XII
Odyssea
‘An Odyssey’
It felt good to be at sea once again, to feel the wind and to taste the salt spray as the Europa cut across sun-sparkling Ionian waters toward the coast of Graecia.
For Lucius, there was a lingering sense of loss as he left Italy behind. That feeling had accompanied him as they travelled south along the via Appia from Rome, transited the Alban hills, and then crossed the Pontine marshes on the way to Capua. The weather had been fair for the entire journey across the broad-skied landscape of southern Italy, from Beneventum to Tarentum, amidst sweeping hills covered in olive groves. A part of him doubted if he would ever return to Italy, though he kept this sentiment to himself.
The only time he had paused was when they passed the tomb of Caecilia Metella along
