Redsand Canyon seems a pity not to take a chance

germanicus did not find pharaoh reasonable and expected a fight of words. but it would only be words, and he saw no reason to remain upon the subject of akashingo for the present. he glanced around the room. it was a spacious area, with two smaller spaces to the left, each large enough for a single individual. shelves of rock ran the length of the main walls. 

she would find it austere, perhaps. germanicus had four items of his own, and two of them were hides. they lay with smaller pelts upon a low platform of the same red sandstone: a near-untouched bed. it was understated and quiet in the far corner of the arch-roofed den, skins stretched over bundles of simple grass dug from beneath the snow and dried.

the other two items were an intriguing fossil found in the wall of the catacombs and the jawbone of a bighorn sheep. the latter was marked with the anomaly of blackened molars. both of them sat silent and unassuming upon a shelf.

the simple existence of the bed in this moment felt rather expectant. the fact that now ruenna could see this platform unnerved him. the eagle supposed it because no one entered this space save for himself. and it was new even to him. he had brought these things down from his earlier perch.

he wanted to turn and tell her of his schedule, of the small details in mereo. but when ruenna spoke again, it was with the words roman and joining him as such. the imperator's face at last opened with surprise. she spoke of their titles and germanicus found himself fully ensconced now in the conversation. he sat down across from her, keeping distance between himself and that corner.

"i intend to continue calling you lady ruenna," the imperator answered after a moment. "but i am not a lord. call me germanicus." his eyes were upon her face once more, steadier somehow. "i had hoped that you might welcome the auxillia addressing you in the same way."

she had asked after his home. he cleared his throat. "in editum, husband and wives are equal. she has liberty over the affairs of the home." it was different from many other places inside that same world where the wife was seen as subservient and had very little standing. but the halls of his homeland had been different. "he protects and provides. they consult one another upon major affairs."

his words felt impersonal. germanicus glanced away and then back toward ruenna. "our naming conventions can be complicated. my third name is caesar. you would be ruenna caeso. but i am not so set upon keeping my surname," he added softly. "i would just as readily wear yours."

"becoming roman is in the names. and in the marriage of yourself to a roman." he touched the subject at last, feeling himself bump against it mentally.