All washed up

Jenny groaned quietly, feeling the damp sand soaking into her clothing. She forced herself to crawl out of surf, her hands grasping the hilt of her gladius. She coughed heavily, collapsing back onto the wet sand. The legacy closed her eyes, feeling too exhausted to move. the cool sand soothing against her face. The whole text book exercise had gone wrong. Simple clear out a small nest of monsters near the shore. Somehow the whole operation fell apart... There were a lot more monsters present than expected, this led to a clash on a boat. During the fighting and the chaos, the boat must have taken damage, as it began to sink. Jenny remembered fighting then struggling against the water in the remains of her armour.
Fortune must have favoured her, perhaps Neptune chose to be particularly merciful? As she found herself washed up on a beach, utterly exhausted.
Her cold sodden clothing sucked the heat right out of her body, Jenny knew that she should move but exhaustion dragged her limbs down heavier than lead weights. She'll just rest her eyes for a moment, then when she awoke all would be well again. Jenny could move on once she had rested. Her conduct in the battle had been great, she never retreated which several of the Romans always expected her to do. Jenny's father after all was a known deserter and to many this provided more than enough evidence that she would flee at the first sign of trouble.
The waves tugged hungrily at her legs, as if the sea found itself unable to bear the thought of the legacy escaping from its water grasp. Dimly she wondered what had become of her allies, did they make it out okay? Or were they like her lying exhausted, immobile and half drowned on a freezing beach in the middle of who knows where?

She hoped they made it out. The monster nest had been broken up, if not destroyed. Their enemies for a time would be disrupted, but they would be back, they always came back. The only good thing about monsters was they would never run out, otherwise the demigods and legacies would be out of the job.

Jenny groaned, everything ached. She shuffled, her body being lovingly caressed by the comfortable softness of the bed. Wait bed? She opened her eyes, letting out a cry as blinding light stabbed into her retinas. After a few moments she forced her eyes to open slowly, her eyes eventually growing adjusted to the light.
She found herself in a nice bedroom, she scanned her surrounds, taking in her environment. Her bright blue eyes rested upon a kind looking woman, holding a damp wash cloth. Jenny attempted to sit up but blinding pain burned through her body as her healing wounds screamed in protest. Deciding against movement she lay in the bed. "Where am I?" Jenny asked her force sounding quite rough, her throat feeling terrible dry.

Jenny possessed no knowledge of her current location, her thoughts now turning to her brothers and sisters in the Legion. Where were they? Were they alive? Did they win? Did her Legionnaires think her a deserter? Did they see her just like her father?
She would never abandon her comrades... She began to panic as her mind conjured up a horrible situation where the New Romans exiled her because they believed she had deserted the field of battle like a Poltroon. Jenny hoped that the Romans would believe her, that she hadn't deserted them.

"Santa what?" Jenny mumbled. "The battle..." She moved suddenly letting out a yell of pain as her injuries declared their protest to such an action. Jenny collapsed back into the bed. "My fellow Legionnaires... Where are they? Are they alright?" She asked her questions flowing out quickly. After she was fed a square of ambrosia, Jenny began to feel a tiny bit better. She managed to sit up.
"Are you with the Legion?" She asked wondering if perhaps the other woman was. Her mind buzzed with questions, there were too many to pick from. So many unknowns, only one thing was certain however. She needed to return to New Rome as soon as she could. If she failed... Well the consequences of such inaction could be disastrous for her.

She was alone. Jenny tried to hide how much it hurt to realise that only she had been recovered from the shoreline... They could very well be dead, leaving her alone as the sole survivor to tell their sorry sad tale.
Jenny did not feel hungry, the thought of lying with such comforts around her making her stomach churn. Yet, the Legionnaire knew that she should eat, get her strength back. A Legionnaire would not dwell on the lost battles but prepare to win the next one.
Jenny slowly began to eat, never one for blueberries but surprisingly on a empty ravenous stomach they tasted pretty great.
"Oh." The Roman replied. "That is okay, thanks for saving my life." She forced a smile, though she really did not feel like smiling since her fellow Legionnaires might be dead.

"Thank you I don't think my mother would have been too happy with me if I let myself die somewhere." Her joke sounded forced and weary, but her smile remained just.
"Okay... Just one more day." Jenny knew in her heart that she would have preferred to move out right away but somehow she knew the Greek happened to be right. Her wounds hurt like salt mixed with fire. Far better and wiser was it to heal up before heading back to her home.

