Feel free to spank me for the delay, I deserve it.
This fic is NOT HISTORICALLY ACCURATE.
Shizuru nodded to herself with as much confidence as she could muster, and stepped into the tent after Natsuki.
It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light of only a few candles after coming in from the torch-lit camp outside. Now that the tent's occupant had returned though, a slave came in holding a thin stick with one hand cupped around the small flame burning at its end. He went around the tent with it, lighting the remaining oil lamps and yellow beeswax candles in their holders until they had diffused a warm glow throughout the spacious interior. A round opening in one of the tent peaks let in a glimpse of the starry night sky.
Natsuki hadn't told her what to do, but Shizuru did not want to remain in the threshold where anyone coming or going from the tent would brush past her, so she made her way over to one side of the tent where she hoped she wouldn't draw much attention. Her head swiveled back and forth as she walked, taking in everything she saw.
There were at least a dozen other slaves already in the tent, men and women who stood waiting quietly in a line along one wall with their eyes meekly downcast. They all looked clean and healthy, though they were barefoot and lacking ornamentation, the men bare-chested in plain shentis and the women in simple sleeveless dresses.
There was little impractical ornamentation in the tent itself too. Between the tall poles that held up the tent's three peaks were a few unobtrusively placed metal stands and racks that would hold Pharaoh's armor and weapons, and more intricately decorated smaller stands of Greek silver to hold several of her crowns.
Arks and chests that probably held Natsuki's clothing, equipment, and whatever else she needed with her on campaign were pushed up against the sloping canvas walls of the tent. They were varied shapes and sizes, the largest almost as big as a sarcophagus. Bronze-strapped sycamore wood made up the heavier arks and furniture, with red acacia for the smaller chests. There were two tables in the tent, one large and made of thick cedar from one of the Phoenician colonies by the eastern Mediterranean, the other small and slender-legged, carved of ivory.
Overlapping rugs made up the floor, most of thickly-woven cloth patterned in blue and black and red, others of plainer stitched hide. There were also hides and furs draped over the furniture. Some looked to be exotic imports brought across the Egyptian empire's extensive trade routes – like the cedar and silver – while others were skins of animals Natsuki herself probably hunted for sport: gazelle, lions, desert foxes, black-striped hyenas. There was even a leopard pelt spread atop her bed in one corner.
The woman in question relaxed visibly now that she was back in her temporary home, away from the eyes of her soldiers and subjects. Rolling her now-loosened shoulders, she reached up to pull off the helmet-like War Crown, and Shizuru's breath caught.
Her hair was blue. A deep, dark blue like the Nile itself. Released from its confines, it flowed down her back, streaming almost to her hips. Natsuki ran a hand through it casually, unaware of Shizuru's stare.
That long hair must get awfully hot, Shizuru thought absently as she admired it. She'd been told that most Egyptian nobles shaved their heads and wore decorative wigs, but she was pleased to see Natsuki chose not to.
A teenage girl popped into the tent just then, her auburn hair tied back and split into two thin braids that bobbed as she walked. She wore a white sheath dress like the other female slaves, but unlike them she also wore sandals and narrow golden bands around her wrists and upper arms. She didn't move to join the other slaves standing quietly in line, but stood a bit apart from them and looked at Natsuki expectantly.
"All of you are dismissed until I have need of you," the dark-haired woman said. "Arika, you stay."
Natsuki had not even looked at her slaves – her other slaves, Shizuru reminded herself ruefully – but they bowed in unison and filed silently out of the tent, leaving only the three women standing atop the layered rugs.
A low-backed chair sat at the center of the tent, positioned so anyone walking in would have their eyes drawn to it. The chair seemed to be doing its best to announce itself too, with its gilded frame and back inlaid with ivory and precious stones that caught the light of the flames. Winged silver cobras graced the sides of the chair, and its armrests ended in carved golden lion heads. Up the claw-footed legs and across the low back marched colorful hieroglyphs proclaiming the many royal names of its owner and offering prayers for her continued reign.
Natsuki went to her throne and folded her lithe body into it, propping her crown on one armrest. She did not quite slouch, but she certainly made it seem as if she were sitting at her ease. Shizuru decided the younger woman must be faking it; that overly-fancy chair looked terribly uncomfortable.
The other slave – Arika, Natsuki had called her – approached Shizuru and looked her up and down with open curiosity.
"Who're you then?" she asked brightly.
