<strong>~Galo in the study~</strong><div class="floatright"> (http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/shadowjewel/Character%20pics/GaloICPic.jpg)</div><br/><br/><br/>The scream made Galo frown - it sounded like alarm, not pain and that was concerning. He was about to investigate but when the Dominus arrive that was no longer necessary. Truth be told, he was much happier with this arraignment as there was far less change of him coming under fire.<br/><br/>When the Roman woman’s slave approached him with her Mistress’s garments, he indicated to the other house slave, a pretty young woman helping him to serve drinks who stepped over quickly. Speaking quietly to her so as not to disturb the other guests he said, “Have these cleaned immediately so they do not stain and have someone fetch suitable replacements while these are made ready.”<br/><br/>Without a word the young woman curtsied and left, quickly and silently.<br/><br/>Turning back to the visiting slave, he whispered back, “The people and services here are quite adequate, I assure you. You need not supervise us.” Though not unkind, his tone was somewhat blunt. These people were guests; for a guest to assume such poor quality in a host was rude and disrespectful and if the Dominus were to learn of it, it may sour what appeared to be an already bad mood. The better the mood of the Dominus and Domina, the easier it was for all in the villa and if that meant a couple of blunt words with another slave then so be it.<br/><br/>Galo listened in as Nadia spoke with Autolycus. ‘Bastian’ and ‘Matriana’ were new names for him, so he assumed that they had arrived before his return. He wondered briefly if they were important.<br/><br/>He showed no outward response to Nadia’s smile and implication, save for a momentary hardening of his eyes as his glance flickered to her. The day must be wearing on her, he thought to himself, because that was not as subtle as he would have liked. Even though she only spoke quietly to Autolycus and it was highly unlikely anyone would have been looking at her to see that, she should know better and he would be having words with her later.<br/><br/>When she spoke of young woman Autolycus had lead in, now cleaned and groomed with shorter hair, he said softly, quietly and with some humour, observing as much of the room and it’s occupants as he could, “Of course she can, it is just a matter of language.”<br/><br/>The woman in question still looked unsteady, her eyes not quite right. She fidgeted subtly where she stood against the wall and Galo suspected she was testing her restraints. While her wary aggression towards others was understandable, her tolerance toward Autolycus only proved to him how little she understood and remembered from when Galo first walked in on the two. He would like to test his own skills on her, see if he could get through to her but that would have to wait. For now he simply made a point of not staring at her and let Autolycus deal with the rest.<br/><br/>He stepped up to offer the pitcher of wine to refill the cups of the two Roman guest and Autolycus, as the only free Romans Citizens still in the room. As always he used the task as an excuse to observe, to see how they and others responded. He took in the sights of the gladiators and other slaves as he worked too; from the golden Rioghan, another new gladiator he did not know, the very dishevelled, dusty Gladiatrix, to the newly cleaned Cariad and Amplus. He did not serve any of them wine or water, not even the guest’s slaves. Unless offered, it was no more their place to drink in the presence of free citizens then it was his.