The main hall

The servant, a curly-headed lad and the first man she'd seen in this place other than the king, smiled politely at her, but she noticed his eyes darting quickly to her exposed skin before jerking away. "This way, please. I will lead you to where we will dine." Arimneste followed, careful to keep her uncovered side to the wall even though he stayed silent and his eyes remained fixed on the way ahead, not her. At last he opened a door into the great hall of the palace, where to her surprise once again only Nyctimus, Psophis, and Dia awaited, along with an unfamiliar woman. The servant bowed again and gestured for her to enter.

"Wait, one more request," she told him. "I have a **** still in town. Thanos, the only Cretan within the city, I'm sure. Find him and let him know that I am here in the palace." The young man nodded to her and turned to depart as she joined her hosts. The only available seat was at the king’s left hand, leaving the open side of her garment towards him. As she sat he made no pretense of hiding his smirk as he looked her over, but she tugged it closed as best. Well, she knew her looks affected men, and could hardly hold it against him. He was otherwise nothing but polite.

Over their meal of savory vegetable stew and sausages they made only inconsequential smalltalk. The woman introduced to her as Callisto was sharp-witted, using few words but asking about her life in Macedonia and more recently in Athens, what the Academy was like, and the like. Arimneste found herself describing her family and her academic successes in detail while getting very little information out of the group. The two other sisters were mostly quiet, only adding a word here or there, and gray-haired Nyctimus laughed and joked heartily while parrying any questions about Lycaon or the wolf. Throughout the meal Arimneste glanced over at Dia to see if the other woman would hint at anything, but if their activities in the bathing chamber meant anything she did not show it.

At last the food was finished and Arimneste gave up on careful probing. “King Nyctimus, I came all this way to learn of Lycaon. I appreciate your hospitality here, but I am in search of knowledge. Will you share what you know, or do I need to pursue my studies on my own?”

Callisto was the one who smiled and answered, leaning forwards. “You must understand that you ask for the story of a painful time for Lycosura and an especially painful time for my brother. You are prying but offer us nothing.”

Nyctimus himself scratched at his chest through his robes and nodded vigorously. “If you reopen the hurts of the past, you must offer recompense, my dear Arimneste. Even scholars get nothing for free.”

Arimneste frowned. She had only her handful of drachmas, surely nothing of value to a king. "If your history is of such value to you, then I have little to offer for it," she told them.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Nyctimus replies, grinning. "You just don't see what you bring to the table. As a philosopher, bringing news of the outside world, surely that mind of yours can give us something of value."

"Not all you might ask is a terrible secret," added Dia, whose beautiful face simply showed polite interest and nothing more. Her gaze trailed down the slender lines of the woman's neck to the swells of her breasts. She, too, wore the peplos, and she showed no bashfulness about how much was revealed as the fabric followed her curves, leaving bare much of the side of her large breast. Suddenly realizing that Dia knew where her eyes had wandered, Arimneste blushed.

"And when such a mind is housed in such a lovely body, why, how could you doubt that you have value to offer?" Nyctimus finished. The king was looking Arimneste over just as openly as she had eyed Dia, and her blush deepened.