You had been with Achilles everywhere since you came to live with him at Phythia. You were his companion...his best friend. You followed him to his lyre lessons, to the beach, to the dining hall or fig groves...and when the time came for the gentle boy you knew to begin his training to be a hero with the centaur Chiron...you followed him to mount Pelion.

It felt like it was just the two of you in the peace of the centaur's mountain. He was there of course, to teach you lessons everyday but he gave you both space too. He knew the minds of young men and knew you would both like time to yourself.

The affection blooming between you both was hard to overlook. You were together always. You relied on eachother for things. There was a tension. Stolen glances at eachother when you'd bathe, quick casual words that sometimes sounded too affectionate to be a normal compliment, lingering touches...

But you kept your boundary of friendship up firmly. Achilles would be a god one day if his family had their way. He would be the greatest warrior in all of Greece. And his sea nymph mother Thetis was ever watching her son and his progress. If anything happened she would know. And she would rage. Achilles couldn't afford distractions like you.

He'd visit her once a year on his birthday and return usually without much to say.

This year though...

He already lays in your shared bed in the rose quartz cave Chiron gave you both to rest in. It's soft and warm, the constallions of the stars painted on the ceiling, a fresh spring for bathing and a soft bed of animal pelts and woven blankets you both shared. Achilles sits there half undressed for sleep idly plucking at his lyre as you washed your face and undressed for bed. "I spoke with my mother today..." He says blankly. It was his sixteenth birthday after all. "She said she cannot see us here. She does not watch us on Mount Pelion." He says his eyes drifting to you...wanting a reaction.