FIC: When in Rome - Dr Who/Rome
TITLE: When In Rome
RATING: PG
FANDOMS: Dr Who & Rome
WORDS: 5060
SPOILERS: Loosely, early episodes of Rome.
SUMMARY: The Doctor and Rose pay a visit to the Republic of Rome.
NOTES: This is a present for the lovely randomeliza. *snugs* Hope you like it.
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“You sure this is the best place to leave it?”
They were in a white stone building with polished floors and wide doorways. Outside, there was a lot of noise, and the sunlight pouring through openings in the walls screamed for sunglasses. The Tardis was resting behind a small platform, which had a single chair on it.
Standing in the middle of the stone floor and spinning slowly around, the Doctor grinned. “No one about,” he said. “All the people who’d normally be here are in Greece.” He gestured rows of stone benches in a half-circle around them. “Bet it’s not normally this quiet.”
“And where,” Rose asked, wandering over to join him. “is here?”
“This is the Glorious Republic of Rome,” the Doctor replied. “Or was. We’re about on the edge of the Empire stage now.”
Rose stared around. “Rome…” she echoed. “And this? Some kind of church or something?”
“This?” The Doctor turned his widest grin on her. “This is the Senate where all the stuffiest men in the city come to shout at each other.”
“Something political then?”
His eyebrows rose and he gave her a look she was getting used to. “The Senate? You know? Heart of the Republic?” He almost bounced across the floor and squatted down. “This is where it happened. He tapped the floor. “Or will happen. Death of one of the most influential men in your history.”
Hands on her hips, Rose looked down at the floor, then back at him. “Who’s that then?”
“Who’s that?” The Doctor stared at her. “Who’s that? Only the man who showed how tyranny shouldn’t be done and how important the value of body armour was!”
Rose looked blankly at him.
“Gaius Julius Caesar?” he offered. “So tall? Big nose? Bit on the side down in Egypt? One of a long line of important people in your history who knew the importance of wearing shrubs on his head?”
“Is he the one in the Asterix books?” Rose inquired.
She was sure he was looking at her with the same blank expression she’d shown him.
“Humans,” he said, then shook his head and grinned again. “So much history you don’t know what to do with it.” He ran across the floor and bent to peer at the seat on the pedestal. “Doesn’t look very comfortable, does it, eh?”
“Says the man who hasn’t got a seat in his Tardis?” Rose said with a grin.
“Just waiting until I find the right one, and this isn’t it,” the Doctor replied airily and slapped his hands against his thighs, pushing himself to his feet. “So, you ever been to Rome before?”
“Nah,” Rose replied. “Mum preferred the Costa del Sol.”
“Humans,” he said with an indulgent laugh. “Best get changed before we go wandering, though.”
“Changed?”
He ran back across the polished floor and vanished into the Tardis, emerging minutes later, triumphantly waving some sheets that looked like...
“Are those my nan’s best curtains?” Rose exclaimed, horrified. “She’ll go spare!”
“Good thing we’re in a time even older than she is, eh?” The Doctor held out one of the beige masses of fabric to her. “No one’ll be able to tell the difference. At least, no one who’ll care.” When she didn’t take it, he gave it an emphatic shake. “Put this on as a dress and the bed sheet on your head like a shawl and you’ll be fine.”
“Are you serious?”
Brown eyes went wide. “Oh, yeah,” he insisted. “Romans get a bit funny if you don’t dress like them. Not keen on strange things, especially now. Too many funny foreigners and bad habits. Better to look the part.”
She snatched the cloth. “If I’m going to look like an idiot, you better be dressing up too,” she warned, giving him her mum’s best glare. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned, cocking his on one side and raising his eyebrows at her. “You are!”
“I’m the Doctor,” he reminded with a bit too much cheerfulness. “I can wear what I like.”
“Doctor or not,” she said, glowering. “You don’t get to run around looking all normal while I’m wearing bedsheets you stole off my nan.”
He laughed and leaned forward towards her. “Going to make me?”
Rose looked down at the curtains, then back at him. Then she smiled.
~8~8~8~8~8~
The two strangers were drawing attention. For one thing, there was coloured patterning on the man’s tunic that looked completely out of place. Like any good daughter, Vorena the younger had come to tell her mama of it.
Niobe sighed. “Of course there are going to be more strangers,” she said, handing the baby onto Vorena the elder. “That’s what happen when you conquer countries.” She smoothed her daughter’s hair. “Now, I need to see to food for your father. Can you watch over Pullo for me? See that he doesn’t get any of your father’s wine?”
Vorena the younger nodded.
Sprawled over the table, Pullo opened one eye. He had listened in because no matter how quiet a girl tries to be when she gossips, there’s always a chance she wants people to overhear. The description of a girl with sun-coloured hair piqued his interest. Yeah, there were some about, but they only usually showed up further north.
Waiting until Niobe had left the courtyard with the elder daughter, he couldn’t help smile as Vorena the younger climbed onto the seat beside him. She saw his open eye and he winked. She giggled, so he sat up and stretched.
“Any chance of some wine?”
Vorena the younger’s dark eyes danced. “Mama said no,” she said sternly. “I am not to give you any.”
He leaned towards her, widening his eyes appealingly. “Not even for a tired old man?”
She laughed and hid her face. Peeking between her fingers, she offered, “I can bring you water?”
“Water would be fine, then,” he agreed. She climbed down from the bench and skipped off to fetch some for him, and he yawned widely. Running a hand over his face, he grimaced at the prickle of stubble.
“Here you go!” Vorena the younger held out a half-full cup.
“Thank you, my little honey,” he said warmly, setting her giggling again. Kids, eh? Never stopped surprising him that a grumpy old bugger like Vorenus had a wife a beautiful as Niobe and daughters as merry as the girls. He patted the bench. “And now maybe you can tell me something?” Vorena the younger climbed onto the seat and nodded. “Where did you see these two funny strangers?”
Vorena pointed out into the streets. “The man was wearing funny sandals,” she confided. “And Didius says he saw him climb up beside the news reader and take his paper off him and he saw hugging one of the columns in the Forum.”
“Didius?”
She nodded seriously. “The miller’s son,” she said, as if grinding flour was enough to earn him a trustworthy station. “He saw them in the Forum and came to tell me. He said he saw papa there as well, but then he saw the funny man.”
“Hugging the columns, eh?” Pullo nodded. “Sounds like he’s touched in the head, that one. And stealing the papers?”
“And then, they had to run away,” Vorena said. “The news reader was very angry.”
