The never-ending meetings were never my dream, but they were a necessary evil. And the fact that we had time to hold meetings, only confirmed our prosperity, the peace that had descended on Curia. The hot summer is long gone, and the wind gets harsher by the day, but we are safe. And that's the one thing that matters.
In recent years, famines, wars and natural disasters have succeeded one another. But this summer it all came to an end. Years of war were suddenly behind us, leaving us in smouldering ruins. They had withdrawn, and we were left alone. And four months later, the main topic of the meeting was no longer the wages for the armies or the plummeting numbers of the legions. It was taxes.
Today they'd started their bickering early, so I had to sit and listen to them in the early morning.'It is despicable to demand even more of them now, to make them kneel before you when they need a helping hand!' said one.
'What is despicable, is that you assume that we are not lowly servants of the emperor! How can you insult Imperator Augustus like that? These payments are the bare minimum required to meet the quota, and nothing more!' the other replies.
I was leaning against the wall watching them. My eyelids were already getting heavier when I heard rumbling outside the doors.
'I have to get in,' I heard a familiar voice say. It is extremely important!'
It was the lord's messenger, Daecius. He always acts much more alarming than the news he carries actually is, but even he would never dare to disturb one of these meetings. Not with news of anything small, anyway.
The doors swing open and Daecius staggers into the room. His curly hair hangs wet from the rain before his eyes and his cheeks are red with cold. They...," he panted. 'The Germans, they are back.' And then he collapses from exhaustion on the stone floor.
The counsellors fall silent. Their faces turn white, and they look from each other to the lord, and back again. That all-too-familiar question can be read in their eyes: what do we do now?