[Xenia]

Fate/Defiance

Chapter 12 [Xenia]

By theMadLad

The flap of feathers bellowed into Icarus' ear like a viral infection, the very sound of it might as well have burrowed into his brain and laid a nest, for it was unable to leave.

Basically, he had a bold idea.

Instantly his hand was back inside his bag, shuffling through it for the book he had been looking at previously—the one that had labeled the different animals and creatures throughout modern Greece.

The moment he had it in his hand he laid it down then started looking for the next piece he needed, the map. Seconds later it was on his other hand and laid out together with the animal encyclopedia on a makeshift table made of stone he had resting within his camp.

The book was immediately opened, with it lying adjacent to the map that displayed the portion pertaining to Arcadia. He rapidly flipped through the book with a single creature in mind, a very dangerous phantasmal species that had carved itself into legend.

The Stymphalian Birds.

He wanted to capture one.

While Icarus in his past life was by no means an expert in Greek Mythology, he was still more familiar with it than someone with only surface or entry level knowledge.

It was one of the reasons he had remembered these birds as they were a rather prominent part of Greek Mythology, with them being the Sixth Labor of Heracles' Twelve Labors.

He flipped the pages of the book until he eventually came to their entry. There on the page was a small summary and crude drawing of the bird, with their location being labeled as well. However, there was no information about their use in crafting, as Daedalus was unable to ever obtain materials from them while also deeming them too dangerous to pursue himself.

He read the summary with concentration, ingraining all the details in his head. The Stymphalian Birds are man-eating birds with beaks and feathers made of bronze, with their sharp metallic feathers having the ability to launch at their victims, they also seemed to produce poisonous dung. These birds were originally raised by Ares, the God of War, as familiars before eventually migrating to a marsh by Stymphalus, a town that resides within the forests of Arcadia.

There it was, all the information he needed.

He may not have been Heracles, who was blessed with divine strength, along with skill and wit born from decades of experience.

—He was Icarus instead, and not just any old Icarus, he was a reborn Icarus who stood on the shoulders of over two thousand years of independent human development. While he may not be as strong or mighty as the other heroes or people roaming about, it didn't matter. He would never allow himself to lose to anyone regardless.

This was his pride.

Needless to say, the Stymphalian Birds were extremely dangerous. Simply encountering one was a death sentence, while attempting to capture one? Suicide.

There was a reason it was a prime Heracles' sixth labor.

Icarus was just some kid with a strong ass bow, some esoteric magics, and a good head on his shoulders. For him to face the personal familiars of the God of War and capture them while making it out alive? Simply an impossibility.

At least… for anyone with an outside perspective.

He resolved himself to live life to the fullest, and he wanted to do so with every waking moment of his being. If it was anyone else, they would even dare to attempt it. But Icarus? He didn't care what others thought was impossible, what was common sense or not.

So he was going to capture one anyway.

He was actually more wary of the centaurs than the stymphalian birds. While the birds were much more deadly, with a myriad of ways to kill him as well as an air advantage, the centaurs had something Icarus dreaded far more… wisdom.

They had the knowledge to put plans into action through strategy rather than instinct—the very advantage that gave Icarus the courage to face the birds even while being so much weaker.

Although the stymphalian birds lacked that trait, they were still just as lethal… but, Icarus was confident that he could capture one.

He just had to prepare.

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It was days later when he finished.

He had created a bunch of new inventions just for this attempt. He felt like his life had become a video game and he had entered a deeper level of progression, where he had to make new stuff to gain items to make even better stuff.

It was kind of exciting.

He made sure to leave early in the morning, so that he could arrive shortly before noon, when the sun was at its highest possible point.

The location he was headed towards was Stymphalus, the town which was the birds' namesake. The people there are said to constantly live in fear, as the birds are complete menaces who feast on the crops like rabid locusts and ruthlessly attack anyone who dares tread on their territory.