Shizuru chuckled at the girl's cheeriness. "My name is Shizuru. Pleasure to meet you, Arika-san." She smiled at the younger brunette and, on a whim, gave her a quick wink. Her smile widened when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Natsuki's brow furrow slightly.
Arika tilted her head and returned Shizuru's smile with a friendly grin that somehow made her look even younger. "I've never heard anyone talk like you, Shizuru-san."
"Ara? I should imagine you Egyptians have been hearing the Fuuka dialect for the past several weeks."
"Oh, yes, I suppose. But I haven't talked to any of the local people or the captured slaves before. I'm just one of Natsuki-sama's attendants."
A scowling Natsuki cut into their conversation with a terse, "That's enough banter." She shot Arika a warning look that passed right over the oblivious girl's head, then faced Shizuru again.
"Do you have something on under there?" she asked, lifting her chin briefly to indicate Shizuru's wide-sleeved purple robe.
Hesitantly, Shizuru nodded.
"Then take the robe off. The jewelry too."
Shizuru arched an eyebrow. That hadn't been the same imperious tone Natsuki had used when ordering her other slaves about. It was said as just a simple direction, although one she expected immediate compliance with.
With a small sigh, Shizuru's hands went to the back of her neck to unclasp her gold necklace set with amethysts as Natsuki had told her. She took off the braided silver coronet too and held the two pieces of jewelry in her hands, uncertain where to put them.
The small ivory table right beside Natsuki's throne caught her eye. Shizuru's lips twitched mischievously. Without warning, she casually tossed her necklace and coronet at the small table.
Natsuki had to snatch them out of the air before they smacked her in the face. Her adorable expression of surprise said she was unsure whether Shizuru had meant for them to hit her or if she merely had terrible aim. Shizuru bit her lip to keep from laughing and hoped Natsuki settled on the latter.
Natsuki glowered at her, but the red-eyed woman only gave her a "you asked for them" look and continued undressing. She draped her embroidered sash and robe over the top of the nearest chest and kicked off her thin-soled shoes, leaving her wearing nothing but her thin linen shift that covered her from shoulders to knees and left her arms bare.
Seeing that her glower was having no effect on Shizuru, Natsuki grumbled something under her breath and reached over to let the jewelry drop onto the little ivory table. As she stretched her arm over, Arika let out a gasp.
"Natsuki-sama! You're injured!"
Shizuru's head whipped around, her eyes following Arika's pointing finger. The girl was right; the edge of a small cut Shizuru had not noticed earlier was barely visible on Natsuki's right bicep, mostly covered by the wide golden armband.
"Oh, that was hours ago," Natsuki said dismissively, "I thought the enemy's arrow was headed for my heart, but the gods must have turned its flight so that it only grazed my arm. I just moved the armband over it and kept fighting."
Arika's braids flailed as she shook her head rapidly back and forth. "You should've worn your amulet today, Natsuki-sama! How are you supposed to be protected all the time if you don't wear a blessed amulet?" The excitable girl seemed to take it as a personal failure of hers that her master took an injury, no matter how small.
"You are overreacting, Arika," Natsuki said placatingly, "It's only a tiny scratch."
Shizuru watched the exchange with interest. Natsuki and Arika were not friendly with each other, not exactly, but they seemed... comfortable with their relative positions. Their interactions had the air of a woman and her long-time retainer and companion, not an owner and slave.
It was certainly a day for surprises. Nothing is turning out as I expected, she thought. How could this calm but arrogant young woman be the same fierce leader who'd commanded the battle Shizuru had just seen the gruesome aftermath of?
She was pleased to see Natsuki opening up a little. If the former queen was to survive as a slave, she needed to learn about her new master. What she expected of her slaves and when, what she allowed, what she would punish... and most importantly how to avoid becoming nothing but an outlet for her master's anger. Shizuru had survived Reito's fits of temper and cruelty the same way: through careful observation and even more careful manipulation. He had not treated her any better than he did his slaves, and she'd been powerless to stop him. Shizuru was determined not to let herself be treated in such a way ever again, not by Natsuki or by anyone, even if it meant choosing death instead.
Some of the fear that had been plaguing her all night was finally ebbing away. Not gone completely, of course – it was still too early to trust her safety to Natsuki's whims – but the hammering panic had been replaced by curiosity along with the determination. Shizuru wanted to get to know this strange woman who had snatched her up from her lavish yet miserable life, claiming her like a falcon seizing a snake in its talons and carrying it off.
