AN: Hi guys! Thanks for the reviews and messages! They make me super duper happy and the writing process usually goes along faster with them since I get all inspired and stuff! :D This is chapter three; not as funny, but this story needs to have a plot, right? Please, send me a message or review; it doesn't take so long, just click a button and type some encouraging words. I'd really appreciate it!
Baths were luxuries in the Mojave. There was common rule among many people—if there was no running water and no natural water, you would go without bathing for days.
Valence was fond of being clean and had found great comfort in living next to Lake Mead. Even though she had to take a bit of a walk to get closer to the water she couldn't ever complain about being dirty.
She had a spot she liked very much—it was easily reached from the far end of camp, just follow the rocks along the edges of the cliff until they dipped into a weather-made staircase, trailing down, down to the lake. Go right and there would be the area the other legionaries bathed in. Go left and there was a small cave, and if you went through it you would end up on the other side of the lake, away from prying eyes.
This was the first place she had found to bathe in since arriving at the camp, and the only one she intended to visit. It was fairly well known that she was a woman, very few people wouldn't know. But nobody needed to seethat it was true. Nobody but her. She took her time in getting undressed, leaving her towel on one of the dewed rocks of the cave mouth. She took the binding from her chest and rubbed the red flesh under her breasts, irritated from being kept under wraps for so long. She wasn't necessarily well endowed when it came to her chest but she was always a very cautious person.
She dove into the lake, ignoring the chill of the water. When she resurfaced, she swam over to the rock she had left her soap on and began the slow process of bathing. The moon reflected upon the surface of the lake. From where she stood now the water was a little bit over waist high. Eventually she would move back to where she had first been to swim around for a while, but it was more important to be clean for now.
Her day had been relatively simple, wonderful in fact, but it didn't take away from the stress of the situations she'd been in. She had been assigned her Decanii, ten of them, all recently promoted from veteran status like she herself had been. Among them was Laelius, who was to be her star warrior, Caesar had said, and he was placed in charge of a group of the most exceptional veterans, unlike the others who were tasked with watching over ordinary veterans, recruits and primes.
The Decanii weren't exactly jumping for joy at being assigned to have her as their Centurion. Most of them didn't mind, no, but a couple of them had spat their clearly misogynistic views at her after leaving Caesar's tent. She simply scowled at them; it was something that would be remedied with time, she decided. She would not be weak and she would not be a pushover. She intended to let her men know exactly who was calling the shots around here.
Laelius himself didn't seem to have an opinion on her gender, but he did seem a bit weary at being placed directly under her in rank. Understandable—he had been working at this goal for far longer than she had been, she assumed.
Caesar had left it up to her once more to find an appropriate bunkmate, and she had settled on keeping Vulpes around. The man had originally had a tent of his own, since he was head of the Frumentarii, but had been spending time with her, showing her the ropes and directing her in the proper path to becoming an invaluable asset to the Legion. She figured the least she could do for him was offer him a comfortable place to sleep again. Besides, he already knew where her tent was.
There was a loud splash to her right, near the deeper part of the water and she inhaled sharply, turning to face what could possibly be a threat. She had left her weapons back in the camp, but she was good with hand to hand combat and not above punching a lakelurk in the nose, if need be. But come to think of it, lakelurks didn't wander this close to the Fort…
She scowled, letting out an indignant huff. She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at Vulpes, who had resurfaced and was swimming over to where she was. "You startled me. What are you doing here?"
Vulpes raised an eyebrow, holding up his own bar of soap. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
Valence rolled her eyes, not moving. "But this is where Itake a bath." It probably sounded childish, but there was a fear that more people would find her one day. She had become rather protective of this spot.
Vulpes didn't look too sorry. "This is where I've been bathing for 15 years now. You've come a bit too late to claim territory, Valence." He began washing himself in front of her, unabashedly, and she averted her eyes from the scene. She kept quiet and held her tight position, arms locked tight around her breasts, legs closed despite the fact that her lower body was under water and it was dark out. "What's wrong?"
She looked back up to his face quickly and tilted her head. "What? Nothing's wrong, why even ask?" Perhaps it was suspicious that she hadn't moved yet. She tried to loosen her position but only ended up locking herself away tighter.
Vulpes was not convinced. "It doesn't appear to be nothing," He narrowed his eyes at her. "What exactly are you doing?"
"What? I'm not doing anything. I don't understand." She was honest in that statement. She had no idea what he was talking about until he took her arms and forced them away from her body. She gasped, taking a step back.
"You're hiding yourself." And at that point she realized that he knew, because it was his job to pinpoint things like this. He laughed quietly, a small smirk spreading across his lips. "You don't have to be ashamed, you know."
Her lips pulled themselves into a tight line. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Vulpes didn't leave the matter alone; it was never in his nature to do that. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on hers, fixing her with a knowing smirk. "Do not think that I haven't noticed, courier," He only called her that when he meant business, and she swallowed hard. "It's in plain sight for me to see right now. You've become ashamed of your own body. I'd advise you to get over it—there's nothing that can be done."
