"Silence!" Leila commanded. "The Senate meeting will now begin."
Jason sighed. He was sitting in between Reyna and Nathan, Dakota and Clara one seat over. "Are you sure you want to be sitting next to me?" Jason muttered, for the tenth time.
Dakota and Nathan stared at him. "Dude," Nathan said back. He still had a bandage wrapped around his head so maybe he was delusional. "Shut up."
Jason shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. He caught glares when he entered, and harsh comments that were probably best not spoken in front of children. Even Leila's expression got a little tighter when she saw him. Which was fine; Jason had been feeling guilty for two days.
It took a few more moments for the chamber to actually become silent. Jason could see Daria, Michael, and Octavian sitting closer to the front. The First Cohort wasn't exclusive...most of the time. He caught Clara's eye and she rolled her eyes in agreement.
"The battle was won," Leila started. "However, thirteen dead in what will be one of the minor battles over the course of the next few years. The legion must grow stronger. We must learn from our mistakes."
"You mean Jason Grace's mistakes." There it was. One of the residents of New Rome stood, addressing the room. "We don't expect to make it out of battle alive, but to die because of a careless mistake made by a centurion? This is unacceptable, Leila."
Instantly, a sound of agreement echoed throughout the chamber. Several important people, including Daniel, turned to the son of Jupiter. Once again, Jason wished he was invisible. He stared at the floor, unwilling to make eye-contact with anyone.
"Look up," Reyna hissed, nudging him. "Face it like a man."
"I think I would rather die."
"Look Angelo," Daniel shook his head. "Jason Grace's centurionship is not up for debate."
"Why not?" The girl Jason recognized to be Sofia's older sister joined Angelo in his protest. Camilla, Jason remembered. "Why are you so keen to defend him?"
"Camilla-"
Jason hadn't realized there was an earthquake brewing right in front of them. Truth be told, he hadn't had a real conversation with Daria since their argument. He knew she wasn't ignoring him; he also didn't know that she cared that much.
"Listen," Daria turned to face them as she got up instead of facing Leila and Daniel, which was the proper thing to do. "There's a prophecy coming to fruition in less than five years, and Jason will be the denouement of it whether you like it or not."
"Denouement?" He heard Nathan mutter.
"Final piece," Clara explained. "The final play."
"I think the best thing we can do from here is give him our support," she paused for emphasis. "And the knowledge that older legionnaires like you all possess."
"More than any war, we're fighting to defend our home." Now she addressed the room, and Jason, much like everyone else, was enraptured with her. "We win together and we lose together. Believe me when I say there is no one who feels worse about what happened than Jason, believe me when I say there is no one who will work harder to become better."
She looked back at Leila, a look of satisfaction in her forest green eyes. "That's all."
Reyna looked at Jason again. "She's really something, huh?"
Jason let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Senators and legionnaires started muttering to each other, but no one raised their voice above a whisper. "I thought you hated each other."
Reyna looked at him like he was stupid. Jason didn't push it, but he wasn't really sure what that meant.
"Centurion Grace?" Leila called. Everyone looked at him once again.
"Uh," Nathan elbowed him, motioning for him to stand. "I'm sorry, what was the question?"
Mitch tried to cover his snort, but failed. "Sorry, sorry." He bit his lip as adults glared at him. Lots of that going around today.
Daniel looked at Jason with an icy expression; he could see Daria bury her face in Michael's shoulder. "Anything else to add?"
A second chance. Jason had forgotten what they had talked about yesterday in a split second. He needed to do better. "Daria's right," he tried again, feeling oddly calm. He saw Dakota give him a thumbs up out of the corner of his eyes.
"I'll do better. I promise. The next time this happens, because we all know it'll happen again, I won't," he clenched his hands into fists. Sofia, Kai, and eight others had died on his watch. "I won't mess up. I swear on the River Styx."
A majority of the people in attendance, including his friends, gasped, but Jason was only focused on one person's reaction. Daria's eyes were sharp and intelligent. Jason knew that she could read him like he was The Iliad. Unfortunately, Jason wasn't as well versed in her.
"Silence!" Daniel ordered again. "What has been done is done. And though I don't approve," he frowned. "I believe Centurion Grace has made his point." Jason took that as his cue to sit down.
"What..." Reyna started uncertainly. "What is the River Styx?"
"It's a deathwish," Clara hissed. She reached over Nathan to slap his arm. "That was stupid!"
"Brave," Dakota admitted. Clara shot them a look. "But uh, yeah, stupid."
"Basically," Jason explained, shoving Clara back. No one said leaders of prophecies had to be mature all the time. "If I break my oath, well, there are things worse than dying."
"No one really knows what that means," Nathan added, finally grabbing both Clara and Jason's arms so that he wasn't in the middle of a slap fight. "But it sounds pretty bad."
Reyna raised her eyebrows. "Then I agree with Clara." She hit him. "How could you be so stupid?"
"We've established this," Jason muttered. "Can we pay attention now?"
"-stepping down," Leila was saying. "Which means there are three centurion seats that need to be filled, and Daniel and I are the only ones who have the power to do that, but we are willing to hear requests from Senators."
Mitch was the first one to stand, which made sense since he had lost his co-centurion. This was the part Jason loved about Senate meetings: motions. A back and forth of ideas. Democracy in action.
"The chair recognizes the centurion of the Third." Oh yeah. Another part that was always entertaining was watching Daniel and Mitch interact on the Senate floor. Mitch always looked like he wanted to crack jokes, and Daniel always looked like he wanted to drop kick his boyfriend into the Tiber.
"As the centurion of the Third Cohort," Mitch stood. "I would like to make it known that Clara has shown great courage and kindness," Jason beamed for his friend, "over the years. I'd like to make a motion for her candidacy."
"Second," multiple people called out, Jason included. Clara blushed, burying her face in Dakota's shoulder. Jason couldn't think of someone more deserving.
He saw Daria whisper something to Mateo, centurion of the Second Cohort. They both visibly looked back to where Jason and his friends were sitting. Jason wondered if they were planning to nominate Nathan. He wondered if Nathan would even accept.
Daria raised her hand, nodding as Leila recognized her. "Praetors, if I may make two motions?"
Leila and Daniel looked at each other, able to read each other's thoughts in that single glance. "Very well," Leila said.
"Motion for Octavian's candidacy," that got an easy 'second' from Rachel. It was fair enough. Jason figured that anyone in the First Cohort was qualified to be centurion, but raising the future augur to the position was pretty traditional.
"And, I know this is...unusual?" Daria said as more of a question. "But she showed great prowess in the battle, and we can discuss further, and I've already talked to Mateo." It wasn't like Daria to stumble over her words, but she was. "I'd like to make a motion for Reyna to fill the position of centurion."
Oh.
Reyna's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she didn't say anything. Something like realization sunk into her expression. People craned their necks to get a glance at the daughter of Bellona. There were, after all, a number of issues with the motion.
"She's still a probatio," Daniel said. Even he seemed to be surprised. "Are you sure you don't mean Nathan?"
Nathan's dark blue eyes widened. "She's sure!" He called, earning some laughs.
"You still need a second," Leila pointed out. "We can only discuss the merits of the battle after that."
"Sorry about this," Jason murmured out of the side of his mouth. Before Reyna could ask what he meant, he was already speaking. "I second!"
"Then Senate," Daniel looked at the 8 current Senators. "Let us discuss."
i literally love Daria sm
-M