The gentle rocking and creaking of the ship was calming to Oanez as lay in her bunk. They'd been at sail for a while now and would be arriving fairly shortly at Glevum. Despite being far from home on the Gaulish coast, Oanez had made note earlier in the day as she looked out at the coasts here, that it bore a striking resemblance to where she'd come from and she loved it. The same cool glasz waves, the same dramatic stone bluffs, the same blue grass--all of it was beautiful. And yet her rex spoke of merciless barbarians sacking cities in the north, leaving the scent of fire and blood on the winds. A seagull's call brought Oanez out of her thoughts and back into the bunk. The bird cried out calmly and strongly, perchance frightened of the large wooden beast that floated beneath it. The thought made her smile. --- The following day was known by a marked chill carried by the wind and crept into the depths of the _Draco_. Oanez would up with a shiver, and rolled out of the bunk and to her feet. She cracked her neck and began to change from her sleeping gown. Despite her being a woman, the Romans had made no exception for her as a soldier, so she changed in the galley where the other men slept. She'd learned to wake and change early in the morning as to avoid any unwanted attention from her comrades… --- ~The sun had risen early and brought with it summer heat. The roman camp was laden with a strong odor of sweat and of dust, which she still hadn't adjusted to. Slaves had brought freshly washed clothes and polished armor today, and Oanez was eager to begin their practice, however Quintus dē Massillia seemed to think that today meant something else all together. He'd been eyeing her since being transferred to this front from farther down south in the country and those soldiers that new her had been egging him on, clearly hoping for a show. It was that morning as she was changing from her sleeping gown that he decided to make his move. **"What's a sweet little ancilla like you doing in here with us soldiers?"** he said, coming up behind her when the gown was over her head with her arms in it and her body bare. He wrapped his arms around her so tightly that it hurt and that the hair on his arms felt like mosquitos on her torso. He grabbed a breast and played with it, and smelled her neck. The word ancilla stung; she was no slave girl. **"I would encourage you to let go of me,"** she said sternly in the best Latin she could manage. Though Quintus didn't take the encouragement and started having his fingers creep down between her legs. **"Stupid pig,"** she muttered in Brezhoneg, before dropping down out of her gown and out of his grip. She kicked in his leg at the knee, making it buckle and followed it up with a knee to his gut. He keeled over gasping for breath, one hand on his stomach, the other on the gown, on the ground. **"You see? Now you know."** He looked up at her, tears in his eyes. **"Hey! Hey!! What's this?! What's going on here?!"** shouted a commanding officer, pushing his way through the crowd of men watching the woman best the fool. He spied the man on the ground and then the naked woman. **"You'd best learn not to harm my soldiers, Celt. Rex may want you here, but this is my domain. Within these walls is my empire and you will listen to me. Go outside and wait by the post for lashes,"** he ordered, his face red and spittle flying from his mouth. Oanez slowed her breathing and nodded with a look of disgust. She reached for the gown, but the commander stopped her, **"No, you will go as you are."** **"As you command."** Quintus looked up at her. Despite her being completely bare there in front of him, he didn't notice it; he just saw a soldier who'd bested him and who frightened him. ~ --- The sun was in the sky to the right and was peering over a stroke of gray clouds, casting rays of light that made Oanez squint in every direction she faced. Despite this, dead ahead she spied the pier of what could only be their destination and the beginning of the task she'd been assigned.