Roman Enslavement

All original and copyrighted

Roman Enslavement
Part Five
by Scribe

Rentic returned, peeking in to be sure it was all right. She said, \"Sorry I cussed you. That really helped. Thank you.\"

\"Good. You come now.\"

\"I\'ve got nothing better to do.\"

She followed him out of the kitchen, into the main part of the house. He led her back along the same corridor Dramilla had taken. Mozelle couldn\'t help admiring the place. Electricity, central air and heat, indoor plumbing, and this would be a fantastic place. Wait a minute... indoor plumbing. Cripes, I\'m gonna have to ask this guy what sort of facilities they have, and he\'s going to think I\'m some sort of throwback. And the issue was going to come up--soon.

He led her to a room that had a mural of a bright blue sky laced with fluffy clouds painted on the plastered wall. The Lady Dramilla was there, along with another grey haired woman. The elder woman was a slave, dressed in the usual simple tunic, a bronze collar around her neck.

A small, dark haired boy of about nine peeked from behind the slave woman\'s back, eyeing Mozelle curiously. She smiled automatically, without thinking. The boy clung closer to the woman, but he smiled back.

Lady Dramilla was sitting on a rough bed, nursing an infant. She was utterly unselfconscious when they entered. She removed the nipple from the baby\'s mouth and handed the child to the slave woman. As Dramilla repinned her garment the woman put the baby up to her shoulder and began rubbing it\'s back gently. In a moment there was a very respectable burp. Mozelle found herself grinning. Some things were the same, no matter what century.

Rentic gestured toward the little boy, who was tickling the baby\'s bare toes. \"Gaius.\" He touched the baby\'s back gently. \"Patenic.\"

All right. What\'s the proper etiquette for meeting the children of the people who own you? She touched the baby gently, and it turned it\'s wobbly head to gaze at her. \"Patenic.\" Then she bent down and offered her hand to Gaius. \"Gaius?\" The little boy regarded her hand closely, then reached out tentatively and touched her frs, rs, drawing back with a giggle.

Lady Dramilla watched the interaction with satisfaction. \\\\\"Rentic, explain her duties.\"\\\\

Rentic cleared his throat. He indicated the slave woman and the two childern. \"You help Tessa with children. Bathe, feed, play.\" He touched her arm for emphasis. \"Protect. Important.\"

She gave him a look that said he had stated the obvious. \"Of course protect. Like they were mine.\"

Rentic translated this to Lady Dramilla, who nodded. Excellent. Exactly as she had hoped. She left the room, happy with her purchase.

Rentic left also, and this left Mozelle, Tessa, and Gaius exchanging shy looks. At last Mozelle said wistfully, \"I don\'t guess you speak English?\"

Tessa\'s wrinkled face brightened. \"Britannic? Rentic teach some.\"

Mozelle clapped her hands in delight. \"Hot damn! A female source of information. Can you tell me how, er, where I go to weewee?\" The woman\'s face puckered in confusion. \"Ah. This won\'t be as simple as I thought. Uh, urinate?\" Another puzzled look. \"Answer nature\'s call?\" Tessa shook her head. \"Hm.\" Mozelle touched Gaius\' shoulder, urging him to turn away. Then she mimiced lifting skirts, squatting slightly, and made a hissing sound.

Tessa\'s face lighted, and she laughed. \\\\\"You need to make water. All right.\"\\\\ She put the baby down in a well padded basket, opened a small cabinet, and showed her a metal bowl and stack of cloths. \"Bad weather, night. Come.\" They went back into the corridor, and out a door. They were in a small fenced area. Near the back was what could only be an outhouse.

It wasn\'t too bad, actually. They kept it very clean, and it hardly smelled at all. Tessa showed her the pile of (rougher than she\'d have liked) cloths, and the small bucket of white powder she was to scoop in after using it for solid waste. Then she left her alone. A few minutes later Mozelle emerged, feeling a little more at peace with the world.

Okay, let\'s weigh the situation. I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back. I\'m going to be fed regularly from the looks of things. They have a toilet of sorts. The people I\'m with seem relatively decent. I even have a job. I have to look at it that way if I don\'t want to turn into a howling lunatic. I have the feeling that insane slaves don\'t have a good time of it here, no matter how kind their owners areay, ay, I can do this. I can cope. And maybe I\'ll wake up sometime.

