Doctor Who_ Byzantium! - Keith Topping [46]
‘Come on,' she said. 'Let's go home.' Suddenly, the boring streets of Byzantium didn't seem nearly so dull after all.
During the evening, several of Georgiadis's friends and acquaintances called at the house. Word had clearly circulated within the Greek community that the Georgiadis home now had a new and interesting attraction to be viewed.
So they came to stare at the girl of Iola's age with the pale skin and the strange accent - chattering women, who talked to Evangeline in hushed bursts of whispering, and men who would give Vicki a cursory glance and then talk to Georgiadis about the cost of living in these most difficult of times.
Vicki was thankful that they didn't want to prod her as well, but she smiled and made all of the right noises as a succession of Greeks to whom she was introduced asked her some banal questions about where she was from, commented upon how good her language skills were, complimented her on her beauty and her good manners, and then left. Several of the visitors also had news for Georgiadis.
Though they could not be certain, enquiries about the three Britons with whom the girl had been travelling had given rise to a series of shaken heads. Certainly the old man of whom Vicki had spoken as her grandfather had been seen to collapse in the crowd. There were also rumours that a man who fitted the description of Vicki's Uncle Ian had attempted to fight with a Roman soldier and had been skewered for his pains. Of the aunt, Barbara, there was no news at all.
Vicki was crestfallen.
As the sun set, and darkness fell across the house, Evangeline lit a fire and a new arrival came. Papavasilliou was an aged friend of Georgiadis whom Iola had mentioned earlier in the day. He was a wise and ancient man who acted as a genial giver of advice to many members of the Greek community.
Following a gentle tap on the door, Georgiadis admitted him and he seated himself beside the fire with a groan of discomfort. `These old bones ache so in the chill of night,' he said.
'It is good that you honour us with a visit to this humble abode, good father,' said Evangeline. 'You will take bread with us?' Papavasilliou indicated that he would as Iola happily skipped across the room and sat herself beside the old man Ànd how is my angel of the stars?' he asked. Iola giggled and rested her head on the old man's shoulders.
Vicki, feeling rather left out of all of this, coughed from her uncomfortable corner seat, hoping to attract a smidgen of the attention that everyone else was getting except her.
Old eyes turned towards her. 'And this, presumably, is your gift from the Gods?'
Vicki didn't quite see herself as that, but she was flattered by the suggestion.
`Her name is Vicki,' said Evangeline with an amused scowl. À strange child.'
Ànother from the stars,' said the old man with a bewitching smile. 'Good daughter, I am usually to be found at the base of the foothills, where the lambs gamble and frolic in the water meadows,' he continued. Vicki wondered why he was telling her this. 'There may come a time when you are in need of a friendship. Of an ear for whatever woes that you may have. Remember me at these times and whence I can be found.'
There was something about the way in which he said it that made Vicki certain that one day (perhaps quite soon) she would, indeed, be sitting in the water meadows with this gentle soul pouring out all of her as-yet-unknown troubles to him 'I will remember,' she whispered. Papavasilliou stood and hobbled towards the door.
'Be tolerant of her,' Vicki heard him tell Georgiadis. 'Her ways are not our ways, but they are no less valid for all that.
There may be many misunderstandings and clashes ahead in the relationship between this girl and the family, but you must strive to overcome all of them. She is a child of the universe. Treasure her.'
He turned to Evangeline. 'Good daughter,' he said, with a nod of the head. `May the Gods look kindly upon all of those who dwell within this good house.'