Alcaeus was an Athenian aristocrat, residing in the city of Athens, Greece in times long past. He married sometime in his late twenties, to a woman by the name of Euphraxia. The marriage was an arranged one, but this never bothered him in the least. What mattered to him was securing his legacy, both in life and for his descendants. Within a couple short years, Euphraxia gave birth to their first child, a son he named Leontius. He was big believe that a man’s first child should be a son, and that the number of girls a man should have should be minimal.
Alcaeus and Euphraxia’s next two surviving children were girls, named Theodosia and Lysandra. Next in line were three more boys, Nereus, Phaedrus, and Atticus. Theodosia was married off after Phaedrus turned three, and poor Lysandra didn’t make it past the age of seven before she succumbed to an illness. It wasn’t until it was thought that Euphraxia was beyond her child-bearing years that a surprise pregnancy resulted in Petra’s birth.
Petra received the same education as any child of a Greek citizen, learning reading, writing and mathematics. Once she was old enough to have these studies mastered, she moved on to learning how to play the while, all the while her mother teaching her the tasks of a housewife – how to manage a household, as well as tasks befitting of a woman, such as weaving. While never much of a target of her father’s affections, she did have the affections of some of her family, most notably a nephew, Nikomedes – the son of her brother Phaedrus.
When she was about twelve, she had been promised by her Nikomedes that he would secure her dowry so he could marry her. This made Petra a very happy girl, because she worried that she might end up as miserable as her sister Theodosia was. However, this was not to be At age fourteen, her father received a much better dowry for her, from a man nearly three times her age, by the name of Prokopios.
Not many fathers were willing to accept a dowry from Prokopios for their daughters, however, Alcaeus was not one of those fathers. He saw it as a means to be rid of his daughter, and make a gain for himself. From the beginning, Petra was afraid of him. He was both imposing and intimidating to her, and he was not afraid to exercise that to try and get her to do what he wanted.
She discovered she had more of a fight than flight instinct in this stage of her life, though quickly learned when it was better to run and hide and when to fight, and it all hinged on his temper and how much he’d had to drink.
When Greece went to war with Rome, she breathed a sigh of relief, since it meant that her husband was to preoccupied with matters of state to chase her around the house and pin her down, something he hadn’t managed to successfully do as of yet.
She couldn’t help but feel guilty, however, when the Roman soldiers came to Athens proper, feeling like somehow it had been her fault that they were invading the town, because she had prayed to the gods to keep her husband away from her, and now they were taking citizens as slaves. She turned her prayers from being kept safe from her husband, to being kept safe from the soldiers. One of her household’s slaves, however, directed the soldiers on how to find her.
She was taken, along with others. They were forced to march with the army and travel, making their way from Athens to Rome. Not many were accustomed to the treatment, and not all made it. For her own merit, Petra tried to comply with what was asked of her, to the best of her ability, while silently praying to the gods she believed in to please keep her safe.
The group of Athenians who made it to Rome, were put aside until such time they could be put up for auction. While all of them were scared, Petra couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the gods had answered her prayers to be kept safe from her husband, though in an unorthodox way. This heartened her up a bit, and she didn’t look at her situation as quite so dire any longer.
The day of the auction, she was interrogated on her list of skills, as well as where she was from, so that when she went up on the bloc, they could cite her abilities and set the price. Since she was educated with a handful of other skills, they could start at a higher price for her. While the starting bid was high, there was still a small bid war, with the winning bid going to the House of Decacious.
She was to work in the house of Senator Marius Decacious, though her role was not clearly defined. Mostly, she tended to typical household duties, and was generally puzzled as to whey she was chosen, when many of her fellow Athenians were put into households with children to tutor, and here there were no children. Still, she was rarely bothered. There was the occasional lingering touch or look from Marius himself, but overall she was left to herself.
It wasn’t until she had been a part of the household for some time that the man who oversaw the various slaves, Emilio, moved her to the main house. It was here that she discovered that Marius did have a family. He had a wife, Aelia, a woman who had an illness of some kind, from what she could deduce. The poor woman was barely aware of who she was, let alone where she was. As far as most of the slaves could tell, Marius kept her around out of obligation, rather than any sense of love. He was more worried about his social impact should something happen to her, than if anything had actually happened to her.
