((Excuse any Ancient Egyptian social norm flub ups I make...))
AE!Mai/Atem
Other: Many thanks to My Misguided Fairytale for spotting a few errors! I've fixed them now.
Atem is bored out of his mind as he receives the various dignitaries, coming to visit the newly throned Pharaoh of Egypt.
...
A woman?
Whilst Atem had to utmost of respect for women, he had heard that most foreigners, barbarians that they were, owned their women like slaves. So this one must have been the daughter of a dignitary or...
...She's pretty. He thinks. No, beautiful.
He flushes bright red as she notices his gaze and smiles at him, wicked grin and bright, kohl lined eyes, and stunning yellow hair.
Hours later, after all the formalities are over and done with he finally gets a break. He intends to seek out Mana, but a familiar head of blond hair approaches him.
"There you are honey."
He raises an eyebrow at the foreign word she ends her sentence with. What he is impressed by however, is her almost accent less speech.
"Forgive me." He smiles in reply. "I never caught the name of a lady as beautiful as you."
She laughs in response, but there is a shadow across her eyes. "Mai."
"I'm the daughter of the ambassador." A brief scowl passes over her face. She laughs suddenly, and grabs him by the wrist. He leans into it instinctively, having been grabbed like this by Mana so many times, it's normal.
"Let's go somewhere."
Her laugh is captivating.
...
Several hours later, they're still discussing the advantages of a spear as opposed to a bow. It's a shame, he thinks, that Mai is a foreigner, because he prefers her far more to the... Wives... He's been introduced to. He doubts many of them care much for talk of hunting and strategy, much less the precise calculations needed for the trajectories of a spear as opposed to the bow.
Mai is animatedly talking about the puncture power of the spear, which, she insists, is far more powerful than the bow when a servant finally finds them, interrupting with a polite cough.
They both understand.
"Perhaps we will meet again," he offers at the dejected look on her face.
A barrage of emotions pass over her face.
"We will," she replies, and walks away, head held up high.