Pullo laughed. “And not exactly going to chase them.” He set his cup down. “Now, what about this girl he had with him? She look strange too?”
The girl launched into a description of the hair and the clothes that Pullo knew would bode ill for Vorenus’s purse when the child was old enough to be interested in the shining trinkets females seemed to love.
This strange woman sounded more interesting with every word too. From the description of her chastising, the man accompanying her was probably wayward, spoiled servant or brother, and she definitely wasn’t a lady. Vorena the younger knew that much.
“I think,” he said conspiratorially. “We should go and see if we can find these strangers. What do you say?” Vorena hesitated and he smiled. “It’ll keep me well away from your father’s wine, won’t it, my little honey? You will be doing what you were told.”
“Well, if you stay away from papa’s wine...”
Pullo got to his feet. “I promise I will,” he said, offering her his hands and pulling her up onto her feet. “Now, take me to where these strange people were.”
~8~8~8~8~8~8~
“Ha! Advertising even here! Did you see? That bit about the best bread for Romans?”
“I saw...”
“Needs a catchier jingle, though. Theme tune or something. Told him it would be better if he sang it.”
“I don’t think he was pleased about that,” Rose said, almost running to keep up with the Doctor, as he bound between the niches and bent almost double to peer at the statues. “When a man stands on a box and shouts out, I don’t think you’re meant to get up there with him.”
“What’s he going to do?” The Doctor threw a grin at her. “Chase me?”
“He did get those helpers of his...”
“Well, what’s life without a bit of running around, eh?” he replied, laughing. “And look at this! He squatted down, staring at a small statuette that looked almost exactly like every other statuette they had passed. “See! They just stole this one off the Greeks and stuck a Made in Rome sticker on it.”
“A sticker?” Rose stepped over a puddle of something nasty-looking on the ground and bent to look at the small figurine.
“A metaphorical sticker,” he replied, looking up at her impishly. “A good, old-fashioned Roman name. Can’t have those Greek gods sneaking in and getting all the attention, can we?” He leaned closer and sniffed at it. “Smells pious enough.”
Rose eyed the candles and matted pile of gore in front of it. “And what’s that stuff?” she asked dubiously.
A finger was promptly poked into the middle of it, sending some flies whirling up. Rose pulled up the bed sheet over her mouth with a groan. The Doctor sniffed his finger. “Lamb heart from the smell of it,” he replied cheerfully. He picked up a twig, turning it over. “Bit of fir.” He licked the end of it. “Some rosemary.”
“I didn’t need a list of ingredients!”
He looked up. “You asked,” he replied, then straightened up and looked around, forehead wrinkling. “So... where are we?” He turned on the spot, then pointed down a narrow alleyway. “Aha! The Aventine Hill!”
“You can tell that from an alley?” Rose said. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
He grinned. “Maybe,” he replied. “But this time...” He hopped along the alley, one foot on either side of the narrow gutter that ran down the middle, until he was a dozen paces away from her. Then he gesture to the wall with a flourish. “Read the best information areas in the city.”
Rose stared at the wall. “Is that a...”
The Doctor turned, squinting at the wall, then gave her a reproving look. “I meant the writing,” he replied, stepping in front of the drawing. “Anyway, it’s a symbol for fertility. Or luck. Or a brothel. Can’t remember which.” His grin turned mischievous. “If you’re having a good day, I suppose it could be all three.”
“Doctor!”
“Anyway,” he said, ignoring her blush. “Says here that we’re about to enter the Aventine district.” He stepped back and slipped his hands into the sheet-toga-thing she’d forced him into, as if he had pockets. “My best guess is that it’s to warn off people who shouldn’t be wandering in there.”
Rose grinned crookedly. “Just like home.”
He laughed. “Yeah.” he nodded down the alley. “Come on. Looks like an interesting part.”
“So dirtier means more interesting in your book?” Rose said, hiking up the skirt she kept tripping over and dodging another dark puddle.
“Oh yeah,” the Doctor said, eyes dancing. He caught her hand. “Come on! Time’s wasting!”
~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Pullo had to admit he was surprised. The woman and her companion seemed to trip right over them, and she was exactly as Vorena the younger had said. She was smirking at him, as if she knew he had doubted her.
“Look at that!” The man ran up to him, stopping dead less than a hand-span away, and rose on his toes to peer up at Pullo, then bent and looked at his tunic. “See this?” He prodded Pullo’s chest and Pullo stared at him. “Mark of the Legion!”
“Hey, friend.” Pullo caught the man’s arm. “You’re not from around here, so I’ll let you off this time, but if you touch me again...”
“Sorry about him.”
Suddenly, being poked by a man who was clearly wrong in the head didn’t matter. The woman gave him a half-smile that suggested she was used to the behaviour, as she pulled the man back.
Not that she was much to look at. Skinny little thing. Hardly anything to hold onto. All the same, the smile looked like she had stolen it from Venus, and her eyes matched it.
“That’s... that’s all right, ma’am,” he said quickly, then swatted Vorena the younger, who had looked up at him and started giggling. “Hasn’t done me any harm. Quite all right.”
“Threatened by a legionary!” the man exclaimed gleefully. “How about that, eh, Rose?”
“I think you’re lucky you’re still in one piece,” she replied, though she was still smiling, and Pullo grinned. “Big, tough soldier like that. You’re not exactly big, you know.”
“A Legionary of the army of Caesar!” The man clapped his hands together. “Can’t get much better.”
“It can!” Vorena exclaimed, then hid her face in Pullo’s arm.
Suddenly, the man was squatting down beside her. “How’s that?” he asked, giving her a playful poke in the ribs. Pullo looked from them to the girl, who had covered her smile, but her eyes were dancing.
“My papa is to be a Praefectus,” Vorena whispered.
“Praefectus!” The Doctor exclaimed, swinging the child off her feet, making her squeal with laughter.
The girl looked at Pullo. “Is that good?”
Pullo shrugged. “Better pay and a different hat,” he replied, stepping closer to her as the man and child continued to whirl around. “What brings you to the Aventine?”
Eyes that were caught between green and brown looked towards the scrawny, dark-haired man. “Him.”
Pullo glanced at him. He was all bones and his hair was ridiculous. And he could see what Vorena meant about the boots being wrong. Black and white. He’d put Vorena down and both of them were staggering dizzily, laughing.
“Is he always...?”
“Always,” the girl replied. She held out a hand. “Rose Tyler.”
He blinked, then hastily grasped her hand. “Pullo,” he replied quickly. “Titus Pullo. Is me.”