Jenny decided to tell the Greek, she had after all saved her life. "As you may have guessed there was a battle... To be exact a monster clearance mission on a dock only there were a lot more monsters than we expected." She fell silent for a few moments, remembering the images of the fierce fighting. "The battle proceeded to a boat which in the chaos got started and then later started to sink... Then... Then... I remember crawling out of the surf and waking up here with you in Santa Maria."

"Santa Barbara," Cleopatra calmly corrected. "Aw honey...I'm so sorry..." She gathered the girl into a hug, her thick, glossy curls brushing against her skin.

Jenny hugged the other girl back trying to choke back the tears. A Roman would not cry, a Legionnaire would think of what to do... They would find a way back to Rome.
She squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to prevent her tears from flowing. Yet, her body rebelled against her command, she soon found herself sobbing quietly into the shoulder of the other girl.

Cleopatra slowly stroked the girl's black hair, smoothening it softly before putting a light kiss on top of her head. Soon she reached for the box of Kleenex and gently wiped the girl's eyes, in a sisterly way, affectionately.

Jenny whispered. "Thank you." She struggled to get herself back together. She needed to remain strong, heal herself and return to New Rome. It was the returning to New Rome which what upset her... The legion might view her as a deserter.
In which case... The Romans would not be too kind to her if and when she returned.
"Sorry... I don't know what came over me." She sobbed, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Shhh." Cleopatra wiped the tear away gently and took the girl's chin in her hand. "Don't apologize for being upset, okay? Keep that for your Roman camp. Here, if you want to cry, let it all out, you can. No one's gonna look at you funny."

The other girl was acting very sisterly if not motherly around her. Jenny did not have the heart to disagree with her assessment of the Roman Camp. Sometimes the Romans made it feel that such outbursts of emotion were unwelcome, or those children with parentage of proven deserters or cowards were even less welcome. This fight had been more than just a clash of arms, but Jenny's chance to redeem her father's honour, perhaps even finally earning the respect of the Romans. Now that chance had turned to ash, it would not matter how well she fought. The fact that Jenny would turn up to camp alone as the only witness.. Many would see that as she deserted like her father before her, yet she knew in heart that she could never abandon her friends or fellow Legionnaires to their deaths.
She was not like her father.

Cleopatra remained silent for a moment, just looking at the girl with a soft smile. Her large green eyes glittered with make-up. "I'm Cleopatra. What's your name?"

"Like the Egyptian Queen." Jenny pointed out quietly before introducing herself in turn. "I'm Jenny some prefer to call me Jen I don't mind which."

"Yes, like the Egyptian queen," Cleopatra smiled gently. "Jenny? That's a sweet name. Is there anything I can get you Jenny? Anything you want to eat, anything you want to have?"

"Thanks" Jenny replied her cheeks reddening, clearly unused to compliments. "Er... I'm not sure I would like to go back to New Rome but that is not possible at the present so I'm not sure."

"Your wounds are still healing and you need to rest. I don't want to alarm you, but they're nasty." She smiled again, batting her glimmering eyelids. "Don't worry, I will get you home soon enough. Until then," she picked up the tray, "you need a break."

"Yeah not a fan of washing up on beaches in the remains of my armour." She joked weakly at Cleopatra, shuffling slowly in bed, wincing in pain from the movement.

"Shhh, don't move," she softly said. "I'm going to get you something to eat."

She stalked out of her room in her designer heels and went down into the kitchen, asking their cook for a solid breakfast. About ten minutes later she was back in Jenny's room, her tray covered with pancakes, eggs, bacon and waffles. Two bowls balanced at the edge, one with fruits, one with different jams. A glass of freshly pressed orange juice gleamed in the sunlight. "Here you go. Everything's for you "

"You don't have to." She called from the bed as the other girl left the room to bring back food. Jenny had almost fallen back asleep when Cleopatra returned with a tray full of food.
"Thanks you do know I won't be able to eat all this right?"

"It's okay, just eat whatever you want," Cleopatra replied. She took her phone out and replied to a text before looking back at the girl. "Who's your god parent?" she wondered.

She decided to start eating the bacon since her body would need the protein to aid with healing. She swallowed, her mouth feeling suddenly dry. "I'm a legacy." Jenny explained. "My parents were demigods and I'm their child." She forced a smile afterwards, she thought of it like she was a quarter god.