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“How did you do all of this?” She sat down opposite Hazel at her desk, and slammed down a folder.
“Do what?” She looked up from her pile of paperwork, and tried not to look like she’d almost been napping on it. “Sorry, hello Lavinia, good morning. Would you like to take a seat?”
“Centurion stuff,” she passed Hazel a cup. “From Bombillo’s.”
“Thanks.” It was getting closer to lukewarm, but it was the thought that counted, really. “Expand on that?”
“You sound like my English teacher.” She sighed, “It’s like all the time, all this paperwork. Everyone in the fifth always needs something . I keep having to request socks, and fresh bedding, and coordinate everyone, and I’m not convinced I’m doing a good job or that I can keep up what I’m actually doing now.”
“Romans are builders, but never let it be said that we don’t run through a set of socks every week,” she finished the rest of the coffee in one go and chucked the paper cup in the can beside her desk.
Lavinia smiled, “ Right? I swear I find holes in mine every time I go to put them on.”
Hazel yawned, “You should really have a partner to do it with, that’s the thing. With Dakota…” she trailed off and tried not to gulp past a lump in her throat too obviously. “Right now, you’re doing the work of two centurions. You’re in charge of them, their first point of contact, the person who commands and leads them, and makes sure that everything is okay. I used to split it up, because if you gave Dakota enough koolaid he’d power through paperwork in like twenty minutes when it takes me hours, and- well you were there, you know what I did. I think nowadays involves more Latin homework than any army during the Republic or the Empire.”
“Probably. Doesn’t mean I get deponents thought.”
“What?” she looked at her, “They’re active but look passive. What’s there to get?”
“I just,” she shrugged. “Don’t like them. It’s like they’re lying.”
“Uh-huh.” She straightened her shoulders. “There’ll be a motion in the senate soon to assign you a partner from within the cohort. I was meaning to talk with you about that soon. Frank and I were both promoted in… extenuating circumstances, and at the time, you were the outstanding choice for a replacement, but we do need to find someone , because yeah, you’re probably going to burnout soon.”
“Cheers for the vote of confidence,” she rubbed her face. “But you’re right. I can’t keep going like this.”
“It’s not like you’re doing a bad job now,” she said. “But long-term, we don’t want- well for the sake of you as much as anyone in the fifth cohort, really.”
“Yeah. So how does that work?”
“So the good news is that since it’s the Fifth, it’s… still…” she tried to look for the word, “Seen as of little political value. The first and second centurion promotions are scandalous, as far as I can tell. The Fifth’s reputation is being restored, but not at that pace. Which is good, because you’re less likely to be bribed by any legacy families, or threatened. Not that there hasn’t been nepotism, but…”
“Wait, I don’t get to be bribed?” She made a sad face, then said very quickly, “That’s a joke for the record. I’m not corrupt, promise.”
Hazel snorted. “That would be an interesting confession. But we actually had to reinstate Gracchean voting reforms twenty years ago because of some bribery in the Senate.” She looked thoughtful, “Actually, Octavian’s uncle was implicated in that.”
“Of course. But what’s Roman government without a little corruption?”
Hazel looked exhausted. “Easier for me?”
“Unless you’re corrupt too? Joking! Joking!” She put her hands up in surrender. “Plus I’m not sure who I’d bribe to get the sock order through.”
She looked contemplative. “There’s probably a guy. But you can talk to your partner about that when you get one. Now come on, my eyes are blurring over, and I need coffee.”
She leapt up, “Can I get hot chocolate?”
“We can expense it.”
“Really?”
Her mouth twisted. “This one time. For meeting purposes. There’s a lot of leeway on it really, unless you’re violating some sumptuary law. I think there was one about… I’m not sure, some kind of food you can’t eat except no one in their right mind would do it anyway, frankly.” She pressed her finger to her chin, “One of the Lares could tell you, but you get my point.”
“Hazel,” Lavinia said, standing, and grabbing her folder. “Unless it’s life or death, I won’t ask any of the Lares anything to do with Rome as it once was. I made that mistake with the one who got suffocated by flowers by Marcus Aurelius Antonius, and I don’t even know who he is.”
“That’s Elagabalus. The lottery one.”
“Ah,” she narrowly dodged hitting the side of the door frame and knocked into Hazel instead, “Wait, didn’t he marry a Vestal Virgin?”
“There was a reason he was assassinated at eighteen, you know.”
Her mouth fell open, “I should probably pay more attention in history class then.”
Hazel laughed, “Perhaps. You should see all the theories they’re coming up with about the authorship of the Historia Augusta. More entertaining than the actual text, honestly. What are they having you guys read in class right now?”
Lavinia’s Latin text class was an absolute chore, and she couldn’t wait to pass the test to get out of it, “Just Cicero’s Orationes, and Varro’s De Re Rustica.”
She rolled her eyes, “The good stuff then. Not even his letters? I mean, his speeches are good but you can only read the Philippics so many times before your eyes glaze over. I’ll see if I can’t go over the syllabus. Nothing like Catullus or Juvenal obviously, but probably not a farming guide.”
“I can help you,” said Lavinia. “You’re exhausted, you don’t have to do it by yourself.”
“Maybe, after the Fifth is back to two centurions, we can meet up about it.”
“Expense more coffee?”
She grinned, “In a very limited capacity.”