As soon as Rhode stepped into the large tent that had been set up for her family, she was grabbed into a tight hug by Martina, her oldest cousin. Rhode stiffened automatically, and Martina let go of her.

“You’re back! I was so worried!” she said and squeezed Rhode’s hand. “We all were! Are you alright?”

Sybil and Kale were both on their feet too, running up to greet Rhode, and their father, who limped into the tent behind Rhode.

“Where did you go? What on earth possessed you?” demanded Kale curiously.

“Why are you dressed like that!?” echoed Sybil.

“That mercenary didn’t hurt you, did he?” Martina was asking.

Rhode looked from them all confusedly. She didn’t like talking to many people at once. It made her head spin.

“I’m fine!” she said, trying to answer the chaotic questions in order, “I went to Loukos’ house to get the books so they wouldn’t get burned…”

Her answer was interrupted by Sophia, who walked into the tent, closing the leather tent flap securely behind her. She stomped right to Rhode and shouted:

“What did you promise to pay him?!”

Rhode paled. Sophia rarely raised her voice.

“I didn’t…He didn’t…” she mumbled unclearly.

“We are in debt Rhode! Our family’s coffers are empty, my family’s shipping business is ruined. And we have debts. We don’t have the funds for you to waste on pointless whims! Now tell me, what did you promise to pay that man?”

“Nothing! I…was going to pay with the house. But he didn’t accept.”

Sophia stared. Then her eyes narrowed.

“Did you sleep with him?”

Now it was Rhode’s turn to stare.

“No.” she said, baffled. She found the suggestion that she had used herself as payment rather offensive, but also very surprising. She doubted anyone would treat sleeping with her as a payment worth much in the first place. How odd Sophia had even come up with such an idea.

Her aunt looked calmer now.

“I take your word for it. Listen, none of you,” here she glared from Rhode, to her daughters, to her husband, “are to mention Rhode’s little’s escapade with the mercenary. Not to anyone! Do you understand me? We need good marriages for you four. Our financial situation is dire. Kale and Rhode have received good proposals; I don’t want to find out that Alexander Vranas canceled your marriages to his sons because of gossip about your chastity and reputations. His offer is too good to lose, and our situation too serious.”

Sophia glared at the lot of them. Michael, her husband, looked away nervously and said nothing. Martina and Sybil nodded their heads obediently. Kale shrugged and muttered ‘of course mother’.

Rhode’s insides felt heavy. Her upcoming marriage to one of Alexander’s sons was not something she was particularly happy about. But she wasn’t particularly unhappy about it either. It was just something that had to happen. She had been so resigned to it that she never even considered what she actually thought about it and how it made her feel. Now however, the thought made her feel a little sick.  She hid her own confusion by nodding her head just like her cousins had done, and assuring Sophia that she understood.

Sophia sighed. “I’m sorry for rising my voice,” she said, looking at Rhode, “but this is important!”

Rhode nodded mutely. It WAS important. She could see it…and yet…somehow it didn’t feel that way at all. But then, people always said that her priorities were all wrong…

*

Sophia did not let Rhode sleep in the next morning. Soon after daybreak, when most of the camp except for the few on watch was still asleep, the Dokeianos family was already up. Rhode scrubbed clean of the dirt from two days’ worth of journey on horseback. She brushed her hair and changed back into a long tunic and dress. With fresh kohl on her eyelids and beneath her eyes, and a heavy vail over her hair, she looked once more like a proper Roman lady of the upper class. The only thing that was missing was earrings. Rhode did not like those and hardly ever wore them.

Sophia ordered John, the eunuch servant, to take Chlodvig’s clothing to the mercenaries' tent. She pursed her lips and told him not to mention it to anyone later. Rhode felt a slight pang of nostalgia when John folded the clothes and carried them out. In some sense, they were the last sign of the adventures of the last two nights. Two nights without having to be constantly reminded of her family’s expectations, of constant scrutiny of how she looks and how she behaves. It was uncomforatble and dangerous, yes, but it also felt so....fresh. 

She sighed. Obviously it couldn’t last. She didn’t even want it to last…did she?

