Eduardo was happy to be home. Rome was dirty and polluted, but it still had charm. More charm than the northern regios wiche he had now left.
Two months in a villa near the town of Treveris (Augusta Treverorum):
She had aged... It had been subtle, but to the keen eye it was noticeable, not by the usual wrinkles or white hair, but trough her expression. Belena had always carried with her a spark of rebelliousness, a hint of dark humor that caught the eye of everyone around her. Now, she seemed veiled in a semi transparent black shroud that had smoothed away the edges of the young woman's spirit, and left only a saddened widow. Her physicality had also changed. Eduardo remembered a naturally alluring red haired young woman, whose movements flowed with an uncalculated sensuality... And even her hair was darker, almost brown...
- Why do you stare? You know I don't like to be observed. - she said, never taking her eyes from her embroidery.
- I was admiring your skill with the needle... It's quite extraordinary! I didn't know you had it in you. But then again, all that time in the countryside... - she smiled., a wiry smile, but a smile none the less. -And I was also admiring your choice of clothing. All dark browns and black.. You were partial to more lively colors a few years ago .
She stopped and looked gravely at him.
- Mourners wear dark tones Eduardo.
- Yes I know... Your mourning for five, six... How many years?
Eduardo was a manipulator, and Belena knew it, but Patricius was not a affair that she would allow him to use. She resumed her embroidery.
- You did not call me here to speak of my fashion choices I hope Rubicundus...
- Do you know how long it had been since someone had called me that? – he laughed politely - Now seriously Belena, I can’t tell you just yet. The other guest hasn’t arrived. That would spoil the surprise.
She stopped again and this time her voice wasn’t playful, or polite. She was weary of the cold of Treveris in the winter and longed to return to Gaul, to her son, to her villa and to her pain.
- I am not in the mood for this Eduardo. I don’t want to play games. I came here because you are my friend and mainly because you gave me no choice. You charged the debt of honor I owe you, which is your right... But please be quick...
- What are you so eager to return to Belena? Your son I understand, but your villa? – his face looked more and more like a hawk’s under the fading light of the northern sun that filled the room. He had aged. Heavy lines marked his expression. The smile never disappeared from his lips, but Belena was now able to recognize the politician behind the courtier. He continued.
- You can’t tell me that monitoring the growth of wheat and the counting of cattle heads fulfils you. You have seen the library of Alexandria and the coliseum of Rome. You have traveled by horse across Panonnia with your father following the amber trading route! You honestly can’t tell me you’re content. That you are numb, I will believe, but fulfilled? And besides, that villa will not be in your possession for long if your brother in law finally decides to claim you as a part of your household and takes your son's guard away from you.
Belena was shocked by the amount of information he had about her, but didn’t let it show. With trembling hands(of anger, not of fear), she picked up her embroidery and resumed working on it, with a clenched jaw.
Eduardo reached towards her with his jeweled hand.
- You can’t bury yourself in the past Belena, because it’s not coming back. You think that by shutting the world away and playing Penelope, things around you will change?
- Don’t play with me Eduardo. I know you are my friend, and that you wish to comfort me from my loss, but I also know that you want something from me, and from what I hear in your words and see in your eyes it’s not going to be something simple.
- Aurelianus will be here soon, and then I will unveil my intentions.
- Aureliaus?- The name brought back memories of another life to her – where did you reach him?
- In the province of africa. Equites like yourself and him are not hard to trace when they don’t desire to hide.
The Western Tetrarchy