As Shizuru mused, Arika chattered on, insisting that she be allowed to fetch a salve for Natsuki's cut. The dark-haired woman finally gave a nod of permission and said, "Bring Shizuru a more suitable outfit while you're at it."
She reached over to the table again, picking up the coronet and necklace and holding them out for Arika to take. "And tell Commander Sergei I said to give these as a reward to the captain who captured her."
Arika took the jewelry without comment and immediately trotted out of the tent to see to the orders she had been given. A good servant did not waste their master's time by lavishing titles on them and bowing after every sentence; Natsuki spoke and Arika obeyed, with no delay in between. Natsuki might not want to listen to all those royal titles and praises in private anyway.
Shizuru almost rolled her eyes at what the younger woman had said. "Captured her" indeed. All that man did was walk her through the palace to meet Pharaoh. Each one of those amethysts alone was likely worth more than his whole house and everything in it!
Natsuki seemed to notice Shizuru's irritation at watching her things be given away so blithely. "My soldiers risk their lives for me," the dark-haired woman explained once Arika had left. "They go into battle with the belief that my will is the right course of action, that even if they fall their souls will still carry my holy blessings into the afterlife. Loyalty like that deserves to be rewarded in this life too, not just in death."
Wisely, Shizuru refrained from telling her exactly what she thought of Pharaoh's avowed "holiness". So, she said nothing in response. Natsuki had not been harsh with Shizuru yet, and maybe she was lax on discipline when it came to all her personal attendants, but there must be a limit. No ruler would allow a slave to undermine them in such a way, and Shizuru did not intend to be flogged for disrespect within hours of meeting her new master. Actually, she was a little surprised she hadn't been already.
Besides, she reasoned, some of that arrogance was not Natsuki's fault. Natsuki had been fed those beliefs since birth, and Egyptian society revolved around faith in the Pharaoh's god-guided leadership. It had been so for over a thousand years. Perhaps she truly did believe she was a god, despite the level-headedness she had shown so far.
It suddenly occurred to Shizuru that Natsuki had kept her eyes trained on Shizuru's face the entire time she spoke. Only on her face. Was Natsuki forcing herself to avoid looking at anything lower, now that her captive was undressed? You're imagining things, Shizuru.
Another person entered the tent just then. Shizuru hoped it would be Arika returning with some clothes already, but this was a different woman, with short rosy hair and a short-sleeved white robe that went to her ankles. She carried a rectangular writing tablet along with sheets of beige papyrus paper.
The scribe bowed deeply to Pharaoh in her throne, and Natsuki greeted her with, "Ah, Irina. Good. Do you have today's reports for me yet?"
The redhead straightened, smoothing her linen robe. "Yes, Natsuki-sama." She shuffled through her papers until she found the ones Natsuki had asked for.
Shizuru shifted uncomfortably on her bare feet at the woman's entrance. Here was yet another stranger to see her wearing nothing but a barely opaque shift. True, the scribe had barely glanced at Shizuru upon entering, but still! In the past, Shizuru had had close servants and slaves bathe and dress her quite often, but this was different. She was not in control here. Arika and Irina were not her servants, they were the servants of a woman Shizuru barely knew. One she barely had reason to trust.
She wanted to hug herself closely in modesty, but she settled for loosely crossing her arms over her chest. She refused to let the other women – one in particular – know they made her uncomfortable.
Irina cleared her throat before she began reading off her long list. "First Division, Second Company of Ptah, captain reported three casualties in today's fighting. Third Company of Ptah, captain reported no casualties in the battle but one man wounded and another dead from a previous infection. Fifth Company of..."
Two and a half divisions, each division having two hundred fifty companies of twenty soldiers each. Irina went through the numbers for every company whose captain had reported in already after the day's battle, and Natsuki listened to them all attentively, putting Shizuru out of her mind for the moment.
Shizuru wasn't bothered; she stopped paying attention soon after Irina began. She'd had enough of deaths and casualties for one day, and no desire to listen to emotionless numbers being recited as if a bloody battle were mere arithmetic.
As the scribe's voice droned on, Shizuru let her eyes wander around her own little side of the tent. They were caught by a half-rolled square of papyrus resting atop a knee-high acacia chest she stood by.
Curious, she picked it up and unrolled it the rest of the way.
