Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 16 ~ Unpleasant delay

Gaius watched every single movement of the slaves carefully. He felt really ridiculous that he had to call them to pack his few belongings together. But it wasn't met to pack his own clothes for the trip, so he had to sit on his chair and watch them while he pretended to read his codex.
Three weeks had passed since Aurelia fled from Capri and he hadn't made sense of his sisters' letters. Gaius was so relieved that he was allowed to spend the Saturnalia with his sisters. He had already missed Agrippina's birthday. All he wanted was to spend time with his sisters and if he was honest with himself, he craved Aurelia's presence. She was simply missing in his life now. At night he slept really bad, if he was able to sleep at all, because his nightmares had returned.
As soon as everything was packed like he wanted it to be, he dismissed the slaves. He closed his eyes in relief. Should he lay down before traveling back to the land?
A small knock against his door made the decision for him. Gaius stood up moaning, put a friendly expression on his face and opened the door. Frowning, he looked at Clemens.
"The princeps wants to see you, milord", Clemens said seriously. Gaius nodded, checked his toga's folds and set off to his great-uncle. Clemens was following him like a shadow. Surprisingly Tiberius was neither in the triclinium nor in the garden. Annoyed Gaius stopped a slave and asked him about the princeps's whereabouts. The nervous slave whispered that the princeps was bathing right now and didn't want to be disturbed. Gaius had to wait in his study room. Of course Gaius went there immediately and Tiberius' secretary let him in. The slave let him alone to inform Tiberius as soon as he finished bathing. Gaius sat down casually in one of the chairs. Now all he could do was wait.

Three hours later the fresh perfumed Tiberius appeared and took his place opposite of his nephew without a word.
"So, so", Tiberius finally interrupted the silence after some time and leaned forward. Gaius, who had been relieved that the table had granted a little distance between them, started to feel the itching effect of the oils in his nose and it was very difficult for him not to sneeze. "I was informed that you want to leave us"
Gaius froze. Immediately he remembered Tiberius that he had asked for his permission months ago. Gaius had spent the Saturnalia with his sisters every year and this had never been a problem. Tiberius leaned back in his chair, pressed his fingertips very close together and looked at him calculating above his hands.
"My dear boy", Tiberius sighed and looked at him compassionately. "I am very sorry, but I don't know how I should ever be able to survive these awful days without your jokes. Your youngest sister, Julia wasn't it, isn't her birthday in a few weeks? How old will she turn?"
"19, avunculus", Gaius replied confidently and Tiberius nodded thoughtfully. The number melted in his mouth with relish.
"She will be very excited to hear that we will spend her birthday all together at Misenum", Tiberius thought aloud and Gaius covered his surprise with his excited agreement. Internally he smiled about Julia's shocked expression while she was reading his next letter. His sister couldn't think of something less horrible than celebrating her birthday with her old, pervert, like a barbarian drinking great-uncle as the guest of honour.
Tiberius smiled deep in thought and after a while Gaius cleared his throat carefully. His great-uncle startled and examined him suspiciously. Gaius passed him a letter. Tiberius grabbed the letter curiously, thoughtfully read every word and as soon as he finished reading it, he looked up at him in surprise.
"This is a very interesting request that your grandmother asks from you", Tiberius said. Gaius became serious very fast and nodded troubledly.
"Avunculus", he started seriously. "He isn't just one of my dear grandmother Antonia's clients. His nephew is one of my most precious friends. I wouldn't have made this request to you otherwise"
Tiberius nodded thoughtfully and wanted to know what Gaius would do in his place. Gaius leaned back in his chair, put a finger at his chin like he was deep in thoughts and counted mentally to one hundred. Then he sat up abruptly and looked at his uncle with a self-confident smile on his face like a student who had finally found the right answer for his Grammaticus.
"Well... I am already friends with his family so I would accept the request", he chattered enthusiastically, but not too fast so that Tiberius could follow his words. "The Aurelian wealth was huge, and a woman isn't allowed to own something. But her descent is without a doubt, so the law pushes us to give all her wealth to her guardian, her adoptive father. He has to take care of her inheritance. But he is a senator from a very unimportant, little family and we need to be sure that he doesn't get something that can't belong to him. Because of that I wouldn't give the inheritance to him but transfer it to an account under his name to one of Rome's respectable bankers. This way the inheritance of such a noble family is safe and this is the only option to make sure that her dowry will be as high as it has to be"
Gaius used the following silence to become more and more nervous. Finally, he said like a little boy that it wasn't in his power to make such an important decision. Then Tiberius' lips curled into a self-satisfied smile.
"I will think about it", he replied gracefully and gave Gaius with his hand an impatient sign to leave. Immediately Gaius went to the next bathroom. Before he could tell his sisters the news, he had to sweat out his anger. He was looking forward to this happy fest with his sisters far away from Capri for months and now he had to wait for three more months before he could finally see them again. But then he was bringing Tiberius' court with him.
Three months until he was able to look at Aurelia from a distance. He had to bear this somehow.