Chapter 2: The Gundami

Okay, did everyone enjoy the last chapter? Now the fun begins as we introduce the Gundami. Yes, I know it doesn't sound Celtic, but it's the best I could come up with, now shut up.

Note: Gundam Wing and all related characters and materials are the property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.

--

Relena woke up sometime later. She was very disoriented, on the count of the Jupiter-damn fall of her horse. Trying to get used to her surroundings, she blinked several times to adjust her eyes to her surroundings. She felt her massive headache, and reached up to her head and felt… a bandage! Someone had found her! Finally, she got adjusted to her surroundings and noticed that she was in a round house, apparently, made out of timber. She didn't know what kind of house she was in, but it seemed just as advanced as any Roman building. Then, someone came in the door. It was a man about her age with cobalt blue eyes, and long brown hair that was braided (just guess who this is). "Bydew, Rhufeiniad bachgennes, 'ch re ddeffro [1]!" The man said. Relena, who did not speak a word of his language, stared at him confused. "O arhosa, Anghofiais gwisgi t chwedleua cara ni. Afael acha, fi ll cer ca 'r ben atat [2]." The man rushed out of the door before she knew what was going on.

--

Duo (I told you!) rushed out of the roundhouse to find the Chieftain. He knew the chief was around somewhere, he just didn't know exactly where. Finally, he found him. "Chief!" He called. The man in question turned to Duo. "She's awake, chief. The Roman girl is awake."

--

The home Relena was in was simple, yet it she knew that for someone, it was a home. Her bed sheets were furs, unlike the linens in the Roman houses. This was a house for people to live in, not for luxury, so it did the job. There was a hearth in the middle of the house, which provided warmth for the home. She did not know if a family of a single person lived here. Finally, a man stepped through the door to see her. Her eyes widened, for she recognized him. He was that same Celt she had seen attack Londinium!

"You're awake." He said—in Latin!

Relena, thoroughly surprised, asked, "You speak Latin?"

"Yes, I do. But to tell you how I learned it would be to long a story to tell [3]."

"Are you avoiding telling me on purpose?" She asked. He looked at her with a face that said, 'I'm not telling.' "Fine," She said. "Where am I?"

"First off, I'd like to know who you are," he responded. "And why you followed me."

"Okay, then. My name is Relena Pacisprofessio. I'm the daughter of Senator Claudius Pacisprofessio. And I followed you because I wanted to know what you were doing and why."

"You wanted to know what I was doing? Weren't you there 3 days ago?"

The revelation floored her. "Three days? I've been out for that long?"

"Yes. Now to answer your question, my name is Heero. I am the chief of these people. You're with my tribe, and that is all I'm going to tell you." He began to walk out before Relena said,

"Wait, why won't you tell me?"

Heero stopped, sighed and said, "Because I refuse to say much to a Roman like you." Relena had no chance to reply when he left the house.

--

Duo stood outside the hut as Heero left. "Did you tell her everything?"

"Why would I? She's a Roman, I'm not sure if she can be trusted."

"Then why did you bring her here?" He asked the chief. All he got in response was a dirty look from his chieftain. Heero walked away, not intending to continue this conversation any further. Duo just shook his head and followed the chieftain.

--

The whole village was abuzz over the Roman girl. "A Roman woman, here in our village!" Some said. "I wonder what she's like." Others said. The gossip spread like wildfire, enough that there were people trying to look into the hut where Relena was staying, which would understandably embarrass anyone, Roman, German or Celtic. Some of the men were interested in her, since they felt she was pretty good looking. It was enough to make some of the women jealous of her, though she really wasn't planning on staying long. But the physician, who was actually, much to her surprise, as skilled as any Roman doctor [4] told her that she would have to stay longer—as translated by Heero, since the doctor did not speak Latin.

After two days, Relena could finally leave the hut. Her first impressions of the Gundami village surprised her. After years of being told that these people were savage beasts, she was surprised to find that they were not as barbaric as the other Romans thought. Sure, she did not think it was right to judge a people just because they were different. But at the same time, she almost believed the stories of these people. They were mostly simple farmers, and I say "simple" as a description, not as an insult. But what she found was that the farmers were better than any Roman farmer she had seen [5] and their technology was just as advanced.

The people were also nice to her, which she felt was because she was a stranger, or a "deorad", as she later learned. She observed the tribe as best she could, but due to a massive language barrier it was very difficult. Some of the tribe's people were interested in her, which she deduced was because she was something different, new. It was possible that some of them had never seen a Roman woman before, and were interested in her only because of her strange dress and language. Some, however, were not so thrilled about her presence, which she felt they might be mad at the Romans. But she did appreciate being treated better as a woman here than in Rome, where she was at times treated like dirt [6]. She also noticed that some women in the village were sharpening swords as though they were soldiers [7] or just helping the warriors.

After a week, Relena soon began to figure out who was who by listening to the conversations as best she could, despite the fact that she could not understand the language. The man with the cobalt blue eyes and long, braided hair seemed to be named "Duo", and because he spent some time with Heero, she felt the two must have been good friends. A girl, who seemed to be German, was referred to as "Hilde", which was implied to be her original name. One warrior, who had hair that covered part of his face, was known as "Trowa." His female companion was named "Catherine" [8]. Duo seemed to spend time with Hilde as well.

"She's German". Someone said to her, referring to Hilde. "They found her in the aftermath of an attack on a Roman column. She's since become an honorary member, since she's here of her own free will [9]." A Druid who spoke Latin was in the village one day explained things to her, since Heero wouldn't even tell her the time of day. She appreciated the Druid's help very much and especially since he was helping her get to know the people of the tribe better. The Druid introduced himself as Dr J and nothing else.

