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The massive billowing strips of canvas high above the coliseum stands worked as awnings for the velarium, shading the crowd below, shifting in each changing wind. The breeze normally funneled upwards, through the coliseum corridors and up through the center of the arena towards the open sky. Now, the awnings fluttered as a gentle, but steady, downdraft pulled into the stadium from above. Men were positioned along the top outer rim of the coliseum walls to man the complex ropes and pulleys that adjusted the awnings to suit the needs of the crowd below. They tightened and wrenched the controlling ropes as they looked upwards to the sky to try to see what weather had changed the breeze. Above them, the sky was a clear eternal blue, no clouds or weather to address, but the wind–the wind se
