Dinner was probably the most fun I had had in many years. I sat with Reyna and Jason - who seemed to be already close friends - at a small table. The wind spirits delivered me a cheeseburger but I didn't touch it, I was too busy enjoying the hypnotic dance of the wind and food. The music of chatting teenages and yelps when they tried to switch tables and got knocked over by the restless air. The beat of cutlery being picked up and dropped repeatedly...

"Kerri!" Reyna called me into reality. "You ok there? It looked like you were starting to go cross-eyed.

"Yeah." I said, turning myself back to my burger. "It's just- there's so much to see now, and to learn and experience, it almost feels like a waste to spend time eating."

"Yeah, yeah it does." Smiled Reyna sadly.

My attention was pulled to Jason who was doubled over laughing. Reyna and I both trained a deadly glare on him.

"What?" Reyna snapped.

"Girls are so corny." He spluttered, beside himself with laughter. Reyna and I both slapped him over the head. He was muttering something about violent girls when another boy walked up to us.

"Hey." He smiled. "Mind if I sit?" It was Dakota, the boy from the arena earlier.

"Sure." I patted a cushion beside me. I couldn't help thinking how weird Roman dining was.

He sat next to me and a wind spirit brought him a crystal glass filled with red liquid.

I gaped at him. "Is that... wine?" He looked about sixteen, not exactly the drinking age.

He took a sip then grinned. "I wish, it's red Kool-Aid."

"Oh." I said, not really understanding 1. Why he would want wine or 2. Why he was drinking red Kool-Aid from a wine glass.

"My dad's Brachus, the wine god. The camp doesn't allow alcohol so this is as close as I can get." He explained.

"Oh!" I said, actually understanding this time.

"He's an addict." Reyna added.

"I am not!" Dakota argued, downing the rest of the glass and retrieving a full one from some wind spirits.

The spent the rest of the meal bantering as I became involved again in the dance of the wind. Before I could count a minute, it was time for the evening muster, when I would get assigned to a cohort.

---

I stood with Catie and Mark as the rest of the legion filed in, which felt more than a little intimidating. I watched as the flags were placed and I listened as Catie introduced me.

"We welcome a new member to our legion tonight. Kerri Davis, daughter of Bellona." She gestured to me and I stepped forward. "Octavian, what did the auguries say?"

"It is in our favour." He announced.

"It is in our favour!" Catie repeated to the legion loudly and cheers met it as I fidgetted nervously. "Now, who will speak for her?"

I saw Reyna walk out from her line in the second cohort. "I will speak for her!"

Then I heard another voice. "As will I!" Jason called from the fifth cohort.

"As will I!" Dakota called from the same line as Jason.

"As will I!" A brunette girl called from the third cohort, I recognised her from the arena earlier.

"As will I!" Octavian called from the side of the stage. "For the first cohort."

I stared in shock at all the people whom I barely knew, willing to accept me into their cohort.

"Well?" I realised Catie was looking at me expectantly. "You may choose."

"Um..." I looked around again and my eyes settled on Octavian, who was smiling quietly in the shadow of the pillars. "Octavian, does your cohort accept me?" I asked.

He smiled crookedly as the first column began to bang their shields on the ground. "I think that's a yes." He said.

Mark smiled as he strung my probation tablet around my neck. "Kerri Davis, member of the First Cohorr of New Rome!"

The legion cheered as I made my way to the column with Octavian by my side. "Don't make me regret my choice." He told me.

"I could say the same to you." I replied, and he smiled.

Notes

Got time to write since I'm home sick! Please note that this story is partly going to be about how power turned Octavian mad and how he came to hate the Greeks, so he's going to be nice at the start!

If you guys want me to include a character of yours in this story then now is the time to ask! Just comment and I'll incorporate them in soon!

Thanks for being the amazing people that you are!

-Phoebe :)