Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 17 ~ The Saturnalia

Humming, Aurelia danced through the spacious kitchen. She had missed cooking. Although the kitchen was usually teeming with hard-working slaves, today she had it all to herself. Today was the Saturnalia festival, which was traditionally celebrated at the end of December around Christmas. But this celebration was very different from the contemplative gathering in the family, like Christmas in their time. On this one day of the Saturnalia, slaves and owners exchanged roles. So, Julia, Agrippina and Drusilla were fitting out their maids for the feast, while Aurelia took care of the feast. Although feast was an exaggeration. Since ingredients like potatoes, tomatoes and even peppers all originated in Latin America, and Columbus wouldn't be born for over 1400 years, she couldn't make many of her favourite recipes. Aurelia had cried with relief when she found onions, garlic, root vegetables and carrots. Now there was chicken soup simmering on the cooker, and she had noodles more or less ready for it. Right now, she was trying her hand at dumplings, which she filled with ham and cheese. She kept the carrot sauce, refined with garlic and onions, warm in a pot near the cooker. For dessert, she had chilled yoghurt, into which she would mix honey and sultanas shortly before serving.
Elated, she scurried through the kitchen, tasting, refining and softly singing her favourite songs. Today she would see Gaius again. At least Drusilla had mentioned that he would probably attend the feast tonight. So far, Aurelia had not seen him, and it was hard for her to imagine him submissively serving a slave.
"The song sounds nice," Julia's voice suddenly sounded behind her, and Aurelia was shocked into almost spilling the hot broth. Cursing, she put the pot down and looked at Julia thoughtfully. Of course, she wanted to know what the words meant. Embarrassed, Aurelia thought. How was she supposed to explain Wincent Weiss' Regenbogen when this song lived so much from his voice and his feelings? How was Julia supposed to understand the song when she had only heard Aurelia's measly version? She would have loved to pull out her mobile phone and tell Julia everything about her world. But she didn't have her mobile here, nor was she allowed to tell Julia about it - she had had to promise Gaius that.
"I in yours, you in mine and the two of us in our arms," she finally translated bumpily from German into Latin. "You dreaming, me waiting. Until the days become again as they once were. Until we see the colours again and the rain makes a bow. I wish you could hear the original. His voice paints beautiful pictures and is so full of longing for life"
"You make it sound really beautiful too, Aurelia," Julia smiled softly. "Did you write that?"
Aurelia laughed. Music was not her thing. She couldn't even sing very well. She quickly asked if the meal should now be served. Julia nodded and Aurelia carefully filled the bowls with soup. Drusilla appeared beside Julia, annoyed.
"Protos has seriously ordered me to help serve the food while Agrippina is allowed to pluck a little lyre and sing all evening," she grumbled right away. Julia and Aurelia exchanged a quick glance and snorted at the same time. Drusilla stuck her tongue out at them defiantly, grabbed two bowls and marched off. Quickly, Julia and Aurelia tried to calm down again, looked past the other complacently, grabbed bowls as well and followed Drusilla into the Trinclinium.
With each course they took into the dining room, Aurelia tried to look around unobtrusively for Gaius. As she mixed the yoghurt, Julia placed some small dessert bowls on the counter and said hesitantly, "Gaius isn't here."
Immediately Aurelia stopped moving. Julia looked around anxiously and added even more quietly: "He wrote to me this morning. Tiberius wouldn't let him go. Supposedly he wouldn't be able to spare him for the feast"
"But you think he suspects something," Aurelia breathed back. Her answer was reflected in Julia's dark eyes. Affected, Aurelia averted her eyes. If anything happened to Gaius, it was her fault. Hastily she divided the yoghurt and sultanas between the bowls. All evening the trembling did not subside and the feast suddenly seemed less fun to her. As soon as the last course was served, she withdrew. She could even see Capri from her balcony. She asked herself if he was thinking about her right now, too. For a long time, she stared out at the island and prayed to every ancient deity she could think of to protect Gaius from Tiberius.

The morning after the Saturnalia was the first on which Aurelia experienced that Agrippina and Drusilla were awake just as early as Julia. For as Aurelia waited for the youngest sister for her now daily morning walk in the atrium, she was astonished when the two older sisters accompanied Julia.
"Shall I leave you alone?" asked Aurelia prudently. Immediately the sisters pulled them between them so that Aurelia and Julia walked in the middle, Agrippina and Drusilla on the outsides. Their conversation was neither too silly nor too serious, so they simply enjoyed each other's presence. The sisters made Aurelia feel like one of them.
Suddenly Julia nudged Aurelia gently with her elbow and pointed to the sky. Above them the sun was shining, inland it was raining.
"Look, the rain is making a bow there," Julia pointed enthusiastically at the beautiful rainbow. Smiling, Aurelia put her head back and as she looked at the beautiful colours, she wondered if in this time when the old gods were so fervently worshipped, one of them sent her a sign that he or she had heard her prayers.What a beautiful idea to think of the rainbow as a bridge between humans and the gods. For the first time since Aurelia had woken up in this villa, she no longer felt alone. Deep inside she felt that everything was going to be alright.