“Nero!” I heard the voice of Caius calling out to me. “Get up you lazy bum! Mum made breakfast!” While passing by my room on his way to the kitchen, he banged on my door making it creak worryingly.

“I’m coming…” I barely mumbled, trying to wake myself up while stretching. I had weird dreams all night, and couldn’t sleep too well so getting out of bed was extremely hard. I already started contemplating sleeping in but the smell of Lucia’s famous porridge was too good to pass.

Slowly, I left the warmth of my blanket, listening to my bones cracking. First left, then my right foot touched the cold floor. I searched for my sandals, quickly finding one but not the other. I sighed, standing up.

Luckily the air wasn’t as cold as back home.

I froze, as the images of yesterday’s dream came rushing into my memory. I felt the rising anxiety and longing for what I seemingly lost. My hands found their way around me in a weird hug to myself. I felt like I wanted to scream, but no voice came out of my mouth as I came crashing down to my knees. My head falling forward, heavily.

“What have I done to deserve this…” a little voice in my head continued singing the same song it did for two weeks when I first came to Rome. It felt like I was regressing, just because of one dream, one meaningless dream.

I didn’t even remember it well, but there was my old home and it felt real. And…

I finally noticed the second sandal.

“And now I’m here, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.” I mouthed, reaching out for the shoe. ”It’s better than being dead, though.” I summarized, playing with the wooden sandal I got from Rufus.

The situation wasn’t as bad as it seemed, and even though I missed my real home, here I at least had a roof over my head, and people who also seemed to care about me. Rome was an exciting prospect to me. Not everyday does one move back in time to see its wonders and I wasn’t going to be the one to waste that opportunity on worry and sadness.

“So… what’s next?” asked the quiet voice in my mind. But a different voice responded.

“Breakfast.” I looked up, it was Lucia, looking at me with worry in her eyes. She was peeking in through the barely opened door, as always when she entered my room. “Nero? Are you okay?

“Y-yeah” I quickly answered, sitting back on the bed. “I’m fine, just… I dreamt of where I come from.”

She nodded slowly, as if thinking. “I see… Breakfast will be waiting for you when you feel better.” She answered after a moment of hesitation.

“I’m coming, it’s nothing.” I answered, finally putting on the rest of my outfit.

I thought she left my room, but she kept standing there. I looked at her puzzled, but in response her expression changed from worry to something I could best describe as sadness, and she was gone in a second, hiding again.

I sighed and got up from bed, making my way to the kitchen for breakfast.

It was very good, as always.

***

“Father! Come on! Not so fast!” Yelled the man walking next to me. In response Rufus only waved his hand and seemingly got even faster. “I hate this.” Sighed Caius.

Today was the day of the Mercury - precursor to the modern wednesday. That meant that we ‘got to’ as a ‘reward’ walk a couple of kilometers with Rufus, to the city guard’s training grounds. Rufus saw that as an opportunity to bond with his son - and recently also with me, but both of us hated it, or at least the travel there. He insisted on us walking there on foot instead of using horses (which I still haven’t learned how to ride by the way, and this could have been a great opportunity to do so). He said that this hour-long walk was beneficial to us, which both me and Caius disagreed with.

The training grounds were a pretty cool place though. We got to see lots of other men fighting, and we ourselves had an opportunity to wield the sword in a bit more professional space than the fights Caius and his friends “organized”. It was genuinely fun and would be an amazing event, if it wasn’t for Rufus’s insistence on giving us a sample of some roman centurion walking, in blazing heat.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Caius kicked a rock, which flew right in front of me, stopping on the gravel. I kicked it back, providing both of us about five minutes of fun in this terrible voyage and a potential threat of a broken toe. But it was better than the boredom of walking.

“Are you okay?” He asked suddenly, when his father was far away from us, enough to not hear him.

“What do you mean?” I asked, internally knowing what he was referring to.

“I know it’s not any of my business, but my mum told me…”

“Yeah-” I answered. “-I had a bit of a bad night. Dreamt of my home.”

He nodded without a word, evidently waiting for me to continue talking.

“It’s nothing, honestly.” I hesitated. “I miss it, but I have no way of going back, I shouldn’t waste time thinking about it.” He looked at me and stopped.