As Icarus eventually wandered his way there while habitually cross checking his map, he then came to a stop just outside the town and near the forest area surrounding it.

"Hmm…" He murmured to himself as he walked over to a tree that stood out from the others in the area. Icarus then stood beside it before giving it a hard knock.

"As I suspected," Icarus spoke with a hum, "…A cork tree." He smirked, "…Just what I needed."

He brought out one of the inventions he had worked on creating the past few days, a handsaw. It was rather crude and definitely not as quality as some of the others he made, but it was still enough to get the job done.

He sectioned off a portion of the cork tree's bark before beginning to cut, making sure to saw off the bark at its thickest possible point.

The loud noise if the saw reverberated throughout the forest as he sawed the bark into few large portions before storing them in his bag, He blew the sawdust off his fingers as he finished, strapping the saw into a makeshift tanned boar hide cover used to hold the blade.

He wiped his brow from the sweat before immediately becoming alert from the faint sound of footsteps nearby. He grasped his side where a small device laid ready for use incase of encountering unexpected hostiles.

But, it turned out it was unnecessary as it was revealed to be an older woman, who seemed to be around her early thirties, "Oh? What could such a young boy be doing here?"

The lady was pretty but not overtly so, she wore clothes one would expect from this location, with a plain and rather well worn peplos tied together with a small belt that hid her rather voluptuous figure, and leather sandals that stepped quietly among the grass. She also held a small basket in her hands that was filled with berries.[1]

"…Um, getting some cork?" Icarus replied hesitantly.

It was kind of awkward, as he wasn't sure what to say. He was also still fairly wary towards her as she could be some goddess in disguise for all he knew.

The lady looked at him strangely before giving an apologetic smile, "I apologize, that was rude of me to ask. Please head back to the village with me, I don't seem to recognize you and it would be improper of me not to offer you proper xenia."

Xenia.

Icarus remembered that word as it was an important part of the current Greek culture, one that Daedalus made sure to ingrain into his mind.

Basically, it was the current concept of hospitality between a foreigner and host, and is seen as a moral obligation throughout the various city-states in the region.

Xenia consisted of two basic rules, the respect from hosts to guests and the respect of guests to hosts.

Hosts must be hospitable to guests and provide them with a bath, food, drink, gifts, and safe escort to their next destination. It is considered rude to ask guests questions, or even to ask who they are, before they have finished the meal provided to them.

Meanwhile, guests must be courteous to their hosts and not be a threat or burden. Guests are also expected to provide stories and news from the outside world. Most importantly, guests are expected to reciprocate if their hosts ever call upon them in their homes.

This practice became common not only as a form of respect and friendship but also as a means of protection and caution, as the Gods were known to occasionally test mortals, and if one was found to be a poor host… well, they may incur a God's wrath upon them.

This was such an ingrained practice that the term itself used to embody this concept—with it originally being called theoxenia, which derived its words from the expectation that a human would demonstrate their virtue or piety by extending hospitality to a humble stranger, or xeno, who turns out to be a disguised deity, or theo, with the capacity to bestow rewards.

"Well, then in that case I'll accept." Icarus spoke with a slight smile as gathered up his things.

Icarus then followed her back to the village, which was rather small but not overtly so, with the villagers greeting him as he passed them by while following the woman. They made some small talk as she told him about her going out to pick berries, while also noting that the villagers seemed to look towards him with both slight excitement and frustration.

"Is everything alright with them?" Icarus asked casually as they arrived at a small trail leading down to a single house resting towards the outskirts of the village.

The woman gave a slight grimace, "I apologize for them, things have been rather tough these past few years, as after the birds migrated here we have had a bit of a food shortage."

Icarus gave her a concerned look as he responded, "Are you sure it's fine for me to impose? I wouldn't want to be a burden towards you or your family."

He had mostly followed her out of curiosity, as he was interested in seeing not just the village itself, but he also wanted to experience traditional Greek hospitality. He also wanted to interact a bit with people, as he had been living alone in the woods for some time now.

