The wedding outfit Hazel purchased with the money she had earned consisted of an chiton of orange linen and a himation of black wool.

"And now for the finishing touch," her mother announced, producing a splendid collar made from gold, ivory, and lapis lazuli from her chest of special things.

"Your grandmother managed to bring this with her when we left Nubia. No matter how badly off we were, she would never sell it. She said it was the birthright of the women in our family. She had worn it when she married and she was determined that I would wear it when I married and my daughters would wear it when they married, and so on..."
She placed the collar around Hazel's neck and held up a small bronze mirror so Hazel could see her reflection.
"You look like a queen."
"Do I, Mítir?"
The face which looked back at Hazel was ebony brown with strong, striking features and large, honey-colored eyes which resembled two golden drachmas. A cloud of cinnamon-brown curls framed that face. People said that she had inherited her mother's looks. Marie was a tall, striking beauty with a haughty, somewhat cold expression and way of carrying herself. Hazel was small and delicate of build. Her face was softer, still a bit chubby and babyish, and more pleasant. Wearing the collar, she looked like a little girl playing dress up in her mother's jewels. She tried to adopt a regal, queenly expression but each attempt rang false.
"Enough preening," Marie gently scolded, "Time to put your wedding outfit away."
Hazel changed back into the yellowish wool chiton she usually wore while Marie folded up the wedding outfit and put it away. The collar was returned to the chest of special things.
"I'm going out this afternoon," Hazel told her mother as she fastened the pins of her everyday chiton. "I'm going to make offerings at the shrines of the Maiden Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt and the Goddess of Love and Beauty. Then I'm meeting Frank at the palace; he's going to show me the lodgings there where we will be living."
"Be back by dark," Marie replied, "Tonight's the first night of Dionysia and the streets will be dangerous." 
"I'll be back by dark."
"Don't forget your doll."
"I didn't."
Hazel had already put her old terra-cotta doll in her basket. It was tradition for girls to leave their toys in the temple of the Maiden Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt prior to marriage.

"And here's some obols to buy a bunch of lilies."
Lilies were the customary offer for brides to leave at the altar of the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
"I'll be back soon, Mítir," Hazel kissed her mother on the cheek before leaving.

The Urania, the temple to the Goddess of Beauty and Love, was in the north-west of the Agora. Hazel passed through clusters of shops, temples, and public buildings gathered towards the center of Athens. The buildings were made from white stucco and had terra-cotta roof tiles. Some of them were adorned with painted designs done in blue, red, and yellow pigments.

Today was another busy market day. The streets teamed with citizen men on their way to and from business as well as poor women and slaves running errands for their households.
"Stay close to me, Hagne," she whispered to the grey little lamb who followed behind her: the new pet that Frank given her.

From a flower vendor outside of the Urania, she purchased a bouquet of lilies to leave at the altar. The Urania was similar in design to the larger Parthenon with a front held up by Doric columns and steps leading up the temple's entrance.

A large alabaster pool was placed in the middle of the temple, underneath its central skylight. At the far end of the pool was a large marble statue of the Goddess of Beauty and Love. The artist who had sculpted the statue caught the Goddess right as she was about to drop her unpinned chiton, as if she were preparing to step into the pool for a bath.

Hazel placed her bouquet of lilies at the Goddess's feet and then knelt in prayer. She prayed the the Goddess would send her and Frank a passionate and long lasting love and a happy and prosperous marriage.
A girl stepped out from behind the statue. At first, Hazel thought the goddess herself had come to answer her prayers. The girl was that beautiful.
Her long, lush dark brown hair has pulled back slightly away from her strong featured, oval face. Her large, almond shaped eyes looked smoky in the light of the oil lamps and the fog coming from votives at the statue's feet. She wore a mauve colored silk chiton which suited her coppery skin tone.

Her full, bow-shaped mouth curled a smile when she saw Hazel.
"Hello there," she called over to Hazel.
"Hello yourself," Hazel replied.
"Have you seen the High Priestess?"
"No, I haven't."
"If you see her, let her know I'm looking for her."
"Alright. What do you want her for?"
"I want to talk with her about becoming a priestess myself."
Upon closer inspection, Hazel recognized her as Princess Annabeth's lady-in-waiting. Such a stunning girl would an ornament to the temple. A fitting representative of the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
"I wish you luck then. Maybe someday, you'll instruct my daughters prior to marriage, the same way I will be today."
Hazel had been making visits to the temples of the Goddess of Love and Beauty and the Queen of Goddesses to make offering so that they would bless her union with Frank and so the priestesses could prepare her for for married life. During her last visit to the temple of the Goddess of Love and Beauty, the High Priestess had explained to her what to expect on her wedding night, which made Hazel blush as red as a pomegranate.
"So you're to be married, then I wish you luck as well."
"Thank you. I'll ask you by name when the time comes for my daughters to be brought her, might I ask what it is?"
"Piper of Cyprus, and yours?"
"Hazel of Athens."
"Now I remember, you're the girl who picked up Princess Annabeth's brooch."
"Yes, that was me."
"I'll tell the princess I saw you."
"I doubt she remembers me."

