~Some hours later~
Aeli and her friends had found good places in the very front row of seats in the Coliseum. She'd seen the lists of competitors and was terribly excited.
((I'm going to write some dialogue in English, some in Latin. English obviously comes more naturally to me and there are some expressions that I cannot accurately translate to Latin. As it is I write Latin in a terribly American way and I shudder to think of the poor scholars who may be reading this.))
"I have dibs on the Celt." She whispered to her friends. "If he even notices me, but I don't know why he wouldn't. After all, who would be able to resist me?"
They murmured agreement that she was very beautiful indeed. She was like their ringleader, as well she should be, as a princess.
"I've got dibs on whoever's left-over, then, since this is one of those to-the-death competitions." One of her other friends, Aemilia, said. The others groaned, but good-naturedly, well aware that both girls would gladly share their conquests.
Or maybe not. As the gladiators were paraded around the arena, before the competition would begin, Aeli happened to look closely at the Celt. He was quite a catch, fearsome and quite handsome. If he would notice her. She made it a point to flutter her eyelashes and her golden fan as his chariot went in front of her.
(I know they didn't usually do a parade of gladiators, but for the sake of setting up the story...)