The smile was back, and he wondered if Eirene would look like that if she ever got the nerve up to show a smile. “Titus Pullo,” she said. “Is that your daughter?”
“My...?” Pullo barked a laugh. “My daughter? No. Not mine. Not a father-type. My Centurion’s youngest.” He held out a hand and the girl grasped it, still wobbling. “Vorena the younger.”
“Your hair is very yellow,” the child said. “Is it a wig?”
Rose Tyler looked surprised. “No!” she said. “It’s my hair.”
Vorena the younger looked thoughtfully at it. “I think it’s pretty,” she decided.
“It is.” Rose Tyler’s companion said. “Great hair. Can’t have enough good hair in the world. Used to be short on hair myself. Glad to have made up for it now.”
“My mama has beautiful hair,” Vorena offered, clearly made bold by the man’s manner.
“A mama with beautiful hair and a papa who is a praefectus?” The man bent and gave Vorena a wink. “I think we’ve found the luckiest girl in the world here, don’t you?”
“Could always come back,” Pullo offered, trying not to stare at the laughing Rose Tyler. “I mean, to Vorenus’s place. The Centurion’s. I don’t think his wife would mind guests. She’s a good sort.”
Rose Tyler looked at her companion, who clapped his hands together. “Brilliant! Always wanted to meet a Praefectus of the Republic.”
The woman laughed. “I think,” she said, “that means we’re coming.”
~8~8~8~8~8~8~
As if having Pullo trailing around after Vorenus like a lost puppy, it seemed that her younger daughter was just as bad as her father!
Niobe sighed into the cupboard as she fetched wine. It wouldn’t do to refuse guests, especially not when all the neighbours were watching, just waiting for something to slip. They all knew about her husband’s temper, and there was nothing like trouble to get all eyes on you, even the ones who normally wouldn’t give you a look.
Mind you, the girl was being very polite, which was nice. The man was... strange, like Vorena the younger had said, but she supposed that foreigners were all bound to be a bit funny.
They were sitting in the courtyard, and as she returned from the house, Niobe had to admit that seeing Pullo making cow’s eyes at the girl was a sight to behold.
He thought he wasn’t. Or at least he thought he wasn’t being obvious, but women noticed those things. The girl obviously had, and was leaning sideways against her companion’s arm. He was apparently explaining about different ranks of soldiers in the army.
“How’d’you remember all that?” Pullo demanded. “I’m in the bloody thing and I can’t even remember half of that.”
“It’s fascinating,” the man replied with a smile that looked like an eager child’s. “I mean, you signify so many things just by changing the way a uniform gets put on and the shape and style of a hat. It’s genius.”
“It’s like fashion,” the girl said, giving him an amused look. “You have to know the right things to wear. The right clothes for the right occasion. I mean, I bet people would dress up in curtains, if they were told it was fashion.”
He rolled his eyes, as if she had brought up a point he had been trying to avoid. “I’m just saying it makes a lot of sense,” he said. “And just you wait until you see a Praefectus helmet! They’re cracking!”
“They break?” Vorena the younger asked in alarm, and Niobe sighed.
When their unexpected guests were gone, she was going to have a long talk with her husband, who would have to have a very long talk with Pullo for making the child loose-lipped in front of strangers.
“He means they’re good,” the young woman said quickly, reassuringly. “I’m sure they won’t break.”
“Well, unless the other bugger hitting you has one of those big axes,” Pullo put in helpfully. “They can crack them right down the middle.” Niobe groaned as Vorena’s eyes went round with horror. “Er. Not that they would do that to your papa. Not Vorenus. He’s much too quick for them. Eh, Niobe?”
“Of course he is,” Niobe replied, placing cups on the table and pouring water for their guests. She gave Pullo a stern look, and he grinned weakly in response. She turned to smile at her guests. “How long have you been in Rome?”
“About two hours,” the man replied cheerfully.
“We won’t be here long,” his companion added.
“Oh?” Niobe inquired. “You’re travellers? Traders?”
The pair exchanged looks. “Yeah,” the girl said. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Well,” the girl frowned. “Well, we kind of travel and help people.”
Niobe’s eyebrows rose. “Help people?” she echoed. “What kind of help?”
If Pullo had brought a pair of travelling soothsayers to the door, she would have to have Vorenus run him out of the house. They were always frauds. Only local ones could be trusted.
“I’m the Doctor,” the man said, sitting up a bit straighter as if he had just announced he was Jupiter incarnate.
“A doctor,” the girl hastily added, giving him a look.
Oh, that was even worse! They charged even more than peddling soothsayers, and usually, there was even more blood and piss all over the place too. She gave Pullo a glare, and he had brain enough left - thanks to one of the charlatan doctors - to look embarrassed.
“Pity there won’t be any trade for you here,” she said quickly, refilling the girl’s cup. “We’re all well. My husband will be back shortly, and will tell you so too.”
“We’re not working here anyway,” the girl reassured her. “We’d heard about Rome and wanted to see it. We’ll be on our way soon.”
“Lucky you got in the gates with things being how they are,” Pullo said. He wasn’t looking at the girl so much now, as the man. “It’s tight as a horse’s arse out there. Must have paid a pretty coin to get in. They’re keeping foreigners out.”
The Doctor smiled widely, his teeth white and long. “I just got Rose, here, to smile at them. Amazing how well it works.”
“Doctor!” She struck him reprovingly on the arm, and Niobe hastily turned to refill the pitcher of water to hide her smile. Pullo was laughing again, and she stifled an indulgent sigh. Men. Useless when faced with a pretty smile.
The pitcher was only half-filled when she heard voices in the street and turned in time to see Vorenus enter the courtyard. His skin was stained with red, and his uniform impeccable, though she could see the tiredness around his eyes.
“Husband.”
He looked passed her. “Guests?”
Niobe glanced over her shoulder. The man was already rising, his eyes wide and his smile even wider. “Come to honour you and your position,” she murmured, touching his arm and hoping his humour would hold fast.
He looked at her, bald question in his eyes.
“A travelling doctor and his companion,” she murmured quietly. “Guests of Titus Pullo and Vorena the younger.”
If she hadn’t known him well, she would never have seen the way he tried to hide the roll of his eyes, nor heard the quiet, barely audible groan he uttered. It gave way to a bewildered look when she felt someone lean over her shoulder.
“Would you look at that!” The Doctor was standing inches behind her, bouncing on his toes and staring up at her husband’s helmet. “Now, that is a quality piece of uniform. A real, proper Praefectus helmet! Can’t help but respect a hat like that!”
