1 The Market
Greece, 1672
Maria held her coat closed as she took quick steps across the stone pavement, her head down, avoiding eye contact at all costs.
Even with a blonde wig covering her naturally brown, curly hair, she was afraid to be recognized as being out of place because after all, she was a princess and she had no idea how to fit in with everyone else.
She was able to convince her maid, Alexandria, to let her borrow her plain, brown dress and shoes, and she stole a wig from the theatre on the first floor so that she could escape out of the royal palace for just a couple of hours to go to the local market.
Maria was born to Kalli and Nicos Olympios, Queen and King of Greece, and she was next in line for the throne as she was their first born child.
She hated that she was born just a year before her brother, Jason, and that Greece was the only country in the ancient world to not take gender into account for who could run a country.
The princesses in all the other lands did not have the responsibility of having to take over their thrones upon the death of their parents because it was typically a man's job, yet here Maria was trying to mentally prepare for what was to come in her future.
While she was infinitely proud that Greece saw her as an equal, it was an unbearable responsibility knowing she would be the future Queen.
You see, Maria was a soft-spoken wallflower who lacked the confidence and eloquence her brother had, and it was painfully obvious to anyone who knew the two of them.
For as long as she could remember, Maria had followed her father around and joined him in official royal meetings to discuss strategy, current affairs, and the prosperity of Greece.
She knew everything about Greece's past, present, and possible future, but she spent so much time with the royal court that she didn't quite know how to interact with other humans if they were not discussing her country, which made her come across as uncaring and unapproachable.
In reality, it was quite the opposite because Maria was one of the most caring and loving people you could meet; she just was not the best at expressing herself because of how shy she was.
She had never been outside of Greece, and spent most of her time locked away, surrounded by books, and studying in the palace as she prepared to become Queen in the now not so distant future.
On the other hand, her brother Jason was able to live life to the fullest by becoming Greece's best and most respected warrior, traveling the world and making friends everywhere he went; he also snuck his way into the hearts of every person he came across.
He was one of the most charming people you could ever hope to meet, and of course the ladies loved him to pieces as he was quite the flirt as well with his big, brown eyes and luscious brown hair.
As Maria continued to approach the stalls in the market, she recalled a conversation she had had with Jason multiple times over the last couple of years.
"Are you sure you don't want me to run away and never be seen again so that you can be King?" she chuckled as she had said this in a half joking way to him.
"Nah, if I end up King it'll only be because I killed you for eating all of the baklava before I got to have any" he would say in return as he winked at her.
So to cope with the fact that she would be trapped in the palace forever, she would occasionally dress as a commoner and escape to the market in the city for just a few hours before anyone would notice that she was gone.
She had read about wonderful places in her books, but part of her really wanted to witness and experience them herself.
Not only that, but living in the ancient world made it difficult to travel around to other countries as it would take weeks to get anywhere by horse and carriage.
Today she had escaped because she found out that suitors were traveling to her from different kingdoms in order to try to convince her father as to why they should marry her and earn the right to become either the next King or prince consort of Greece.
It's not that she did not want to get married in the future, but the twenty-two year old had always hoped that it would be to someone she loved who loved her in return.
That was just something that came along with being next in line for the throne though; she owed it to her country and the people to make sure that Greece had monarchs who were best suited to take care of them.
There was nothing she loved more in the world than the Greek people, and she relished at the chance to be among them and watch them interact with each other.
To her, it felt like her books coming to life right in front of her eyes.
The hustle and bustle of Athens was very overwhelming to her, but she felt such pride in the Greek people when she would go from stand to stand to see all of the amazing things her people had created and were selling.
Even if it was just for a short while, she loved getting to free herself from her royal title and play pretend as she got to enjoy life as the average person did in her beloved country.
She stepped across the grey stones among the white path and lifted her nose to the air to take in the rich smells of the gyro meat and honey filled desserts as a warm smile came upon her tanned face.
It was undeniable that the art and food in Greece was among the best of the ancient world; she ate to her heart's content and admired all of the handmade togas and vases that were for sale, wishing she could wear them in the palace that was built by her grandfather, the first King of Greece.
As she walked along the path, pita bread in hand, she came across a painter who was swiping his oil paints across his canvas, capturing the beauty of the purple Bougainvillea tree in front of him when she heard a voice next to her say "Beautiful isn't it?"
