Another week had passed since the Roman soldiers had infested her lighthouse, and Sophia thought she might be losing her mind, trapped as she was in her chambers and her garden. Though they had long been her only places of refuge and solace, she found that being confined there against her will plagued her in a way that hiding there by her own choice never did. She was loathe to descend to the Base, with all those men milling about with nothing to do but make coarse jokes and wrestle with each other.But when she woke one morning to an unusually gray sky and a freshening breeze, she decided she must get away. Or lose her sanity.It was a market day, and with the sky threatening a rare storm, the crowds would be out early, anxious to complete their business. Though Alexandria received more rainfall than the rest of Egypt that lay south along the Nile, still the Egyptians felt it an ill omen. The Nile supplied all the water that they needed. Why would they want it to fall from the sky? No good—only floods, muddy streets, and disrupted shipping—could come of it.Sophia dressed hurriedly in her customary tan tunic, belted it, and descended to the Base.