She was cleaning in one of the main rooms of the house, off in a corner somewhere, when she got her first glimpse of Marius’ son and heir, Brendanus. She couldn’t help but stare at him when she first saw him. He was, by far, the most striking man Petra had ever seen, and she certainly wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the gods themselves had crafted him and set him on Earth.
She had to be nudged by another slave to not stare so as to not get into trouble, but from then on she stole glances at the young man whenever she could – she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t long before she started fantasizing about what it might be like to approach him, get to know what he was like…maybe even more. When she caught herself, she felt foolish. But no one else knew (that she was aware of) that she dreamed of this, so she kept on doing it.
She had been a servant to the main household for a season when Aelia passed away. During the period of mourning, Marius took to being away for extended periods of time, seeing to necessary business. Petra took the opportunity of her owner’s not being present to steal longer glances at Brendanus.
It was some time later during one of these reveries that she stumbled into overhearing an arrangement Marius was making for his son. Specifically, that of marriage. A part of her was saddened, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. Calvus Ramagi was the man Marius was working with, and since Calvus was a visiting dignitary, as well as his daughter Hortensia, she was assigned to tend to to the needs of the guests in the guest house.
Hortensia cared nothing for anyone’s well-being but her own, and this was well evidenced by how she treated those around her. It was through a discussion of her disdain with a visiting friend that Petra overheard Hortensia’s plans for her impending marriage. Petra’s heart ached at the thought of how Hortensia planned on treating and manipulating Brendanus. It bothered her enough that, one evening, she stole away a means to write, and wrote a simple note to leave him.
Brendanus,
You don’t know me, as I blend into the background of your house, but I wish to warn you about Hortensia. She means to use you by manipulating you to her ends, I know for certain she was discussing with a friend about coaxing you to bequeath your assets to her should something happen, and then they joked about you having an unfortunate accident. Please, I beg you to take this seriously.
She folded it up, then swallowed a little pride, and approached the one slave in the house she liked and trusted – Emilio, and pleaded with him to ensure that Brendanus got the message. From there, she prayed to the deities of her heart that he would listen, and be spared pain.
Emilio was fond of whom he still saw as ‘the new girl’, and, knowing she had his master’s best interests at heart, he saw to it that Brendanus received the message – discreetly, of course. While Petra never knew the actual outcome, she did know that the wedding plans fell apart, so her ultimate goal was realized. After things fell through, Marius was in a much darker mood, and all the slaves were wary.
It came to pass that one night, she was serving wine to Marius in the atrium of the home. He was lounging near the rainwater pool, looking as angry as he ever had in recent days. Quietly, and hoping to be unnoticed, she set the tray down, and began to leave when he suddenly lashed out an arm and grabbed her. He pulled himself up, staring at her all the while, slurring his speech as he spoke, talking to her of her beauty and how he had longed for her all this time, but felt chained by his marriage. Now that his wife was gone, and his social status diminished due to the failed marriage arrangement, he saw no need to hold back.
She tried to fight back, desperately trying to get him to release her, but he was strong – stronger even than her husband had been, it seemed. He pulled her into him and pushed her down on the chaise he had been reclining in, drunkenly trying to force himself on her. In desperation, she reached for the nearest object, and began hitting him over the head with it. The object had been the pitcher, and wine sloshed everywhere as she beat him about the head and tried to push him off.
She managed finally to hit him hard enough that the pottery shattered, a piece managing to lodge into his forehead. He was bleeding, and he stumbled backward, falling down the atrium steps into the rain pool, landing in such a way as to hit his head quite hard near the corner, on one of the steps. Horrified, Petra ran, running to the only person she felt might help – Emilio.
When he found her, she was near hysterical. Calmly he worked her into a lessened state of panic so that she could explain what had happened. He promised he would do his best to protect her, and that he would go and see to Marius. When he found his master, he was lying with his face under the blood-tinged water, and could see where the fight happened, though he could see how the scene could easily be construed as a drunken accident.
He called for other slaves to tend to the deceased master, making sure to inform them all that, as was custom, all matter of household was transferred to Marius’ heir – Brendanus. He stayed long enough to see to it that he himself told Brendanus about what had happened. He was obligated to follow his new master’s orders, both by the order of things and by that of his geas,and therefore would be honest; he was resolved, however, to protect Petra as much as he could since it was, after all, an accident.
She just hoped Brendanus saw it that way.