Minerva’s white robe fluttered in the wind as she rode her horse to the nearest neighboring village. Tears being dried up by the wind before they get to run down her cheeks. Her golden-brown eyes barely being able to see what is in front of her. Early morning fog covering the Berat plains, leaving a rising sun behind her. She had only a piece of animal fur covering her shoulders.
She was woken up so early and rushed out of the castle, ordered to disappear. Even though she demanded to talk to Constantine, she was denied. She begged to take her young son but was led to the stables and helped onto her horse. It all happened so fast. A Forte-night ago she still laid with Constantine but ever since a messenger came from Maximianus, Constantine was preoccupied and distant towards her. Minerva had a feeling that it had something to with an arranged marriage.
In the distance, she could finally make out a large Domus. She was told that a fire will be burning outside a house and that she will receive further instructions there. She got off her horse and walked into the courtyard.
“Constantine!” she ran into his arms. He takes her face with both his hands and kisses her deeply. He dries the tears off her cheekbones.
“I am so sorry, I have to marry the daughter of Maximianus, Fusta Maxima Fausta. You must go to Gaul. I can visit you there in secret and our son will be taken there in a couple of days. I am so sorry,” he says, now crying himself.
“Oh Constantine, I love you,” Minerva cries with him.
“All will work out. When you get to Gaul you cannot say that you are Crispus' mother, and you cannot teach him to call you mother. Maximianus will have you killed if he knows you are still alive.”
Two men approach them in the courtyard. They bow down, “we are ready to leave,” one of them says.
Constantine walks her to her horse and helps her on to it. “Good buy my love, see you as soon as I can,” he says.
The fog has cleared, and Minerva rides her horse following the two men riding their horses ahead. She is relieved that she will see her son soon. Unhappy that he will never know her as his mother but glad that she still gets to be in his life.
They rode for a couple of hours it seemed. They stopped at a village that Minerva is not familiar with.
“This is where we leave you. In a day or so a man with the name Gigipe will take you the rest of the way,” one of the men says leading her to a nearby insulae.
An elderly grey head woman welcomes them inside, but the men decline. The men turn around and took their leave, leaving Minerva at the village.
The woman introduces herself as Gigipe’s wife and explains that he is out hunting and that when he returns that they will take a boat across the ocean to Bari where they will travel by land to Naples and from there across the waters again to land where they will make their way to Gaul as she shows her a drawing on the sandstone floor.
Minerva wondered how her young son will make such a journey and if they will travel by land-only or by water as well.
After a week of working in the village like a commoner, Minerva notices a group of people approaching the village.
The old woman ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards the men, she is followed by a dozen of other women.
Minerva watches on as all the woman embraced their men and helps them carry their load. The children caught up with their mothers and are happy to see their fathers. Some of the older children reign in the horses and livestock.
The men now relieved of their load makes their way past the village towards the river.
After a hunt, the men would always go wash themselves self-off in the nearby river, no matter the weather.
The woman readied the fire pits followed by dressing them self-up and getting their men’s clean robes ready. Some of the older boys get handed the clean robes to take down to the river where the men are bathing.
The village is filled with excitement and this is the first time Minerva witness just how commoners live. Minerva is slightly disgusted but reminded herself that soon she will be reunited with her darling son and her life of luxury.
Minerva noticed that some of the girls are covered with extra jewelry all wearing thin sheer fabric showing off their curves. Gigipe’s wife explained that tonight some of the young men returning from the hunt with their fathers will be rewarded a woman of their choosing. Some of the men will also take 2nd and 3rd wives of the remaining girls that have come of age since the last hunt. She also explained that not all young men make a successful killing and they will not be rewarded with women.

The young girls and women that don’t have a husband yet, all have to be part of the ritual and if they are chosen, they are not to object. They will stay with the man that chooses them until death does them part.
The young man that made the first kill gets to choose a bride virgin first and so on.
The men and the young boys returned from the river; the sun is already cut in half over the horizon.
The older woman that could no longer bear children and are without men, either never been chosen or their men dying from old age or in hunt or wars or at the mainland to fight as gladiators, these woman responsibility is to prepare the already dead animals from the hunt for the ritual feast tonight.