"What's wrong with you two?" Ryan yelled from the sidelines. "I know you're sparring against each other but usually you're a lot more friendly than this."
It was late afternoon and the four of them were at training. The sun was beating down on them hot and unbearable as they fought, but what was more unbearable was that after he had run away, Jason hadn't talked to her all day.
"Asinos," Daria muttered, tripping Jason so that he stumbled.
"Daria!" Leila scolded. "Who taught you that word?"
In reality, it had been Mitch, but Daria had promised not to give him up. And plus, if Jason was going to act like this, then she was going to retaliate. "Oh, no one." Daria parried Jason's strike with her sword. "Just a friend."
Jason scowled.
Out of the corner of her eye, Daria could see Ryan and Leila exchange a glance. "Well, I guess that's enough for today," Ryan sounded defeated. "Come back here. We want to talk to you about something."
Daria knew they had never established a race, but she still tried, and failed, to beat Jason back to the edge of the field when their sponsors were waiting. She elbowed him in annoyance; he was up in her space, and he swatted her back, leaving a stinging feeling on Daria's arm.
"Quit it," Leila snapped, then she sighed. "This was supposed to be a fun surprise but I don't know if you deserve it."
"Leila's right," Ryan backed her up. "In the legion, you have to trust and respect your partners. Does this look like respect?"
Daria's cheeks burned with shame. They were right. This wasn't proper behavior for legionnaires, especially if Daria wanted to be praetor one day. And besides that, she didn't even like being mad at Jason. He was her best friend, not Atticus.
Jason seemed to be having similar thoughts. He turned to her with a serious expression. "I'm sorry, Daria. I didn't mean to get angry at you like that."
Daria kicked some dirt on the floor. She wasn't very good at apologizing, it was like admitting defeat. But this was Jason; he wouldn't think any differently of her. "I'm more sorry" she muttered. "I do respect you, I promise."
"It's okay if you don't," he offered. "I-"
"Jason, my man," Ryan snorted. "Just accept the apology."
Jason blinked. "Okay."
"Now that that's settled." Leila rolled her eyes. "Oliver is letting you choose out real weapons today. Isn't that cool?" She pulled out a familiar dagger from her hilt. "This is mine, Optatus."
Daria touched the blade. She felt strangely uncomfortable with giving up her swords, like it was a rite of passage that she wasn't yet prepared for. "They have names?"
"Not all weapons do," Ryan touched his back where his bow and quiver rested. "I mean, I kinda just call her Britney Spears for fun."
Jason frowned. "But that's a bow," he said in a similar confusion to what Daria felt. "Not a spear."
"Eh, nevermind," Ryan changed the topic as Leila snickered at him for some reason. "Jason, you could go with a bow. Sagittariorum is something you're good at."
"I dunno..."
"He's good with a sword too," Daria pointed out, their argument long forgotten. Jason nodded his head in agreement. "Like me."
"Come on," Leila said. "Let's go to the weaponshed and you can decide for yourselves."
The weaponshed was located at the other edge of the Field of Mars, but the walk took the same amount of time as it did to walk from the barracks to New Rome. Of course, this was only because anyone who wasn't training had to use the pathway. There had been too many accidents that started with 'the shortest path between two paths is..'
"Did you meet the new person?" Daria asked Jason as Ryan and Leila were enveloped in their own conversation. "Was he nice?"
Jason nodded. His blond hair was slick with sweat. "His name is Dakota! I convinced him to do STEM with me. So you can keep Atticus," the last part was said without malice this time. Daria felt guilt grow in her stomach; the whole day, she had thought that Jason was jealous of Atticus. She had never once considered the fact that he was lonely.
"That's good, I guess I'll meet him at dinner." Daria thought about it. "What Cohort do you think he'll be in?"
Jason puffed out his chest. "You know Lilian? She's also from the Fifth, I think she already talked to Anna about sponsoring him."
"So you'll have a friend in your Cohort!" Daria saw his point. "That's so cool!"
"You're not..." Jason's voice was small. "You're not mad?"
Daria was puzzled. She took pride in being able to read people, especially Jason, but she had no idea what he was talking about. "Why would I be mad?"
"Because I was mad about Atticus," Jason explained, seemingly waiting for her to burst. "But you're not mad about Dakota."
