Annabeth, a Lady from the declining polis of Athens, must marry the Heir Apparent of Rome to save her polis and the rapidly expanding world from a threat even the gods couldn't foresee.
#931 in fanfiction on 9/28/16.
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incipiere
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"We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason." ~Unknown
Caput I: A Chance Encounter
Rome
"ONCE upon a time." That's how most of the Fairy Tales begin, right? That's how you're supposed to tell a good story. That's how you know everything will be all right in the end.
But not this one.
This is not a story about a princess. This is not a story about how beautiful her life was. This story is not about her naivety. This is not a story about how she and her prince charming cantered away into the sunset.
No, not this one.
This is a story about a girl who was divided between her duties and her feelings, between her mother and her husband. This is the story of a girl who went away from everything she knew. This is a story about how fast she had to grow up. This is a story of honor and friendship: how it could change the world... for the betterment of humankind, or for the destruction of it.
This is a story of Rome.
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The Roman Empire was a very beautiful place; or, at least, what Annabeth had seen of it so far.
She hadn't seen the Eternal City itself with her own two eyes, yet, but the outskirts were very pretty. The land came up to the Mare Nostrum as they sailed pass; cliffs rose high above them, so far that she could not see where they stopped jutting into the deep blue sky. Waves crashed against the boulders at the bottom of the cliffs, jumping into the air up to thirty, forty, fifty feet in a spray of blue and white. After that, the waves surged pass the rocks (if there were any) and swelled against the bottom of the cliffs, crashing so hard that she thought that the cliffs would break.
They never broke.
Other places, there were no cliffs, only flatland where the waves rolled gently up against the white and yellow sand, or slapped against the driftwood and rocks that protruded out of the sea, close to the shore. As opposed to the rough and wild nature of the water before, when the tide crashed against boulders and cliffs that drove into the sea, this was gentle and soothing. Instead of destructive, it was healing.
Then there would be no land at all. Just the water stretching on forever and ever, gray fog and clouds covering the ocean, making it appear more gray than blue. It rained a lot too, sometimes so hard it seemed like Lord Poseidon had a personal vendetta against them. The seas would pitch and hurl, making their little ship go up and up, higher and higher, and then down and down back into the seas. Several times, when the ship groaned, she feared it would break when it crashed against the force of the raging ocean. It never did though, and she could never decide if Poseidon was protecting them or if he was trying to kill them.
