They took a river craft down the Tiber to the dock at Ostia where they would board a large galley ship and set sail on the Mediterranean.

Antinous bid farewell to the Eternal City, its temples, amphitheatres, villas and pleasure gardens falling behind the yew trees like a shy maiden drawing her veil.

He remembered his excitement when he passed the riverbank five years earlier and gazed upon Rome's prickly beauty for the first time. It was the most exciting moment of his life and the most frightening. It was difficult to say goodbye. He was at once her lover and her prisoner.

He couldn't bear to tear his eyes away and took one last glimpse of the city to see the great statue made in Hadrian's image of a resting Hercules wearing a lion's skin.

🌿

There were three galley ships waiting in Ostia.

Commodus appeared on the dock first. He was surrounded by half-starved slaves who could barely lift the ostrich feathers to fan him. His physician begged him to feed them. They looked about ready to drop dead and he was worried they wouldn't survive the trip, but Commodus insisted it was the fashion in the East and his slaves his most important accessory. Their bones rattled as loudly as the bracelets on their master's pale wrists.

He kissed Hadrian's signet ring.

"Safe travels, Caesar. It's a shame we won't be sailing together."

He shot Antinous a jealous glare before boarding his ship with a weary Remus in tow.

On the other side of the dock, Sabina emerged from her litter. The slaves set down the wheelless carriage from their shoulders and she stepped out with her ill aunt. Plotina coughed blood into her handkerchief.

"Remember, you are Empress not him, assume your rightful place at diplomatic functions, stop hiding behind your embroidery like a mouse—"

She kissed Plotina's cheek and told her to be well. Though she was no doubt happy to be out from under her aunt's thumb. 

Still furious about the exile of her lover, Seutonius, she ignored Hadrian and Antinous both and boarded the ship trailed by a dozen haughty handmaidens.

With his heir and his wife safely aboard their own ships, Hadrian turned to Antinous and sighed.

"One big happy family."

The Emperor's ship was the largest, with masts as tall as columns and three rows of oars jutting out the sides like an impaled boar.

Antinous glanced around as they walked up the gangplank. Half of the Praetorian Guard surrounded them while the other half were examining the vessel for their safety. Leonides must have already been onboard.

🌿

They dined by rocking candlelight. Antinous retired early to their sleeping quarters while Hadrian took advantage of the ship's extensive library of scrolls. He wanted to read up on the prose of famed Greek writer Tatius before they reached Athens. Leucippe and Clitophon was a tawdry tale of romance and mistaken identity, but it was all the rage among the Greeks and Hadrian, like Commodus, was a slave to foreign fashion.

The next two days little changed. He spent the morning and afternoon sunning himself on deck while Hadrian recited the prose he'd memorized the night before. They had a good laugh at the plot twists. One moment Leucippe is sacrificed, the next moment her lover finds out her death was staged with props, then she is kidnapped by bandits and has her head chopped off, but it turns out that too was a ruse and it was another woman who was decapitated.

"This is what passes for literature in Athens these days?"

Antinous tucked an olive in his cheek and shrugged. "We can't all be Homer. Recite the line about the bandits again. I like that part."

"You're worse than Tatius!"

Again, Antinous would retire early to his sleeping quarters in the ship's belly while Orodes performed his nightly ritual of bathing and dressing him for bed.

He was too afraid to ask about Leonides, lest it got back to Hadrian. It wasn't until he counted the guards watching them on deck that he realized they were taking shifts. These four guards watched over them during the day while the other four guarded their sleeping quarters at night. Leonides must have been on the night shift.

In bed, he stared up at the shadow cast by the dying candle on the wooden plank above. Carefully, he lifted Hadrian's heavy arm and rolled out from beneath it.

"What's wrong, Leucippe?" The Emperor had roused. He kissed Antinous' naked shoulder, his beard scratching the boy's hairless skin.

"Sea sickness. The waters are rough tonight."

"Shall I ring for Orodes?"

"No, I'm going to get some air on the upper deck."

"I don't like you wandering around alone at night."

"The guards are there."

Hadrian nodded and ruffled his hair.

"I'll try not get kidnapped by bandits."

"There's nothing to fear from these modern Athenians."

"Except their prose."

The Emperor grinned before yawning and falling back into a deep slumber.

There were two guards stationed outside their sleeping quarters next to lit torches, neither of whom were Leonides.

He wandered around and spotted only a few galley slaves with rope looped around their shoulders, pulling taut the flapping sails.

He leaned over the bulwark and watched the oars dip in and out of the water propelling the ship forward. If he leaned over far enough he could see the prow of the ship slice through the choppy black sea like the divine sword of Perseus.

Two large hands reached around his chest and pulled him back.

"I only wanted to see the pr—"

It was Leonides.

He was in his guard's uniform, which resembled that of the legionaries only with the Emperor's seal pinned to the leather breastplate.

They were reunited at last. He waited for a warm word from his friend but all he said was, "Don't get so close to the water. It's dangerous," cool as the sea breeze.

Then he went back to join the rest of the guard and that was the end of their momentous reunion.