"Well, I'm going to be friends with Dakota too," Daria crossed her arms. "You just watch."
Jason gave her a crooked grin. "Okay."
"Here we are!" Ryan announced, as if they couldn't see themselves.
The weapons shed was one of the most unorganized places in the legion, which sucked because it was extremely dangerous to organize. New recruits, that were older than Daria and Jason were, got tasked with the duty if they were being especially troublesome. No one really ever went through with it much to Anna's disappointment.
Daria looked over the collection. There were heaps of daggers, bows, swords, cursed jewelry, even an axe, which Daria didn't see herself weidling any time soon.
Something caught her eye. Two ruby red rings stood apart from the others, catching the sunlight that streamed in through the windows. "What are those?"
Leila picked the rings up and spun one between her fingers. "You can test these out, but it'll be hard work. No one else uses them.. You see, these are twin swords, so there are two of them."
No one else..."Let me see them," she took them from Leila's hands and slid them on her own. Her fingers were small, but the rings resized themselves to fit. On instinct, she tapped the two rings together, perfectly balanced swords now resting in her grip.
"Woah!" Jason exclaimed, digging around some more. "I want something like that!" As Daria tested them out, Jason tested various weapons. Spears, daggers, swords.
"I'd like these," Daria said after running through a few more exercises.
"You'd have to learn how to fight with both hands." Leila warned her. "And no one else at camp fights like that, I don't know who would be able to teach you."
"I can teach myself," Daria said. She could feel the power of the rings tugging at her chest, spreading a warm feeling that she wanted to keep. "Leila, what should I name them?"
"Your weapon is an extension of yourself," Leila's blue eyes focused on her seriously like they did when something was very important. "Mine, Optatus, means chosen. My mother, Luna, named it for me."
Daria could feel the weight of her words settle on her shoulders. Who did she hope to become? Kind and subtle? Powerful? Daria wanted to be all of these things. "Leila," she looked up at her mentor. "Can you name them for me?"
Leila inhaled sharply. One of the first things they learned at Camp Jupiter was that names had power. This was a big ask. "Of course," she said softly. She touched the ring on Daria's left hand. "Virtus," and the right. "Veritas." Then she gently placed her hand on Daria's head. "Courageous and Truthful, Daria Jackson. May you always be these two things."
"Virtus et Veritas," Daria echoed. It was at this moment that she knew she would carry Leila with her for the rest of her life.
"I can't find anything," Jason wailed as he tripped over swords to come to Daria's side. "This blows."
Daria perked up. "I'll help you!"
"No running in the weapons shed," Leila warned.
They turned to face Ryan, who had a similar sentiment as he raised his eyebrows at Jason. "I saw you trip over those swords, buddy."
"What's that?" Jason asked curiously, motioning to the coin Ryan was tossing in the air. "Is that a weapon too?"
Ryan glanced at his palm in surprise; he didn't even seem to notice he was fiddling with it. "Um-"
"Jason," Leila placed her hands on his shoulder. "How about we look at something else okay? Like-"
"Leila, wait," Ryan looked at his protege. He pressed the gold coin into Jason's hands. "Jason, flip this. Daria, move for a second."
Daria stood beside Leila as Jason flipped the coin, scrambling to catch the gladius that appeared out of the air. It was a gorgeous weapon-gleaming gold brighter than anything Daria had ever seen.
"It looks right," Ryan admitted. "If you land on tails, you get a lance."
Leila hesitated. "Ryan..."
"No," he interrupted. Like he liked to do whenever something was meant just for Jason, he crouched down. "Flip it again."
Jason did as he asked. The weapon transformed back into a coin.
Ryan closed Jason's fingers around it. "This coin belonged to my mother," he said softly. Jason's eyes widened. He had barely known his own mother, but around here, family heirlooms weren't taken lightly. Ryan's mother was probably dead. "I want you to have it."
"Really?"
Ryan laughed and ruffled his hair. "Really, my man. Come here." He wrapped Jason in a tight hug.
"Wha-?" Jason shrieked. "Off! Get off of me!"
Leila giggled and Daria felt even warmer. Familia. It was one of the first words that Lupa had taught them. Whatever this family was, Daria loved it.