“Looks like someone stuck a red loo brush on top,” the girl said.
“Says the girl in bed sheets,” the Doctor replied with a wave of his hand. “D’you mind?” Without waiting for a reply, he plucked the helmet off her husband’s head and cradled as if it was his firstborn. “Beautiful.”
Thanking the Gods her husband seemed too tired to truly appreciate what had just happened, Niobe caught his arm. “Foreigners,” she whispered urgently. “Best not anger the Gods more by offending them, eh?”
“Sent to try our patience?” he inquired, watching the doctor with narrowed eyes. The man was stroking the plumes of the helmet, and his woman was watching him with impatient indulgence.
“Don’t be silly,” she murmured gently, patting his arm. “We have Pullo for that.”
She saw his lips twitch.
“Anyway, they’ll be gone soon,” she added softly. “Might bring us luck, if we’re good to them.”
“About time,” he murmured.
“But you’ll speak to Pullo when they go.”
He nodded. “No more bringing strangers home because he finds the woman comely?” She looked surprised and he gave her a look. “I know the man. He has a simple mind and thinks only of one thing.”
Niobe laughed, then looked over at the girl. “Comely?” She turned back to her husband to find blue eyes gazing at her.
“Too pale and thin,” he murmured, and she smiled.
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
“But how are we meant to get in?” Rose asked in a whisper. “Look at them all!”
While the visit to Rome had all gone peacefully, it wouldn’t have been a trip without a problem. The current problem was the ring of soldiers around the senate hall, while someone was nailing something to the door.
“Could always see if there’s a back way,” he said.
“Will there be?” Rose looked at him.
“Nah, not likely,” the Doctor replied. He glanced back at Titus Pullo and Vorena the younger, who had come to see them off at the gate. The two of them were talking to the soldiers at the gate, while Rose had made an excuse about collecting provisions. “On the plus side, we have a soldier and an innocent little girl.”
Rose looked back at them. “You think they would help us?”
“You said yourself her mum sent her to make sure we left,” he said. “Why else would they be hanging around, waiting for us to finish our shopping and head out the gates.”
“I didn’t think she liked us,” Rose said, making a face. “So, how are we going to persuade them that getting us in is a good idea? I mean, it’s only one soldier and a little girl.”
“A little girl who has a father who probably trained every one of them,” the Doctor reminded her. He looked in the direction of Titus Pullo and Vorena the younger again. “We tell them.”
“Tell them what?” Rose demanded sharply. “That your time-travelling spaceship is stuck in the senate and we need to get passed the soldiers?” He looked at her and grinned. “What?”
“Well, he does seem to think you’re the best thing since sliced bread...”
“They don’t have that here,” she reminded him. “And I’m not being all... girly at him to make him do stuff. He’s like a big puppy!”
The Doctor looked back at the building thoughtfully. “You know, times like this, it’d be useful if we could get one of those metaphorical made-in-Rome stickers that I mentioned. Waving an ‘I’m a God’ card would probably help.”
Rose looked at him. “Roman Gods were a bit... weird, weren’t they?” she said quietly.
“Like you would not believe,” he agreed. “Not as bad as the Greeks, but it was close.”
“And Romans believed they could show up down here? On earth, I mean.”
The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully. “Yeah.” He could see the direction she was thinking in. “Think you could persuade them?”
“Who could I pretend to be?”
He looked her up and down. “I think you can guess,” he said bluntly. “The way he kept on looking at you.” She blushed. “And with a bit of tweaking...” He sat on a step quickly and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, lifting up one of his feet.
“You’re going to screw your shoes up?”
He gave her a grin. “See if you can grab some feathers from under one of the stalls,” he said, pulling a pitiful looking insole from the inside of his shoe. “And make sure they don’t see you.”
Rose nodded. “How many feathers?” she asked.
The Doctor held up the insole thoughtfully. “Enough to cover two of these,” he said, then gave it a valiant flap.
Rose grinned and nodded, sneaking towards the nearest poultry stand.
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Vorena the younger kept tripping over her feet.
Not that he could really blame her. Wasn’t often you got to see a divine chariot taking flight. The way the blazing brilliance of the lights and sound had given way to nothing but silence.
After all the fuss of getting them into the senate without being seen, that had made it worth it.
He and Vorena had still been standing there when the guard had come in and chased them off, but even that hadn’t changed the fact that they had seen one of the wonders of the unknown in front of them.
Of all the people they could have invited to Vorenus’s place.
No wonder the man had been so interested in hats and clothes.
Explained everything, really. The strangeness. The way she said they travelled and helped people. The way she smiled. And when he had tried to hide the feathered wings on his shoes...
He needed his winged hat as well as the shoes, though. Without it, he had to travel in a chariot, a huge blue chariot the colour of the night sky.
She had explained it all, that they had been searching for his hat, which he had lost in flight. He went at such speeds though time, that it had fallen somewhere near the districts of Rome.
He had hoped, she said, that it would have been found near his temple, but it hadn’t, so they had decided to return to their chariot. They had needed help, because in mortal lands, they said, they couldn’t interfere and change things.
So Pullo and Vorena the younger had helped them.
“We should tell mama,” Vorena the younger said suddenly. “She won’t be so cross with us, if she knew they said they would send their blessing and fortune to us.”
Pullo pulled her aside with him and squatted down, looking at her seriously. “We can’t tell anyone about this,” he said softly. “They asked for our promise, little flower, and if we don’t keep it, Gods remember.”
“They would be angry?”
“Gods are funny things,” Pullo admitted. “And his temple’s a bit too close for you to want to make him cross.” She looked frightened and he sighed, ruffling her hair. “But we helped them, so they’ll help us. Your parents’ll be rich, and happy. That’s good, eh?” Vorena the younger smiled shyly and nodded. “So, we keep it a secret from everyone. Our secret.”
She took his hand. “They wouldn’t believe me,” she said, looking up at him. “If I told them. If you told them...”
“They would think I had drunk all your papa’s wine again,” he said with a laugh.
Vorena the younger nodded seriously, then looked at the twist of material that she had been given by her. She had taken it from her own hair, a colourful bunch of fabric which stretched when pulled then shrank back to its own shape.
“I’ll wear this every time I sacrifice,” she said. “And she’ll know it’s me.”
Pullo nodded. “She’ll like that,” he agreed with a smile. He squeezed her hand. “Let’s get home, eh?”
