To say that people weren't nervous of Antonio would be a lie, after all, it started to become clear very quickly that the baby Marina had brought home may have perhaps been left abandoned for a reason, at least that was what the rest of the village said.
It had been ten years since she'd found him, but Antonio's age had only inched a little further since then. He could now walk, and he most certainly could talk, something he would do all day if Marina let him, but, rather than looking like a healthy eleven or twelve-year-old boy, Antonio didn't look a day past three or four.
It was true this was unusual, and even Marina was concerned to know what the reason behind this was. However, the one thing she was certain of, was that none of it was Antonio's fault, and that he was a good and sweet boy.
Never in all the time she'd been with him, had Marina ever seen the boy frown, whatever happened, and whichever way the wind blew, he would remain smiling and upbeat. He helped her to cook and keep the house clean, obeyed instructions she gave him – unless something else distracted him part way through. But, as far as Marina was concerned, he was a better-behaved child than any of the 'ordinary' children belonging to the other women in the village.
It was a morning like any other. Antonio was standing on his chair, watching Marina cook their breakfast over the small stove in the corner of the room, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet with eager anticipation, chatting away about an interesting bird he saw the other day.
Their peaceful start to the day however, was disturbed by a knock at the door.
Ignoring it simply wasn't an option. The close community of the village was restrictive and constricting sometimes, but Marina knew that if you chose not to play along with the others and do what you could to help, then you would find yourself completely alone when you needed support yourself. The villagers were already suspicious of Antonio, and by extent her by association, so she couldn't afford to make them doubt her any further.
"Watch the pot" she told the toddler.
While Antonio still looked young, he was perfectly capable of keeping an eye on things in the kitchen for her.
Moving around the table to the door, Marina pulled it open.
Adana was standing on the porch, her eyes a wide with nervous excitement. "There's a man here" she declared, "He came with a whole load of soldiers, says he's from the kingdoms to the east."
East? How far east?
Marina was hardly an expert on geographies and kingdoms, but she was pretty sure that there was a lot that lay to the east.
While it was odd for them to have visitors, particularly armed ones, Marina didn't understand why Adana was here telling her this so early in the morning. Her questioning look must have made the other woman realise this, as she jumped slightly and nodded.
"He wants to speak with you, both you and…" She cast a look around Marina into the house at Antonio, her expression and posture becoming immediately uncomfortable, "…him."
Confused, Marina shook her head, "How does he know who I am?"
Adana shrugged, "I'm just delivering the message. He doesn't look like the sort of guy who likes to be kept waiting though." And with that she turned and hurried away again, no doubt to discuss this gossip with the other women of the village.
A stranger from the east, here with an armed guard, who wanted to speak to her and Antonio. Alarms were sounding in Marina's head, this was suspicious under ordinary circumstances, but considering how… special Antonio was, it was downright alarming.
Had rumours of this child who refused to age spread all the way to the eastern kingdoms already? She supposed it was possible with the growing number of traders they had here, but still, she hadn't known that so many had taken note of her son.
She had three choices. Take Antonio and run, although she doubted they'd get far; remain here and wait for the man to come to her, although that might have unfavourable results if it angered him; or she could do as Adana had told her and go and meet with this man now.
There was no choice really.
Removing breakfast from the fire carefully, Marina set it aside before picking Antonio up in his arms.
"What about breakfast?" He asked, tightening his grasp into her shirt, but remaining focused on the pot.
"We'll have it later" Marina assured him, "We need to go and see somebody first."
Heart hammering in her chest, she left the house.
The eyes of the village seemed to be trained on her, following and tracking her movement as she made her way steadily to the centre of the settlement.
"Who do we have to see?" Antonio must have been the only one who didn't feel the tension of the moment, which Marina decided to take as a small blessing.
"I'm not sure" she replied honestly, "a man from one of the eastern kingdoms has been asking about us."
Although he was still young, even if he had been growing normally, Marina felt the best thing to do was to remain honest. Nothing seemed to stress Antonio, so she didn't see any harm in it.
The man that had been looking for them was easy to spot. He was tall, handsome, and easily the most distinguished of the men he travelled with. In fact, Marina noted how well armed these soldiers truly were, with metallic breastplates, sword and helmets that would make them fearsome foes on the battlefield. It didn't seem like they were here to cause trouble though, as many of the soldiers were chatting in a friendly way with the young girls who had swarmed around them.