The Agrotera, the temple to the Maiden Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt, was near the south-eastern corner of the Acropolis, the hill above Athens on which were placed the Parthenon and the royal palace complex.

This temple stood in the shadow of the great steps which lead up the Acropolis.
It was a small, narrow building in a similar style to the Parthenon and the Urania. The scrolls at the top of its Ionic columns were painted yellow and red and a bas-relief of white figures on a blue back ground ran along the brow of the portico.

A series of marble statues stood in the center of the temple, depicting the Maiden Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt with her hounds chasing a stag.

The High Priestess cut a lock of Hazel's curly cinnamon-brown hair and burned it on the altar. Hazel placed her doll and the offering table and recited a prayer.
"Protectress of Children," she called upon the goddess, "Receive this precious gift of my girlhood."
She thought about Frank as she prayed. Her betrothed was built like an ox; clumsy, oafish, unaware of his great bulk, and completely adorable. With his kind eyes, warm smile, gentle expression and puppyish devotion to her, how could she not love him? Thinking about him always brought a smile to her lips.

Hazel's emotions as she awaited her wedding were muddled. She loved Frank with all her heart and wanted to be his wife but marriage was a major undertaking. Everything would change dramatically and forever. It was exciting to begin a new life, with all of its new possibilities, but it was also overwhelming. She was used to her current life: waking up at dawn and milking the nanny goat; spinning and dying wool; baking bread; painting pottery; walking into the Agora to sell her pots, cloth, and cheese. Now she would have to get used to living at the palace with Frank. She imagined that her life there would not be much different from life in her mother's house but she would now be a wife, a mistresses of a home, and, Queen of Goddesses willing, a mother of a family.

She met Frank by the great steps leading up to the Acropolis. He was easy to pick out of a crowd due to his large size and glinting bronze armor. Frank reached for her and gave her a kiss.
"How was your day?" he asked her.
"My mother finished my bridal outfit today," Hazel replied, "and then I made offerings at the temples of the Goddess of Love and Beauty and the Maiden Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt. How was your's?"
"I spent it getting my lodgings ready for you."
"I can't wait to see them."
On their way to the palace, they passed by the Parthenon, the largest and most elaborate temple in Athens. Hazel remembered going inside of it once when she was little and being overawed by the Parthenos, the massive statue of the Goddess of War and Wisdom made of gold and ivory which stood in the temple's center.

It was said that Queen Athena herself had served as the model for the statue as a young woman. Seeing her in the procession, Hazel saw that the queen had an imperious, intimidating style of beauty which made her feel the same way she had when standing in front of the Parthenos.
The palace complex was slightly to the west of the Parthenon. Two large buildings joined together by a long corridor served as the main part of the palace.

Frank pointed out that this was where the royal apartments and the lodgings of the lords and ladies of court, as well as the main function rooms were situated. Elegant sets of steps lead up to the porticos of each building.

Statues of nymphs, muses, and graces stood between Ionic columns with red painted bases and blue painted scrolls.

Frank's lodgings were in a smaller and less ornate part of the palace complex: a three sided building constructed around a central courtyard.

He showed her into a main room with bare stucco walls and a wooden floor, off of which were a kitchen and two bed chambers. The wooden floor seemed unbelievably luxurious to Hazel, who came from a home with dirt floors. She imagined livening up the plain stucco walls by painting frescoes onto them.

Her mother was to give her a number of woven covers and down stuffed cushions which she would use to make the rope couches more comfortable.
"There's room in here for a loom," Frank informed her, "The kitchen isn't very large but it has a hearth for cooking and an oven for baking. This part of palace complex has a barn where you can keep your goat."
As Frank listed the amenities that his lodgings had, Hazel imaged ways that she would turn it into a home. Frank smiled to see that she was pleased.
"Do you have any plans for tonight?" She asked him as he walked her to the great steps.
"Tonight's the first night of Dionysia," he replied, "I'm to go with the King, Queen, and Princess to the procession ."
"They I will see you there. My mother and I are going to the procession too."
"I'll be on duty then and have to act like a tough, old guard dog but I think I can spare a smile for you as pass by.
"Your smile is one of the things I love about you."
Frank blushed like a maiden, as he usually did whenever she complimented him.
"I'll see you at the procession," he told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek before she walked down the great steps to the Agora.