What do you guys think of this short piece?

- It's set in Ancient Greece
- Told from the POV of 16 year old Melaina
- Her servant is Parthenia.



“Parthenia! Parthenia! Where is that useless creature?” shouted Ma, as she neatly wrapped up a small bundle of cakes with the green velvet leftover from her new peplos* (*Grecian dress).

“You sent her to the plantation to collect some figs Ma.” I reminded her. “Can I help you with anything?”

“You want to help? Fine. When she returns give her this bundle and tell her to deliver to Alcyone. His business is suffering. No doubt, that b*****d son of his is to blame. He angers the Gods. Refuses to honour them! He will be the downfall of his family, you mark my words.” she said shoving the package at me before retiring to the gymnaceum.

Recently Ma had been spending a lot of time in bed, I would have been worried, were it not for the fact that I enjoyed the peace. With her not around I was free to read from Pa’s private book collection, or sit under the shade of an olive tree, just chatting with Parthenia, I’d even snuck out of the house a few times and visited the market place. Of course I’d had to keep my himation – my cloak – on, so no one recognised me and reported back to Ma but that didn’t diminish from the experience too much.

I sighed, contentedly, as I thought of the market place. I longed to go again, but it was nearly dark and even I wouldn’t go to the market place after the sun had gone down. It wasn’t a place where self respecting Greeks went. At night…well, the brothels were open for business.
Parthenia had described her experiences as a slave, before she was bought by my father, to me in great detail. That was one of the things I admired most about her – her ability to talk openly about all the terrible things that she’d seen, without any tears or sadness. When she told me about how she was owned by that scoundrel Leander I was moved to tears but she just laughed, sadly, handed me a handkerchief and said, “I’m sorry Melaina. I forget how innocent you are. These stories, you don’t need to hear them. You should not worry yourself about us slaves. We are strong, my dear. Please don’t cry.”

It was only because I’d begged her to go on, that I’d learned so much about the taboos that I’d been shielded from. And I’d made myself a good friend in Parthenia. Which was why I decided that I’d deliver the bundle. She’d been working hard all day and it would be unfair to make her walk all the way to Alcyone’s. The journey was nearly twenty minutes on foot.

I quickly strapped on my leather sandals, pulled on my cloak and left, not knowing how this decision was going to change my life forever.

So will you continue this supremely awesome story? It's one of the best stories I've read on this site