Free Electra by Kerry Greenwood

sat around her, mouths opening like little birds, and she wept as she fed them that she had no more to give.
    I collected my little brother and crept away. What was a little Goddess-impersonation to this suffering?
    The three men returned as promised. I woke abruptly, and the three lying together on the one mantle stirred.
    'Morning,' stated Diomenes, and Eumides buried his head in the Asclepid's shoulder and said, 'Again?' as he always did.
    'The men have returned,' I said from the doorway, 'bringing - how much did you ask them to buy?'
    The mule was sagging at the knees under many sacks and what an amphora of oil. The men were dragging a travois with more sacks. Diomenes joined me and gave a pleased grunt.
    'Yes, that should supply them until the first barley ripens. Come on, sailor, get up. Lady, perhaps you could pour some nice cold water on him.'
    'I'm up, barbarian! Well, this Artemision didn't try to rape us but it has the fiercest fleas in the Argolid.' He stripped off his tunic, captured the insect and cracked it between his nails. There was straw in his coal-black curls. He was a disgusting sight.
    'A picture of Trojan elegance,' commented Diomenes indulgently. 'Put on your tunic, you'll shock the Maiden. Let's go and examine the load. They've made a bargain almost as good as one of yours, Eumides.'
    'Those were authentic silver coins, not convincing tin,' he protested. 'You can't make a very good bargain with real money.'
    'You're a scoundrel,' said Cassandra fondly. 'I must speak to the village. Come with me.'
    She had let down her waist-length hair and she shone like gold as she walked into the square. She had dressed in a tunic and peplos, as Artemis is always drawn. Her strong arms were bare. Her eyes were grey. She looked like a Goddess.
    The voices, exclaiming at all that food, died away as she came. She walked to the very centre of the village and said, 'I am pleased with you, Artemision. You have made me welcome with all you had. Therefore I say: all will be well. The barley will grow. You will eat of my bounty until then. I require this of you; feed your women, for only thus will you breed strong sons.'
    She went into the little temple, came out bearing the cauldron full of nightshade broth, and poured it out on the ground. Eumides and Diomedes unloaded the produce and allotted one sack of grain and a little oil to each house. There was also a handful of figs and one dish of honey, and a measure of strong winter-wine. We would have enough bread to take us to Corinth once they had ground and baked our single sack of barley.
    Cassandra did not come back into the little house, but perched on the well-coping until the women, veils awry or missing in their excitement, carried their grain down to the grinding stones.
    Then she sat down as though she was used to such labour, and rolled the stone for each woman in turn, so that all the flour had been sanctified by the Goddess.
    'Artemision will never forget this,' I said, when she returned. Orestes was eager to watch his friend eat his first full meal and hall followed the women back to their houses.
    'True. They will feel strengthened in future misfortune by my fraudulent presence. They will treat all strangers well, in case I sent them. Their barley will surely grow and they will boast of this visitation for generations,' she said.
    'Also, their women are saved and they will recover faster because they believe,' she said to Diomenes. 'Or does that not accord with your philosophy, my Lord?
    I could not get used to the way she spoke to men - mockingly, like another man.
    'They will certainly heal faster because they believe,' said Diomenes. 'Every Asclepid knows that. Will you come with me, Lady? I want to search for plants. They'll need some tonics and some purifying herbs. I've already told them that they can only eat gruel today, and a little bread and oil tonight. Luckily some of the goats are still in milk.'
    She laughed. 'Yes, I shall spread some divine