A Deal Struck

Moving at a pace more comfortable to Rosa we walk in relative silence for the first half of the day. Each of us were lost in our own thoughts. We pass right through the towns and villages along the way, without a coin to my name they weren’t much use to us. The Appian Way, slicing through the hilly landscape in long straight stretches, is as busy as always. Traders, scholars, workers, soldiers and long heavily laden caravans stream past us making their way toward the voracious capital city of the Empire. With such traffic came safety from robbers and worse. The further we got from Rome however the more the travelers coming the other direction petered out bit by bit. Security was something that played on my mind much more than usual now that I had a companion at my side. I knew I could handle myself in a scuffle and I knew I could run like the wind if things got out of hand. But Rosa…she would slow us down and that worried me. There was nothing to be done about it though, I’d simply have to be extra cautious. These worries and others occupy me as Rosa walked beside me pondering her own concerns.

Just past midday we had just come through a narrow pass to look down on a vast green valley spread out before us. Less than an hour’s walk away another town could be seen with a river running through it. It would be a good place to refill our water supply.

Nodding toward shady little area off the side of the road with a old brick tomb in the center I say. “Let’s rest here.” Rosa follows. I set my heavy pack down beside a stone bench in the shade of the monument and sit down. Rosa studies the tomb briefly then comes to sit beside me.

“You okay?” I ask. “You’re quiet.”

Letting out a soft sigh she nods. “Yes Master.” She rubs her palms up and down her smooth bare thighs then asks. “Hey, can we talk? Or…can I talk at least?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Again, I’m sorry about what happened back there.”

“It’s fine.” I say. “My fault. She was right, I should have let them know when we arrived. I just didn’t think it would come up.”

“That Cecilia…she reminded me of…someone very special.” Her wistful eyes drift to the South-East. “I wanted to be honest with her. I wanted her to know.”

“It’s okay.”

“My burden has become yours. A burden you never wanted.”

I sigh. She wasn’t wrong. “It’s okay Rosa. Like you said before, we’re learning. It’ll take time.”

“You’re not angry with me?”

“No. Not even a little. If a person can’t speak the truth…well, that ain’t right. I’ll never be angry with honesty.”

She looks up at me, really studying me to see if I meant what I said. I shift uncomfortably at the direct attention. “You really mean that, don’t you?” She says, a bit mystified. “You really are what you appear to be.”

“Yeah, of course.” I say. “Though…if you could have waited until after breakfast to confess…”

She laughs lightly and leans her head against my arm. “My poor hungry Master.”

“I’m kidding of course. Don’t worry about it. I think I understand.”

“Respectfully Master, I don’t think you do.” Cupping her branded hand in the other one she stares down at it and traces her thumb along one of the petals of the rose. “You did so much more than just save my life. You liberated me.” She says as she gazes down on her brand as if it were a precious piece of jewelry. “I might be a **** but…at least this allows me to be who I really am.”

I ponder a moment, watching her trace the pinkish symbol that was now all but completely healed. “You’re right, I don’t understand.”

“I was born and raised in the Empire, never once been outside its borders, yet I’ve never been truly welcome within it. I’ve never even seen fabled city of Themiscyra or been anywhere close to the lands of the Amazons. Yet my whole life I’ve been considered an enemy in the only homeland I’ve ever known. You can’t know how that feels. You just can’t know.” She whispers. “But now…I found a place. I’ve found my anchor.” Hope and strength return to her voice. “I finally have a proper and legal status. It cost me my freedom, but that freedom was always an illusion. I don’t have to hide anymore. No more threats. No more ****. No more being manipulated by selfish men or jealous women. You have no idea how terrible it is to have to live with a secret this big. To be **** to put your trust in people only to have that trust betrayed again and again.”

“Nobody should have to live like that.” The words sounded trite but I didn’t know how else to reply to her opening up to me like this. What did a sheltered farm kid know about such things? And I’d never been good with emotional stuff. This was all so much.

She looks up toward the sun filtering through the canopy and smiles. “It feels good to be in the daylight. It feels good to breath clean country air. It feels good to hear nothing but the wind and the birds and the bugs. It is all so different from what I am used to. I feel…reborn.”

“Uh…wow. That’s…that’s great to hear, I guess.”

“Master…” Her voice fades off.

“What is it?”

“Give me a chance.”

“A chance?”

“Don’t sell me.” She whispers. “Give me a chance to learn.”

“Rosa…Rosa, I’m a poor farmer.”

“And I’m a poor farmer’s **** girl.”

I let out a huff of awkward frustration. “I can’t offer you anything but a hard life out here. These first few years especially are going to be rough. It would be easier for me if I was alone. I don’t wish to be rude but…you’ll make things so much harder for me.”

“Yeah.” Her ears droop sadly.

“Besides, you’d be happier with a wealthy man or a powerful man, a city man at the very least. You can offer them things they want and they can offer you the life you deserve. You know that world. You belong in that world.”

“That’s the world I’m trying to escape. The type of men I’m trying to escape.” Rosa looks up and watches a group pass by us heading North. “Do you want hear something crazy?”

“Uh…sure.”

She looks back down at her hand. “I gave myself up to those slavers.”