Antinous had assumed Leonides would want to join the guard and accompany him on the tour but what if he had misread the situation? That late afternoon at his domus on the Palatine he was amorous and said he wanted to see Antinous again before the tour but he didn't say anything about wanting to join the tour. What if Sextus was right? Leonides was from a Patrician family and was being groomed to be general. The Praetorian Guard was an honor for average citizens but not nobles like Leonides with great military ambitions.

Or perhaps he was pleased to be there, only he didn't want to risk showing it in front of the other guards. Was pulling him away from the water simply an act of duty or was it tenderness?

🌿

The next day the sun was high and the wind weak. The only thing worse than a storm at sea was perfect weather. The oarsmen's groans rumbled below deck. No matter how fast they rowed, the ship, like the air, stood still.

Antinous passed the day playing dice with Orodes beneath a canopy on the upper deck.

"You're distracted."

"Am I?" He shook the painted knucklebones and tossed them onto the board. 1—1—1—1. A Canis Throw.

The slave tallied the meager points and made a note with his stylus on the wax tablet.

"Orodes, can I ask you a question?"

He looked up from the tablet. "But of course, master."

"Have you ever cared for someone and wondered if they felt the same way?"

He picked up the dice and rolled. 6—6—6—6. Vultures Throw.

Satisfied, he said, "The Emperor loves you more than the moon and stars, more than the sea and sky, more than the—"

"What if I was thinking of someone else?"

"I don't follow."

"What if the person I care for is not the Emperor."

"Not the—" Orodes drew a short breath and kept his eyes on the tablet. "We shouldn't be talking about this."

"What if—"

"Your turn."

Antinous did not probe further. The slave was right to be cautious. Why was he being so reckless?

He cupped the dice in his palm before tossing them onto the board. 6—4—3—1. The Venus Throw. The highest roll in the game.

"What luck!" Orodes clapped.

"It's all in the wrist, my friend."

Later that afternoon he watched the gulls fly overhead and waved to a passing ship. The men onboard cheered and blew him kisses. He would have preferred arrows. Travelling by sea was much more exciting during the late Republic when Pompeii was fighting pirates and Marc Antony was fighting Octavian. Now all one encountered was the occasional fishing boat or trade vessel.

He spied a guard who was not Leonides but gave a great yawn that reminded him of his friend. Antinous pretended to be busy plucking his lyre and listened in on their conversation. Men complained that women were gossips but, in his experience, men were far worse, if the nasty rumors reported to Hadrian every day by his men were any indication.

The sleepy guard, named Brutus, was not gossiping about Leonides, but rather their commander who failed to make the necessary provisions for their journey. He cracked his back and grumbled to his fellow guards about how uncomfortable their straw pallets were below deck.

"It's like sleeping on a sack of rocks! I can barely stand. What I wouldn't give to be back in Rome with all the comforts of home."

Antinous summoned Orodes to his quarters at once.

"I have a task for you."

"Is it time for your bath already? You haven't dined yet."

"I need you to deliver these cushions to one of the guards below deck. The blonde one named Leonides."

Remembering the conversation they had earlier he shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous. What if I'm caught? What would I say?"

"Say... Brutus was complaining of the pallets being uncomfortable and I allowed you to take extra cushions to them." It was not a lie, Brutus was complaining.

"I don't like this."

Antinous hugged his shoulders. "I will let no harm come to you."

"Harm? You're going to get us both killed!"

"Thank you, Orodes."

"What shall I say when I deliver it?" he sighed.

"Nothing. He'll know they're from me. You're my slave and... they smell like my perfume."

He muttered some indecipherable Parthian curse word and set about his task.

Orodes took much longer than Antinous expected. If he wasn't back in time to serve him at dinner, Hadrian would inquire after the slave. The Emperor liked to have his entire retinue at their assigned station, like figures in a painting. Not one detail out of place.

Antinous paced his quarters anxiously waiting for Orodes to return. Was he stopped? Questioned? Or did Leonides simply dismiss him and the gift?

Orodes came back and leaned against the door, panting. "It's done."

Antinous took his hand and drew him close. "Well, what happened?"

Out of breath he said, "I asked for the guard with the golden hair. He was asleep because his shift doesn't begin for another five hours. The other guards refused to wake him and they wouldn't let me near his pallet because I'm only a slave and he a noble citizen. But I refused to leave until my duty was carried out. They shouted and pushed me. That's when the golden one woke up."

This was a more precarious mission than Antinous had anticipated. "What happened next?"

"The golden one rubbed his eyes and I handed him the cushions. I didn't say a word. Just as you instructed."

"Did he thank you?"

"Not exactly."

Antinous frowned. Perhaps Leonides was unhappy to be there.

"He asked me to give you something from him in return."

Orodes was empty-handed. What could it be?

The slave turned an inexplicable shade of red, leaned over and kissed Antinous on the cheek.

Tenderness.

A/N: It took me almost a year, but Antinous and Leo have now—almost, sort of, maybe if you squint—kissed. 

Antinous: Does he like me? Does he not? Should I give him a cushion? Should I not?

Leo: I am asleep.

Poor Orodes is now the go-between for Antinous and Leo. Gods give him strength.

Don't worry, Leo won't always be on the nightshift. There will be some daytime outings in Athens. Commodus, Remus and Sabina will be joining. Let the bickering begin. Don't you just love family vacations?  🏖

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