His strong hand placed firmly on my shoulder. “Nero - I know this isn’t the same as your real family, but think of us as such. I can’t even imagine how it must feel to be alone like that.” He paused for a second, probably searching for the right words. “Me and my parents talked about it recently… You are free to stay as long as you want, but we will not stop you when you finally want to leave, we will help.”

He was smiling softly to me, I smiled back, despite his words making me sad.

“Caius… The truth is, I don’t have any idea how to get back home. I’ve no clue where it is.”

His sparkly eyes stared into mind, as the wind picked up his dark, curly locks. He looked majestic, almost glowing in the sunlight.

“Then call Rome your home.” He answered, pulling me in for a hug. At first I tried resisting but I couldn’t fight his muscles. And soon we both stood in the middle of the road, hugging. I placed my head on his shoulder, with closed eyes. It felt incredibly good, maybe because I missed people or maybe because I liked him.

“Thank you…” was all I could say at that moment. I felt intoxicated, feeling his warmth and smell. I didn’t even realize how much I craved touch since I came here.

“No problem, brother.”

We finally left each other's embrace, smiling. “We better hurry,” he ruined the perfect moment. “My dad will kill both of us if we take half an hour longer again.”

I laughed, following him, kicking another rock and for some reason - wanting to hold his hand.

***

The clash of iron in accompaniment of grunting men sounded like some kind of a modern trash metal music. Me and Caius were sitting on a bench, while Rufus talked with some already graying legionary. The weather has managed to break a bit since our talk and it got quite cloudy, but without much chances for rain.

The guard’s training grounds were a big field with some wooden structures sprinkled in throughout, and a half-circular sitting section about a story tall. There were also a bunch of buildings I didn’t know the purpose of. Everywhere I looked, Roman men stood or fought, or exercised alone or in groups. Every once in a while there was an explosion of laughter coming from the small crowds, either because someone had fallen, broken their weapon or told a joke. Most of them were shirtless or in very light armor to avoid injuries, so the trainers were visible quite clearly by their more complete legionary outfits.

The Roman that Rufus was talking to, also donned one of these more decorated armors, with a long cape moved by the wind behind him. I didn’t see him last week or the week before, so I assumed that to be the reason for him looking in my direction every so often. He had a stern look on his face, but didn’t seem too scary, just experienced.

“That’s Gaius, but he prefers people to call him Cestius.” Whispered Caius, making me realize that I’ve been staring at the poor soldier for a while now. I turned around to look at Caius, and immediately catched myself staring at his profile - that strong jawline and long eyelashes, hiding the eyes that I felt I’d see in my dreams. “I think he is a general-” continued Caius, “- from Syria or something like that. I’m unsure, but show him respect once he approaches.” Instructed me. I turned around when he looked at me, just to now show how red I got on my face. “Are you feeling okay?” He definitely noticed I was red on my face.

“Yeah I- “I didn’t respond because of the sound of heavy boots on the gravel. Cestius approached us, and both me and Caius jumped to our feet and stood at attention. “Ave!”

“Ave.” He greeted us back. ”At ease, soldiers.” Both of us lost around a centimeter of height, at the command. He reached out his hand to me. “I heard a lot of good about you, Nero?”

I grabbed his hand, his grasp was strong - enough to feel like he could break my bones in one swift motion, but it was also tender, making me feel safe. “Yes” I responded, hearing my voice as a little weak. He shook my hand and then did the same with Caius.

“Call me Cestius. Welcome to our modest training grounds. I’ve seen Caius before, but I don’t think we’ve ever trained together.”

“No, master Cestius”

“Good, I’d like to see what you’ve learned from your father.”

“Yes, master Cestius”. He smiled brightly in response.

“Just call me Cestius, we are both soldiers in training here.”

“Yes, ma-” Caius turned bright red. “Yes, Cestius.”

“Good. Nero, You’ve been here twice already, do you know how to hold a sword?”

Caius interjected before I could answer: “Yes, Me and my friends taught him the basics.” He sounded proud of me and my progress, it made me weirdly happy.

“Good! Go change into something you wouldn’t mind getting dirt on and we’ll get started.”