Reading his response about the gods of the Gauls and Norselands, Gaia thought that over. So perhaps, in a way, the fighting was not so much between human hands, but dependent upon which faction of gods wished their people to be the victors. Gaia well understood it was always a necessity to have the gods' favor, otherwise bad fortune would come to them. So perhaps that was a factor in this.
Intriguing. Not what I expected to hear about gods, but the gods of the Norse people seem to prefer being active in their peoples' every day lives as opposed to being involved from afar or in secret. Though perhaps some gods are stronger than others when it comes to protecting their people.
She was not a priestess, but Gaia did think there was something to the strength of a god and the strength of the people. It was rather a strange thing for her to talk about and theorize on, but there it was. After this, there would be no way she could conceal her intelligence from Hercules. But for some reason, she wished to appear as an intelligent woman. Yes she was vain and self-centered, but she had an artful, intelligent mind behind it which just made her all the more cunning when the situation called for it.
Deepest sympathies for the loss of your friend. I do hope that you were able to find the solace you were looking for. She looked at Hercules, giving him a gentle smile. After hearing about his family, and now his friend, it did seem that sorrow and tragedy stained a good portion of his life. Then he was asking about her life. I rather think if I tried to kill you or enslave you, you would merely laugh at me. She couldn't help but laugh at that. While Gaia was just slightly above the modern measurement for average height for women, she was skinny and didn't have much to her. So the mere thought of her trying to assert dominance over a man of Hercules' height and size was laughable.
But then the question of her growing up in the Roman Empire. While there were a lot of good things, there were also things she cared not to remember. For the larger part, it was a good place to grow up in. Though it is a man's world. It was sometimes difficult being a woman in such a society. My father made his money in the bronze trade. He was a skilled and ruthless businessman. There was a slight hesitation, one that hinted that the ruthless nature did not stop when he was home, but Gaia didn't elaborate on that. My closest friend was Lucretia. We grew up together. She married a dominus, Quintus Batiatus, who came from a line of men who trained gladiators. As I mentioned earlier, I married a Senator, and we were separated for some years as I went to live in Rome with my husband. Until he recently died, then I returned to Capua and reconnected with Lucretia.