The Doctor ran around the Tardis, fiddling with controls and tweaking things. The Tardis began to shake.
"Something is forcing it to move, but the old girl is fighting back! What is going on?"
The Tardis rummbled and started to materialise as he was speaking.
"No, no no!" He shouted, fighting with the controls. "Ah! There is no point!" He shouted, slamming his fists on the console. "I have no idea what is controlling her. Hopefully next time we land I can figure out what is going on."
The Doctor started pacing until the Tardis re-materialised again. "Right! Let's see where or when we are this time!" He sauntered out of the door and promptly ran into someone again.
"Doctor!" I shouted, running towards him.
"I'm alright, I'm alright... I really need to start checking before I just walk outside...." He said, picking himself up.
"Doctor?" A voice asked from the floor.
"Apulia?" The Doctor said, pulling her upright, no longer a small girl but a young woman. "We really need to stop meeting like this!"
Apulia was still as skinny as when they had first met her, just over an hour ago to them but obviously a lot longer for her, as she had now grown to the same height as the Doctor. She still wore a simple dress with a coloured sash around her waist which complimented her slender figure. Her hair was longer now, loose, hanging straight just below her shoulders, it had darkened slightly to a rick honey colour. A smile light up her beautiful face as she acknowledged who it was she had collided with.
"Yes! Oh Doctor it has been a long time! I didn't think I would see you again" she smiled.
"How long has it been exactly?" I asked, embracing her like an old friend.
Apulia thought for a moment, "probably 15 years now..."
"Wow, well we did mean to come back sooner" I said, scowling at the Doctor.
"Hey it's not my fault!" The Doctor said defensively.
"So, anyway, what brings you back to Aqua Sulis?" asked Apulia.
"Well I decided that we needed a proper visit" said the Doctor.
"Your last visit was very short, and you didn't even get to see the Great Bath completed." Said Apulia almost scolding us.
"That is true" I said, "howcome you are here Apulia? I thought you were just visiting last time we saw you?"
"We were, but my mistress enjoyed it so much that she decided to move here and she often comes to the Baths everyday. I'm here so often now it feels like I work here!"
"Well that might come in handy" The Doctor remarked, "I was thinking of sending my companion off to give this Great Bath a try!
"Oh thank you Doctor!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, that would be really cool! I have the day off today so would love to show you around" Apulia smiled.
"Brilliant!" The Doctor smiled back.
"Will you be coming with us Doctor?" I asked.
"Not this time, I have a few things I need to check out. I think I will have a look at this Holy Spring again. I'll catch up with you by the Great Bath though. Here" he routed around in his pocket and pulled out some coins. "Just in case you need to buy anything" He winked.
"Thanks! Have a good time, see you later!"
We wondered through the streets chatting and approached the entrance to the Baths.
"Apulia, what is it like being a slave here? Does your Mistress treat you well? That is if you don't mind me asking!" I added hastily.
Apulia laughed, "No it is fine! Well I don't know any different really, like a lot of slaves I was born into it, so it is the only life I have ever know. My grandparents used to whisper at night what it was like to live free before they were brought into slavery, but my father always shouted at them as he didn't think it was good for me to hear such stories as I would never be able to experience it myself. But I was very young at the time and I don't really remember it."
"Do you still live with your family?" I asked.
"Oh no, I was bought by my Mistress when I was five and came to live with her. Started out as a kitchen slave but my Mistress' first personal slave caught a sickness and died, so I started to work for her personally. It isn't a bad life, and she does treat me well, never beats me, unlike some I know. I was even allowed a small amount of schooling so now teach the other slave children the little that I know. I can count up to a century and also read and write a few things. Some of the ladies disapprove but it helps no end when serving my mistress and all her needs, and I love that I am helping some of the children when they have so little to look forward to in life, being born into slavery. But mostly I help her in the Baths, which is quite enjoyable."
I smiled. "I am glad you are happy with your situation Apulia"
She shrugged. "What else can I be? I can't change it, so I might as well big up the lot I have!"
"So being a slave will you be allowed in to bathe with me?"
She grinned. "Its fine, don't worry about it. Yeah, if you can pay to come in then you are welcome. Also if anyone gets difficult about it, we can always say that I am yours for the day" She nudged me laughing.
"Oh I couldn't do that! But, you'll be happy to know that the Doctor has appeared to have given us enough money for the both of us!"
"Brilliant! Come on, this way!"
Apulia led the way through a side door, "this is the apoditarium, this is where you undress to get ready for the spa treatment!"
"Ah ok so it is basically a Roman changing room, I get ya! So, where do I put my stuff? Guessing you don't have any lockers?"
"Well, it depends, if you can afford it you would give it to a slave to look after while you are in there, but seeing how I am going in with you I don't think that will quite work!" Apulia laughed. "So, instead you can either leave them in a basket or just put them in a corner somewhere."