To her surprise, it was a painting. She had never seen an Egyptian painting on papyrus before, only ones on walls of former Egyptian structures in Fuuka. This painting was not large and formal like those decorating the temples and such, but it was the only one in the tent, so it must have some significance to its owner.
It was a leisurely hunting scene. Four figures stood by the bank of a stream blooming with white lotuses and green papyrus stalks taller than a person. A few ducks had been startled into flight above the stalks by the hunters, their wings frozen in motion. Shizuru's gaze landed on the images of the four people, and after a moment she realized she must be looking at the royal family.
At the center of the picture stood a tall older man wearing the Pharaoh's blue-and-gold striped headcloth with a golden cobra set above his forehead. The vulture goddess, patron of Upper Egypt and one of Pharaoh's divine guardians, was shown with her wings outstretched protectively behind his head, and all around the man were inscribed some of his many titles.
Painted at his side was a dark-haired girl who looked in her early teens. The girl had a short bow in one hand and was pointing eagerly at the flying ducks with the other. Her father had drawn his own larger bow so that the arrow's fletchings brushed his cheek as he took aim at the birds.
Another figure, this one wearing a noblewoman's pleated white gown, stood by the older Pharaoh with one arm wrapped around his upper chest from behind in the artistic pose symbolizing wifely support and devotion. Crowning the Queen's dark-haired head were the black bull-horns of the mother goddess, with a crimson sun disk held between them. The fourth person in the picture was another child – blonde and much smaller than the figure of Natsuki, but Shizuru thought it was another daughter – playing around her mother's knees.
Their bodies were painted in the distinctive Egyptian style that was highly symbolic but not very realistic. Yet, even constrained by strict artistic conventions, the scene portrayed liveliness. And something else, too. A kind of warmth and ease Shizuru had never felt with her own family.
"D'you like that, Shizuru-san?"
With a start, Shizuru lifted her eyes from the picture to look at Arika. She'd been so distracted she had not noticed the girl's return.
"It was made years ago, but lately Natsuki-sama stares at it a lot, just like you were now," Arika said quietly. "She was very close to her father..." Her tone became sad, laden with sympathy for her beloved master's loss. "It hit her very hard when his spirit moved on to become one with the god of the afterlife. But of course that also meant the spirit of Pharaoh had to pass to her, and she had no time to grieve."
"How did he die?" Shizuru kept her voice down to match Arika's; she did not want the other two women across the tent to overhear. She rolled the papyrus back up gently as she asked, taking care not to damage the picture, and placed it back atop the chest.
"Pharaoh's body is mortal like the rest of us," Arika replied, "Even though our rulers have the soul of a god, they can still fall to disease or injury." The girl's sadness vanished and her cheeks puffed out in frustration. "Which is why Natsuki-sama should've worn her protective amulet today!" she huffed.
Shizuru chuckled quietly. This girl did act a bit silly, but she was awfully cute. She noticed a bundle held in Arika's arms. "Are those my new clothes?"
Arika looked down at the bundle as if she'd forgotten she was carrying it. "Oh, these!" She looked back up at the older woman, big blue eyes shining excitedly. "Yes, they are. I hope they fit!"
The girl looked at her expectantly, and it took Shizuru a moment to realize she was waiting for the older woman to strip her shift off. Shizuru swallowed and glanced over at Natsuki's throne – discreetly, so Arika wouldn't notice.
The dark-haired woman was still busy with Irina, not looking over at Shizuru and Arika's corner. Irina had evidently finished relaying the reports, for now it was Natsuki who was speaking, while the scribe used a reed stylus to copy down her words onto a new sheet of papyrus.
Shizuru bit her lip, but after another moment's hesitation quickly bent down to pull her shift up and over her head. Naked, she scrambled into the undergarments Arika handed her, hastily wrapping them around her groin and breasts.
Once Shizuru had those on, Arika held out the dress she'd brought. It was a white linen sheath dress that would end halfway down Shizuru's calves and cover up to the tops of her breasts, with two shoulder straps to keep it in place, much like what the blue-eyed girl wore. The fabric was thin and light to ease the heat of the daytime.
The dress was far plainer than anything the former queen had ever worn, but she breathed a little sigh of relief upon seeing it. Part of her had worried Natsuki would make her parade around in one of those indecent transparent garments Reito had forced his slave girls to wear, when he let them wear anything at all.
