The House of the Rising Sun

Chapter Eight: The Morae Taunt Me

Chapter Eight: The Morae Taunt Me

Alexander

I woke up with a start. I have no clue why, but I had just had another stupid nightmare. I hated this. I sat up in my bed and slouched, looking at the ground. I buried my face in my palms, but then looked up. Antony was still sleeping. I figured whatever political business we had to do, it wasn’t in the early morning. I heard a familiar meowing outside and I smiled to myself. It was the cat. Nofre-Ari. I grabbed the milk and the saucer and walked outside, still in my sleeping kilt. Sure enough, the gray cat was waiting, looking up at me with wise green eyes.

“Good morning, Nofre-Ari,” I said gently. I kneeled down and poured the milk into the saucer and she began to lap it up. “Diana blesses you.” The cat tensed and stopped lapping up the milk, and I realized that my gods weren’t the same as Egyptian gods. “Pardon. Whoever is the god or goddess of animals or of cats…may he or she bless you.” The cat relaxed and continued drinking.

“Good morning Alexander,” said a young voice from behind me. I stood up and turned around. A guy with short, wavy, blondish-brown hair stood in front of me. He had the same build as I did, and was only one year older than me.

“Oh, good morning, Octavian,” I smiled. Octavian was the only other apprentice here, and the term apprentice was inadequate. He was the nephew of Caesar, and they certainly looked alike. Octavian could have passed as Caesar’s son. “Jove bless you.”

“You too,” he said. Octavian was dressed in a white chiton, so I felt sort of stupid standing next to him in my sleeping kilt alone, but we were peers, so it’s not the same feeling I would have had say Octavian was Caesar. “Good Diana, Alexander, we’ve been in Egypt for not even three days and you’ve already adopted a cat?” I could hear bewilderment in his voice and I laughed.

“No, Octavian. She just likes to visit me.” He chuckled.

“My friend, you have an animal attraction.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and winked. “The cat has a collar. Does she have a name? Or more importantly, an owner?”

I had to be careful of how I answered this question. If I knew the cat had a name, for sure I had met the owner. “Um…yes, I believe she does have an owner, but cats are blessed in Egypt. I think their owners allow them the run of the city. I haven’t met the owner.”

Octavian looked sad. “That’s too bad, then. Maybe the owner was pretty, you know, if the owner was a woman.”

It took all my energy to keep myself from blurting, “She was as beautiful as Venus!” I just swallowed.

“Friend, you know we are here for political reasons,” I said painfully. Octavian sighed.

“Alexander, you don’t know how to have fun. C’mon, Jove gave us eyes for a reason. Just looking at girls isn’t hurting anyone.”

I crossed my arms. “Easy for you to say. You’re Caesar’s nephew. He wouldn’t hurt you. I, however, am”—

“Mark Antony’s apprentice,” Octavian finished. “Mark Antony is my uncle’s best friend. You know, Antony and Brutus. My uncle knows how much you mean to Antony. Therefore, you’re basically untouchable.” I raised my eyebrows at my friend.

“Great point. I’m still only here for politics. I can’t betray any of my Roman peers and elders just for an Egyptian girl. And that is that.”

“Hey, what’s all the fuss about?” said a third voice. I turned and saw Antony coming out of our house into the alley where Octavian, Nofre-Ari, and I were. He was still in his sleeping kilt. Antony was very handsome for being 39 years old, and I was surprised that he hadn’t been attracting a lot of attention.