Chapter 10: The Act of Aquarius
"To order!", Gracchus called as everyone in the senate settled into their respective positions. Commodus was seated on the small chair that acted as a mock-throne in the senate room. It should have been a place of honour and authority, but it had become to Commodus a place to be metaphorically bound and systematically tortured. Having to sit politely and endure ridicule was inhumane. People felt it was inexcusable for the emperor to have a little bit of a temper, but they had never spent an afternoon forced to listen to these harpies. True, Commodus had more of a temper than one would have expected from an irritated aristocrat, but he dealt daily with the ridicule from the senate, family, other nobles, and certain citizens. Luckily, the few peasants that came to speak with him for business purposes or with a personal request, seemed to feel that he was doing a marvelous job especially in comparison to his war-hungry father. The Praetorians also felt more connected to this young despot since he had no qualms about training with them and requiring no special treatment when doing so. It was as if Commodus had been born to be a man of the people and not to live as a fairly intelligent monkey that performed for a group of snarling, clawing, wanton old men.
While Gracchus called the senate to order and began the usual recant of what was wrong with the city as of late and what was also wrong with the outer provinces and how much of it was Commodus's fault and why. At first, Commodus ignored the well-meaning senator's rantings, but the day began to drag on past the usual time for the senate meetings. The cieling above the emperor's seat was open to the sky to allow fresh air, but it was now allowing in an unnatural amount of sunlight and heat. Commodus was, of course, dressed in full royal garb and a small suit of armour. The layers of silk and cotton that made his clothing were heavy and thick enough, but then added to that the layer of leathermail and metal edging were becomming more than he could bare. The crown that usually simply sat on top of his head effortlessly was now digging into his scalp unmercifully and he could feel himself practically dripping with sweat and exhaustion. He had decided to try and be as patient as possible and sit without speaking, waiting for Tertullian's messenger. The tolerance that he had against the heat had been spent before he had been given the opportunity to demand a recess and go back into the palace to at least sit in its shade and get a drink. This was monstrous!
He stared hatefully at the senators in their simple robes. How smug they looked sitting there in the nude by comparison to the emperor. Prancing around and carrying on, able to get up and walk to escape this horrible heat! Why did the sun have to be so bright, anyway? It was as if Apollo was punishing him for some unkown sin. He felt his head beginning to spin and stomach begin to turn angrily. Lucilla sat a few feet away, but interpreted the symptoms of her brother's expression to be him being bored with the fundamental responsibilities of government as usual. She straightened herself and turned to ignore his feigned laboured breathing and closing his eyes. Commodus breathed heavily and tried to call on his physical strength to create a greater endurance to this torment.
Ursa was called into Tertullian's office by the imperial task-master. She had been used for the past day and a half to deliver documents and messages that were beyond what the normal pages took to and from the senate. It saved the empire from having to hire more hands to help and therefore have more mouths to feed. It also gave the task-master an idea. If the emperor had so many concubines and didn't use them regularly, then the ones that were simply staying in the palace as slaves could be put to work with simple tasks. He would need to bring this before the emperor. Ursa walked into the office and bowed to the old scribe, who sat behind the desk writing furiously. He looked up for a moment and then motioned for her to come closer. As she stepped closer to the desk, he looked up again. He stared at her. Partially it was in confusion as to why a young girl was sent to play as messenger, the other was in how darling and lovely this girl was. She belonged among the emperor's women, not delivering messages. He smiled slightly at the young girl and nodded as she approached. Perhaps he could make life a little more easy and meaningful for her by suggesting that the emperor take her to him. She would at least be pleasing to the eyes.
"You sent for a messenger?", Ursa said softly. He smiled brighter. Her voice was wonderful as well.
"I need for this edict to be brought to Caesar while he is at the senate. He will look over it for a moment and then either give his approval or tell you to bring it back to hold for me to ammend it.", Tertullain instructed as he handed her a scroll bound in a silk tie. She looked at it and then nodded to him. "It will be odd for a messenger to appear in the senate like this, but the meeting is taking longer than anyone expected. More odd will be the fact that you are female, so pay no mind to any strange looks or words from the men in the senate. I doubt very much that the emperor will be displeased with a female being a messenger for this, but be prepared if he is a little irate from the events of this afternoon in the senate. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir.", Ursa said with a bow. Tertullian picked up a piece of parchment and fanned himself.
"My goodness its warm today. I can't believe Caesar is sitting through this kind of meeting this afternoon. It's very hot in the senate and he's always expected to dress as if he's going into political and physical combat.", Tertullain said softly to himself as he sat back in his chair and went back to work. Ursa took that to heart and mind as she looked behind the scribe at the library.
"Sir?", she asked timidly.
"Yes, child?", he replied not looking up.
"If it isn't out of place, might I come in tonight and look through some of these scrolls to get a better grasp of life in the capital and in the palace?", she asked with a small bow.
Tertullian smiled and looked up at her. "If you would really like that, then you may. It does my heart good to see young citizens so hungry for knowledge. No one else must know, but you may come and read after you have delivered that message. You may stay until the sun goes down. Will that be long enough?"
