Friends Bound by Fortune

"I don't know, Jean, I just don't know."

"We'll get there, Roman. We've been through worse. If we can survive the Roman Empire after it fell and the Dark Ages, we can survive a few border guards."

"Yeah, but this is different," replied Roman. "Those were people that wanted us dead! And we were in Rome! This is a bunch of French bureaucrats."

"Roman, you're being too hard on yourself. You want to be a chef and open your own restaurant, right? Well, how are you going to do that if you just keep doing odd jobs for me?"

"But it's not fair!" whined Roman. "Jean has his whole damn island and his huge ship with all his gadgets, and Petra gets to wander around like some kind of Greek goddess with no responsibilities whatsoever..."

Aurelius cut him off. "...And enjoy the company of many men who are so attracted to her that they can barely think straight," he continued. "You're lucky you didn't travel with her!" They all chuckled while Roman blushed at the thought of Petra sleeping with dozens of men over night. "This journey is important. We have to stick together - after everything we've been through, we owe it to one another."

The four of them had met in a small village in Gaul near the end of the Western Roman Empire - they had witnessed the last days of its collapse firsthand. There was famine and chaos. No one knew what tomorrow would bring; every day was a struggle to survive another day. It was during this time that Jean came alive out of nowhere - he had just appeared from the forests years ago, alone and malnourished but with an insatiable curiosity about machines and physics. He had found Aurelius hours before his fellow soldiers were about to execute him for desertion - he had fallen asleep during an important battle against Germanic tribes who had taken control over large portions of Gaul. Petra and Roman had been living in the same village since childhood; they were orphaned when their parents died from plague-induced typhus and weren't able to leave because they didn't have any money or food - they survived by doing odd jobs in town until they met Jean one day who offered them a job as assistants on his ship - he was going west to meet up with Petra's brother in Rome where she'd moved to years ago but hadn't heard back from him since then. So the four of them set off together across Gaul towards Rome where Aurelius spent months searching for Petra while Jean found himself surrounded by Romans who admired his scientific knowledge and invited him into their homes where he was given meals and shelter while he helped them build machines which they didn't understand but loved nonetheless. Meanwhile Roman started working in restaurants around town learning how to cook food for wealthy Italian nobles who loved it so much that they gave him money for his troubles instead of paying him for his services - eventually, he saved up enough money to buy some ingredients for cooking and made a dish for Petra when she finally arrived in Rome only days later - she was so overwhelmed by how delicious it tasted that she kissed him on the cheek before running home screaming with joy because she hadn't seen anyone from her family since she left Greece years ago. They lived together ever since and worked side by side making dishes sold out each evening at an old tavern kitchen which they used as both their home and workplace. Their lives were simple but good; they laughed together often while also keeping each other sane when things got tough - even though they had lost friends along the way over time due to illnesses or accidents, they made sure never to forget each other's importance in their lives as well as their friendship which kept them strong through all hardships life threw at them...