Ateret stopped by her home along the route to the Coliseum, walking in to find Hadassah and talk to her before going. She ran into her stepmother Aedre instead. The woman had her dark hair piled atop her head and a fine gown with gold jewelry dripping from her. Ateret tried not to crinkle her nose at the sight, finding such extravagance embarrassing. 

Aedre took in her stepdaughter’s appearance. Her hair was down and not fixed in any sort of way. Unbraided, not jeweled, nothing special at all. She was dressed in a white gown with gold accents, but she seemed to enjoy covering it with a rather plain laced shawl. [b]”Do you enjoy looking so average?”[/b] Aedre sneered at the girl, shaking her head as she already knew Ateret would likely say yes. [b]”Never mind. Have you seen your father?”[/b] she asked, her tone cold, eyes unfeeling towards the girl like always.

Ateret scoffed under her breath, resisting the urge to say yes, that she rather enjoyed undyed clothing and the lack of heavy jewels, but she dared not speak it aloud. [b]”Yes. He’s going to the games,”[/b] she said simply. She had no idea if Aedre was aware of her fate to be married to a gladiator, but Ateret was not about to give her stepmother the satisfaction of hearing it from her lips, just to laugh in her face at how Nona was married to a noble while Ateret was to wed a former slave. If he even lived.

[b]”Hmm… fine,”[/b] Aedre said, calling for one of the servants to escort her to the Coliseum to find her husband. She left without another word to Ateret, and that only signaled to her that her stepmother was yet unaware of her marriage. That was nice for the moment at least. Ateret shook her head though and went to find Hadassah, who was washing clothes in the washing room. When the woman turned and saw her master’s daughter, her face saddened.

[b]”What has happened dear?”[/b] she asked, able to tell from the look on Ateret’s face, and the fact she was a little more disheveled than she had been this morning, that something was wrong. Ateret fell into her arms and told her how she was going to have to leave because her father finally married her off. And she wanted Hadassah to come with her. [b]”Oh that’s up to your father dear,”[/b] she said, petting the girl’s long blonde hair while holding her with wet hands. Of course she was right. Ateret would just have to convince him to let her mother figure come with her. After all, Hadassah had always cared for her more than the others anyway. Ateret nodded and knew she had to be going, kissing the servant woman on the head and then leaving, sniffling slightly though no tears had left her eyes.

She eventually did make it to watch the games, finding a seat amongst the commoners. She didn’t exactly fit in with the other upper class viewers, preferring to yell and cheer as loud as she pleased instead of clapping and excitedly gossiping about her neighbors.