Back in the house, Tessa sat on the bed and began stitching on what looked like it would be a small shirt. Since she\'d been given no direction, Mozelle prowled the room, examining it. Besides the large bed, there was a smaller one. The small one was more carefully made, with smoothly sanded wood, a thick pad, and a plump pillow. It also had smooth sheets and a heavy coverlet. Gaius sat crosslegged on it, playing with what looked like a handful of polished stones, so that
was obviously his bed, and the baby probably slept with his nurse That took care of Tessa, Patenic, and Gaius.

She went to stand beside Tessa, and asked, \"Where do I sleep?\"

Tessa frowned. \"No sleep now.\"

Mozelle sighed. This pidgin English wasn\'t as effective as she might have wished. \"No, I don\'t want to sleep now. I want to know where I\'m going to sleep.\" When Tessa looked puzzled again, Mozelle held a hand over her eyes and scanned the room. Then she held both hands, palms upward, and shrugged, eyebrows lifted.

Gaius said, \"Ah! Bed!\"

He climbed off his bed, reached under it, and pulled out what looked like a stuffed canvas bag. He dragged it till it lay across the doorway, then patted it. He pointed at Mozelle. \"You.\" He pointed at the bag, folded his hands, and lay his cheek against them, closing his eyes.

Mozelle stared at it, then rolled her eyes upward, muttering, \"It\'s better than nothing, it\'s better than nothing, it\'s better than nothing.\" After all, she\'d managed to sleep on a stone alter the
previous night. She could deal with this.

She helped the little boy stuff the pallet back under his bed. Then hggedgged her hand till she sat beside him on the bed. Scooping up the stones, he poured them into her palm. He said helpfully, \"Tesserae.\"

Mozelle examined them more closely. \"Well, I\'ll be darned. Dice.\" And dice they were. Not quite as meticulously formed as the machine made dice she was used to, but dice nonetheless. \"Don\'t suppose you have a Monopoly game to go with these, do ya sport? I play a mean game of Monopoly. Or how about Trivial Pursuit? I\'d be SURE to win at that.\"

He made a tossing motion. \"Throw.\"

She rattled the dice in her hands and tossed them on the bed. He tapped each one, muttering under his breath, then gathered them up, shook them in his hands so vigorously that one leapt free, and dropped them on the bed. Again he tabulated them, then looked up at her with a smug smile. \"Hah.\"

She gave a mocking gasp, hands on hips, and said, \"So, you won, did you?\" She started to tease him about the fact that he could cheat outragiously, since she had no concept of the game. She stopped short, thinking that this might not be a good idea. If she remembered correctly, the ancient Romans had been a bit fanatical about honor. It might be a serious thing to accuse someone of cheating, even in jest.

He handed her the dice again, and she threw them, and watched as he once again began his count. She was going to have to start paying attention. There was no telling how long she\'d be here, or even if she\'d ever get back home at all, so it would be sensible to start trying to learn the language. Full immersion. People pay good money back home for that.

The three older occupants of the room paid no attention to the young man who entered a moment later. When Somnus bent over the cradle, though, little Patenic smiled up at him. He returned the smile, and tickled the baby till he gurgled. Tessa gave a fond look at the infant. What on earth could the little thing find so amusing.? Somnus stroked the baby\'s head, sending him off to the deep, peaceful slumber that only infants can achieve. Then he considered Tessa. Yes, she could do with a nap. He hadn\'t gotten to the baby last night, and the little mite had kept her up. He passed a hand over her face. The hands busy stitching stilled, her eyes drifted shut. In a moment, there was a soft snore. He nodded. Yes, that was better.

He stood and watched the dice game between Discordia\'s newest irritant and the little boy for a moment. She looked almost peaceful. This both pleased and worried Somnus.

He had no reason to wish the woman ill. In fact, she seemed like a good sort. He\'d be happy for her to settle in here, since he couldn\'t do anything to return her to her home world. But he had to hope that, in that case, Discordia would forget her, find something else to be outraged about. Seeing a mortal who had unconsciously belittled her sense of self living a life of anything approaching serentiy would drive Discordia to make sure that some turmoil entered that life.