Something ends, something begins

Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Rick Riordan™.

And so it came to pass that Ra the Solar-Faced god vanquished Apophis the Embodiment of Evil deep into the Duat, and the gods of Egypt withdrew, leaving the mortals live to their hearts' content.

Except for Set. He had withdrawn away from the main celebration, with a bowl of green grapes (organic, of course), to further emphasize his sour grapes attitude (no duh).

But in reality the Defiler of the Dead was thinking – after all, he was Set, not Sobek or Hapi, who really did not think at all about anything.

In this particular instance the Defiler's main line of thought was – where it all went right? (Right for Horus that is.) It appeared to be a very simple plan, after all – to use his new freedom to establish his own kingdom, preferably in the desert, while the rest of the family squabbled between each other and Osiris was safely entombed in his sarcophagus. Simple, right?

Sadly, Apophis decided to hijack it, and to repeat it over and over again until Ra came back, and recognized Horus' right to the throne, and Isis' right beside him. That was annoying. Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but Set hated flattery. Flatterers and copycats too, for that matter.

"It was a simple plan," Set mused, "a simple plan. So why Apophis did not come up with it on his own? It's annoying!"

Simplicity, Set mused, was the key. The gods of Egypt were a rather simple folk, even if one included him – unlike the Greeks they didn't have a long, complicated interaction with mortals: the latter either worshiped them or not, and if the later was the case (as it was, more or less, for the last 2000 years), then the gods of Egypt were self-sustaining – Egypt itself believed in its gods (and may actually be one – father Geb was rather tight-lipped about this.)

Now, Set had no problems with being self-sustained (as far as the gods went) – it did made them independent from the mortals, had enabled them to survive without any worship, and will enable them to survive now that Apophis was gone and they and mortals didn't need each another anymore.

With other gods, Set knew, it was different. Without ties to humans the Greeks, for example, would just fall as a pile of inert (and mostly ordinary) marble and bronze, and their humans… well, you just had to look at the Dark Ages to see what happened to them.

So, Set mused, where did it leave them? More importantly, where did it leave him? As a part of Horus' improved court? An eternity of – what was that word?

"Isolationism?" Set wracked his memory. "No, that's not it. Simplicity? That's not it either! Boredom? No, not quite right as well…"

"Set!"

"...Shu. I was just thinking about you," the God of all Egyptian Evil turned to face the newcomer. "What does the God of Kings want from me?"

"Nothing," the God of all Egyptian Winds replied with a sniff. "I wanted to talk to you about Anubis."

"Of course. Whenever I am not recognized as the father of all the jackals, then it is remembered that Anubis is my son. Why won't you speak to my wife about this?"

"The lady Nephthys is currently in the Nile-"

"You mean the river or the state of mind? Usually it is the later-"

"The river. We are very distressed that she hasn't yet surfaced to pay homage to the Great House nor to learn that your son has taken a host at such a young age, an imperfect host and to be close to a mortal as well-"

This did it. Set wasn't quite sure what he was going to do in his future, but it was most certainly not resting on someone else's laurels (Ra or Horus – Set didn't care at the moment) for several centuries or even millennia in the future and dealing with the likes of Shu or his wife. And speaking of her…

If Shu had half the wits of Bast, or Bes, or even Tawaret, he would have realized that the sudden flicker of idea in Set's eyes was not anything good – not for anyone, including himself. "Hold onto this, would you?" the superior (in status) god told Shu, even as Shu's wife Tefnut (completely different from Nut, the goddess of the sky) made her appearance.

"Shu, what was that all about... Shu, what are you holding?"

"My dear?" Shu looked down and saw that the bowl of grapes became a bottle of wine instead – and he was married to a teetotaler. "Oh dear. Curse you, Set!"

But the latter was already far away.

/

Getting out of the palace was the easy bit – everybody else was busy celebrating Horus' enthroning and Ra's return and restoration. Everyone else, that is, but Bast, who was engrossed with her ball of yarn at the moment. Still, as Set was going by, she stopped and looked enquiringly in his direction.

"And where you're going?"

"Out," Set said curtly: he doubted that he would be missed much or for long at the court, even after Shu would complain to Horus or Isis that he was set up. "There is just too much for me back inside."

"Of course, of course. Well, stay away from the lake – Bes and Tawaret want some private time-"

"Got it," Set said brightly. "Enjoy your ball of yarn!" and he briskly began to walk away from the lake, whirling his staff. That was a mistake – Bast was a contrary and curious goddess and within several moments she was right behind him.

"And where are you going, Lord of Carrion?" she insisted, already looking halfway ready to fight.

Instead of replying Set acted, and that was his second mistake: he pulled a wound-up toy mouse from his pocket (he was dressed in the more modern version of his clothing, complete with pockets) and released it. Bast squealed "Mousie!" and followed suit.

Set continued on his path and several moments later Bast re-appeared - in front of him, this time. "What are you up to?" she continued, spitting out the mouse. "You never tried this hard to get rid of me-"

Now it was Set's turn to stare. "Get rid of you? Ubasti, the last person I tried to get rid of was my brother – the one called Osiris – and I even made a sarcophagus for him and everything. Have I done anything remotely like that to you?"

"You gave me a toy mouse," Bast responded with the full power of female logic. "Nobody has ever given me a toy mouse. And it's you – you never give anything without wanting something in reply-"

"All I want," Set snapped (female logic always gave him a headache), "is for you to go away! I plan to sneak out of here-"

"You want to leave the Duat?" Bast gasped and Set realized that the cat goddess had outmaneuvered him. "Why? It is all over, Apophis is gone! The story's done-"

Set stared and under his gaze Bast quailed.

"That's it," Set muttered crossly. "That's what been wrong. It was always about Apophis and time. The Embodiment of Evil was in a rush, he manipulated me to rush, and everything was rushed." He grew thoughtful. "Something big is going on, something – or some big event – may be going on, and the Embodiment of Evil tried to take it over, just as he took over my plan." His eyes narrowed. "Something big will be going on, and we have graciously removed ourselves from the scene. No. I am Set. Father of Jackals, Defiler of the Dead and so on, but not an ignoramus!"

"What are you talking about? You're insane!" Bast hissed, her hair standing up on the end.

Instead of replying Set just set her aside and walked towards the edge of the Duat. Soon enough he reached and began to sketch a rough outline of a door upon it.

"No! Set!" Bast forgot all the decorum and went for a physical interaction, grabbing Set by a sleeve. "You aren't destroying all of this hard-won peace-"

"Exactly!" With a flick of his fingers Set made Bast fall on her butt. "I'm just leaving the Duat for a while and walking this world properly, to see what is going on. No destruction here indeed!"

"But you can't leave-"

"I am the strongest of all gods under Ra," Set replied calmly. "You want to see what I can and can't do? Follow me." He flicked his staff around, forming it into a key, which he then used to open his sketch of a door in the Duat and leave.

Frowning beyond her regular scope of emotion, Bast followed.

TBC