"Will it be safe? There are quite a few people around here."
"Yeah should be fine!"
"Right, ok then. Also, I've noticed you guys like to do things in the starkers! But unfortunately I don't think I will be doing that, good thing I packed my swimming stuff!"
"Haha, well we swim without clothes too, but whatever makes you most comfortable! Are you ready yet?"
"Yep, lead on!"
Apulia led the way through the door and up the steps into the adjoining room.
"Now this is the tepidarium, this is where you would get all the treatments like massages and facials and things, but I want to show you the typical way we get clean here at the Baths. Rosa? Rosa, can you pass me that bottle?" She called to another slave standing by the wall. "This is Rosa, she is one of my good friends here at the Baths."
Another young slave woman came over to us, slightly older than Apulia and almost as skinny. She had her hair tied back in a tight bun to keep any lose strands away from her face, but a few had come loose and stuck to the perspiration on her forehead.
Rosa picked up a bottle and passed it to me. "Here, rub this all over you."
"What is it?"
"Just try it!"
I poured a small amount onto my hand and sniffed it.
"Is this olive oil?!"
"Yep!" Rosa grinned
"Don't you guys know about soap?!"
"Oh yes, but we don't really like it much, this is a much more interesting way to get clean." She beamed.
"You Romans are weird!" I laughed, and began to rub the oil into my skin.
"Would you like to add any flavourings to it? Perhaps some humus?"
"Humus?"
"No thanks Rosa, I think we will keep it simple! We use humus as an exfoliator." Apulia grinned.
"Like I said... weird... Right! I am all oiled up and ready to go" I winked.
They headed up from the tepidarium into the next room.
"This is the caldarium"
"Woah! this room is boiling! and I thought the other room was hot! Phew!"
"yeah it is pretty hot here, make sure you don't take off your sandals as you'll burn your feet!" Said Rosa, "Apparently in another baths there was a murder and to check that the murderers had killed their man successfully they chucked his body on the floor in here, because if he was faking it he wouldn't have been able to stay on the floor because of the heat."
"Rosa! You shouldn't say such terrible things! Anyway, that didn't happen here, it was in another bath house" Apulia said reassuringly.
"Umm ok then! So what am I supposed to do in here then?"
"Well as you can tell it is very hot in here, so what you do is just sit along the walls on these benches and just well..."
"You sweat!" exclaimed Rosa. "You sweat and open your pores and all the dirt and grim from your skin comes out and sticks to the olive oil" She smiled.
"Oh ok, so it is like a sauna, I get you. So how long do I have to stay in here for then?" I said sitting down on one of the benches.
"Just for as long as you fancy. Some people can't take the heat so only stay for a bit, others are in here for ages. Some people have been known to stay in here so long they pass out from the heat but not that often!"
"How is it kept so hot in here?"
"That would be the hypocaust system, there is a furnace in the far alcove and it is stoked all the time, which heats the floor underneath."
"Oh yeah, I remember being taught about that in school... you have piles of tiles under the floor right? Which creates space for the air to pass through. Very clever for a bunch of soap hating weirdos!" I laughed.
"Yep, and the walls are hollow too so the walls are heated!"
"Ooo yeah, that's cool" I said, feeling the wall temperature.
"How are you doing? You are beginning to look at bit red?" Rosa asked.
"Yeah, I think I might be all sweated out now, where to next?"
"Back down into the tepidarium." Apulia said, leading the way.
"Phew," I said, pausing to lean against one of the walls "its a lot cooler back here!"
"Rosa, could you go get the stridgel for me please?"
"What's a stridgel? And how come I don't really like the sound of that?!" I laughed
"Haha, well it is this curved blade, and well you'll see for yourself. Here lie down on this table and I shall finish off this procedure!" she said leading me to a wooden table and gestured at me to sit down.
Rosa came over with a curved handled blade and gave it to Apulia who then approached me with it.
"Woah, want to let me know what you are going to do with that first?"
"Oh, don't worry! The blade is blunt so it won't be able to hurt you. Basically I just use this to scrape off all the oil and dirt from your skin." She picked up my arm and started to scrape it down. When the blade was covered in a reasonable amount of dirty olive oil she promptly flicked it in to a bucket underneath the table.
"Eww that is gross!"
"Really? You don't like it?" Rosa asked. "You can actually buy some of this oil for your face if you do"
"As in the olive oil to start or the after product...?" I asked cautiously.
"If you are famous, like a gladiator or something, we keep your oil residue and bottle it to sell to rich women for make up."
"Eeeww, seriously?!"
"Oh yes! My mistress uses some nearly every day!" Rosa said.
"Hold still, I am nearly finished, last little bit to get off."
"You are very good at doing that Apulia."
