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“All accounted for, sir.”
“Very good.” Another item crossed off the daily checklist, Eurylochus thought as he watched Stelios saunter off. Storage was doing good, the check-in with the navigator, Aeson, had been satisfactory, the rigging boys seemed as lively as ever. Nets and Charis were up there now, laughing over something foolish as Charis showed the other a fancy knot.
“Don’t give him any ideas, Charis,” Eurylochus called up as he passed the mast. Charis snorted and saluted, while Nets looked vaguely insulted.
It was time for the oarsmen rotation. Eurylochus lifted his head, looked over the called men already settling onto the benches- Dimitris and Sofoklis, Vlassis and his brother Thodoris sitting beside him, though the latter seemed more focused on fidgeting with a thin, tangled chain that Eurylochus recognized as Karalos’. There was Yianni, sitting on a bench by himself and watching the waves.
“Yianni.”
The named looked up at Eurylochus. “Yessir?”
His eyes were gray as ever, speech clear. Good, Eurylochus didn’t need a repeat of how they’d first discovered Yianni had smuggled opium onboard- how, Eurylochus had no idea, and he’d yet to find the stash of where he’d hidden it. “Who’s supposed to be on rotation with you today?”
Yianni thought for a moment. “Perimedes, I think.”
Because Perimedes never seemed to be where he needed to be. “Very well.”
Eurylochus walked away, going down the trapdoor to belowdecks. Storage hallway to the left, second door on the right…
There was something blocking the door when he tried to push it open. Oh, for gods’ sake. Eurylochus grumbled and shoved his shoulder into the door until it gave.
And there in the dim room, as expected, was Perimedes and Elpenor lying on the floor atop one another, wearing about as much as when they’d first come into this world. Eurylochus didn’t bother to avert his glare. “Perimedes! You’re on rotation. Cover your ass and get it abovedecks.”
Perimedes huffed, but climbed off of his blushing eromenos. Eurylochus stepped back and shut the door.
That’s the third time this month. Eurylochus really should start threatening him properly, but he was too tired today. Always, there was so much to be done, and it fell on his shoulders to ensure all of it went smoothly. It didn’t help that he’d had another strange lucid dream last night, of Ctimene in with a dress as blue as the sky and the happiest smile, despite the pale peach flowers growing up around her and obscuring her lips, then face. And no matter how long he shouted for her, she only kept looking beyond him.
He shook it off. He was just missing his wife, surely. It mattered not; they were to be home soon, according to Aeson. Eurylochus dearly hoped so.
“Eury?”
Eurylochus lifted his head, and there was Polites, leaning beside the ladder to abovedecks.
“Ah, Polites. What is it?”
Polites offered him a small, warm smile. His specialty. “No, nothing. I was merely thinking, you look tired, my friend.”
Of course it would be Polites to point this out. Eurylochus shook his head. “Just tired.”
Polites hummed, but he didn’t look entirely satisfied with the answer. “Are you almost done with your duties for the morning?”
“I still must count the rhythm.” Perhaps his least favorite task, to project his voice for hours on end for the oarsmen to row to. It always left his throat sore and tight, which was embarrassing, but he was one of the few men loud enough for the job, and the current keleustes was out with fever, as Miron had testified.
Polites frowned sympathetically. “For one day, could you not ask someone else’s aid? Perhaps O-”
“Sir!” Jonas ducked under Polites’ arm, clutching a carved panflute and looking at Eurylochus with starry eyes. “Did I hear you say our keleustes is ill?”
Eurylochus stared, puzzled by the young man’s excitement at another’s misfortune, unlike him entirely. “Yes…”
“May I volunteer for duty?” Jonas lifted his chin. “I can start them off counting, and then play my flute to keep the rhythm! I’ve been practicing with Miron!”
Eurylochus frowned. “I do not think that flute will be loud enough to be heard by all of the oarsmen-”
Jonas inhaled deeply, and Polites covered his ears as the boy raised his flute and blew a screechy- but admittedly loud- note. Not the most pleasant to listen to, but effective. And if a few other men helped Jonas count, it had a good possibility to work…but he really shouldn’t pawn off his responsibilities to the first barely-qualified volunteer. “I don’t-”
Jonas blew a louder note, and this time Eurylochus had to cover his ears, as well. Another man, Alexander, appeared in the doorway to the crew’s quarters to glare at the youngest with his fingers stuffed in knuckle-deep. “Hey, shut that thing up before I chuck it overboard!”
“Fine! Fine.” Eurylochus waved them both away. “Fine. Go up and ask a few others to help you count the rhythm, we’ll take a trial run.” He especially didn’t want to count now, with the blooming headache.
Jonas grinned and thanked him, eagerly scrambling up the ladder like a squirrel. Eurylochus shook his head, and Alexander disappeared back into the crew’s quarters with a grumble. Polites just chuckled as he lowered his hands. “Well, there you go! Freed up for the rest of the morning!”
Eurylochus hesitated to nod, but eventually he did. “Yes, I suppose…”
“Come share breakfast with me. I haven’t eaten yet.” Polites gave him a look that accused him of skipping his own; as always, the suspicion was correct. Eurylochus confirmed nothing, but it didn’t matter as Polites took his arm. “I’m sure Karalos will have something for us stragglers to eat.”
Eurylochus let his friend coax him up the ladder, passing the benches on the way to the kitchen. Eurylochus did note something strange, where Perimedes was sitting down beside Yianni in a tunic that was oddly tight around his chest. Elpenor meandered near the front where Jonas was setting up with his flute, and the former seemed to be wearing a chiton that might have reached his ankles without the belt.
Eurylochus rolled his eyes to the sky, before Polites dragged him into the kitchen.