"Why doesn't the chieftain like Romans?" She asked.

"I'm not sure why, either. I haven't asked the young man about that, but some of our people are not happy about the Roman occupation." Said Dr. J.

"Why aren't they? We are giving them civilization, after all."

"They feel that they shouldn't be ruled by some men from a faraway land. It's an observation I've made after reading Roman texts. No matter what, people will resist whatever force invades them."

"I guess I can understand that they want to be left alone," she said.

"Some are also mad that the Romans have attacked them for no apparent reason and have sworn revenge."

"Why?"

"They feel wronged for what has happened." He replied. "We never did anything to the Romans, yet their soldiers run amok, killing, looting and raping indiscriminately."

"But revenge is not the answer! It only continues the cycle of death and violence."

"You are right, but there are people who will not care what you say. Are you prepared to face resistance if you ever advocate that?"

Relena lowered her head and said, "I'm not sure if my ideals will even be accepted in Rome. Women there don't have as many rights as men, so I doubt they'll even allow me to speak about it."

"I'm very sorry about that. But you said your name was Pacisprofessio. By any chance, you wouldn't be related to Claudis Pacisprofessio, would you?"

"He's my father. He's very influential in Rome, not only to the Senate, but to the Emperor as well."

"Yes, I know. He's actually respected by some of the others [10]. We hope he'll be an important influence in the Empire."

"I hope so, too," she said with a small smile on her face.

--

As the week went by, Relena familiarized herself as best she can with the tribe. She tried to socialize with the women, but the language barrier made things difficult, but not exactly impossible. She did manage to catch on to a few things, like how the Celts made their bread. A few of the farmers also showed her their crops and techniques. The tribe grew a variety of crops, which were, as they always are, vital to the people of the tribe. The tribe also grew grape vines, which came as a small surprise. The tribe also kept livestock, such as sheep, cattle and pigs. Dr J explained that the boar was a sacred animal in Celtic religion. The sheep produced wool that as Relena knew, was highly prized by people in Rome, and had been for some time, since the days of Julius Caesar. She also saw that bulls were prized not only by the tribe, but also by other Celts, too. The tribe really had to beat back some cattle raids recently, much to the tribe's disdain [11].

While she had been accepted largely by part of the tribe, there were some exceptions; most notably, the chieftain Heero, who avoided her like the plague. Relena did not know why the chieftain hated her so much, but Dr J implied that he hated her because she was Roman, which made Relena even more confused, since she didn't know what kind of problem he had with Romans. Their 'conflict' came to a head during her second week with the tribe. She had yet to leave, which seemed to annoy Heero a lot. Relena was in the hut she was staying in, minding her own business when Heero came in. "Well, look who's here," she said. "I thought you didn't like me." Heero stayed silent, true to his character.

"I thought you would have left by now," He responded.

"Well I haven't. I'm not sure whether the Romans forgot about me or you're just that hard to find." She responded. She was actually serious, but Heero took it the wrong way as though she was being sarcastic and took it as an insult.

"Are you saying you want to stay here?" He asked.

"Now, I'm not. Your people are nice, but…"

"But what? Are you insulting us?"

"Don't twist my words around, Celt!" She responded. "I wasn't insulting you or your people, I was just saying that…"

"That what? We're primitive?"

"Well compared to Rome, yes!"

"Rome? I hate Rome." He said in a monotone voice that masked his burning anger and hatred.

"Why? Why do you hate Rome?" Heero was furious at this woman. He took a few breaths before calming down. He turned around, and said,

"I have nothing else to say." He said, and proceeded to leave. Relena, however, had other ideas and grabbed his arm.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me why you hate Romans!" She yelled.

"Let go of me!" He said. He struck her, trying to get her off, which made her even more furious. As he tried to leave, she drew a dagger that Mille had given to her. She raised the dagger at him in preparation to attack him. He brought the dagger down upon him, but he moved with fast reflexes and caught her arm before the blade could pierce his skin.

"Did you actually think you could kill me and get away with it?" He asked. Relena just stared at him with a fire in her eyes that burned brightly. "If you did kill me, my people would have found out easily and you would not have lived long." He said. "You say you're a Pacisprofessio, and yet here you are trying to kill someone. Nice way to practice what you preach." He let go of Relena's arm as he finished saying that. This time, he left without much protest from Relena, who simply stood there fuming in anger at the chieftain.

--

Notes and translations:

[1] "Well Roman girl, you're awake!"

[2] "Oh wait, I forgot you don't talk like us. Hold on, I'll go get the chief for you."

[3] Actually, he learned it from a Roman ambassador.

[4] There is actually evidence that Celtic doctors were as skilled as Roman or Greek doctors.

[5] This is true, it seems.

[6] It's generally stated that women in Celtic society had higher standings that their counterparts in Rome or Greece. It was enough that the Romans and Greeks took advantage of this to illustrate just how barbaric they were.

[7] I'm keeping their job ambiguous because although a lot has been written about women warriors in Celtic society, there is very little archeological evidence to prove this.

[8] Hilde is Hilde Schbeiker, Trowa is Trowa Barton and Catherine is Catherine Bloom.

[9] Celtic law did not extend rights to prisoners, hostages or criminals.

[10] He's referring to the remaining Druids, who were the intellectuals of Celtic society. That's how he knows Latin. In fact, that Latin thing might be controversial. I think, but I'm not completely positive that some Druids may have studied in Rome. If they did not, however, I'll just go ahead and say that this one did.

[11] If you want to know just how significant cattle is in Celtic society, read The Cattle Raid of Cooley from the Ulster Cycle of Irish myth.