Ursa smiled brightly. "Yes, sir. Thank you.", she said before hurrying off towards the senate. She made a side trip into the kitchen for a moment, then went on the rest of the way with a plan for a small, but monumental act of kindness for the emperor in her head. This would more than win the young man's favour and possibly his heart.
Commodus was beginning to get extremely angry and feel very ill. Why wasn't anyone noticing this? He didn't really want them to see him as weak and suffering perse, but he did wish that someone would show concern for the fact that he was suffering at all. He looked over at Lucilla desperately, but she refused to look at her baby brother at all. Sadness and hurt added itself to the nauseating coctail of negative emotion mixing violently within him. He could barely even understand what was being said at the moment. How on earth did the senate expect him to do any decent amount of good for the empire if he couldn't even perform the normal thoughtless functions like breathing and seeing without a great deal of pain and effort? Were they soulless? He groaned and tried to stand, and demand a recess, but all the strength in him had melted and dripped to the floor beside his senses. He groaned a little louder, hoping that Lucilla would take notice and come to help him. No such luck, Lucilla was focused too greatly on being the sensible one in the room. He felt so miserable. He prayed for unconsciousness or death, whichever would be merciful enough to respond.
The senators, Gracchus included, suddenly became silent. The change from the norm would usually have warranted Commodus standing and becomming defensive, but at the moment he knew he could barely move. The senators watched in disbelief as a young girl was escorted in to the senate by one of the Praetorians. She had a scroll attached to her sash and carried a pitcher and chalice. She walked over to the emperor and bowed politely, holding back the numerous expletives she wanted to shout at the senate and his sister. He looked terrible! He was soaked with sweat and a bright shade of red from the sun and heat. His eyes spun as if he had recieved a massive blow to the head. Ursa said nothing, but reached down and took the scroll from her sash, handing it to him. He reached for it after a second when his taxed senses finally gave the message to the rest of his body that he neede to take the scroll from the girl in front of him. He wasn't even alert enough to see that the girl that was serving him the message was the psuedo-candidate that had caused so much trouble recently and inadvertantly saved his life as well. He began to undo the tie on the scroll and slowly open it, but his eyes just couldn't focus on the words to read them properly. He groaned and grasped his head. Ursa frowned and picked up the chalice, then filled it with the cool fresh water she had retrieved from the kitchen along with the chalice and pitcher. After she had filled it, she forced the cup into his hands, not giving him the opportunity to try and refuse for his pride's sake.
He gave no argument as the primitive side of him was overcome with thirst and had been presented with an immediate solution. He said nothing and drank quickly. Lucilla watched in amazement alongside the rest of the senators. He finished after a brief moment and then looked over the order on the scroll to make sure that Tertullian had thorough, concise, and accurate to his request. He smiled and handed the parchment back to the messenger without looking to his side to see who it had been. He held the chalice out for her to take as well, but Ursa simply took it and set it on the floor beside the pitcher in case he might need it again.
"Tell Tertullian to have this issued at once.", he stated.
"Of course, sire.", Ursa replied. Commodus felt a jolt of electricity run through him. That voice again! He turned arund quickly to look into the eyes of his true love. Instead he came face to face with Cicero's little sister. He gulped and motioned for her to go on her way. Had the heat really warped him to the point that he was hearing that wonderful voice everywhere? Certainly it couldn't have been the fact that the girl was in fact the one who had touched his heart. He sighed and rubbed his head. Logically, it had to be the fact that he had been concentrating so hard on finding the young woman, done without sleep, hadn't eated well all day, been exposed to such heat, and then been shocked to see the tiresome girl in the senate itself. That was the only logical explanation. He sighed and turned around again, trying to calm himself and gather his senses once more.
Then again, it was incredibly selfless and tender what she had just done. Messngers were only ever asked to deliver messages, nothing else. She had seen to end his suffering out of the kindness of her own heart and mind. He sighed and rubbed his head. Why hadn't he had the presence of mind to at least say thank you to her? She must have thought by now that he was just as thoughtless and ungrateful as the rest of the royals in the palace. Especially adding to that the somewhat long-standing history she had with him of random assualts by either him or one of the other nobles/senators. He couldn't imagine her confusion and sorrow. He had to let her go and rid both of them of the trouble she was facing in being forced to stay here. He sighed. He wondered if the impression she had of him was what the general citizens had. If so, perhaps he would need to work a little harder to gain popular approval after all. Still, the act she had just performed was so... well...loving. There really was no other word for it. She had shown him in that small act one of the six forms of love that scholars had written about for centuries. He thought about this for a moment longer. She deserved to be rewarded for all of the heartache she had endured at his hand and the two great shows of loyalty she had displayed for him. He knew exactly what he would do. He would ask both her and her brother to his table that night, present her with the valuable pitcher, chalice, and dagger from the previous night to keep, and then grant her freedom to leave with documentation that she had been too young to be accepted as one of the concubines. Surely that would be as great a show of kindness as what she had done. He thought for a moment longer. No, it wouldn't. She acted out of pure tenderness, not returning any favours. He smiled. Perhaps the muse of Esther had been right after all, perhaps his people really did love him.