Together, they started back towards the Aventine.
RATING: PG
FANDOMS: Dr Who & Rome
WORDS: 5060
SPOILERS: Loosely, early episodes of Rome.
SUMMARY: The Doctor and Rose pay a visit to the Republic of Rome.
NOTES: This is a present for the lovely randomeliza. *snugs* Hope you like it.
_________________________________
“You sure this is the best place to leave it?”
They were in a white stone building with polished floors and wide doorways. Outside, there was a lot of noise, and the sunlight pouring through openings in the walls screamed for sunglasses. The Tardis was resting behind a small platform, which had a single chair on it.
Standing in the middle of the stone floor and spinning slowly around, the Doctor grinned. “No one about,” he said. “All the people who’d normally be here are in Greece.” He gestured rows of stone benches in a half-circle around them. “Bet it’s not normally this quiet.”
“And where,” Rose asked, wandering over to join him. “is here?”
“This is the Glorious Republic of Rome,” the Doctor replied. “Or was. We’re about on the edge of the Empire stage now.”
Rose stared around. “Rome…” she echoed. “And this? Some kind of church or something?”
“This?” The Doctor turned his widest grin on her. “This is the Senate where all the stuffiest men in the city come to shout at each other.”
“Something political then?”
His eyebrows rose and he gave her a look she was getting used to. “The Senate? You know? Heart of the Republic?” He almost bounced across the floor and squatted down. “This is where it happened. He tapped the floor. “Or will happen. Death of one of the most influential men in your history.”
Hands on her hips, Rose looked down at the floor, then back at him. “Who’s that then?”
“Who’s that?” The Doctor stared at her. “Who’s that? Only the man who showed how tyranny shouldn’t be done and how important the value of body armour was!”
Rose looked blankly at him.
“Gaius Julius Caesar?” he offered. “So tall? Big nose? Bit on the side down in Egypt? One of a long line of important people in your history who knew the importance of wearing shrubs on his head?”
“Is he the one in the Asterix books?” Rose inquired.
She was sure he was looking at her with the same blank expression she’d shown him.
“Humans,” he said, then shook his head and grinned again. “So much history you don’t know what to do with it.” He ran across the floor and bent to peer at the seat on the pedestal. “Doesn’t look very comfortable, does it, eh?”
“Says the man who hasn’t got a seat in his Tardis?” Rose said with a grin.
“Just waiting until I find the right one, and this isn’t it,” the Doctor replied airily and slapped his hands against his thighs, pushing himself to his feet. “So, you ever been to Rome before?”
“Nah,” Rose replied. “Mum preferred the Costa del Sol.”
“Humans,” he said with an indulgent laugh. “Best get changed before we go wandering, though.”
“Changed?”
He ran back across the polished floor and vanished into the Tardis, emerging minutes later, triumphantly waving some sheets that looked like...
“Are those my nan’s best curtains?” Rose exclaimed, horrified. “She’ll go spare!”
“Good thing we’re in a time even older than she is, eh?” The Doctor held out one of the beige masses of fabric to her. “No one’ll be able to tell the difference. At least, no one who’ll care.” When she didn’t take it, he gave it an emphatic shake. “Put this on as a dress and the bed sheet on your head like a shawl and you’ll be fine.”
“Are you serious?”
Brown eyes went wide. “Oh, yeah,” he insisted. “Romans get a bit funny if you don’t dress like them. Not keen on strange things, especially now. Too many funny foreigners and bad habits. Better to look the part.”
She snatched the cloth. “If I’m going to look like an idiot, you better be dressing up too,” she warned, giving him her mum’s best glare. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned, cocking his on one side and raising his eyebrows at her. “You are!”
“I’m the Doctor,” he reminded with a bit too much cheerfulness. “I can wear what I like.”
“Doctor or not,” she said, glowering. “You don’t get to run around looking all normal while I’m wearing bedsheets you stole off my nan.”
He laughed and leaned forward towards her. “Going to make me?”
Rose looked down at the curtains, then back at him. Then she smiled.
~8~8~8~8~8~
The two strangers were drawing attention. For one thing, there was coloured patterning on the man’s tunic that looked completely out of place. Like any good daughter, Vorena the younger had come to tell her mama of it.
Niobe sighed. “Of course there are going to be more strangers,” she said, handing the baby onto Vorena the elder. “That’s what happen when you conquer countries.” She smoothed her daughter’s hair. “Now, I need to see to food for your father. Can you watch over Pullo for me? See that he doesn’t get any of your father’s wine?”
Vorena the younger nodded.
Sprawled over the table, Pullo opened one eye. He had listened in because no matter how quiet a girl tries to be when she gossips, there’s always a chance she wants people to overhear. The description of a girl with sun-coloured hair piqued his interest. Yeah, there were some about, but they only usually showed up further north.
Waiting until Niobe had left the courtyard with the elder daughter, he couldn’t help smile as Vorena the younger climbed onto the seat beside him. She saw his open eye and he winked. She giggled, so he sat up and stretched.
“Any chance of some wine?”
Vorena the younger’s dark eyes danced. “Mama said no,” she said sternly. “I am not to give you any.”
He leaned towards her, widening his eyes appealingly. “Not even for a tired old man?”
She laughed and hid her face. Peeking between her fingers, she offered, “I can bring you water?”
“Water would be fine, then,” he agreed. She climbed down from the bench and skipped off to fetch some for him, and he yawned widely. Running a hand over his face, he grimaced at the prickle of stubble.
“Here you go!” Vorena the younger held out a half-full cup.
“Thank you, my little honey,” he said warmly, setting her giggling again. Kids, eh? Never stopped surprising him that a grumpy old bugger like Vorenus had a wife a beautiful as Niobe and daughters as merry as the girls. He patted the bench. “And now maybe you can tell me something?” Vorena the younger climbed onto the seat and nodded. “Where did you see these two funny strangers?”
Vorena pointed out into the streets. “The man was wearing funny sandals,” she confided. “And Didius says he saw him climb up beside the news reader and take his paper off him and he saw hugging one of the columns in the Forum.”
“Didius?”
She nodded seriously. “The miller’s son,” she said, as if grinding flour was enough to earn him a trustworthy station. “He saw them in the Forum and came to tell me. He said he saw papa there as well, but then he saw the funny man.”
“Hugging the columns, eh?” Pullo nodded. “Sounds like he’s touched in the head, that one. And stealing the papers?”
“And then, they had to run away,” Vorena said. “The news reader was very angry.”
