Livia expected to meet her new roommate when she got home, instead, she found a lizard on the kitchen floor. It was a light sandy color with a flat belly that spread on the floor like a disk. It wasn’t tiny either, definitely over a foot long. Livia’s throat tightened as she tried to determine if it was poisonous. Was it a neighbor’s pet or had it wandered in from the wilds somewhere? Maybe it had snuck in when Livia left the door open to move in.

“Ares,” a voice called from the next room.

Livia looked up as a girl with sandy hair, flip flops, and shorts walked in.

“There you are,” the girl bent over and picked the creature up.

Livia bit back the warning shout she’s wanted to let out. “That’s your pet?”

Blue eyes shot toward her. She smiled. “Oh hey! Yeah, this is Ares. He’s a bearded dragon.”

“Is he allowed?” Livia asked.

The girl’s smile fell. Livia didn’t want to get on the wrong side of her new roommate in less than five minutes.

“Tell you what,” Livia put out her hands in a placating gesture. “You keep that thing out of my kitchen and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

The girl grinned. “Your kitchen?”

“I like to cook,” Livia said. “And no matter how tame that thing is he’s covered with germs.”

The girl stroked the lizard’s head with her fingertip. “I’ll keep him out of the kitchen, promise. I’ll only let him out in my room. Okay?”

Livia nodded. “Deal.”

“He’s quite sweet,” the girl said, continuing to stroke the creature’s head. Livia watched in disbelief as the lizard tilted its head to the side, clearly enjoying the affection. The girl disappeared to put the creature away. When she returned she held out her hand to Livia and said. “I’m Whitney, your roommate.”

Livia took a step back. “No offense or anything but...wash your hands.”

Whitney laughed and went to the sink and washed and dried her hands. She came back and Livia shook her hand. “Livia.”

“Where are you from?” Whitney asked.

“Montana,” Livia answered.

“Hey, that’s only a few hours from here,” Whitney smiled. “I’m a local.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“What are you studying?” Livia asked. “You know yet?”

“Ancient Civilizations--Latin Emphasis,” she answered. “You?”

“Diagnostic Sonography,” Livia said.

“Ah, that’s one of the most popular programs here,” Whitney said. “You must have had an impressive application to get in.”

Livia didn’t think she was all that impressive. She had to work part-time all through high school so she needed to take a gap year to pad her application. She'd completed an internship with TARP and volunteered at the medical clinic on the weekends to gain enough hours of related experience to apply.

“Probably, one of the less impressive ones,” Livia said.

Whitney smiled. “Probably, more impressive than you think.”

Livia and Whitney swapped tales about their first day of classes. Then Livia retreated to her room and googled bearded dragons and started researching.

Livia woke up the next morning worried. Bearded dragons were high-maintenance creatures. She didn’t want to be complicit in animal neglect. If the creature was going to stay here, it needed to have competent care. She waited until nine to knock on Whitney’s door. Her roommate opened it moments later still in her pajamas.

“Hey, sorry I woke you up,” Livia said.

“It’s okay.” Whitney yawned. “What do you need?”

“Look,” Livia cleared her throat. “I have another stipulation if Ares is going to stay here--”

Whitney’s friendly face stiffened and suspicion came into her eyes. Livia’s heart lurched as she realized her roommate was expecting blackmail of some sort.

“You have to take care of him--” Livia said quickly. “I’m not going to sit here and let some animal get neglected--”

Whitney’s face softened. “I do take care of him--”

“So, he has the right sized tank?” Livia challenged. “And a heat lamp, and access to water--”

Whitney stepped back. “Come see, he’s fine.”

Livia followed her to the cage. Their rooms weren’t big, more like closets than actual bedrooms. Whitney had put her bed up on stilts and placed the cage and supplies in the space under the bed. They knelt in front of the cage and Whitney showed her the heat lamp and a heating pad that kept the cage warm. There was a forked climbing branch that Ares was currently sunning himself on. There was also a shaded area under a hammock with some water and greenery to hide under.

Relief made Livia’s muscles relax. She went down the bearded dragon care checklist she’d made in her head. Whitney's pet had exactly what he needed.

“He’s okay,” Livia observed.

Whitney smiled. “Want to hold him?”

Now that she knew that the lizard wasn’t dangerous Livia was curious about him. “Sure. As long as he’s not aggressive--”

“Nah, he’s got a good temperament.” Whitney pulled the lizard out of the cage and placed him carefully on Livia’s lap. Livia lifted her finger and stroked him the way Whitney had last night. Ares's head tilted again and Livia laughed.

“He likes that,” Whitney said. “So, I’ll go home on the weekends sometimes. Would you be willing to watch him?”

Livia nodded. “Yeah,”

Whitney sighed with relief. “Thanks! My mom said as soon as I went to college she wouldn’t let him in the house anymore. I was worried I’d have to get rid of him and I love him, you know?”

“Yeah,” Livia said. “He’s pretty amazing.”

They put the lizard away, washed their hands, and got ready for classes that day.

After dinner, Livia stared at her roommate Whitney as she gushed about her Roman history class about the founding of Rome. “I wish I could go back and be a real live actual Roman!”

Livia had to school her expression. First, being a woman in ancient Rome would suck. Second, a thousand words buzzed inside her, wanting to come out. Livia couldn’t say-- the next best thing happened to me! I found out my family came from an ancient Roman House and that’s why I have a freakish amount of strength, can ignore the extreme cold and heat. I can even keep going for days with little to no sleep. The sleep thing wasn’t pleasant though--possible, but extremely unpleasant.

Livia had even moved to their little city, Caesarea, in an abandoned part of Montana after high school. The forum had been amazing and so had some of the festivals, but Livia hadn’t fit in there. She planned to make a new life outside Caesarea. So, as long as she avoided Corvin and the other Caesareans here she’d be fine. Livia figured she might run into them once in a while but as long as they kept a distance from each other things should work out the way she wanted them to.

Whitney continued her enthusiastic recap of her Roman history class, moving on to the Kings of Rome. Her blue eyes shone with an eager light that Livia was sure she’d never manage. Livia was too jaded to show that much excitement. It felt like tempting the universe to strike her down. Better to keep a level head so when things went wrong, as they usually did, you didn’t get disappointed. So it was easy to move on and start over again.

Livia repeated the maxim that was a source of comfort since she was a child. “The only guarantee in life is change.”

Livia wouldn’t miss Caesarea for long. She’d moved to new places, adapted to new circumstances dozens of times. She would be fine.