Shizuru pulled the dress on and settled it about her body. To Arika's happiness, it did fit. Well, everywhere except her breasts, which strained at the linen a little. But Shizuru could live with that. It was not uncomfortable, although it did inadvertently emphasize the area.
Arika had also brought her a pair of sandals, as well as golden armbands and wristbands. Why a Pharaoh would want their personal slaves to wear simple dresses yet then gave them expensive jewelry was beyond her, but Shizuru smiled when she noticed the slender armbands were in the shape of a snake that would coil around her bicep.
The sandals were of woven papyrus reed, sturdy but not too rough on the delicate soles of her feet. It took her a moment to figure out how to fasten their ankle straps properly, but she insisted on doing it without Arika's help. Once Shizuru put everything on, she was wearing the same outfit the younger brunette was, only in a slightly larger size.
Relief filled her at being fully clothed again. She gave Arika a grateful smile and went with her to stand by where Natsuki and Irina were finishing up their conversation.
"You can go now, Irina," Natsuki was saying as the other two women approached, "Distribute those orders to the field commanders tonight so they can pick which companies will be accompanying me back to the capital tomorrow. We should be back in Waset in half a week, give or take."
Shizuru was so surprised that she blurted out, "That soon?" As soon the words left her mouth, she realized Natsuki must mean an Egyptian week; their calendar organized each month into three weeks of ten days, not four of seven like Fuuka's.
Natsuki answered her anyway. She did not seem upset at Shizuru's interruption. "I'm leaving almost all the archers and footsoldiers here with Haruka, so we'll travel much faster. Even so, it'll take several days to reach the capital."
Dismissed, Irina gathered her papers and carefully stoppered her ink bottle while Natsuki was speaking to Shizuru. She gave Pharaoh a deep bow before ducking back out of the tentflap. Natsuki stood once she was gone.
"If I could speed us up any more, I would," she went on, "I've only held the throne for two months, and the last month has been spent fighting in Fuuka. I have important issues to see to back in Waset. Besides," she added with a half-smile, "My soldiers aren't the only ones who miss their families."
That piqued Shizuru's curiosity again, but before she could decide whether Natsuki would tolerate more questions from her, Arika spoke up.
"Should I go get some food from the cooks' work area, Natsuki-sama? You only had a little for breakfast, and I'll bet you didn't bother to stop for lunch today either." Somehow, Arika's insistent manner managed to seem almost motherly despite her being at least five years younger than her master.
"I didn't eat because it's not good to fight on a full stomach," Natsuki said with a casual shrug. At Arika's huff, Natsuki sighed. "Oh, alright."
Arika beamed. "Make it two servings," Natsuki called after her as the girl trotted out of the tent again.
Two? Shizuru wondered. Today's battle must have made Natsuki hungry.
The dark-haired woman strode over the the thick cedar table Shizuru had noticed earlier, dropping herself down onto one of the low, square wooden stools to wait for Arika's return. She made a pretty – if odd – sight sitting there calmly in her gem-set, gold-plated scale mail, dark powder lining and shadowing her eyes, hair flowing loose about her shoulders. Green eyes met red again.
"Sit, Shizuru." Natsuki gestured to the other side of the table. "Don't try telling me you are not hungry."
Shizuru's eyes popped in shock.
Pharaoh wanted to dine with her? Gods, was she a slave or a royal guest? Shizuru's parents would've taken the head of anyone who even suggested that they would stoop so low as to share a meal with their slaves! And they had certainly never allowed their daughter to do so with her own servants, not even her one or two trusted attendants. Eating with your slaves simply was not done.
On the other hand, only two servings also meant Arika would not be eating with them, and she had been in Natsuki's service longer. So was it just Shizuru Natsuki was giving this ridiculous honor to? Why?
Shizuru shook her head at the bizarreness of it all, everything that had happened between them tonight. Natsuki kept bouncing between treating Shizuru like a slave and like a companion, hopping from stance to stance like a lizard on hot sand. She certainly was spontaneous.
Slowly, she walked to the table, still partially wondering if she'd heard Natsuki correctly. She sat opposite the younger woman, settling herself onto the cushion atop the other low stool. The table was larger than most, but still short enough from those sides that the two women could have reached across to touch each other's hands.
Arika must have had someone waiting with the food, for it was less than a minute before she bustled happily back into the tent bearing a tray laden with dishes.
She showed no surprise at seeing Shizuru sitting opposite their master at the table, which either meant that Natsuki had done this sort of thing before or that Arika didn't care what Natsuki did as long as she got a decent meal in her.
