Neil Gaiman should be involved in every project ever. Just my opinion. XP He did such interesting things with the characters.
Or at least attempted to take over. The Romans didn't actually win over the Picts. They ended up retreating but the Picts had been relatively devastated with the constant raids and combat. Something similar could happen here.
Oh, I think she definitely would know at least a handful of the rumors. Maybe the more exaggerated ones. She might have even gotten blamed for it once or twice.