Drowning sorrows

[Echo]

Aglaea thought she understood. Livia was remembering her first husband. Aglaea remembered how happy the woman had been then. She wished she could return to those happy days, that Livia could return to them. But she chose not to comment, letting Livia have her moment alone instead. Sometimes your thoughts should be entertained alone. Aglaea watched as Livia ate a bite of a honey cake and she smiled. "I knew you would like them." She laughed when Livia said that she would be a cow if she ate them everyday. "I'm not sure," she chuckled. "Perhaps he would leave you alone for once."

@Liv

[Liv]

Livia took another bite of her honey cake and motioned for Aglaea to do the same amidst quiet chewing. There was far more food than the two of them required, let alone if she was supposed to eat it all on her own. While she enjoyed food as much as anyone, Livia had never been tempted to give in to gluttony, perhaps because she was both too vain to accept a more rounded figure and not enough of a gourmand to be captured by the different depths of flavour in a regular honey cake.

She swallowed and chased the cake down with a cup of very watered-down wine, snorting lightly through her nose in amusement. "Could be. Or it could be the case that he turned out to be one of those men who fancy a woman twice their seize, and I don't want to run that risk. I would need a whole new wardrobe!" 

Feeling full enough for the time being, Livia scooted over to a corner of the blanket and lay down, arms and legs half spread out onto the grass. There might be green stains in her clothes after this, but that did not concern her. The sun was shining down in practically full force now, and Livia knew that lying under it with a full stomach was an invitation for a nap. Almost as if on cue, she yawned. "I want to sleep," she complained to Aglaea, "but if I do I might miss the travelling merchant."

@Echo

[Echo]

Aglaea laughed when she said he might be the type of person to like a woman bigger than him. "Perhaps you shouldn't risk it, then." She gratefully took a honey cake and ate it, savoring the hint of sweet wine and the crunch of the nuts. The slave watched as her mistress lay down, giving a smile when she mentioned she wanted to sleep. "I can keep watch, if you want me to. We have a couple more hours before we should get going."

@Liv

[Liv]

No, Livia shouldn't risk it. If she was to entertain any hopes of one day being rid of this sham of a marriage and be free to spend her days with somebody else, a good figure would be one of her few boons. Her body hadn't been ruined by childbearing - it would be idiotic to ruin it by gorging on all sorts of fattening delicacies, no matter how tasty. She wasn't a pig ready for slaughter... yet.

Aglaea's suggestion was, as usual, a very sensible one. Feeling her eyelids growing heavier by the second, Livia turned on her side and curled up, pushing her knees towards her chest in a very unladylike manner. "Will you please do that?" She never heard her body slave's reply: Livia closed her eyes and was asleep within seconds like a lazy housecat.

----------

Livia woke up with a start. She had been dreaming: a most strange dream in which her torso had grown to the size of a small elephant but her hands and feet had retained their normal size, much like the Aesop fable her childhood nurse would tell her sometimes. She raised herself up groggily on one elbow and squinted around, blinking to try and chase sleep away. "Aglaea, what time is it? Has the merchant come?"

@Echo

[Echo]

Aglaea watched as her mistress fell asleep, murmuring, "Yes, domina." But it was clear that Livia hadn't even heard the reply. And now Aglaea was alone with her thoughts for a while. The afternoon had given her some interesting things to consider. The tone that Livia had taken when they discussed the possibility of Aglaea finding a mate was interesting and the slave wondered if the woman would even let her have a significant other. But she didn't worry. 

Sometime while Livia was sleeping, the merchant came by and Aglaea left her mistress's side to give him the letter, along with a coin and instructions on where to deliver it. Soon after, Livia awoke and Aglaea smiled at her, feeling a bit motherly. "It is around eleven. We should be getting back now."

@Liv Fin