They stop talking as Rowan enters, and I make a point of staying next to him.
“I see you all got started without me,” Rowan says, looking around at them with a degree of disapproval.There seems to be a touch of paranoia in his gaze as well, as if he thinks they've been plotting behind his back.
“Well, Rowan, if you didn't spend all your time out criticizing the building projects, you could be here for the meetings,” an older man says.
Rowan waves that away.“Forget it.For now, I wanted to introduce someone to you all.Many of you may recognize her from the games.This is Lyra Thornwind.”
It seems my name is enough to make them all fall silent, staring at me, looking me up and down as if trying to work out where I fit into whatever schemes they have going on.I'm used to being stared at by a crowd watching me from raised benches, but usually it means I’m going to fight for their entertainment.Here the most dangerous weapons are words, and I'm not as well trained in those as I am with a spear or net.
“Why have you brought her back here, Rowan?”a woman asks.She's dressed in the same plain toga as the others, but she's wearing expensive jewelry to proclaim her status as a noble.
“Maybe he needed someone to protect him from your constant attempts to seduce him, Olivia,” another senator shoots back, getting a laugh from at least a small corner of the room, while those around the noble woman glare at him.Even in that I can see that there are factions within the senate, small blocks of those who vote one way or another.
“I've asked Lyra to return because I think she might be able to help us with some of our problems,” Rowan says.“And I wanted her to meet you all.”
“And it's impressive to see the beast whisperer who brought down the emperor,” the woman, Olivia, says.“But there are many matters for the Senate.She should be in the public gallery if she's here at all.Unless she's going to stand by you like a servant?"
I hear Rowan sigh, and he takes a seat, gesturing for me to stand nearby.There are servants standing around the walls, and a couple of guards, but it seems the senators are the only ones who sit in this hall.
So I stand not far from Rowan, trying not to let any of the weariness I feel after such a long journey show on my face as the senate proceedings continue.
“We need to discuss the matter of public order,” an older senator says.“We’re being too lenient with the criminals of the slums.”
“And what would you have us do?”a woman almost the same age says.“Start impaling them the way you did when you were in the emperor’s armies, Octavio?”
“It's better than letting them run riot,” the man says.“I'm sure your solution, Yarrow, would just be to offer them all the time in your pleasure houses to wear them out to the point where they can't do anything.”
The two look at each other with obvious dislike.
“We've been through this,” Rowan says, raising his hands.“We can't just impose order through cruelty.We aren't the emperor.”
“But we do owe it to the people to provide them with a safe city in which to live,” a man says.He’s heavily built and wears the amulet of a merchant.
“You're more interested in making sure your warehouse stocks are safe, Vars,” Yarrow snaps back.
"The city would be safe if we reopened the arena," one tough-looking man with short, dark hair says.
“That’s your answer to everything, Domitian,” Yarrow says.“Not enough bread, reopen the arena.Trouble in the slums, reopen the arena.Your answer to every problem seems to be to make the people of this city fight to the death again.”
“And that's not something I’ll allow,” Rowan says.
“With respect, First Senator,” Domitian points out.“This is no longer an empire.One man does not make decisions for all of us.”
“And it needn’t be about fights to the death,” a man says.He's in his twenties, tall and broad-shouldered, with golden hair cropped short and bright blue eyes.“We can put on safe exhibition matches.No one needs to be harmed.”
I see Rowan grit his teeth as the arguments go back and forth, and by this point, I'm not really listening to them.I'm too tired after traveling for so long.I can’t suppress a yawn.
“It seems we’re boring the former champion,” Olivia says.
“Or at least tiring her with how long it takes us to make any decisions,” the same man who suggested the exhibition matches suggests.“Perhaps we should call a halt to the meeting for now?”
“That seems like a good idea, Marcus,” Rowan says.“Is everyone else in favor of it?”
There's a brief course of assent around the room.It seems even in such a small thing, the new Senate of the Republic can't just be commanded by its leader.
The senators start to flow out from the Senate chamber, through a couple of side doors.Rowan leads me from the chamber into another bigger space, where tables have been set out with wine and plates of bread and olives.Some of the members of the senate are in there already, while others come in as I watch.They sit on couches and discuss things in low voices while servants bring them wine.
It reminds me uncomfortably of the receiving rooms at the colosseums, where the gladiators were forced to attend the nobles watching the games after their bouts.It was a place where the nobles sought to be seen with the best fighters, basking in reflected glory.Often, nobles would take gladiators into side rooms, seeking time alone with them or more.It was a place to make alliances, but also a place where I was in danger more than once.