The blue-eyed girl placed two bowls of Egyptian beer onto the table, followed by a platter holding a round loaf of crusty wheat bread and a wedge of some kind of cheese with a smell that made Shizuru's nose crinkle.
With the bread and beer came a hot stew of onions, lentils, and, surprisingly, tender chunks of beef. Only the wealthy could afford to eat beef regularly, and even then only once or twice a week. The stew gave off the tangy scent of expensive imported spices, and all the food was served on silver dishes. It seemed Pharaohs ate like kings even when fighting a war.
At Natsuki's direction, Arika excused herself once the meal was laid out, leaving the two of them alone in the tent again. The dark-haired woman wasted no time digging in, lifting her wide bowl of beer to her mouth with both hands to gulp it down.
After a moment, Shizuru followed suit. She took just a sip at first to see how it tasted.
Mmmm... This Egyptian beer was much thicker than the liquid beer brewed in Fuuka; this was more like rich porridge, and served heated instead of cold. But it was still quite good, and her next mouthful slid smoothly down her throat and warmed her all the way to her belly.
From its taste, the beer was probably low in alcohol, which was preferable; it certainly would not do for Shizuru to get drunk on her first night in Pharaoh's service. Who knew what sort of pains – or pleasures, her small inner voice insisted mockingly, you know there must be some reason she wanted you for herself – one of them getting drunk tonight might lead to.
Natsuki gulped her food with a rather undignified eagerness, but Shizuru ate in a more graceful manner. The taller woman finished off her stew and beer and wiped up the last smears of both with a hunk of bread Natsuki tore from the loaf for her. But she avoided the smelly cheese and discreetly pushed its platter a little closer to Natsuki's side of the cedar table.
The rug beneath their table and stools was an odd thing, patterned in black and white stripes that tapered to points. It looked like some sort of animal skin, but Shizuru knew of no animal colored so. Out of idle curiosity, she asked Natsuki what it was between bites of bread.
Natsuki wiped the back of her hand across her mouth before answering. "It was part of the wedding tribute given to me by the mother of my second wife. Her mother is leader of several tribes of nomadic herders in the southern desert. Apparently, her people have never seen any such beast either, but they trade with tribes from even farther south for their skins. Some kind of donkey, I think they say."
A striped donkey? That bizarre little detail was not what caught Shizuru's attention though. Going wide-eyed, she tried to gasp but ended up almost inhaling the piece of bread she was chewing.
Once she could manage to speak, she choked out, "You're married?" And did she say her second wife?
Black-painted eyebrows rose almost to Natsuki's hairline. "Of course I am..." She looked almost as surprised as Shizuru, as if the older woman had asked a completely redundant question.
"I'm not the first woman to become Pharaoh, but even with a woman ruler Egypt still needs a Great Royal Wife, a Queen, to perform all the separate duties of that position and act as regent while I'm away at war. I can't be both Pharaoh and Queen.
"And having secondary wives for Pharaoh helps ensure peaceable relations with foreign leaders, or bind other noble Egyptian families in alliance to our dynasty. My mother was my father's Queen, but he had three lesser wives."
"Ara, ara..." Shizuru mumbled in amazement. Two wives. And Natsuki seemed to think that was few for a Pharaoh! They had no such thing in Fuuka for either gender, thankfully. The thought of being married to two Reitos, or four, made Shizuru's stomach roil!
She shifted helplessly on her stool cushion, still a bit dazed. She was at a loss, having no idea what to say – a rare occurrence for her. Even more confusing to her was that she also had no idea what to feel, or whether she should feel anything at all. Inwardly, she chastised herself for being so foolish. What in heavens were you expecting, Shizuru? You know nothing about her. And why should it matter to you anyway if she is already married?
"Are you in love with either of them?"
The question popped out before Shizuru could stop it. Her eyes went wide again and she nearly clapped a hand over her mouth. Gods, what possessed her to ask such a thing? She never would have allowed such impertinence from one of her own slaves! But then... if Natsuki saw her as a slave then why were they here now, sharing a meal and carrying on a conversation?
Even more surprising was Natsuki's reaction. There was no anger, or even shock. Instead, her eyebrows settled back down and drew into that small, thoughtful scowl that was becoming familiar. Her gaze fell away from Shizuru and onto the dark tabletop between them. The younger woman idly ran a fingertip around the silver rim of her empty bowl as she thought on how to answer. It was several moments before she said anything.