“What? You what?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“I told you it was crazy.”

“You sold yourself into slavery?”

“Sold? No. Gave myself for free.” She says. “It was just a matter of time. A very wicked man knew my secret and held it over me. I was living under my own Sword of Damocles. He would have given me up eventually. I didn’t have the support network I had back home. I had nowhere to run and I didn’t have anyone to fall back on. And I am so tired of hiding Master. So…I did it myself. I turned myself into the slavers so that he, or anyone else, couldn’t have that over me. I didn’t want to be anyone’s victim.” She nods to herself, a look of conviction on her comely face. “I did it of my own free will. Crazy, huh?”

“That’s…that’s incredible!”

“It was stupid! It was nearly suicide.” She lays her hand on my thigh and turns to face me. “I never imagined I wouldn’t be sold. I had a married couple, a senator and his wife, both clients who treated me well enough, that I had an arrangement with. I was sure they would come in for me, to buy me as another household servant.” The hurt in her expression touched me deeply. “They came to the market. I was so relieved to see them. But they had just come to look. To stare at me and witness my humiliation…they never bid. It would have been nothing for them…but in the end they couldn’t be seen bidding for…someone like me. In their bedchamber they both spoke of their love for me…but in the market they didn’t speak to me or even acknowledge knowing me. Not even to say goodbye.” The hurt, just for a moment, turns to angry indignation. “Bitches! The both of them. They just stared at me with pity in their eyes, until they turned their backs and left.”

“I can’t imagine how that felt.” I say.

After a second to collect herself she continues. “Even then I thought I would be okay. In Alexandria a **** like me would have fetched at least a few bidders, to be used as a pleasure toy or a pretty curiosity to amuse the dinner guests if nothing else.” She laughs, though there is no humor in it. “Not up here. I didn’t realize how dangerous it was to do what I did. I was so foolish. Had I known the city better I would have never done it. I would have…just kept surviving anyway I could. Rome is so much different than home. Status and reputation rules over everything else. Everything is public and political. Everyone so full of false pride and piety and patriotism. I’m happy you’re taking me away from that place.” A little shudder runs through her. “I was so scared. By the gods I was scared. If you hadn’t have been there…” She takes a deep breath then swallows. “But you were. By lady Fortuna’s grace, you were.”

“Why…why did you ever leave Alexandria?”

Looking up at me she weighs the query in her mind…then her face hardens just slightly and she shakes her head. “I don’t know you like that. Not yet. Maybe in time I’ll share, but not yet.”

“Fair enough.” I say.

There is a long quiet pause, the breeze sighing through the boughs above us. Watching her in my peripheral vision I cannot help but sympathize with my ****. She was far from home and **** into a **** decision. A decision that nearly cost her everything. I couldn’t say if it was pure folly or incredible courage that allowed her to put herself into bondage, but the brazenness of it had to be respected. I was in no position to judge her but I could feel for her. Feeling a need to show her support I reach to take her hand, but then thinking better of it I quickly pull it back again before it even gets near.

Catching the movement she reaches down between us to slip her soft hand into mine and squeezes it. “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid to touch me.”

I try to pull my hand away but she holds it tight. I take a breath and make myself relax. Then I grip her hand back. “This is hard for me.”

“I know.” She smiles, her whole demeanor brightening once more, as she brings my hand to her lap and pats it with her free hand. “So…how about it? You know how I got here now. You know what I gave up to be yours. Will you give a foolish demon girl a chance at a second life? Promise to keep me? Mmm?”

“Rosa…” As I look at her she bats her big magenta eyes, nibbles nervously on her plump bottom lip, and her pointed ears slowly rise in an expression of pure adorableness. “Would you stop that!”

She giggles. “Stop what?”

“You’re being cute on purpose.”

“Am I?” She says innocently, tilting her head to the side like a curious puppy. “Is it working?”

“No!” I lean back with a big hearty laugh.

She grins happily. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you really laugh.”

I shake my head and look at her. “You are too much.” After a bit of thought I say. “How about this. I won’t promise not to sell you. But what I can promise is that I won’t sell you to anybody you don’t want to be sold to. I want you to be happy with your new master. That sound fair?”

Rosa raises an eyebrow. “You mean…you’ll need my permission before selling me?”

“I mean, I guess that’s one way of putting it.”

“Deal!” She brings my hand to her lips and gives it a big wet kiss to seal the bargain. “Thank you Master.” Looking up at the monument she says. “As witnessed by the spirit of Gnaeus Aetius Bassus.” She gives the tomb a bow of her head then says. “Hey, do we have any water left?”

“Yeah.” I pass her the waterskin.

She sits up tall, her feet swinging in front of her, and takes a drink of the water. With that off of her chest she was feeling so much better. Seeing her feel better also lightened my mood as well.

The deal was struck and it was one we were both pleased with. She had some control and stability and I had maintained a reasonable way out of this arrangement when it eventually came to it. A few days on the road was one thing, but I knew that as the day turned to weeks my lifestyle would take its toll on her. City folk were soft. It was simply a matter of time before she would begin to miss the comfort and perfumed luxuries she was accustomed to as a big city meretrix. In the meantime we could both relax and get on with things.