A bathhouse excited her, even if it wasn’t the first time. It had been a day since the family came in, and business didn’t need to be as busy. And she found an additional hand to help while they were gone. She had gone for one and had gone to enjoy it. There was perhaps more silence and some solitude.

Not the same location as she remembered, a slightly different. There was over one bathhouse in the country.

When she went alone, it allowed her to clear her mind. But now, she was here with a friend. Perhaps things could get interesting.

Pompeia knew she left without a worry.

She marred her own hands at the rough labour, and she had never done them anything in her life so far. But this was a change. She knew that when she left, all was lost.

Her delicateness shattered during her early days of imprisonment. When she had been alone in a prison, but no one dared to touch her. Her family had ensured of it. But she was dirty, didn’t have a bath for weeks, and no one would check up on her. There was a maid who pitied her and gave her more food.

But her worry for Lorenzo had made it hard for her to think much about her state of affairs. And in time, she got used to the labor to care for oneself.

There was a girl at the front. “The usual?”

“Yes, a private bath if possible.”

“You’re in luck, there is such a place.” Zariya gave her the payment, noticeably less.

Pompeia had left for the public bath, just happy at the chance to cleanse herself. The experience wasn’t all that bad, and she wasn’t used to taking her baths at the river. She preferred it, and might let this be the only luxury that she would have.

They were inside the women’s section of the bath.

“Have you been here before?” Zariya asked as she walked.

“Once,” she said. “It’s still pricey, but I think it was a different location.”

“You could come here, if you like. Just use my name and you can get a good discount. I referred to patrons, so they are more than happy. All my workers can come here and they wouldn’t charge as high.” She glanced at it.

They were now completely alone in the bathhouse. She was free to enjoy the waters once she freed herself of her clothes. They were typically richer, the more wealthy women of the family who could buy a private bath. The rest simply made do with the public.

But for Pompeia, there wasn’t a need, though this gave her an added luxury. She was now glad to just feel water all over her body and a sense of cleanliness.

“Thank you, for this.”

“Perhaps it is a good idea. I have some moment just to relax and not think.” She looked. “I’m thankful that I’m affluent enough that this is still an option.”

“Are you a widow?” Pompeia asked. “I’m a widow, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I’m not.” She looked.

“Then, separated?” She asked.

Zariya pursed, just thinking. Before she let it all out. “A divorcee, he’s left me everything to do with Antigone, and whatever belonged to my family. And then he left. Till right now, I still don’t have, but at least he gave me the means of survival. But then again, it was my father’s.”

Pompeia only looked at her with kind eyes. “Take it with kindness, that he has left you with a means of survival, it could have been worse.”

She didn’t wish to depend on the charity. Her father would have cared for them, but too used to the game of using and pawning them off. He would have used them for the good of the Mancini family, not her children’s wellbeing.

And that was why she decided it was time to go.

“Yes, did you experience worse?”

“Yes, I went there because I realized what my family represented and all the betrayals in my life. I could have left, but it was hard. I left my two children behind.”

She was perhaps glad to confide in someone like Zariya who never seemed to have given her any sideways glances, who had been kind. Now, she perhaps knew why.

She kept her own silence and the tears. She cried even then, just to think about leaving her own children.

“I didn’t have a choice back then. I had to make the choice that was the best to them.” she let out her own tears.

A mother abandoning her children. It was wrong. She knew it, but it was the best option given to her then. She couldn’t bear them with her family, nor could she bear the idea of them going to cousins.

The best decision was for it to go to her husband’s younger brother, fond of his niece and nephew. He would bring them to his sister, who was a kind-hearted woman, with a husband who cared for them, too.

Zariya went to wipe her own tears.

“It wasn’t a simple decision, and I know that you still love them. I’m a mother, and I know that to do it, it must have almost killed you.”

Pompeia stopped. She cried often as she left the port on the ship. She would have wanted to run, to leave, but she couldn’t.

“Do many doubt your abilities as a wife?” Pompeia asked, looking at her.

“Well, the reason I’m single is unfortunately two-fold.” Zariya told her. “I don’t want to deal with them, and they think that I’m a terrible wife. There wasn’t much I can do. But your situation sounds so much worse than mine.”

She still had her property, her life.

“My husband did something foolish. He paid the price. I am too, for not stopping him.”

“I don’t think either of us can. They are still people. But it’s an easy target. We are the ones who bear the blame,” she lamented. “But how much can I do to stop and restrain someone?”

Pompeia found much agreement in her words.

“You’re far away from home. But I don’t think it’s by choice.” She looked.

“I can’t go back. I’m not legally allowed to go back. If I do, they can execute me.” She told her the truth about her situation.

“I see,” she said.

“We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?” she asked, commenting on their situations.

Zariya gave a laugh. “Indeed, but I’m glad that we can find solace in each other.”

“I’m glad too.” There wasn’t a word exchanged between them.

“How about we do this in the future?” She asked. “We can come here and talk to one another.”

“I thought that too.” She gave a smile as she got out of the water.

Not only did her body felt clean, but her mind was clearer too. And she was glad to have found a true friend