It was an early summer morning, shiny and clear, but the air did not really cool down during the night, even though the vast sea was near. The beautiful bay of Campania welcomed the fresh cool air, but it did not seem to last long in the late August heat. Aurelia woke up and lay on her bed for a while. It was her birthday today, the nineteenth one. For an hour or so, the girl was still free to do whatever she wanted.

What she wanted most was freedom, so she headed for a walk through the narrow streets of the west Pompeii. Aurelia’s favorite view was the sparkling blue sea, still calm in the morning sunshine, so she headed down the main street, then southwest, passing Therme del Foro, the Fort Baths, the Fort itself, the Basilica and the Tempio di Venere, finally reaching the Marina gate, a large stone exit to the sea and one of the eight gates of the city, and followed the road down to beach.

The coast was still empty; Pompeii stayed half asleep from yesterday’s night. The continuous late summer fest brought the inhabitants and those on holidays into the lazy sleepy mood. Only the slaves, the field workers and the servants were already up and busy with their everyday routine. The farm-hands were toiling at the vineyards on the hills and at the foot of the Mount Vesuvius, which had an extremely fertile soil – the joy and fame of the local farmers.

It was Aurelia’s most favorite time of the year. Late August brought into life the numerous delicious things she adored – grapes, apples, honey. The fields yielded bread and wine; people worked hard and praised the Gods. It was a great time. People longed for the golden days full of warm sunshine and the kind tenderness of the sea. Everything that was born in August was golden, juicy, tasty and lovely – and so was Aurelia.

She was no particular beauty, but her eyes were the color sparkling emeralds – attractive and mesmerizing. Her hair was beautiful too: long, thick curls were her grandmother’s real pride. Aurelia was born into this world with beautiful long golden locks and that is how she got her name. Seeing the newborn girl, her mother, Flora, decided to change the name she had chosen while being pregnant – Postuma (somehow Flora knew she would give birth to a girl) – to Aurelia, meaning “golden”.

The elderly people, her grandmother’s friends, still nicknamed her Postuma sometimes, but she did not mind. Aurelia had a good temper and was easy-going even with old grumbling people. This name did not hurt her feelings, thought it meant an unlucky lot of being born after her father’s death.

Aurelia admired the sea for almost an hour. It was an endless pleasure and joy – watching the waves that caressed the beach and breathing the fresh air from the sea. For a couple of previous days the waves were huge and horrifying. Earth tremors made their way under the water as well.

It was getting much hotter now and in few hours fresh breeze would be the heavenly caprice. People of Campania got used to it and did not care much, though there were certain inconveniences caused by the hot weather. For instance, the water, usually in plenty, running straight from Aqua Augusta via the Castellum Aquae and being distributed between the houses, public bathes and the public fountains of Pompeii, almost disappeared several days ago, when the earth started to roar and crack, which was a bad sign. The springs and wells dried up in the early August: first the public bathes were left dry, then the water left some of the houses, and the stream of the public fountains was tiny, getting weaker and weaker every day. It was hot in the daytime in August, so people were unhappy because they did not to have an opportunity to enjoy the wonderful bathing process.

It was a special today, of course, but not a very happy one this year. It was the first year Aurelia celebrated it on her own. After her grandmother’s death about two months ago, the girl became a complete orphan. Her father’s mother raised her as her own daughter whom she never had and gave her all the love and care the woman could possibly give to a child.

Aurelia was certainly no longer a child now and could take care of herself, but it was still very lonely and sad not to have any person to confide in.

Aurelia’s father was a warrior serving the Emperor Nero – neither of them was alive by now. She has never seen her father in her whole life simply because he died in a fight before she was born. Her mother did not talk much about him but Aurelia thought Flora loved him very much because her mother was rumored to have lost her mind when he died. She was not really mad, she just behaved strange, screamed, had headaches, visions and could even foresee the future, the locals believe. People were afraid of her but some still came to their house for a piece of advice or a prophecy. Aurelia did not remember Flora very well either: the girl was only two years old, when her mother died of an unknown disease. She stayed in bed for a bit more that a month before Vortumna, the goddess of oracles and destiny, decided she needed immediate Flora’s assistance with the prophecies. At least that’s how granny explained the death of the young woman.

As Flora lay dying, Aurelia came up and asked whether mommy was all right but the latter simply started crying. She was obviously not afraid to die and she prepared for it. Aurelia’s grandmo