Outlander: imperium Romanum

III. Settled

It's been two hours and we were almost in Italy at last. I couldn't help but look lively by the window the entire trip. We flew over cities full of history, important historical sites at various points of time. I was fascinated and ecstatic with the view. My head was looking for historical points everywhere and my excitement wasn't overlooked by those around me. I saw some students mock me, but I pretended, as always, that I didn't see them.

Never would the Roman people imagine that millions of years later, humans would use flying machines to travel between different countries. It would certainly be unthinkable in their view, but not impossible. They were dreamers and innovators as well as well-trained warriors and soldiers ready to fight.

"You sure are dreamy, sir. Are you thinking about how many of us will fail this subject?" Beatrice, one of my best students, mock and a general laugh is heard. 

"Don't be foolish, everyone's good enough to pass. Except Robert." I tease, making the class laugh louder. Robert rolled his eyes, going back to sleep. "I'm just admiring the view. We're heading to a place full of history. You'll walk where important figures walked before us. Historical ones, famous ones. Where an empire was created, christianity was formed... don't you see how beautiful this is? This... is history at its finest!"

"No pun intended, I suppose." My husband lets out, making everyone fall into laugher once again.

The flight assistant tells us that we are going to land, and the teachers immediatly started to put order in everybody. I glance at David and curiously, he was already staring at me, he makes me a heart with his hands, to which I just smile. He too was anxious to visit the ruins, perhaps more than I. He loves to know all the little details of those who were here before us. Middle age, Roman Empire, Greek, doesn't matter, he just needs and likes to know.

I feel the turbulence and some students scream.

"We have been through this earlier when we started flying, please children, behave."

When the plane finally landed and stopped, a sudden shiver ran down my spine, an inexplicable sensation. It was as if inside me, a small voice kept calling me to be careful and warn of imminent danger.

And though I had these continual premonitions, I ignored them all and gave explanations which I thought were valid. Yesterday I felt like this and I thought I was the wine, before leaving home I thought the same disconfort was related to me being already homesick and even now when I landed I thought, naively, that it was the turbulence.

But it wasn't, and within a few hours everything would make sense to me. Finally. I would be torn from my husband and my son, separated by thousands of years and unable to return.

The only problem is that I didn't know that yet.

I got off the plane after everyone, again to check if everyone was present and we weren't missing any kid, and after we all got our luggage and suitcases, we went directly to the hotel near the airport to have lunch and settle down in our rooms before we officially start the study tour. Some kids in the class put up a song from Katy Perry, Fireworks, and they were singing along the way, cheering us all a little and letting people that walk past us with a smile on their faces. In the meantime, I was mentally preparing the subjects I was going to talk about, trying to absolve myself from my husband singing loudly with the children. 

Sophie, the english teacher in the class, ends up joining my husband and the parents and other teachers just stare at them with a funny look. It was an hilarious moment and I believe that more than us, adults, the students are the ones taking full advantage of seeing their teachers so distracted, free and... normal. Sophia and I were the only ones who brought the husbands to this trip, even though hers waiting for her at the hotel, since he's here in Italy due to his work. The literature teacher didn't brought her husband, however, brought her son who is in the same school year as the two classes but in another school.