The Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. "Oh, Spartacus, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet." He splashed a little water on the carving of the household gods. "They don't know what it is. Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet. The Romans haven't even got a word for volcano. Not until tomorrow."
"Oh, great, they can learn a new word as they die." She spoke pointedly.
"Donna, stop it." Rose warned. She felt a sinking feeling that whatever happened today and tomorrow would be worst for the Doctor. She couldn't let Donna make it harder.
"Listen, I don't know where you've been or what you've been doing, but you're not telling me to shut up. That boy, how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death."
"And that's my fault?" the Doctor asked, trying to mask his hurt in anger.
"Right now, yes." Donna responded.
"Donna, you're right. You don't know what I've been up to or what he's been doing, so trust the people who have been dealing with time longer than you. We can't." Rose tried to school her voice. She thought back to when she tried to help her mom when Tony had been a stubborn teen. Donna may not be a stubborn teenager, but she wasn't going to respond well to an angry lecture any better than Tony had. "I've tried to change time before to save someone. It didn't go well."
Rose was about to continue telling Donna the story when a doorman spoke, "Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government." In walked a middle-aged man with a cloak covering his right half.
"Lucius. My pleasure, as always." Caecilius greeted him warmly.
"Quintus, stand up." Metella ordered, and he reluctantly stood and faced the new guest.
"A rare and great honor, sir, for you to come to my house." Caecilius reached out for a handshake, but Lucius did not take his hand.
After an awkward pause, the newcomer spoke, "The birds are flying north, and the wind is in the west."
Caecilius nodded. "Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?"
"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow." The augur smirked.
Caecilius turned to his wife. "There now, Metella. Have you ever heard such wisdom?"
"Never. It's an honor."
Caecilius took a few steps back toward them and gestured to them as he introduced each of them. "Pardon me, sir. I have guests. This is Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus and, er, Spartacus."
"A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind." Rose flinched a little as the augur spoke. While he could just be saying he didn't care about their names, he could be suggesting he knew their names were fake. Rose wasn't a fan of prophecies anyway, she got enough of that from the devil of Krop Tor.
"But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark." The Doctor replied.
"Ah. But what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?" Lucius walked towards them, challengingly.
"I concede that every sun must set."
"Ha." Lucius mocked before the Doctor continued.
"And yet the son of the father must also rise." The Doctor gestured over at Quintus.
"Very clever, sir. Evidently, a man of learning." Lucius acknowledged.
The Doctor threw his head back and to the side, making a big show of it. "Oh, yes. But don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo."
"He's Celtic." Caecilius excused.
"We'll be off in a minute." Rose told the group. The Doctor grabbed Donna by both shoulders and led her back to the TARDIS, but Rose lingered as Caecilius led Lucius to something covered in a red cloth.
"I'm not going." Donna argued.
Caecilius ignored the brewing argument. "It's ready, sir."
"You've got to." The Doctor told Donna, quietly.
"Well, I'm not."
"The moment of revelation. And here it is." Caecilius lifted the cloth to reveal a stone tile, with a pattern like a circuit board, that most definitely did not belong in ancient Pompeii. It was very wrong, and the Doctor seemed to have noticed as well. He stopped trying to lead Donna away. "Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?" Caecilius questioned.
Lucius inspected the stone and without breaking his gaze answered, "As the rain pleases the soil."
The Doctor and Donna started walking back toward them. "Oh, now that's different. Who designed that, then?"
Lucius scowled as Caecilius explained, "My Lord Lucius was very specific."
"Where'd you get the pattern?" The Doctor asked.
"On the rain and mist and wind." Came his vague reply.
"But that looks like a circuit." Donna observed aloud.
The Doctor added with a quiet wonder. "Made of stone."
"Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?" Donna asked in disbelief.
Lucius gave her a condescending smile, "That is my job, as City Augur."
"What's that, then, like the mayor?" Given the faces in the room, Rose guessed that was the wrong thing to say, but she wasn't really sure what his role was.
The Doctor smiled, addressing the group. "Oh, ha. You must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona." He turned and whispered to Donna, but Rose listened in. "No, but this is an age of superstition. Of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind will blow from the west? That's the equivalent of ten o'clock news."
A young woman walked into the room, swaying slightly, unsteady on her feet. "They're laughing at us. Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us."
The Doctor turned to her and started rambling, "No, no, I'm not. I meant no offence."
Metella, ever the lady, walked to her daughter and waved off her behavior, "I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapors."
Quintus walked over with a somewhat quiet anger. "Oh for gods, Mother. What have you been doing to her?" He held onto his sister offering her the protection Rose believed she needed. At least this young woman had someone looking after her.
"Not now, Quintus." His father chastened.
Rose smiled proudly at him as he fought back. "Yeah, but she's sick. Just look at her."
Lucius drew the attention back to him, "I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift."
Metella's eye's filled with pride, "Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions."
Lucius scowled, looking down on them, though they were still up the stairs, "The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception."
Donna, who was already at her wits end, took a few steps toward Lucius. "I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate." The ground shook again, though not as intensely.