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gum, and he says it’ll heal up clean.” He drank the rest of his mug. “By Mars, this wine’s excellent.”
    Magnus nodded. “It is. From Italia?”
    “No, from the south of Gaul.” I poured Vividus a refill.
    “It’s good to know we’ll be able to get a decent tipple in the back of beyond. Sometimes I wonder why we’ve come to Britannia, you know. It’s one thing fighting barbarians when you’re in the army, quite another living among them, so far away from everything civilised.”
    “Now Uncle, that’s hardly tactful, sitting here in Aurelia’s excellent bar-room. At the Oak Tree at least there is civilisation.”
    “Sorry,” Magnus said gruffly. “Didn’t mean to be rude. Forgive an old soldier.”
    “We saw your sister and her husband quite recently.” Vividus went on smoothly. “We’re only about five miles from their farm. What a nice couple, and they’ve a good place there. Albia told me she used to work for you here, before she was married.”
    “She was my housekeeper for many years. But she’s very happy with Candidus. Farming life suits her.”
    “You’re unusual, aren’t you?” Magnus remarked. “I mean it’s uncommon to find a woman innkeeper. Normally a man’s in charge at an official mansio. But I expect the rules are slacker out here near the frontier.”
    I ignored the implication that a woman couldn’t make as good an innkeeper as a man. It isn’t true, and I’ve heard it too many times to let it upset me. “My brother Lucius and I are joint proprietors, but he’s on the provincial Governor’s staff, so the day-to-day running of the place is my responsibility.”
    “We look forward to meeting him when he’s next in the area.” Vividus smiled at me. “Does he look like you?”
    I was taken aback by such directness, even though I could guess what lay behind his question. “Yes, there’s a strong resemblance. Hardly surprising really. We’re twins.”
    He nodded. “It’s just that…I hope you won’t mind if I say this, but you don’t look in the least like Albia. I’d never have guessed you were sisters.”
    I stifled a sigh. It’s what everyone says. Albia is small and dark and brown-eyed, while Lucius and I are tall and fair and have green eyes like our mother. Still, as our grandmother used to say, the fact that something is blindingly obvious never stops people assuming they’re the first to notice it.
    “Albia and I are half-sisters. Same father, different mothers, and we’ve each of us got our mother’s looks.” The food came, and I passed round the plate, but Vividus shook his head and helped himself to more wine instead.
    I thought, if he can be direct, so can I. “Father was a centurion. You’re both ex-army too, if I’m not mistaken.”
    Magnus said, “Quite correct. I’ve been retired some time, and Vividus finished his service last winter. We both made centurion too.”
    Vividus raised his beaker. “And I think I’m going to like it here in the north. Let’s drink to a long and fruitful friendship between the Ostorius family and the Aurelius family.”
    We drank the toast, and I returned the compliment by wishing them prosperity on their new estate.
    “Thank you,” Magnus said. “We’re going to make it the best-run estate in Britannia, aren’t we, nephew?”
    Vividus nodded. “A modest little goal, Aurelia, as you see.”
    “Only in Britannia? Why not in the whole Empire?”
    “You can mock,” Magnus said, “but we’ll do it. We need more land though, to build up a really large property, like the farms in Italia. That’s the way agriculture’s going these days, you know. Consolidate the land into large holdings. So much more efficient. I’m trying to persuade some of the small farmers in our area to sell to me, but I’m sorry to say it isn’t proving as easy as I expected.” He sighed and hesitated, as if making up his mind about something. “Aurelia, you’ve been here some time, so you’ll give me a straight