She spent the rest of the day inside the tent, quietly replying to her cousins’ questions, whenever Sophia was out of earshot. They were fascinated by the fact that she decided to ride off like that. Rhode found herself, for the first time in her life, in the center of attention. She did not like it. 

Martina and Sybil were rather appalled by much of what Rhode told them, the sleeping on blankets in a cave which had been inhabited by animals, changing clothes while a man was present, even if he was looking away, eating stale bread. They laughed and commented  loudly. Kale on the other hand seemed thoughtful and serious. She snorted unkindly when Rhode recounted her troubles with the horse and how painful her seat and legs were as a result of the riding, but said little else. Her quiet intensity made Rhode feel nervous. They never got along very well, but Kale was usually loud and light-hearted. What had she done to annoy her younger cousin so much?

Once the sun had set, the mercenaries broke camp and soon they were all riding again. The mercenaries rode in pairs, with one scout further in front and one further behind. Chlodvig rode at the beginning of the column with Eirene and another large mercenary whose name Rhode did not know.

The Dokeianos family was in the middle of the column, protected in the back and front by the mercenaries. Michael, Sophia, Kale and Sybil all rode horseback. Rhode and Martina on the other hand, sat on some cushions on a small wagon which also carried Rhode’s books. These had been moved into a large wooden trunk for safety. John was at the reins, giving the two women a chance to finally talk a bit more privately, without Sophia’s sharp ear in the vicinity.

“Was it scary? Being there all alone. With a soldier? Most soldiers are such violent people. I’d be afraid to be alone with one who wasn’t from the family…Also, this man…well, clearly he’s a barbarian, no?”

Rhode shrugged. “Not really. He’s fluent in Greek. So technically you can’t call him a barbarian…”*

Martina chuckled.

“You’re always so precise with words. People call northerners and easterners barbarians regardless of their linguistic ability!”

“I know they do. But I never understood why.  Words have precise meanings, why do people ignore them and make new ones? I don’t understand it.”

“Well, because they make communication easier if words change and are adapted to realities. Everyone knows the overall meaning of words…a barbarian is an uncultured person from one of those northern kingdoms. Or from the steppes. That is what most people would understand ‘barbarian’ to mean. Not ‘Someone who doesn’t speak Greek’ even if that is the origin of the term.”

Rhode shrugged. This was just another one of those things she simply couldn’t understand and merely had to accept. Though it was an acceptance that was hard for her. Her own instinct was that language was a set of rules to be followed strictly. But she also was quite aware that historically the names of things changed or evolved. That was reality, regardless of how she personally felt about it.

Instead of pursuing the conversation (she had a deep fear of being seen as annoying or petty) she returned to Martina's original question.

“Anyway, it was a bit frightening. Not Chlodvig though. Just…overall. The horses and dogs. And staying out at night. The forest sounds. And then some Norman soldiers came. That was really scary.”

“They chased you all the way from the city? Why would they?”

“Apparently they wanted the books I took.”

“The books? Those Norman marauders chased you for books?” Martina sounded incredulous.

Rhode nodded. Martina shook her head in surprise. 

“So what happened?” she pressed, intrigued. 

“Chlodvig fought them."  

“Oh. Uhm…well that’s good. I guess... Anyway, thank God you’re safe and it’s all over," she smiled at Rhode and added, "that's a lot to go through for some books. Now you will really have to read them all, what a bother!”

Rhode stared. How could reading books be considered a bother? Only after she noticed Martina’s expectant gaze, did she realize that the last sentence was meant as a joke. She forced a smile and nodded.

“Oh Rhode,” Martina said chuckling, and gave her a swift hug.

______________________________________

People, Places and Things

Barbarian: Originally a (derogatory) word used in ancient Greece used to refer to everyone who wasn’t a fluent Greek speaker (though they made an exception for Persians. In fact, Greek writers described Persia as the ‘other eye of the civilized face', the first eye being Greece of course). The word was then adopted by the Romans (whom the Greeks themselves considered barbarians) to refer to pretty much everyone who was not Roman, Greek or Persian. 

The Byzantines themselves considered themselves both Greek AND Roman in a sense. Medieval identities are fascinating and complicated.