Pullo laughed. “And not exactly going to chase them.” He set his cup down. “Now, what about this girl he had with him? She look strange too?”
The girl launched into a description of the hair and the clothes that Pullo knew would bode ill for Vorenus’s purse when the child was old enough to be interested in the shining trinkets females seemed to love.
This strange woman sounded more interesting with every word too. From the description of her chastising, the man accompanying her was probably wayward, spoiled servant or brother, and she definitely wasn’t a lady. Vorena the younger knew that much.
“I think,” he said conspiratorially. “We should go and see if we can find these strangers. What do you say?” Vorena hesitated and he smiled. “It’ll keep me well away from your father’s wine, won’t it, my little honey? You will be doing what you were told.”
“Well, if you stay away from papa’s wine...”
Pullo got to his feet. “I promise I will,” he said, offering her his hands and pulling her up onto her feet. “Now, take me to where these strange people were.”
~8~8~8~8~8~8~
“Ha! Advertising even here! Did you see? That bit about the best bread for Romans?”
“I saw...”
“Needs a catchier jingle, though. Theme tune or something. Told him it would be better if he sang it.”
“I don’t think he was pleased about that,” Rose said, almost running to keep up with the Doctor, as he bound between the niches and bent almost double to peer at the statues. “When a man stands on a box and shouts out, I don’t think you’re meant to get up there with him.”
“What’s he going to do?” The Doctor threw a grin at her. “Chase me?”
“He did get those helpers of his...”
“Well, what’s life without a bit of running around, eh?” he replied, laughing. “And look at this! He squatted down, staring at a small statuette that looked almost exactly like every other statuette they had passed. “See! They just stole this one off the Greeks and stuck a Made in Rome sticker on it.”
“A sticker?” Rose stepped over a puddle of something nasty-looking on the ground and bent to look at the small figurine.
“A metaphorical sticker,” he replied, looking up at her impishly. “A good, old-fashioned Roman name. Can’t have those Greek gods sneaking in and getting all the attention, can we?” He leaned closer and sniffed at it. “Smells pious enough.”
Rose eyed the candles and matted pile of gore in front of it. “And what’s that stuff?” she asked dubiously.
A finger was promptly poked into the middle of it, sending some flies whirling up. Rose pulled up the bed sheet over her mouth with a groan. The Doctor sniffed his finger. “Lamb heart from the smell of it,” he replied cheerfully. He picked up a twig, turning it over. “Bit of fir.” He licked the end of it. “Some rosemary.”
“I didn’t need a list of ingredients!”
He looked up. “You asked,” he replied, then straightened up and looked around, forehead wrinkling. “So... where are we?” He turned on the spot, then pointed down a narrow alleyway. “Aha! The Aventine Hill!”
“You can tell that from an alley?” Rose said. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
He grinned. “Maybe,” he replied. “But this time...” He hopped along the alley, one foot on either side of the narrow gutter that ran down the middle, until he was a dozen paces away from her. Then he gesture to the wall with a flourish. “Read the best information areas in the city.”
Rose stared at the wall. “Is that a...”
The Doctor turned, squinting at the wall, then gave her a reproving look. “I meant the writing,” he replied, stepping in front of the drawing. “Anyway, it’s a symbol for fertility. Or luck. Or a brothel. Can’t remember which.” His grin turned mischievous. “If you’re having a good day, I suppose it could be all three.”
“Doctor!”
“Anyway,” he said, ignoring her blush. “Says here that we’re about to enter the Aventine district.” He stepped back and slipped his hands into the sheet-toga-thing she’d forced him into, as if he had pockets. “My best guess is that it’s to warn off people who shouldn’t be wandering in there.”
Rose grinned crookedly. “Just like home.”
He laughed. “Yeah.” he nodded down the alley. “Come on. Looks like an interesting part.”
“So dirtier means more interesting in your book?” Rose said, hiking up the skirt she kept tripping over and dodging another dark puddle.
“Oh yeah,” the Doctor said, eyes dancing. He caught her hand. “Come on! Time’s wasting!”
~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Pullo had to admit he was surprised. The woman and her companion seemed to trip right over them, and she was exactly as Vorena the younger had said. She was smirking at him, as if she knew he had doubted her.
“Look at that!” The man ran up to him, stopping dead less than a hand-span away, and rose on his toes to peer up at Pullo, then bent and looked at his tunic. “See this?” He prodded Pullo’s chest and Pullo stared at him. “Mark of the Legion!”
“Hey, friend.” Pullo caught the man’s arm. “You’re not from around here, so I’ll let you off this time, but if you touch me again...”
“Sorry about him.”
Suddenly, being poked by a man who was clearly wrong in the head didn’t matter. The woman gave him a half-smile that suggested she was used to the behaviour, as she pulled the man back.
Not that she was much to look at. Skinny little thing. Hardly anything to hold onto. All the same, the smile looked like she had stolen it from Venus, and her eyes matched it.
“That’s... that’s all right, ma’am,” he said quickly, then swatted Vorena the younger, who had looked up at him and started giggling. “Hasn’t done me any harm. Quite all right.”
“Threatened by a legionary!” the man exclaimed gleefully. “How about that, eh, Rose?”
“I think you’re lucky you’re still in one piece,” she replied, though she was still smiling, and Pullo grinned. “Big, tough soldier like that. You’re not exactly big, you know.”
“A Legionary of the army of Caesar!” The man clapped his hands together. “Can’t get much better.”
“It can!” Vorena exclaimed, then hid her face in Pullo’s arm.
Suddenly, the man was squatting down beside her. “How’s that?” he asked, giving her a playful poke in the ribs. Pullo looked from them to the girl, who had covered her smile, but her eyes were dancing.
“My papa is to be a Praefectus,” Vorena whispered.
“Praefectus!” The Doctor exclaimed, swinging the child off her feet, making her squeal with laughter.
The girl looked at Pullo. “Is that good?”
Pullo shrugged. “Better pay and a different hat,” he replied, stepping closer to her as the man and child continued to whirl around. “What brings you to the Aventine?”
Eyes that were caught between green and brown looked towards the scrawny, dark-haired man. “Him.”
Pullo glanced at him. He was all bones and his hair was ridiculous. And he could see what Vorena meant about the boots being wrong. Black and white. He’d put Vorena down and both of them were staggering dizzily, laughing.
“Is he always...?”
“Always,” the girl replied. She held out a hand. “Rose Tyler.”
He blinked, then hastily grasped her hand. “Pullo,” he replied quickly. “Titus Pullo. Is me.”
