Apparently “working girl” was a similar euphemism in first-century Judea as in modern English — and that’s how María is described. I went with an interpretation of “she has an average day job, it only gets taken as Scandalous because sexism.”
I also remember doing a ton of visual research for the architecture and props in these city/town backgrounds. You can barely even see them in this page, but still.
María (thinking): Still, I wish I could go with you. Strange fanciful ideas and all. You’ll probably meet people and see places like nothing I could imagine. Places that are beautiful . . . new . . . exotic . . .
. . . difficult to draw . . .
Three Years Later…
Man 1: María the scribe? Sure, everyone knows of her. Strange job, for a woman.
Man 2: Better than the job I hear she had in her hometown. If you know what I mean.
Man 1: Really? I was sure she left because of a scandal with a married man . . .
. . . Anyway, she works at the place two blocks that way, just past the temple.
The Donkey: Thanks, mister! You’ve been a big help!
And also because of course people in 29 CE would blame any affair or potential affair on the woman involved, even if she was unmarried and called it off as soon as she found out the guy was and even if that all happened before anything serious actually happened in the relationship.
I’m reminded of someone I heard about back when I was growing up. Apparently some married man hit on her. She didn’t encourage him. She later on found out that he was married, and confronted him about his behavior in front of his wife. She was the one everybody talked about being a tramp and a whore, despite the fact she did absolutely nothing wrong.
Also remember the sentence “An unmarried woman, on the road with a group of men who aren’t her family? Think what people would say!” from last page … it’s entirely possible nothing actually happened. It was probably quite easy for unmarried women to get into talks.