I was expecting "the camp" to be a group of dirty shacks with old moldy beds, small windows and broken furniture. So I was quite surprised when we arrived. What they called "camp" was a large white stone building. It looked like a smaller variant of the Academy. It lay on the vast plain with woods, a creek and a small lake nearby. It even had its own aqueduct, a great luxury! The building was of square shape. In the front side stood large pillars that supported part of the roof. The roof itself was embellished with two large glass domes. Inside, through the wide spacious halls, stood statues of important people from our past – their names, deeds and titles chiseled on the pedestals. Classrooms were small, but then again, there weren’t that many of us. The dining hall was bright, with lots of windows and three large fireplaces. The most impressive feature of the camp was the library. Vetulonians valued knowledge and libraries were of great importance to the Republic. The one in the camp took half of the first floor. I liked the windows there, made with painted glass. Each of them depicted a great historical event: arrival of the Vetulonians, wars in which we conquered much of Helena, the falling star, the long winter, arrival of the giants and finally, the birth of the Republic.

On the second floor were our rooms. There were about a hundred of them. The hygiene area – with downpours and private latrines – was located in the corner of the second floor.

We arrived in the late afternoon. Tullia wished us good fortune and went inside the building. She was to leave for Lux the next day.

Then an old man appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He had dirty green eyes, short white beard, and wore an orange-blue toga. He seemed friendly, but I would have preferred to deal with Tullia. He greeted us with kind words. Then he told us we would have two days of leisure time, a chance to get to know each other and our new surroundings. After which, he stated with a strong voice, work will begin! The news made us carefree and playful. He handed us the keys to our rooms, made of bronze and iron and wood. The key came with a band and we hung the keys from our necks.

First thing Otho and I did was inspect our rooms, which were right next to each other. The rooms were simple, a door, a bed, a desk, a glass window and a small fireplace. Nothing fancy, but still comfortable. They were facing west, and I liked that. Then, although exhausted from all the walking, we ran across the wide halls to the library. I couldn’t wait to grab a few scrolls and books and start reading. After we investigated the whole building, we headed towards the lake for a swim. Almost everyone was already there. Most of our future colleagues enjoyed the evening sun, idly talking to each other. The rest were floating in the cool pleasant water.

Otho and I found a tree with a thick treetop and sat under it. We took our tobacco sticks, lit them up with my lens and started smoking.

“Gods, I’m exhausted… So, how did your father take the news?” I asked with a blunt tone.

“Not good. It was quite ugly.”

“I’m sorry to hear it.”

“Don’t be. We’re here now and that’s all that matters. He… He disowned me… Can you imagine that? He said that I'm on my own now,” Otho mumbled, finishing his words with an awkward laugh.

“Disowned you? What does that even mean? Can you even do that, legally? In any case, what a donkey!”

“He’ll come around,” said Otho with a hopeful voice. I tried to steer his thoughts away from the old man and pointed to our new colleagues.

“You know any of them?”

“A few. Those two blondes are from the second Academy, I think. You?”

“Only Aurelius, Marcus and Flavia. They’re alright, I guess. A bit of snobs. They always looked down on Marius for some reason.”

A couple of hundred steps from us, a few girls climbed out of the lake, completely naked. On the shore they wrapped themselves in colorful cloths and looked around. They noticed us, said something to each other, laughed and headed towards us.

“Do you know them?” I asked Otho.

“No. No, I don’t,” he answered with a nervous voice.

One was a blonde, with beautiful long hair. So long it covered her whole back. She had almost black eyes, a small nose, and small mouth. She was slim, and moved very elegantly, like a cat. The other two were twins, black hair, with a playful spark in their blue eyes.

“Hi! I’m Antonia,” said the blonde with a soft voice. The twins also introduced themselves, Alba and Claelia.

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“Hello. I’m Antonius,” I introduced myself and smiled. Otho then managed to utter his name. I knew his self-esteem was suffering due to his father, but his awkwardness annoyed me nonetheless. It made me think of Marius and his indifference towards his parents and their thoughts. I wished he was there.

