As much as I want to get to Aetheria to help, it's safer not to push too hard.
I just hope I haven't left it too late to get here, that whatever crisis is besetting the city, I'm not too late to help with it.I head down towards the city gates, striding surely, moving through the slums.
There isn't quite the same sense of despair that there was just before the emperor fell.There aren't crowds of people heading to the docks trying to find food but I can still see people looking around furtively, being careful not to be on the streets for too long.Some of them stare at me openly, and I realize that they recognize me, even after all this time.No one approaches, but I can see people watching me out of windows and from doorways.
There’s a line of people at the gates, and I wait my turn like the others.The guards there aren’t dressed in the old colors of the emperor, but just in simple functional armor, the old purple sections painted white, the gold left in place.It makes them shine like the stones of the city.
As I approach, the guards stare at me, then bow as if I’m some visiting dignitary.
“We were told you were coming but I didn't think I'd be on duty when you arrived,” one said.“Please, allow us to escort you to the first senator.”
“I'm not sure I need that,” I say.I don't want to pull them away from their jobs, and the truth is that I've been escorted by guards through the streets far too many times.In the old days, it was because I was a prisoner, a slave, being brought before the emperor.It would bring back too many unhappy memories.“Just tell me where to find him.”
“My lady,” another guard says.“If anything were to happen to you on your journey through the city-”
“Do you think anything will?”I ask.
He hesitates.“The city is not entirely safe, even now, despite the best efforts of the senate.But I wouldn't want to insult you by suggesting you couldn't handle it.”
There's a note of fear in his voice.I hate people being afraid of me, but that's the price of the reputation I built in the Colosseum.They billed me as the fearsome beast whisperer who could set creatures on her enemies.I acquired a dangerous reputation, one that wasn’t helped by being the one who killed the emperor.
“The first senator is down by the Colosseum,” the first guard says.“He left word to bring you to him there.”
“I'll find my own way,” I tell him, and the guards don't argue, just step aside to let me into the city.
I wish I were not alone as I step inside.Alaric is still back in our home, the messenger left me to run ahead, and even my shadow cat isn’t with me.It seemed cruel to bring it back to this place, rather than letting it run free in the wilds.It means I must walk the streets, accompanied by nothing more than my memories.
There are plenty of those, though.My mind supplies images of all the times I marched in procession down into the city with the other gladiators, along streets thronging with people who would call out our names and throw small tokens.Even on the occasions when I was brought into the city in chains by the emperor's guards, there were people watching, ready to curse me or call out to me.
People are watching today, but I can still walk the streets without being interrupted.I move quickly, both because I want to get to Rowan and because it means there's less time for anyone to recognize me.If people glance around and spot me, by the time they've worked out who I am, I'm already gone.
I hurry through the districts of the city, looking around as I go.I can still see damage on some of the buildings from the fighting a year ago, but in most places, it's been repaired.I see a gang of workers laboring to lift a statue into place on the front of a noble home, while another group works on the cobblestones of the street in front of it.
The air is pungent with the smell of so many people, mixed in with spices and the scent of roasting food.Incense from the temples drifts on the wind, while the sounds of the city surround me: hawkers crying out their wares, endless conversations, animals being brought to slaughter, feet on cobbles, and chariots rumbling.
The Colosseum is just ahead.As always, its sheer size takes me by surprise.It's a space designed to impress upon anyone who sees it that they are tiny compared to the might of Aetheria.It's a space designed to represent both martial prowess and magical might, the so-called twin virtues of the empire.
Because of that, I'm quite surprised to see people scrambling around it on scaffolding.There are whole crews of people working, and I might have expected them to be tearing it down, but they're not.They're repairing it.
I head towards them, wanting to ask what's going on, and that's when I see Rowan.
In some ways, he looks the same as he always did, with auburn hair falling over his face to disguise the scar his former mistress inflicted on him before she sold him into the arena.He's still broad-shouldered and muscular, still has the same square features.And he clearly still has control over stone because he waves a hand, manipulating some of the stonework to meld it together and heal the damage in a spot where some of the laborers are struggling.
In other ways he looks completely different.He's dressed in a white toga, rather than the rough clothes of a gladiator.He looks thinner, too, and more careworn.A couple of guards are near him, looking out as if they expect trouble at any moment.They start to reach for their weapons as I approach, but then Rowan sees me and rushes forward, enfolding me in a hug that lifts me from my feet.
“Lyra!I heard you were coming, but it's still amazing to see you.”
He sets me down, looking me over and it's hard not to react to that stare, when it brings with it the memory of times we've spent together as far more than friends.I shake off the feeling, though, gesturing to the work crews.
“What's going on, Rowan?”I demand.“Why are you repairing the Colosseum rather than tearing it down?”
I hear him sigh.“That's a long story.”
“Is there anything to do with why you sent a message to me?”I ask.
He nods.“We have a lot to talk about.I'm so glad you're here, but I fear I might have brought you into the middle of a difficult situation.”
That's a little too close to what Alaric feared for comfort.
