(Untitled)

[mdidiusfalco]

The provincial life was beginning to agree with me. Almost. No matter how much the heat tricked my mind into thinking the wine tolerable or the living conditions adequate, I remained a city boy. Not a day went by that I didn't bemoan my fate to Cicero, who, in a birdish sort of way, seemed to be getting annoyed by my complaints. After all, it

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[whoneedsadream]

The statue was beautiful, Anatoly had to admit. He didn't have much of an eye for art, it was true, but even he could see there was something special about this piece. Whoever the sitter had been, she must have been someone of immense personality.

"A gift from the island?" Anatoly asked softly. "Or did you make this?"

[mdidiusfalco]

I laughed, unconsciously reaching out to touch the bronze before drawing my hand back. It was just a statue of my wife, that was all. Just a statue. "Are you joking? I couldn't make something like that if my life depended on it."

[whoneedsadream]

"It is breath-taking," Anatoly murmured. "I don't think I have seen anything like this before. Did you commission it?"

[mdidiusfalco]

A short laugh escaped before I could stop it. "Juno, no! I couldn't afford something like that even if I saved all my earnings for the next half-decade or so."

[whoneedsadream]

"Who is it of?" Ahatoly asked softly, wondering if he was treading on uncomfortable ground for Falco. He didn't want to push but he was genuinely curious about the statue and the importance it must have had for the island to bring it here.

[mdidiusfalco]

"Helena Justina," I replied, saying the words as if they were some sort of incantation that might call her up before me. If only that were the case. "My wife."

[whoneedsadream]

Despite himself, Anatoly flinched and looked away for a moment, idly fidgeting with the ring on his left hand. Marriage had been a mistake for him and he sometimes found it hard to forget that it wasn't the same case for everyone.

"Your wife," he echoed softly. "She must be quite a woman."

[mdidiusfalco]

"She is. Strong, intelligent, beautiful, stubborn as a mule, adventurous, brave, one hell of a dresser... You know, I've never seen her back down from anything. The Emperor, barbarians, my mother, nature, anything. She almost always knows exactly what to do." Unlike me. I had been away for months and for most of it I had been fine, but at that moment I would have given everything I had to go home again.

[whoneedsadream]

"She reminds me of someone I knew," Anatoly said quietly, thinking of Florence. She had been all of those things and it was not her fault they had been pulled apart. Some things were beyond control, after all. "I don't know what I would have done without her."

[mdidiusfalco]

I nodded. When you had experience with women like Helena and his nameless love you knew that sometimes trying to bring words into it was pointless. Women like that didn't need words, you understood anyway.