Marina drew nearer, the crowd of village folk and soldiers parting as she made her way through them with Antonio.
It wasn't until she reached the front that she saw the impressive looking man was not entirely alone. There was a young man with him, or, perhaps an older boy. He was tall for his age, but not yet shaving, with a body that suggested he had been through training most of his young life. But still, Marina would have called him fourteen at oldest. He was throwing stones irritably along the ground, pouting as he looked over at where the older soldiers were flirting with the women.
"Focus." The man they were heading toward shot him a strict command, that the boy responded to reluctantly, turning his gaze to Marina and Antonio instead. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up, and a grin spread across his face.
"Yes!" He declared excitedly, "I don't know him, but yes!"
"Yes?" Antonio questioned, glancing back at Marina, "Why is he saying yes?"
That was not a question she knew the answer to, but hopefully the older man would explain.
"Greetings" the man addressed her, "My name is Consus, General from the city of Veich, and this is…"
"Rome." The boy stepped forward, taking her hand gently with what perhaps would one day become a charming smile, but as it was, he was far to young to carry enough gravitas to pull it off. "It is a pleasure to meet you Marina, I have heard stories about you and your son."
Honestly, Rome seemed more interested in her than he was in Antonio, which proved to be a fatal error, as Antonio reached forward, grabbed a small curl on the front of Rome's head and pulled.
Yelping in pain, Rome shot back, clutching his hands sharply over the rather stoic hair that had held in place, rather than coming away in Antonio's hand.
"I am so sorry" Marina apologised, turning to Antonio with the best scolding expression she could manage, "You shouldn't grab people's hair like that, it could hurt them."
The small boy smiled gently, "Sorry, I'll remember that next time."
A part of Marina wanted to chuckle at this. She knew that Antonio had been perfectly aware of that, he probably just hadn't liked the idea of someone else grabbing at her so suddenly.
"Any way," Consus cleared his throat, "We are simply here to confirm whether or not the rumours were true. Does your boy truly not age?"
So, Antonio was the reason they were here. Marina's hold tightened, armed or not, she wasn't going to let these people take him from her. These men with weapons and armour, men of war. Her Antonio was no such thing, and she did not wish for him to become one either.
"It's okay, we are not here to harm him, or take him from this place." He took out his sword, as if that was in some way supposed to reassure her, "Look."
And then with a sudden force he spun, the sword coming down hard on Rome who looked completely unconcerned. He hadn't seen. He hadn't noticed.
Screaming out in warning, Marina instinctively reached out to stop him, but of course she was too late. The sword made impact, and then shattered. Consus moving between her and the boy to protect her from the metallic shards that splintered to the ground around them.
"What?" She gasped, heart pounding, head swirling as she tried to process what it was she'd just witnessed, "Is that… is that some sort of magic?"
"Some sort" Rome smirked, although he closed his mouth again when Consus glared at him.
"Then you do not know," his eyes flickered to Antonio, "That child that you carry in your arms is a force of nature we still know very little about, just the same as Rome beside me is. They are powerful, indestructible and immortal."
"Nations" Rome filled in, as if that explained everything, "We're called Nations, and it means we're some weird embodiment of kingdoms, or a country, or something. So as long as the country flourishes, we flourish," he sounded bored, as if reciting something he'd memorised from a lesson.
"I'm sorry…" Marina shook her head, "I don't know what religion you follow but I believe…"
"It isn't a religion," Consus shook his head, "It is simply the world. Our philosophers have researched Rome this past century, and they have concluded that these beings are not deities and they are not prophets, initially they barely seem to have a conception of religion…"
"You said 'they'?" Marina cut him off, "You know of others like… like Antonio?"
Consus nodded, "We have seven on record now, including this boy here and Rome, although we suspect that there is probably more. We even think some might still even be being born into this world, this boy here, Rome says he's younger than he or the others we've spoken with are."
Antonio who had been silent through this explanation, suddenly stretched out his arms and yawned.
He understood, Marina knew that however young he appeared Antonio was surprisingly sharp, but often if something sounded too complicated or was simply something he didn't want to hear then he wouldn't pay it any attention.
"Can I have breakfast now?"
"Breakfast?" Rome looked up at Consus, his nose twitching eagerly. Marina understood that face, as she understood the face of every hungry boy who had been told it was rude to invite yourself to someone else's food.
