Obviously, this startled him, and heprotested, half-heartedly to my ears, “It’s not that I don’t thinkit’s a good idea. It’s just that,” he paused, pursing his lips inthought, then continued, “as you know, he’s been working with mequite a bit. And, Gnaeus, he is a very clever lad, and,” he laughed, “resourceful,as we all can see.”
“That’s nice to know,” Alexinterrupted, “but it’s got nothing to do with whether we put himashore or not.” Gesturing to the stern in the general vicinity ofArelate, he went on, “My mother is undoubtedly beside herself now.Her youngest son has disappeared, and I’m not willing to put herthrough that. Are any of you?”
He asked this in a challenging manner, and Imade up my mind then to do what Alex was demanding, but Septimuswas not through.
“Alex, I understand what you’resaying,” he began, “but he’s not just clever, he’svery observant. He has this…” hesearched for a word, coming up with “…gift where he can read peopleand situations. I’ve never seen anything like it.” One glance backto Alex told me that, while this had an impact, it would not beenough, and Septimus clearly saw this as well, because he continuedto argue, “When we get to Alexandria, we’re going to need as manyeyes as we can get to try and track…” I was about to interrupt,worried that Septimus was about to unthinkingly divulge Aviola’sreal identity in front of Demeter, but he either saw me opening mymouth, or he had already planned for this, “…thiscunnus back to where he’sliving.”
This was a good point because we had learnedof Aviola’s multiple residences, scattered throughout a city thatrivals Rome in the size of its population, and for a moment, Ithought this might have convinced Alex, because he reluctantlyagreed, “Yes, I can see that. And you’re right, it would bevaluable. But,” he shook his head, “my mother will still be out ofher mind with worry.”
“Perhaps you might ask Gaius if he lether know somehow.”
All of our eyes turned to Bronwen, who wasthe one to make the suggestion, and I could not stifle a groan atthe obviousness of it; most importantly, I saw that Alex was of thesame mind. By this point, Gaius had finished relieving himself, sohe and Marcellus were standing there, and I was certain that thefact that Gaius had his back to us was no accident, that Marcellushad made him do so. Since my lungs are the biggest and mostaccustomed to bellowing, the others silently but clearly deferredto me, leaving me to call the pair back to us. If anything, Gaiusseemed even more reluctant to return to what I suppose he viewed asa trial, where the judges and jury were the same people, which wasunderstandable.
Once he was standing in front of us again,Alex wasted no time. “Did you leave any kind of message for Mama,Gaius?”
“Yes,” he answered immediately, and tome, he seemed surprised that Alex was asking, “of course I did! Iwouldn’t do that to Mama. Which,” his tone turned sullen, andchallenging, “you would know if you’d spent any time with thefamily, and me.”
There it is, I thought, the boil that needsto be lanced, and a glance at Alex told me what I needed to know;Gaius’ words had struck home with his older brother.
Nevertheless, I was still surprisedwhen Alex, without hesitating, replied, “You’re right, Gaius. Ididn’t spend much time with you when we were all together, and allI can do is apologize for that. But that doesn’t matter right now.You said,” I could tell he was trying to remain patient, “you letMama know. How did you lether know?”
“I wrote her a letter,” Gaius answeredimmediately. “But I couldn’t risk her finding it before the shipleft, so I put it somewhere where I know she’d look, but not untilit was the last place.”
Septimus and Alex exchanged a questioningglance at each other, but all Septimus could offer was a slightshrug, so Alex asked, “And where would that be, Gaius?”
Rather than answer directly, Gaius repliedchallengingly, “You should know. You’re the one who showed it tome.”
It took perhaps four or five normalheartbeats before the answer came to Alex, although he soundedhesitant as he offered, “The spot in the stable?”
“Yes.” Gaius nodded. “There. I leftthe letter there.”
“Actually,” Septimus spoke up, butwith a grin, “as I recall, I’mthe one who found it first. And,” he turned to Alex, givinghim a playful shove, “I showed it to you and made you swear on theblack stone it would be a secret.”
“I only told him,” Alex protested, andI could tell they had fallen back into their old relationship thathad been formed long before I even knew the Pullus name, and Iconfess I felt a stab of envy.
“No, you didn’t,” Gaius interjected.“You told Scribonia and Gisela too. They were there when you showedme.”
“By the gods,” Septimus almostshouted, in mock frustration, “is there nothing sacredanymore?”
The three of them were laughing now, Bronwenwas giggling, and even Demeter and Marcellus were grinning,obviously understanding this was all in good humor, but the onlyone who was not smiling or enjoying this was me, and I regret thatit made me behave the way it did.
“I’m glad to see this touching scene,”I said, or snarled, sarcastically, “but it has fuck all to do withwhat we do with Gaius.”
The three of them did look somewhatsheepish, but it was Alex who spoke first, and he did not match mytone, a good thing, given how I was feeling in the moment.
“Now that I know my mother at leastknows where he is, Gnaeus,” he said quietly, “I think thatSeptimus’ points were good ones. What do you think?”
As Alex usually does, he said the rightthing at the right time, soothing my hurt feelings and sending thesubtle signal that I was in command of this endeavor. Mostimportantly, he made me feel slightly foolish for my rancor aboutsomething that was not their fault, and really had nothing to dowith the moment at hand.
Still, the words came grudgingly. “Ithink it’s not the worst idea I’ve heard. But,” for the first time,I addressed Gaius Gallienus, not as a family member, but the way