The smile was back, and he wondered if Eirene would look like that if she ever got the nerve up to show a smile. “Titus Pullo,” she said. “Is that your daughter?”
“My...?” Pullo barked a laugh. “My daughter? No. Not mine. Not a father-type. My Centurion’s youngest.” He held out a hand and the girl grasped it, still wobbling. “Vorena the younger.”
“Your hair is very yellow,” the child said. “Is it a wig?”
Rose Tyler looked surprised. “No!” she said. “It’s my hair.”
Vorena the younger looked thoughtfully at it. “I think it’s pretty,” she decided.
“It is.” Rose Tyler’s companion said. “Great hair. Can’t have enough good hair in the world. Used to be short on hair myself. Glad to have made up for it now.”
“My mama has beautiful hair,” Vorena offered, clearly made bold by the man’s manner.
“A mama with beautiful hair and a papa who is a praefectus?” The man bent and gave Vorena a wink. “I think we’ve found the luckiest girl in the world here, don’t you?”
“Could always come back,” Pullo offered, trying not to stare at the laughing Rose Tyler. “I mean, to Vorenus’s place. The Centurion’s. I don’t think his wife would mind guests. She’s a good sort.”
Rose Tyler looked at her companion, who clapped his hands together. “Brilliant! Always wanted to meet a Praefectus of the Republic.”
The woman laughed. “I think,” she said, “that means we’re coming.”
~8~8~8~8~8~8~
As if having Pullo trailing around after Vorenus like a lost puppy, it seemed that her younger daughter was just as bad as her father!
Niobe sighed into the cupboard as she fetched wine. It wouldn’t do to refuse guests, especially not when all the neighbours were watching, just waiting for something to slip. They all knew about her husband’s temper, and there was nothing like trouble to get all eyes on you, even the ones who normally wouldn’t give you a look.
Mind you, the girl was being very polite, which was nice. The man was... strange, like Vorena the younger had said, but she supposed that foreigners were all bound to be a bit funny.
They were sitting in the courtyard, and as she returned from the house, Niobe had to admit that seeing Pullo making cow’s eyes at the girl was a sight to behold.
He thought he wasn’t. Or at least he thought he wasn’t being obvious, but women noticed those things. The girl obviously had, and was leaning sideways against her companion’s arm. He was apparently explaining about different ranks of soldiers in the army.
“How’d’you remember all that?” Pullo demanded. “I’m in the bloody thing and I can’t even remember half of that.”
“It’s fascinating,” the man replied with a smile that looked like an eager child’s. “I mean, you signify so many things just by changing the way a uniform gets put on and the shape and style of a hat. It’s genius.”
“It’s like fashion,” the girl said, giving him an amused look. “You have to know the right things to wear. The right clothes for the right occasion. I mean, I bet people would dress up in curtains, if they were told it was fashion.”
He rolled his eyes, as if she had brought up a point he had been trying to avoid. “I’m just saying it makes a lot of sense,” he said. “And just you wait until you see a Praefectus helmet! They’re cracking!”
“They break?” Vorena the younger asked in alarm, and Niobe sighed.
When their unexpected guests were gone, she was going to have a long talk with her husband, who would have to have a very long talk with Pullo for making the child loose-lipped in front of strangers.
“He means they’re good,” the young woman said quickly, reassuringly. “I’m sure they won’t break.”
“Well, unless the other bugger hitting you has one of those big axes,” Pullo put in helpfully. “They can crack them right down the middle.” Niobe groaned as Vorena’s eyes went round with horror. “Er. Not that they would do that to your papa. Not Vorenus. He’s much too quick for them. Eh, Niobe?”
“Of course he is,” Niobe replied, placing cups on the table and pouring water for their guests. She gave Pullo a stern look, and he grinned weakly in response. She turned to smile at her guests. “How long have you been in Rome?”
“About two hours,” the man replied cheerfully.
“We won’t be here long,” his companion added.
“Oh?” Niobe inquired. “You’re travellers? Traders?”
The pair exchanged looks. “Yeah,” the girl said. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Well,” the girl frowned. “Well, we kind of travel and help people.”
Niobe’s eyebrows rose. “Help people?” she echoed. “What kind of help?”
If Pullo had brought a pair of travelling soothsayers to the door, she would have to have Vorenus run him out of the house. They were always frauds. Only local ones could be trusted.
“I’m the Doctor,” the man said, sitting up a bit straighter as if he had just announced he was Jupiter incarnate.
“A doctor,” the girl hastily added, giving him a look.
Oh, that was even worse! They charged even more than peddling soothsayers, and usually, there was even more blood and piss all over the place too. She gave Pullo a glare, and he had brain enough left - thanks to one of the charlatan doctors - to look embarrassed.
“Pity there won’t be any trade for you here,” she said quickly, refilling the girl’s cup. “We’re all well. My husband will be back shortly, and will tell you so too.”
“We’re not working here anyway,” the girl reassured her. “We’d heard about Rome and wanted to see it. We’ll be on our way soon.”
“Lucky you got in the gates with things being how they are,” Pullo said. He wasn’t looking at the girl so much now, as the man. “It’s tight as a horse’s arse out there. Must have paid a pretty coin to get in. They’re keeping foreigners out.”
The Doctor smiled widely, his teeth white and long. “I just got Rose, here, to smile at them. Amazing how well it works.”
“Doctor!” She struck him reprovingly on the arm, and Niobe hastily turned to refill the pitcher of water to hide her smile. Pullo was laughing again, and she stifled an indulgent sigh. Men. Useless when faced with a pretty smile.
The pitcher was only half-filled when she heard voices in the street and turned in time to see Vorenus enter the courtyard. His skin was stained with red, and his uniform impeccable, though she could see the tiredness around his eyes.
“Husband.”
He looked passed her. “Guests?”
Niobe glanced over her shoulder. The man was already rising, his eyes wide and his smile even wider. “Come to honour you and your position,” she murmured, touching his arm and hoping his humour would hold fast.
He looked at her, bald question in his eyes.
“A travelling doctor and his companion,” she murmured quietly. “Guests of Titus Pullo and Vorena the younger.”
If she hadn’t known him well, she would never have seen the way he tried to hide the roll of his eyes, nor heard the quiet, barely audible groan he uttered. It gave way to a bewildered look when she felt someone lean over her shoulder.
“Would you look at that!” The Doctor was standing inches behind her, bouncing on his toes and staring up at her husband’s helmet. “Now, that is a quality piece of uniform. A real, proper Praefectus helmet! Can’t help but respect a hat like that!”