"You would be welcome to join us, I always make too much anyway."
It was the polite thing to do, and, it sounded like Consus and Rome had some understanding of Antonio, maybe even where he'd come from. Marina felt a little more certain now, that they weren't here to take him away.
Consus looked less sure of this invitation, but Rome had already eagerly accepted, and had spun around her in a small circle.
"Which one is your house?"
Marina led both foreign men through the village to her house which lay close to the edge. She would have to heat the food up again, but there were just about enough places around the table for them all to wait.
"So, what's it like where you're from?" Antonio spoke up the moment he was sitting down, cutting off Consus who looked like he'd been about to say something else.
"Beautiful" Rome boasted, "The city I live in has huge buildings made from stone and marble, and we have gardens that are designed by artists. Our food is also the greatest in the world."
"No, it isn't," Antonio shook his head, "My mum makes the greatest food in the world."
"Antonio" Marina scolded, although she smiled as she did it, it was always nice to hear how much he appreciated her food.
"What about this place?" Rome glanced around, "This village can't be all there is?"
"Rome," Consus' voice barked out, "I will order you to be quiet if I have to."
But Marina shook her head, turning away from the pot, although she continued to stir it over the fire. "It's okay" she assured the stern looking man, "As far as I know this is the only village in this area yes. We travelled many years to find it and build up our home here, perhaps there are others around, but the traders have never spoken of them."
"But it's a great village" Antonio added competitively, "We have gardens that look pretty all by themselves."
They did not have any gardens here, so Marina could only assume Antonio was making it up, or he was talking about the greenery that surrounded them. Perhaps they could be called gardens she pondered, after all, the village had laid claim to them, so in a way they were the village's gardens.
Rome opened his mouth, ready to reply with something to further to argument, but, with a relief, Marina moved the pot off the heat, and ladled several helpings into four bowls. "Breakfast" she declared, placing it down in front of the three males, before taking up the seat next to Antonio and beginning on her own.
"Food in a bowl…" Rome considered it, pulling a face.
Consus struck him round the back of the head, not in an unkind way, but a forceful nudge of warning, perhaps the same as a father might have given a son.
"Eat your food and be grateful for it," he had already started on his own, his stiff and rigid body lifting the bowl to his mouth and taking a long sip, turning a little red once he realised how hot it was, although he didn't complain, and even persevered, even though Marina did her best to stop him.
Men. Honestly, they were the same no matter where you were from.
After he had gotten through all the possible expressions he could pull at her cooking, Rome finally lifted the bowl himself and braced himself for a sip. Marina watched with amusement as he slowly started to relax, and then began to drink rather quickly.
"I told you" Antonio grinned, already pushing his own bowl forward for seconds.
"Still… isn't as… good as… home" Rome guzzled between mouthfuls. He placed the bowl down with a deep burp and wiped his mouth with the back of his arm, "It's better than I thought it would be though."
"Thank you for the meal Marina" Consus nodded, "Allow us to pay you for our share…"
Surprised, Marina shook her head, "Not at all, I won't hear of it. In our village we believe in providing for our guests and ask for nothing in return."
It wasn't right to accept someone else's money; besides, she'd already made the food before she knew that they'd be joining them for breakfast.
"So, now you have confirmed Antonio is one of these 'Natals'…"
"Nations" Rome corrected her as he downed his second bowl.
"…Nations, what is your plan going forward? Will you leave? I do not mean to be rude but, I must confess I am still concerned you have plans to take Antonio back with you."
"No point" Rome shrugged, "He belongs here, I belong home, you can't really move a nation around," he pointed at Antonio, "particularly one that still looks as young as him, he'd gain nothing from it, and we have nothing to gain by holding the Nation of a tiny village either."
"But," Consus added, "We will remain for a short while to observe. Our cities superiors believe that it will be good for our own Nation to be exposed to another of his kind that isn't so… wild…"
Marina wasn't sure what Consus meant by that, but she decided not to ask, this was already too confusing as it was.
"…I am also to take notes for our government of observations made of this new growing Nation, to see how his growth reflects that of your village."
Her heart sank. So they didn't intend to just leave her and Antonio alone, but still, she took a breath, this was better than someone taking him away, and who knew, perhaps it would be good for him to be exposed to another 'Nation' as well.