“Sit,” I said to the girls and tapped the green grass with my hand. “Do you want a tobacco stick? I have a few of them rolled already.” They sat on the soft green grass. A gentle breeze was blowing, drying their wet skin. I felt dizzy merely by being in their presence.

“Sure,” said Antonia while the twins nodded. I glanced at both of them and asked:

“Are you two related?”

That made everyone laugh. I took my wooden box with tobacco sticks and threw it towards Antonia. She took one stick and then passed the box to the twins. The twins admired the wood carving of it. It depicted Vetulonian ships arriving to the shores of Helena.

“Where did you get this?” one of them asked.

“It was a gift from my grandmother, she had all kinds of astonishing artifacts. She also gave me this.”

I pulled out a cut lens, which was commonly known as Sun’s kiss. I threw it to Antonia and she used it to light her stick. The twins then used Antonia’s stick to light their own. Then they handed the box and the lens back to me.

“So, are you two intending to get knighted or are you going to remain a pledge?” Antonia asked while blowing gray-white smoke in the sky.

“I don’t know yet,” said Otho, which surprised me.

“What about you?” she asked with a mysterious grin.

“I do want to get knighted, yes."

“Full service, then?” she raised her eyebrow.

“Well, yes.”

“You don’t want to have children?” she persisted with the questions.

“No, I don’t. How about you?”

Before you got knighted you had to drink the Tea of Darkness. It was a blue looking brew. Once you drank it, you’d get sick, feeling a burning sensation in your groin that lasted a day or so. And after that you couldn't father children. No going back. They had a similar brew for women, but it was made with different herbs and was dark purple instead of blue. I suspect that was the main reason why my mother was so disappointed when I told them I’d be joining the Cohort. She believed having a child is the ultimate purpose in one's life. She knew once I got knighted that door would forever be shut for me. For her, a tragedy of epic proportions!

“I want to get knighted as well, full service. Ha, I guess we’ll be working together one day,” said Antonia, still smiling.

“Not us two,” said one of the twins. “We’ll stay pledges. We’ll get to work for the Republic, perhaps even travel, but at the same time we’ll still be able to have children, a family. A life! And you can leave any time you wish to pursue other things.”

“Yes, but that would be it,” I said. “You won’t get to be a member of the government, you can’t advance. You can’t become a Knight, a Captain or even the Lord of Vetulonia. You’d merely be a civil servant your whole life.”

“Correct,” answered the other twin. I never knew which one was which, “But in a way you can get the best of both worlds. You earn a nice salary, according to your obligations. And by working for the diplomacy division you get to meet people from all over Helena. Dwarves, Elves, possibly even Giants! And you can have a family! And private property, for that matter!”

I shrugged my shoulders, but said nothing. Antonia stood up and stretched, still smoking.

“I’m going for another swim, anyone care to join me?” she asked and looked at me. I took that as a sign of Come, let’s talk.

“Me,” I said and stood up. Otho didn’t like that, but I didn’t care. He had the twins’ undying attention. Many girls liked Otho, but some – like Antonia – hardly noticed him. And so the twins stayed with the poor mumbling fool, while Antonia and I went to the shore. For some reason she took my hand while we walked, which I found a bit odd, but nonetheless went with it. At the lake she dropped the cloth and jumped into the lake. I followed her lead and climbed out of my clothes and threw myself into the cool water. We were alone. That part of the lake was more rugged, so most of our colleagues sunbathed and swam on the other side.

“So, when will you drink the… (she put on a scary voice) Tea of Darkness!”

“I don’t know yet… When I get knighted I guess…”

“You can do it sooner, you know? You talk to one of the masters and it’s done. Do it, and this year can be way more fun that it would be otherwise,” she smiled and swam away. I caught up to her and asked:

“When will you drink it?”

“Soon.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say next.

“I’ve made my choice a long time ago. I will get knighted, so why wait? Life – it’s all over like that,” she snapped her wet fingers, “might as well live it to the fullest.”

She was right. I had said the same thing to Nicola a week ago. Then I wanted to ask Antonia how her mother handled her decision, but was wise enough to keep my mouth shut. When you’re around a woman you fancy, do yourself a favor. Don’t talk about your mother.

Antonia was right. It was going to be a hard year, might as well have some fun and gain some experience.