The two weeks passed faster than I would have liked. On Monday morning I reported at the Cohort Temple. I told the girl at the desk who I was. She went through some papers and directed me to door number five, which was located in the ground floor, not far from where I was standing. I knocked on the door and the voice inside me told me to enter. That I did.

I was met with a small office space. There were two people inside, a middle-aged man and a woman who appeared slightly older than me. The man was sitting behind a desk. He had brown hair. Clean shaved. His eyes were piercing green. It was hard to look at them for a longer period of time. His face features were quite clean and straight, as if he were carved by an artist. He wore a blue winter tunic.

The woman sat next to his desk, had black curly hair and blue eyes. Nice smile. Perky nose. Full lips. She wore a purple tunic dress with a yellow belt. Her fingernails were painted orange. One chair was unoccupied and the man gestured to me to sit down. And that I did.

“You’re Antonius Catero?”

“I am.”

“Very good to meet you finally. I am Brutus Gaius and this young lady is Pompeya Delphina.”

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“Happy to meet you both,” I answered and nodded my head to both of them. Brutus continued:

“You two were both assigned to me. I am a Knight of the Cohort, member of the Diplomacy division. You answer to me. Every morning you’ll come to this office. Sometimes I’ll have a job for you, sometimes I won’t. Sometimes I’ll demand trivial things of you, like fetching my lunch. And you’ll have no choice in the matter but to comply. Understood?”

“Yes,” we both answered.

“Very well,” he smiled and added: “Don’t worry, I won’t torment you too much… Antonius, I’ve heard about the Orc attack and what had happened. How are you dealing with it?”

“I have my good days and I have my bad days,” I answered with sincerity.

“Hah, now that’s a truly diplomatic answer. I’ll be more specific, will I have trouble with you? Some people, after an event like that, turn to drink. Others to apathy. Which one are you?”

“I’m neither of those.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Good,” he smiled, “You’re on leave for today. Come back tomorrow morning. We’ll get you to work. Off you go now.”

Pompeya and I nodded and left the office. In the grand hall she asked me:

“Are you up for breakfast? We’ll spend a lot of time with each other, might as well get to know one another outside work.”

“I could eat,” I smiled and shrugged my shoulders.

“Have you heard of the Old Cat? They have excellent food there.”

“I know where it is, but I’ve never eaten there.”

“Let’s go then.”

The food was tasteful and Pompeya proved to be a pleasant company. She was two years older than me, she was Lux native and had attended the second Academy. Her past year she’d spent in an office, filing papers. Mind numbing and thankless job. She asked me all sorts of questions about the trip. I tried to answer as best as I could, but I still found it hard to talk about certain things.

After we ate, we parted. She went to the Cohort Temple, where she had a room, and I to my tavern room and Nicola.