Valence felt her shoulders slump, and she sighed. It was difficult not to give in when Vulpes had you pinned into a corner, literally or figuratively, and she simply lost care in fighting to hide the truth from him. When it came down to the bottom line, he would always know the truth. "I just… the tactical advantages of this military—this society—don't have any room for me. Women who take care of the domestic necessities and men who deal in war and hunting; I'm a woman but I'm better suited for combat than anything else. So where am I left in this? I wish I could change."
It felt good to have her feelings off her chest, but the look on Vulpes' face told her that she'd be receiving a lecture on this. "Ignoring the fact that you could fit into both roles properly, do you think there have not been others like you? Men who were better healers, women with strong backs? And what happened to them? They were all eventually turned into slaves."
"This isn't making me feel any better about the situation, Vulpes."
He held up a hand for silence. She shut her mouth and listened. "But I found you. I reported you to Caesar and he was fascinated with the idea of a woman so interested in his empire. I told him of your exploits and due to your own strength you were able to overcome a barrier that most assumed would have you killed. Wear your armor with pride—you're a Centurion now, and not many are in the position to question you."
She almost objected when she remembered the two Decanii from earlier, but she decided to keep that to herself. "I just feel strange, thinking of the differences."
Vulpes shrugged. "I see very few. Physically I can name a couple. But even putting that aside, all I can think of is the fact that you're much shapelier than I." He smiled at her, which was more disturbing than comforting, and she instinctively went to cover her chest again.
"Thanks somuch for that…" She didn't complain when he smacked her arms down a second time.
"Mentally, however, I believe that we lie on the same page. It's been a very long time since I've met a woman worth conversing with."
Valence snorted, rolling her eyes. "And look at this; you aren't only speaking to me, you're bunkingwith me as well."
Vulpes raised an eyebrow. "Oh. That is to be me? I wasn't aware."
"Well who am I supposed to share a room with, one of my Decanii? I hardly know them."
He nodded. "I suppose you're right. In fact, I've taken the liberty of sleeping under a piece of fabric for you—I might as well reap the benefits of the actual tent I deserve."
Valence let out a dry laugh. "Yes. Exactly."
They were quiet, and Vulpes resumed cleaning himself. Valence was just beginning to work up the nerve to do so as well when he spoke. "You only do this because you believe that I'm the only one who doesn't care that you're a woman. You do realize that many people around the camp have come to accept your presence, correct? Especially after that stunt you pulled with the cookies…" The last part was muttered more to himself, but she heard him anyway.
"I think it may have started like that; staying around you, I mean," She began washing her arms, the chorded muscles tensing under flesh as the bar of soap came into contact with her skin. "But also because it was a learning experience that you offered to me. You were and still are my mentor in all of this. You are the one who told me of the Legion after I woke up without a clue of who I was. I wanted to take something from knowing you, something good, something I could use to becomesomeone here. But after a while it became more than that, and I started to like you very much."
Vulpes gazed at her with cool eyes. "How touching." The statement was said with blatant sarcasm, but he didn't stop her.
"I… enjoy your presence, Vulpes. It's appreciated." It was the closest she could bring herself to outright saying that she thought of him as a good friend. Vulpes seemed to understand this, and he rolled his eyes, throwing his soap onto the rocks of the cave.
"As I enjoy yours, Valence. Frequently remind yourself that you are fortunate enough to have piqued my interest and fallen into my good graces. I do not like many, but I've taken to you." And without another word he dove to the right, into the deeper side of the lake.
As she finished soaping herself up she watched him swim in the moonlit water. As odd as it was to think of it, she had been lucky that it was Vulpes who found her that day in Nipton. She would never know why he had decided to groom her into an instrument of the Legion; his motivation for all of his actions would forever remain locked tightly away in his own mind. For the time being she was content to believe that he had seen something in her, potential, even though she was a woman.
She sighed, frowning, and placing her soap in a small niche in the rocks, she swam off to join him.
When she neared him he surfaced, shaking off the water from his hair. He wasn't one to be stared at for long so eventually he asked her what her problem was.
"You… you'll still call me Valence, right? Even though I'm Faustus now?" It was a strange question, which was probably why he took so long to reply. She felt her skin grow hot with embarrassment, and was thankful that the water was so cool and the sun wasn't out to expose her.
"I don't see why I shouldn't if that's what you wish. Although it would only be in private—it wouldn't do well for anyone else to hear me address you so informally now that you have a proper title."
"Of course not." She nodded, perhaps a bit too quickly.
They swam there for a while longer, silent, not looking at each other, but out onto the surface of the water, the stars barely seeping into its reflective surface, and the mirror image of a large, full moon painted on the deep side of the lake.