Eutopia (First version)

Chapter 7

‘Are you sure the Master and Mistress won’t know?’ Aisha asked Eirene anxiously, her plump lips twisted with worry. Eirene smiled and shook her head.

‘How could they? When was the last time either of them came into the kitchen to check their stock? Phoibe orders all the goods we need and what can she do to us? Scold us? The worst she will do is refuse us dinner. And trust me, Aisha, you’ll be having too much fun to even feel hungry!’ Eirene giggled softly. ‘I can’t believe you’ve never tasted it before.’ A sacred hush fell over the two girls as the gentle gurgle of liquid splashing into a cup bubbled into the still kitchen. Phoibe was in the market that afternoon, bustling about as always and the two girls had been left to finish preparing the dinner. In the two months that the Master had bought from his sister by showering her with precious pieces of jewellery and fine clothes, Aisha and Eirene had been brought together by the sheer similarity of their age. With no one else but poor old fuddled Phoibe they sought companionship in each other. Aisha had regaled Eirene with stories from her childhood in the plains of Africa, terrifying her with tales of lions and stampeding beasts. Eirene had made Aisha roar with laughter at her anecdotes of her previous life with her beloved old Scholar. Now, the dying afternoon sun found them crouched in a far corner of the kitchen with a jug of wine between them and a silver cup.

‘You have the first sip.’ Aisha thrust the cup into Eirene’s hands and Eirene took a large swallow, her dark eyes gleaming defiantly.

‘See. It isn’t poison.’ Despite the other girl’s claim, Aisha shivered before accepting the offered cup and peering cautiously into it.

‘You obviously didn’t open the right stuff,’ Aisha said, looking suspiciously at the dark red liquid as she swirled it around. ‘Honestly, I swear its blood!’

‘Just drink it!’ Eirene giggled, the sound tapering into a gasp as Aisha passed her back the empty vessel. ‘I didn’t mean all in one go.’ Eirene topped up the cup and took it for herself, swigging the whole thing back without stopping for breath. She grinned, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. The rest of the afternoon passed in the same hazy manner of drinking and refilling the cup with wine as they shared it between them. The rest of the dinner lay unprepared on the kitchen table.

‘Well just look at the state of you two,’ boomed Phoibe, her lengthening shadow cast upon the stone floor of the kitchen as she stood over the girls tangled together in the corner. The old woman’s tone was tinged with hysteria as she bent down to pull them both up by the hair with surprising strength to get a good look at their unfocused eyes. She noticed the empty jug and the toppled silver cup. ‘Drunk!’ she exclaimed, letting them fall back into a laughing heap at her feet, wringing her hands, ‘on the Master’s wine. Oh my, oh my. There’s nothing for it. The Senator is here, the Senator!’ she screeched at the two girls, who were both too interested in trying to clamber to their feet to notice Phoibe’s panic.

‘You never said, Beefy,’ Eirene mumbled, mustering all her power of thought to form her words, having made it unsteadily to stand with her back against the cool stone wall. She reached a hand down to help Aisha to her feet. Aisha, however, having managed to make it onto her knees, fell back to all fours with a snort of hysterical laughter.

‘Beefy!’ she cried, ‘that’s not her name! It’s..’ but evidently Phoibe’s name was too tricky for Aisha to say either and she dissolved into a fit of giggles that made Eirene giggle too. Phoibe, at her wits end already, had managed to slice and arrange a variety of fruit onto a platter in record time, placing a little pot of golden honey on the side to then shove it into Eirene’s unsteady hands.