He waved her thanks away with his hand. “I wanted to help you,” he replied, shifting his feet.

“Did you come to the shop to see how I’d spent it?”

“No, I know I said I could have come to see you just for friendship, but as it happens . . .” he began.

“I knew it! You want a pendant for your wife, or a beautiful brooch? I’ll make you something special to match her eyes.” Her cheerfulness contrasted his more serious mood, so different from the stumbling boy she’d known.

“No, it’s for the trial and after. I want to commission bronze shields to honor Marius; his likeness, his battles, even his death when the city fell. I want them to tell the story of his life.”

Alexandria rubbed a hand over her bound hair, leaving a tiny smudge of gold filings on the edge. The flecks caught the light as she moved, and despite himself, Julius would have liked nothing more than to rub his thumb gently against her skin to remove them. He concentrated, irritated with himself.

She frowned in thought, taking a stylus and wax slate from a shelf.

“They should be large, maybe three feet across to be clear at a distance.”

She began to scratch sketches into the pane of wax, squinting one eye almost closed. Julius watched as she brushed back a loose tendril of hair from her forehead. Tubruk had said she was good and the man’s judgment was usually to be trusted.

“The first one should be a likeness. What do you think of this?”

She turned the slate around and Julius relaxed as he saw a face he recognized. The features had something of the strength he remembered, though the simple lines could never be more than an echo of the life that had filled Marius.

“It’s him. I didn’t know you could do that sort of thing.”

“Tabbic loves to teach. I can make your shields for you, but the metal alone will be expensive. I don’t want to bargain with you, Julius, but you are talking about months of work. This is the sort of thing that could make my name in the city.”

“The cost isn’t important. I’ll trust you to set a fair price, but I’ll need them in weeks, not months. The Senate won’t let the trial wait for long, with Antonidus raging about his lost house. I need the best you can make as fast as you can produce them.”

“Tabbic?” Alexandria called.

The grizzled metalsmith strolled out from the back room, still holding tools. She explained quickly and Julius smiled as the man’s face lit with interest. Finally, he nodded.