He remembered a time when it was just the two of them; him and his brother.
Quiet, cloudless days in Orchomenos. He would hide for hours until a voice would cry 'Melicertes...'. Softly at first, as if his name were being tested against the wind, as if its sound alone were smoke from a Djinn's lamp promising his reappearance. He would wait until the voice came closer, trailing thin footsteps behind it. He would wait until he could hear the first notes of panic beginning to chime amongst its rythms.
"MEL-IC-ER-TES!"
And then he would leap from his hiding place to yell "LEARCHUS!" Making his poor brother scream with fright and leaving them both in fits of laughter.
One lunchtime they run home to find their mother sat at the kitchen table nervously chopping potatoes for their lunch. She tells them to wash their hands and wrings her own against her apron. As they eat she explains that their cousin is coming to live with them. For ever? They ask almost in unison. She doesn't answer. Haven't you always wanted a sister? She says. They are silent. Isn't our cousin a boy? Learchus asks. They are sent to their room.
Later that evening they hear an extra pair of feet pad quietly up the stairs and understand that their cousin has arrived.
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