"Well, I get a lot of practice here! Right, you are done!"
"Oooh, I have to admit my skin does actually feel really nice!" I exclaimed, stroking my arm admiringly.
"I'm glad!" Apulia said.
"What are you guys doing now? Fancy a visit to the hair plucker next?"
"Umm, I doubt I'd need two guesses figuring out what that entails, so I think I might give that one a miss this time..."
"Haha, maybe next time Rosa! I think we will head to the swimming pool outside next, this way you can get the last little bits of oil off before you head to the great bath."
"Excellent! Might give me a chance to cool down too!" I said, jumping off of the table.
"Yes! follow me!"
We headed out of the tepidarium and into another room which was taken up with a small swimming pool. Other people were doing lengths or paddling. Shouting to each other and diving in, giving themselves a final quick wash.
"Come on Apulia, last one in is a smelly Roman!" I shouted.
We both jumped in giggling, disturbing the other bathers and started splashing each other. After around five minutes of swimming later Apulia called me over.
"Fancy visiting the Great Bath now?"
"yeah sure!" I said, pulling myself up and out of the pool. "Which way is it?"
"This way" she answered, passing me a towel from a near by table.
We walked through another adjoining door and entered the Great Bath. The room was magnificent. The newly completed stone roof reached up possibly over two storeys high, and the columns used to support the weight flanked the bath which took up most of the room. Flares were attached by brackets onto the pillars but light also came in through giant windows high up in the walls. Steam swirled out of the hot waters and danced around the ceiling. Shouts and talking mingled with the sound of swimming and the occasional splashing. People were sat on the steps leading into the bath, their legs trailing in the slowly moving water, talking to their companions, as well as people who were slowly swimming in the middle. There were slaves milling around the edges of the bath, serving drinks and oysters, or handing towels to bathers as they left the bath.
"Told you you would like it" Apulia smiled.
Shouting errupted from one of the alcoves, were people appeared to be playing some sort of dice game.
"Hey thats not fair!"
"I won fair and squarely!"
"But it's impossible to win against me!"
"No it isn't, because I know your secret." The Doctor winked at the irate bather. His hair was wet and slicked back and he had a towel wrapped around his waist.
"What secret? I don't have a secret!" The bather sounded flustered now.
"You are cheating."
"How dare you!" The man shouted.
"Look," the Doctor picked up the man's dice along with another one and threw them both into the air. They landed on the table, but the man's dice landed with a heavy thud. "Your dice is loaded." The crowd which had gathered around the scene gasped.
"Hey, he's right!" A new comer exclaimed. "You owe me money!"
"Yeah! Me too!" Someone else said pushing forward.
The Doctor pushed past the now increasingly angry crowd towards me, picking up an oyster from another table and swallowing it down in a gulp. He then threw the empty shell onto a pile against one of the far walls.
"Whoops! I may have upset a few people there!"
"Not like you to cause a scene is it Doctor?"
"Oh shush, life is boring without drama! How was your day at the spa?"
"Interesting to say the least! Might just stick to my tub and radox back at home!"
"Have you tried the water here? It is lovely!" the Doctor said, taking off his towel to reveal hideously bright swimming shorts and stepping down the steps into the water.
"Wow! Wherever did you get those shorts from?!"
"What? What's wrong with them?" He said looking hurt.
"Nothing! Nothing..." I said, slipping into the water next to him. "Wow this water is so nice! So what have you been up to today?"
"Not much, just been investigating the Sacred Spring."
"Did you find anything to explain why the Tardis is acting so strangely?"
"Not really, though there are large spikes of energy, coming from the spring, but not directly, it is like it is here, but then not here at the same time. I am sure I'll figure it out at some point."
"You better, I like Apulia, and Rosa, but I don't think I can cope with all that spa treatment again! And all this nakedness is making me feel slightly uncomfortable..."
The Doctor laughed, then stopped, pulling out the Tardis materialisation warning device.
"Where on earth did you have that hidden? Actually never mind I don't want to know!"
"Come on, get your clothes, we got to go again!" He said getting out of the Bath.
"Go? But you've only just got here" Apulia said, looking sad.
"We'll be back again soon, don't you worry Apulia" I said. "I've had such a great time! Thanks for showing me around!"
I went back into the apoditarium and looked for my clothes.
"Come on! Are you ready yet?" The Doctor said, coming into the room doing up his shirt, water dripping from underneath his trouser legs.
"Hmmm... I'm sure I left my clothes here..." I said, looking underneath benches and behind baskets. "Ahhh!! Bloody Romans! Some one has nicked my clothes!!"
*oooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooodoooooooooooodadooooooooooooooooooweeeeeeeooooooooo*
Read the next instalment at Doctor Who visits the Museum
No comments:
Post a Comment