140AD - The Rise to Empress || [GxG] ||

Chapter 39

Honestly a big history part but I'm so happy with it; I hope everyone likes it. Don't forget to comment and smack that like button!

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A misty rain befell the Flavius farm early morning, completely obscuring the scorching sun of the previous day. It was strange to say the least; how fast the weather changes in Elis. One day it would be sweltering hot, and the next it will rain the finest of mists accompanied by glum clouds that didn't reveal one spec of the blue sky above it. They even hid the sun.

Nevertheless, the farm was active before the roosters would even crow announcing that daylight was imminent. From those that worked to plow the fields by either hand or by ox, to the women that tended to the olive trees and grapevines in the vineyard.

Lexa however found herself in the horse stables on most days, tending to the animals. It was a faint illusion of Polis and very welcomed. The feeling of being at home was nothing short of serenity, no matter that it was at its best false. Soon she would be pulled out of the illusion when another worker would metaphorically drag her away to a different acre of the farm.

It was hard labor mostly; the type of work that would give anyone callouses no matter how long they work in the harsh conditions. Lexa's hands were no different. No amount of leathered hilts of blades, and leather straps of shields could prepare her hands for pulling what felt like miles and miles of rope a day.

Sacks of grain were much heavier than she remembered them to be, and longhorn cow shit certainly smelled much worse. But nevertheless, it was the peaceful farm life that she had longed for, for more days than she cared to count. Yet the one person she wished to share this life with was a whole ocean away ... even possibly believing that Lexa was indeed already in the Elysian Fields, never to be seen again.

Even with the knowledge that Clarke may believe her to be long dead, Lexa vowed to have hope for the both of them that they will eventually reunite. She was promised as much, by a man nonetheless, but for some reason, his word meant much more to Lexa than the gods' promises have ever meant.

Her assurance of returning to Rome was like a mantra repeated over and over again on the difficult days when Lexa would feel the loneliest of feelings. That promise was enough to ignite her fire once more, pushing her to go on day by day.

Ultimately it would push her for as long as it took to see the high walls of Rome again. To hear Clarke laugh again, to witness her valiant smile again, or just to wake up tangled in silk sheets again with little to no worries. That was the dream ... that was the dream that Alexandria Silvestre was chasing now one moment at a time.

Seemingly pulled out of thought again, rudely so, Lexa feels a small pebble connect with her thigh muscle. With a furrow of her eyebrows, she gazes down and finds the child Anastasia quickly and clumsily stumbling around her father's legs to try and hide on the other side of them. Seeing who the culprit was of throwing the small stone, Lexa only grins with a small shake of her head.

They were traveling toward Olympia up in the north of the Peloponnese. They mostly traveled alongside the coast beneath the overcast that was threatening to rain at any moment. Lexa gazed out over the vast ocean every now and then, allowing her eyes to dance alongside the vicious waves that crashed onto one another far out. The oceanic air was crisp, clean, almost refreshing to her inner being.

Yet, as the journey to the Flavius farm was some time ago, the journey to Olympia was rather dull as well.

They passed a small fishing dock with one singular warehouse with a fairly sized camp next to it where both hunters and fisherman lived for the current season. Furthermore, there were only hills not big enough to be considered mountains, and mountains that couldn't actually be considered a mountain.