finally infiltrating the walls of the Trojans with a hefty gift of deception. Our great king be blessed with Athena's wisdom.

No matter when your eyes shall look upon these words, I beg of you to refrain from finding yourself to be upset with me for going in place of you. I also beg that you not be upset at one's self for not being able to fight alongside our mighty Ithacan men. I know it is believed that every honorable man is expected to do nothing less than fight alongside their king, but you must accept that I could not have you risk your life in a war as mindless as this. To go to war is to upset and slaughter others that, perhaps in another life, you could have made an alliance with. War is to be fought by men, but you were only just a boy. You were my boy. It has been so many days and so many nights since I have last seen the gleam of your face. It is my hope and foreknowledge that tells me you have grown to be a great man of Ithaca. A great man that I desired to have the honor to be capable of watching grow up. However, you must fathom that I chose to have you grow up without me rather than have you sail away to get your life taken away from this world. Taken away from me. As ludicrous I believe this war to be, you must also understand that I had to send someone to fight with our people, to help our king. And for that, I chose myself. With how long it has been, I am sure you now understand how a war such as this arose. You have now been blessed with smarts and age, I hope you recognize how senseless this entirety of bloodshed is, having begun with the Gods and only a fruit— the same sort of fruit I used to cut little pieces for you to eat. I hope you will acknowledge the behavior of this woman Helen, who ran away with Paris and refused to return home, and not seek for that in a partner.

The men I have fought alongside have not yet figured out who I am, and for that I am thankful. While I have had to be meticulous and diligent all these years, It is better that the men do not discover my reality. I have been blessed with enough intellect to grasp that as soon as I allow my guard to be let down, the truth will be known by everyone. It has not been the easiest to lie to my people and be someone I am not whilst trying to break through the Trojan's near-impenetrable wall, but I have become accustomed over all of this time for the sake of battle. I have to admit, there are few things that have been difficult for me to master. Being able to withstand the stench of the others is something that I have barely overcome a few weeks ago, and their atrocious way of devouring food is still somewhat disturbing. I have seen pigs in the wild chew with more delicacy than most of the men I have journeyed with. For all the time we have been away from each other, praying that you have kept our dwelling as unblemished as it was the day I left is something I have done every day since my departure.

It is to my dismay to find that I do not have enough time to continue writing to you as of this moment. Now that our men and I have demolished the city of Troy, and have proven to be victorious, we all must begin to find our way back home. Our ships will set sail immediately the instant I put my lead down. May our brilliant King Odysseus lead us across the sea once again, safely back to the great Ithaca. May he lead my being across the sea to find a way back to you, my child.

Forever Your Mother,

Thaleia

The boy sat dumbstruck in the sand. A moment of silence filled the beach, only being interrupted by the coming and going of the sea waves. Dee squinted in disbelief of the treasure he had come across. Dark night had already made its way after Dee had finished the first letter, the sun finally sinking below the horizon. Total dark of the beach, aside from the far streetlights, had woken Dee. Suddenly, he became aware of the hour. Ever since he was little, something about staying up later than he was supposed to always excited him. Filled to the brim with a new surge of energy, he looked over the words a couple hundred times, holding the paper close to his eyes, turning the paper upside down, and reading in between every line of writing. Questions about the ancient writing had overflown his mind. Who wrote these? and How old were these letters? were the main questions Dee asked himself, flipping through the rest of the pages, being careful to not rip or disorder the letters.

Right off from the first words, Dee had been hooked. Ancient letters were cool, but ancient letters written by a warrior? He was practically bouncing of off the sand with excitement. From reading the contents of the letter, Dee had found out these were the writings of a soldier from the Trojan War. He had remembered hearing about something on that war in class, but he hadn't paid much attention at the time. Now, he definitely wished he had. Not only that, but the ancient warrior had been a woman in disguise! While Dee couldn't wait to tell his friends about this discovery, he had found himself to be a little upset under all his excitement. In the letters, it had been a parent writing to their son after 10 long years. While he couldn't imagine being away from his mother for so long, Dee had remembered their recent argument. His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he remembered why he had even gone to the beach in the first place.

"At least his mom let him stay home," Dee sighed aloud to himself, thinking of the boy the letters were to. The boy tried to push the thoughts of his own mother aside. He had come here to get away and yet he's still thinking about her. Dee shook his head, clearing his mind so he could focus on the fascinating letters before him. There had been a stack of papers in the now broken bottle, he wondered if he would be able to finish reading them all. He wanted to take them home and study them, but being around his mother was the last place he wanted to be. Another sigh left the boy as he set down the first paper in the sand beside him, picking up the next one in the stack. Straightening out the page, the boy laid his eyes on the new set of words, excited to see where else Thaleia's journey would go.