She became a bit flustered at his question, and quickly responded with fever, "No, it's quite alright! They are just a bit concerned about people visiting and eating up their food supplies, causing their coin pouches to run dry! While we may be having a shortage of local food, we are still able to import supplies from the kingdom."

Well, it seemed fine then. While his twenty-first century sensibilities told him to not impose, he ignored them, as he would never be able to experience such a thing otherwise.

"Besides," The lady spoke up again, but now with a more positive tone in her voice, "Everyone is rather excited to hear about the recent events that occured in Athens."

Icarus perked up a bit at her words but decided to stay silent, he wanted to hear about what they heard from the event. He also decided to not yet reveal his name so he could hear about it from another unbiased perspective.

…Totally not so he could hear people excitedly talk about his actions so he could later dramatically reveal himself.

He shook the thought out of his head as he eventually arrived at their house and was quickly invited inside where she finally introduced herself as Syntychia, along with her husband and three children.

Her husband was named Kleitos and the children were named Roxana, Eugenios, and Chloe with the eldest and youngest of them being girls while the middle child was a boy.

Syntychia let down the basket she had been carrying along the way at the table, before she offered him a place to bathe as she began cooking a meal.

When he stepped out the meal was almost finished, so he took the time to make small talk with the husband and children, although the husband seemed mostly amused by him due to his small stature and obviously prepubescent age.

But, Icarus was still able to acquire some information about them. He noted that unlike Syntychia, Kleitos had a more informal manner of speech that contained an obvious countryside accent exposed through the longer drawls in his pronunciation, along with the slight skips of certain letters when he spoke.

Regardless, he seemed a nice man if a little uneducated. The children on the other hand, seemed to struggle holding back asking him a myriad of questions. The boy seemed the most excited about what he wanted to ask, having to catch himself after beginning a sentence and quickly stop. He also noticed the two girls perk up as the boy spoke with just as much attention..

The meal was soon finished and served on a large circular wooden table made through decent carpentry, although Icarus believed he could easily make one better. The meal consisted of quail eggs, roasted fish, a small loaf of bread, and some orange berries that she took out from the basket earlier.

As they ate, Syntychia explained that she was originally from the inner kingdom within Arcadia and belonged to a minor noble family as well, which helped explain her more formal demeanor and educated manner of speech.

Her husband had apparently saved her father while on a hunt in the woods when he was young and they managed to hit it off rather well, as repayment for saving his life he had offered to marry off his daughter to him for which he quickly accepted.

The story made Icarus look towards Kleitos strangely.

Such good luck? He was jealous.

But seeing that Syntychia seemed plenty satisfied with the arrangement he held back any inquiries. Eventually the meal came to an end and Icarus finished up the food while wiping the crumbs from his mouth with a small cloth. He barely had time to breath as immediately after, the three children rushed to his side and began bombarding him with questions.

"Is it really true what happened in Athens?!"

"Did a boy really fly in the skies?!"

"Have you heard of Icarus?!"

The husband and wife duo smiled fondly at the children's excitement as they gave off a slight chuckle before telling them to calm down and wait patiently for him to respond.

"Do I know Icarus?" He spoke as he reaffirmed their questions with a glint in his eye. The children perked up at his words and he was unable to resist as the next sentence poured out of his mouth,

"Well of course I know him… he's me."

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Author's Notes

Next chapter Icarus faces the Stymphalian Birds! I wanted to show a bit more about how the people in Ancient Greece interact, and how Icarus' presence has already started to spread!

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave a like!

Glossary

[1] Peplos

A body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece.

It was a long, rectangular cloth with the top edge folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the rectangle was now draped below the waist, and the bottom of the rectangle was at the ankle. The peplos was draped and open on one side of the body.

The garment was then gathered about the waist and the folded top edge pinned over the shoulders. The folded-down top of the cloth provided the appearance of a second piece of clothing.