In the Asiaticus courtyard, Murmilla has marked a practice square with broom handles, folded blankets, and water jars. Castor and Pollux stand within it, eager and wary.
Murmilla
No blades today. You will learn distance, balance, and how to stop before enthusiasm becomes an injury.
Aurelia watches from the doorway, arms folded over her light-colored dress. Marcus circles the arrangement, testing each boundary with his sandal and giving a guarded nod.
Marcus Flavius
Household equipment is sufficient, provided everyone respects the limits. A fighter’s first protection is knowing who controls the terms.
Murmilla
Exactly. We can share drills, warnings, and witnesses without sharing purses, names, or the right to leave. Aid must not become ownership.
Aurelia
Then teach them that a favor has an ending. The person who names the debt afterward has already changed the bargain.
The twins begin a careful retreat between the jars, trying not to collide. Murmilla corrects their footwork while Marcus watches the lesson, and Aurelia keeps the doorway clear.
“When the exercise is ended, Valeria tells Murmilla, "The school is run by Gaius Marcellus, who was keeping some gladiators there under faulty and unenforceable contracts. I persuaded him to prepare new contracts, which I will review and which will be registered with the Colosseum, so you can accept the job offer if you want. But I found the man coarse and distasteful, and I see that you are capable of giving basic gladiatorial instruction. So I can, without reservation, recommend you to a more reputable school, if you wish."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Oratory, rolled +1)
The exercise ends when Murmilla raises her hand. Castor and Pollux step from the square, flushed and breathless, while the water jars remain undisturbed.
Valeria Asiaticus
The school is run by Gaius Marcellus, who kept gladiators under faulty, unenforceable contracts. I persuaded him to prepare new terms, which I will review and have registered with the Colosseum, so you can accept the offer if you wish. But I found him coarse and distasteful. You are capable of giving basic gladiatorial instruction, so I can recommend you without reservation to a more reputable school, if you wish.
Murmilla absorbs this in silence. Behind her, the twins exchange an unusually serious glance, while Aurelia folds the practice cloths and Marcus watches for the answer.
Murmilla
You offer me a choice, not a rescue disguised as a debt. That matters. I would hear the reputable school’s terms, provided my name, purse, movement, and right to leave remain mine.
Marcus Flavius
Then the recommendation must travel with the same safeguards. No private promise, no unnamed master, and no training arrangement that outruns its written term.
Aurelia
And let the school understand that instruction is work, not possession. Murmilla has already earned the household’s trust by teaching plainly.
Murmilla nods and gathers the broom handles, her decision settled enough for the household to proceed. The afternoon lesson ends as a lawful exchange, not another chain.