Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 39 ~ Prima luce

Slowly, a small dot in the east of the sky turned a deeper and deeper red. As Aurelia opened her eyes at his request, at the same moment the sun burst from between the hills and the first ray of the new day enveloped them both in warm yellow light. Aurelia's hair, simply tied back, flashed like polished gold in the firelight. Her eyes widened in wonder and her mouth opened slightly as their city awoke beneath them.
"Prima luce," she whispered rapturously, smiling pensively. Dreamily she murmured more to herself that she now understood this saying. For in Rome, life literally awoke with the first ray of sunlight. But Gaius had not brought her up at this early hour to demonstrate a common saying.
"On my sixth birthday, my father woke me up in the middle of the night and we sneaked around the city together with my older brothers," Gaius explained and Aurelia returned his gaze with a smile. Interested, she slipped her free hand under her chin and propped her elbow on her knee. "My father could make an adventure out of any situation and we children adored him. When he had time, he would play the funniest games with us. When dusk fell that morning, we sat down on this very step. My father ordered us to close our eyes and when he noticed that I kept peeping at them through a small crack, he sat me laughing on his lap and covered my eyes with his big, rough hands from the war. From then on it was impossible for me to cheat. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally removed his hands from my eyes again and allowed my brothers and me to look. The sun rose on the horizon and what I saw surpassed everything else. When we arrived, I had caught a first, brief glimpse of Rome, but I had been so struck by her size that I had failed to appreciate her beauty. My father said to us that from today we had two choices: to serve Rome or to be devoured by Rome. My brothers have already been devoured by this city and before you appeared on the beach of Capri, I knew that Rome would soon destroy me too. In all my life I have never seen as much beauty as depravity in any other place - except perhaps Capri, which at that time, however, was for me a detached part of Rome. Without you, sooner or later I would have suffered the same fate as my father and my brothers. But together we can simply achieve anything and overcome everything."
Full of love, she looked up at him, bent down and kissed him gently. At some point they broke away from each other and looked at the beautiful sunrise. Excitedly, Aurelia kept pointing to some buildings and districts, which Gaius patiently explained to her. He was deeply moved by her enthusiasm. His fiancée had fallen in love with his city and Gaius intended to turn it into hers. For even if they had to gradually break down the old barriers together, one day they would rule side by side.

After half an hour, he gently nudged Aurelia and wanted to know if she was ready for the next adventure. Her eyes sparkled with joy as she nodded. Smiling, he pulled her to her feet with him and pointed to the entrance of the temple behind him.
"Then let us first thank the gods for bringing us together," he said merrily and, smiling, pulled her with him into the sublime silence of the temple. As Gaius tried to pull a fold of his toga over his head out of habit, he reached into the void and almost had to laugh at his own carelessness. At the same moment as he was already about to joke about his deep pietas, a small jerk backwards went through his right arm. Immediately he stopped and concentrated again on his beautiful companion.
On the threshold, Aurelia had stopped as if thunderstruck and was now staring open-mouthed at the statues of the three gods. Gaius had not had to think long at all about what he would start their little sightseeing tour with. The Capitoline Temple was dedicated to the divine Triad - Jupiter, Juno and Minerva - and in his life Gaius had hardly ever entered a more sacred and fascinating temple. When you entered, you looked directly into the painted face of the supreme of all the gods. In the twilight of the temple, he seemed to look down on mortals and demand absolute worship. In front of him was his elegant altar. On it stood a charcoal basin, its lazily glowing embers seemingly waiting for the next sacrifice. On the left was the statue of his wife Juno, who, like Minerva, occupied her own area to Jupiter's right. Of course, colour made them more human too. Their altars seemed less massive, but not tiny.
Aurelia laboriously folded her mouth shut and approached the images of the gods. Gaius, still holding her hand tightly, matched his steps to hers and tried to see this place through her eyes. In front of Jupiter's altar, she stopped and put her head back to look at the huge statue. Silently, Gaius pulled a bundle of sage and incense from his pocket and handed it to Aurelia. She seemed to wake up from a dream. She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Would you like to say the prayer?" he asked softly, and she murmured that she didn't know how it would work. Reassuringly, Gaius explained that with this kind of prayer she could simply speak from the heart and hesitantly she reached for the herbs. Thoughtfully she turned them in her hand and her gaze flitted back up to Jupiter. Then she nodded.
"Oh gods," she began in a quiet voice. "Whichever of you brought us two together - we thank you. Because of you we have been given the chance of a life together that I hope will be long and happy. I promise that I will do everything I can to make the most of my chance."
Without hesitation she threw the herbs into the fire, which instantly lit up in a large blue flame and immediately a pleasant smell filled the air. Gaius thought he felt a salty breeze on his face for a moment, then the flame diminished the next moment and he was sure he had only imagined the smell. He did not notice the figure of a tall woman in the shadow of a column behind them. He smiled proudly down at his betrothed and silently vowed before all the gods to take his chance with Aurelia. He vowed that his plans for their life together would not remain just pipe dreams. Together they would change this state for the better and fix the mistakes of his predecessors.
His gaze fell on Juno's sublime face. With a small smile on her lips, she seemed to be waiting for him and suddenly a thought popped into his head that thrilled him. This day belonged to them alone. Why shouldn't they make the most of it?
Hastily, he reached into his pocket and, relieved, felt for another bundle of herbs, though he was sure he had only pocketed one.
"Aurelia?" he murmured softly and immediately their eyes met. "Marry me."
Puzzled, she frowned and replied that he himself had set the date of their wedding for the calends of October, six days from now. Flustered, Gaius shook his head.
"No, you misunderstand me," he said. "Marry me now. Here. Just the two of us with the gods as our witnesses. I want to marry you because I love you and if we have to stage a big feast for the people out of our wedding, our feelings may fall by the wayside. Therefore marry me now"
Instead of answering, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him passionately. For a moment he forgot where they were and lost himself in her. When they broke away from each other, smiling, they hurriedly strode over to Juno's altar and stood facing each other. Quietly, Gaius began to explain to her the simple ritual that was at the heart of every Roman wedding. Nervously, he bent down and pulled the simple ribbon from Aurelia's hair, which immediately spilled over her shoulders like a bridal veil, gently framing her beautiful face.
Gently he took her hand and joined their entwined hands with Aurelia's hair ribbon. Full of love, Aurelia looked up at him.
"Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia," Aurelia announced tenderly and briefly they both twisted their lips into an ironic smile at the same time. What a coincidence that his first name of all things had been chosen for this ritual at that time. He quickly threw the bundle into the flames, then grabbed his wife and kissed her like never before. He put all his feelings into this kiss, and he felt their souls irrevocably join together. She was his second self. Intoxicated by their pure love and happiness, they separated and left the temple hand in hand for their next adventure. Amphitrite looked after them with a happy smile and wiped a tear of emotion from the corner of her eye. She was only too happy to fulfil the prayers of her two darlings and give them her blessing.