“Looks like someone stuck a red loo brush on top,” the girl said.
“Says the girl in bed sheets,” the Doctor replied with a wave of his hand. “D’you mind?” Without waiting for a reply, he plucked the helmet off her husband’s head and cradled as if it was his firstborn. “Beautiful.”
Thanking the Gods her husband seemed too tired to truly appreciate what had just happened, Niobe caught his arm. “Foreigners,” she whispered urgently. “Best not anger the Gods more by offending them, eh?”
“Sent to try our patience?” he inquired, watching the doctor with narrowed eyes. The man was stroking the plumes of the helmet, and his woman was watching him with impatient indulgence.
“Don’t be silly,” she murmured gently, patting his arm. “We have Pullo for that.”
She saw his lips twitch.
“Anyway, they’ll be gone soon,” she added softly. “Might bring us luck, if we’re good to them.”
“About time,” he murmured.
“But you’ll speak to Pullo when they go.”
He nodded. “No more bringing strangers home because he finds the woman comely?” She looked surprised and he gave her a look. “I know the man. He has a simple mind and thinks only of one thing.”
Niobe laughed, then looked over at the girl. “Comely?” She turned back to her husband to find blue eyes gazing at her.
“Too pale and thin,” he murmured, and she smiled.
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
“But how are we meant to get in?” Rose asked in a whisper. “Look at them all!”
While the visit to Rome had all gone peacefully, it wouldn’t have been a trip without a problem. The current problem was the ring of soldiers around the senate hall, while someone was nailing something to the door.
“Could always see if there’s a back way,” he said.
“Will there be?” Rose looked at him.
“Nah, not likely,” the Doctor replied. He glanced back at Titus Pullo and Vorena the younger, who had come to see them off at the gate. The two of them were talking to the soldiers at the gate, while Rose had made an excuse about collecting provisions. “On the plus side, we have a soldier and an innocent little girl.”
Rose looked back at them. “You think they would help us?”
“You said yourself her mum sent her to make sure we left,” he said. “Why else would they be hanging around, waiting for us to finish our shopping and head out the gates.”
“I didn’t think she liked us,” Rose said, making a face. “So, how are we going to persuade them that getting us in is a good idea? I mean, it’s only one soldier and a little girl.”
“A little girl who has a father who probably trained every one of them,” the Doctor reminded her. He looked in the direction of Titus Pullo and Vorena the younger again. “We tell them.”
“Tell them what?” Rose demanded sharply. “That your time-travelling spaceship is stuck in the senate and we need to get passed the soldiers?” He looked at her and grinned. “What?”
“Well, he does seem to think you’re the best thing since sliced bread...”
“They don’t have that here,” she reminded him. “And I’m not being all... girly at him to make him do stuff. He’s like a big puppy!”
The Doctor looked back at the building thoughtfully. “You know, times like this, it’d be useful if we could get one of those metaphorical made-in-Rome stickers that I mentioned. Waving an ‘I’m a God’ card would probably help.”
Rose looked at him. “Roman Gods were a bit... weird, weren’t they?” she said quietly.
“Like you would not believe,” he agreed. “Not as bad as the Greeks, but it was close.”
“And Romans believed they could show up down here? On earth, I mean.”
The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully. “Yeah.” He could see the direction she was thinking in. “Think you could persuade them?”
“Who could I pretend to be?”
He looked her up and down. “I think you can guess,” he said bluntly. “The way he kept on looking at you.” She blushed. “And with a bit of tweaking...” He sat on a step quickly and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, lifting up one of his feet.
“You’re going to screw your shoes up?”
He gave her a grin. “See if you can grab some feathers from under one of the stalls,” he said, pulling a pitiful looking insole from the inside of his shoe. “And make sure they don’t see you.”
Rose nodded. “How many feathers?” she asked.
The Doctor held up the insole thoughtfully. “Enough to cover two of these,” he said, then gave it a valiant flap.
Rose grinned and nodded, sneaking towards the nearest poultry stand.
~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~
Vorena the younger kept tripping over her feet.
Not that he could really blame her. Wasn’t often you got to see a divine chariot taking flight. The way the blazing brilliance of the lights and sound had given way to nothing but silence.
After all the fuss of getting them into the senate without being seen, that had made it worth it.
He and Vorena had still been standing there when the guard had come in and chased them off, but even that hadn’t changed the fact that they had seen one of the wonders of the unknown in front of them.
Of all the people they could have invited to Vorenus’s place.
No wonder the man had been so interested in hats and clothes.
Explained everything, really. The strangeness. The way she said they travelled and helped people. The way she smiled. And when he had tried to hide the feathered wings on his shoes...
He needed his winged hat as well as the shoes, though. Without it, he had to travel in a chariot, a huge blue chariot the colour of the night sky.
She had explained it all, that they had been searching for his hat, which he had lost in flight. He went at such speeds though time, that it had fallen somewhere near the districts of Rome.
He had hoped, she said, that it would have been found near his temple, but it hadn’t, so they had decided to return to their chariot. They had needed help, because in mortal lands, they said, they couldn’t interfere and change things.
So Pullo and Vorena the younger had helped them.
“We should tell mama,” Vorena the younger said suddenly. “She won’t be so cross with us, if she knew they said they would send their blessing and fortune to us.”
Pullo pulled her aside with him and squatted down, looking at her seriously. “We can’t tell anyone about this,” he said softly. “They asked for our promise, little flower, and if we don’t keep it, Gods remember.”
“They would be angry?”
“Gods are funny things,” Pullo admitted. “And his temple’s a bit too close for you to want to make him cross.” She looked frightened and he sighed, ruffling her hair. “But we helped them, so they’ll help us. Your parents’ll be rich, and happy. That’s good, eh?” Vorena the younger smiled shyly and nodded. “So, we keep it a secret from everyone. Our secret.”
She took his hand. “They wouldn’t believe me,” she said, looking up at him. “If I told them. If you told them...”
“They would think I had drunk all your papa’s wine again,” he said with a laugh.
Vorena the younger nodded seriously, then looked at the twist of material that she had been given by her. She had taken it from her own hair, a colourful bunch of fabric which stretched when pulled then shrank back to its own shape.
“I’ll wear this every time I sacrifice,” she said. “And she’ll know it’s me.”
Pullo nodded. “She’ll like that,” he agreed with a smile. He squeezed her hand. “Let’s get home, eh?”
Together, they started back towards the Aventine.