"Mai... Mai was born to a prominent noble family in Lower Egypt, near the Delta..." Natsuki looked up again, but she seemed to be staring at something far away rather than at the woman sitting across from her. "We were betrothed as children once Father decided I would be his heir rather than wait for a son. Mai's been my closest friend for as long as I can remember, and when we were wed at my coronation, she became my political partner as well. Sometimes I don't think I could handle ruling Egypt without her by my side as Queen."
There was another long pause, and when Natsuki finally answered Shizuru's question, she spoke slowly, as if voicing something she never had before.
"No... No, I'm not in love with her. Nor she with me, I know for sure." Another of those half-smiles replaced the little scowl on her face. "I think someone else holds her heart, even if Mai doesn't fully realize it yet.
"As for my other wife, the daughter of the foreign tribal leader..." Natsuki rolled her eyes. "I haven't known her long, but I think if I ever asked her about love she'd either laugh in my face or claw me bloody. Maybe both."
Shizuru let out a breath she had not realized she'd been holding. She is not in love with them. But why should I care?
"It's strange," Natsuki murmured, seemingly still lost in thought, "I always knew my parents loved each other, but theirs was also an arranged marriage, and love didn't come to them until many years later. I hoped it would be the same for me, that someday I would find love with one of the women that duty put into my life."
Natsuki sighed quietly. "Until then, I have responsibilities as Pharaoh. Heirs need to be made, peace and trade fostered instead of war..."
She finally looked at Shizuru again, holding her gaze intently. "The three of us don't even live in the same wing of the palace, much less share rooms. They were both political marriages, you understand?"
Shizuru did understand. She thought of her own experiences with Reito, and a painful lump formed in her throat. She swallowed it defiantly; there was no need to still be afraid of him, no need to waste her hate and contempt on a man who was now dead or worse. At least Natsuki had amicable relationships with her spouses.
And with a few of her personal slaves too, unlikely as that should have seemed. She is my captor, my master... yet so far she has treated me more kindly than Reito ever did, spoken to me more honestly than my parents ever bothered to.
That still left the question of why she was telling a supposed slave all of this. Shizuru stared into those emerald eyes and searched for a reason in them, but she found nothing. Before she could think of what to say, there came the whisking sound of the canvas tentflap being opened again.
Shizuru brightened at Arika's entrance, or rather at the escape from the confusing conversation her entrance provided. She didn't think she could handle any more revelations from Natsuki today.
Besides, Arika had brought some dessert with her: a big bowl of grapes and pitted dates coated in honey. Dates were easy to preserve, but Shizuru was impressed Natsuki's cooks had managed to find fresh grapes. Secretly, she was also pleased; she had a weakness for sweet things.
Her long, slender fingers darted out to pluck one of the fruits from the bunch almost before Arika had finished putting the bowl down. For the next few minutes, so focused on enjoying the desserts was she that she didn't notice Natsuki watching her movements as the taller woman licked the dates' sticky honey residue from her fingertips.
Natsuki suddenly averted her gaze and cleared her throat loudly. "That's all for tonight, Arika," she said, suddenly back to that commanding tone, "Now go to your sleeping tent with my other slaves and come back in the morning."
Already big blue eyes widened a little more. "But, every night I usually..."
Natsuki cut her off. "It's time for Shizuru to start learning some of the duties she will perform for me as one of my personal slaves."
Arika nodded slowly, and gathered up the empty bowls and plates in her arms on her way out.
When the tentflap dropped closed behind Arika for the final time that night, Natsuki rose somewhat awkwardly from her stool. Her eyes would no longer quite meet Shizuru's, and the former queen found herself wondering exactly what "duties" she was supposed to perform tonight.
Natsuki cleared her throat again. "I usually have Arika wash me," she said, "But..."
Was that a hint of color on the younger woman's cheeks that had not been there before, or was it just a trick of the candlelight?
"You... you will bathe me from now on, Shizuru. Starting tonight."
AN: I gotta admit, it really would've taken them weeks to travel all the way back to the capital (not to mention it would've taken them months to conquer Fuuka in the first place). I sped it up because I want to get them back to Egypt so the other plots can pick up, so please excuse this break from reality.
Will try to make future chapters a bit shorter. Don't want readers to die of starvation before they reach the end of the update.
Next chapter should be fun. ;)