Akifa was unsure of what he was doing as he rode away from the cave, but he knew he didn't have a choice. With the letter to Kena tucked away in Mena's saddle bag, he steeled himself against the harsh night and rode as fast as the horse could safely go. Summer nights in the desert were colder than what he liked, and at the speed Mena rode at the winds stung his exposed skin. As the sun began to rise and he could see the city walls, his skin was numb. He slowed Mena, leading her to the Nile to drink as he pulled his water skin free from the saddle bags.

He took a quick drink and put it back before checking to make sure the letter was still inside the bag. He was relieved to see it and turned back to his journey. He reached the gate by midday and was stopped by one of the guards. The man looked him over.

"Bit young to be traveling alone, ain't ya?" he asked. Akifa nodded in reply, but spoke up in his most worried voice.

"I am here to see the city stone mason, sir," he said.

"And who are you?"

"I am Akifa, son of Sebak. I was sent with a message." The guard looked over at his companion, who joined him. This new guard looked Akifa over as well.

"Sebak sent you, huh?" he said. The first guard frowned at his partner. "Yes, Sebak does have a young son. I remember now." Akifa inwardly sighed. "Yes, you can go through, child." Akifa smiled in relief, but then frowned and turned to the guards once more.

"Please, sirs," he said. "This is my first time to the city. I do not know how to find my uncle's house." The second guard turned back to him. He then pointed down the street that ran along the walls.

"Follow this road until you see the blacksmith shop. Turn right and follow that road. It's a few houses down from the blacksmith." Akifa thanked him and moved on, keeping his eye open for the symbol of the blacksmith. He soon found the shop and turned down the road to his right. As he did, he saw the chisel and hammer symbol over the door of a house. He dismounted and led Mena over, tying her and retrieving the letter. He tucked it in his sash and knocked on the door.

A tall man opened the door and looked down at him. Although the brown eyes widened for a second, the man knelt down to come eyes level with Akifa.

"Who are you, Child, and what is it you want?" the man asked. Akifa drew in a breath and pulled out the letter, holding it out.

"I was told by a friend named Bast to bring this letter to Kena the stone mason," he said. The man blinked, took the letter and read it. He then motioned for Akifa to follow him and led him to a kitchen where another man was sitting with a woman. The first man handed the letter to this new man and sat beside him. Akifa stood in the door way, unsure of his surroundings. He was quiet while the new man, whom he guessed was Kena, read the letter as well.

"What's your name, Child?" he asked. Akifa jumped, for he was not paying attention, and answered.

"I am Akifa Kaito." The man nodded and turned back to the letter.

"I'll ask a question. If you know my friend, then what color are her eyes?" Akifa blinked, he knew it was coming, but it surprised him.

"Green, sir," he answered. He then mentally cursed himself for sounding so shaky. Kena glanced at him, doubt clouding his eyes.

"To verify, child," he said. "Bast carries a birthmark. What is it?"

"Her birthmark is a pyramid inside a circle located on her left shoulder. Within the pyramid sits the eye of the pharaohs, the millennium eye," said Akifa without hesitation. Kena blinked and looked at the woman next to him before looking back to him. With a smile and a shake of his head he motioned Akifa to sit down at the table. The boy did as he was told.

"There are very few people Bast will trust with that information. My wife, my son, and I are the only living who know, and now you," Kena told him. "What has happened to my dear friend?"

"Our village was attacked by some rouges," said Akifa, keeping the whole pharaohs' army thing under wraps. "They were able to grab her when she had her back turned. She has a wound from here to here." He lifted is arm and showed the path of the cut. The first man hissed at this. "She ran a fever, but I was able to break it. The wound will not heal though, and I am worried."

Kena had listened with great interest. Like the other man, he seemed disgusted at the sound of the injury. Kena turned to the woman and the man. With a nod, the man stood and left through the back. The woman, on the other hand, retrieved a cloth from under the table and went to the storage pots. As she put together some meat and bread, the other man returned with a cloth bag. The scent coming from it told Akifa that it had herbs and other healing agents in it. The man approached Akifa, who stood.

"I will be riding back with you," he said. "I am Kasiya, the city healer. I saw you brought a horse." Akifa nodded, looking at the window to where Mena was drinking. "I recognize that horse. It is one of Bast's horses, is it not?"

"Yes, it is," Akifa answered. "That is Mena, the only horse Bast will let me ride. Besides, I do not think Kura likes me." Kena, who had been listening, laughed. Akifa glanced at the older man.

"That horse don't like no one," he laughed out. "Even when Sanura was alive, I don't think that thing was ever kind to anyone but Bast. Mena, on the other hand, she's a good girl. She was mine till Bast came up with an Item that I didn't want to let go, but couldn't give her enough to take it from her. So I traded her for it."

"So you are where she takes her goods," Akifa said, understanding now. Kena sobered up and looked at him.

"What do you know about that?" he asked. Akifa shrank back a bit.

"Bast is good at her trade," was his answer. He said nothing more or less as he locked eyes with the older man. Kena glared for a moment before breaking eye contact and standing up. He moved over to a box in the corner, opened the lid and reached in. When he pulled his hand from it, he had a smaller box that Akifa identified as a jewelry case. Kena sat back down and handed the box to Akifa. The boy opened it and gasped.

"That was Sanura's," said Kena. Akifa glanced up for a second before returning his gaze to the gold and sapphire necklace. "It was Runihura, the goldsmith here, who made that for her. Sanura saved his life when he came down with an illness that almost killed him. So, to pay her back for her kindness he sent out someone to find that sapphire and he made that necklace. Sadly, Sanura died before he could get the sapphire and finish it."

"How did you get it?" asked Akifa, aiming to hand it back. Kena shook his head and pushed it back to Akifa.

"Take it to her," he said. "Runihura remembered that I knew Sanura and asked me to deliver it to Bast. Although, everytime I see the young tomb robber, she either trades and leaves or stays long enough to sleep and she's gone when I wake up. Now, you better leave before it's too late." Akifa blinked, and then the time of day hit him. It was sundown, and Bast was alone in the caves. Bowing sharply, Akifa rushed out of the house and put the box in Mena's saddle bag. As he was mounting, Kasiya came around the house on another horse. With a nod to each other they rode to the gate.

Kasiya exchanged a few words with the guards, two different ones from when Akifa came in. The man then turned to Akifa and motioned to lead the way. Akifa nudged Mena, and the horse took off for the caves. Kasiya pulled his horse up beside Mena and caught Akifa's attention.

"How far from the city is she?" he yelled. Akifa thought for a second.

"Along the Nile about a half a day," he answered. Kasiya nodded and returned his vision before him. The two rode in silence through the night. As the sky began to lighten, Akifa saw the cave and Mena called out to Kura. Kasiya looked at the boy as Kura called back and Akifa frowned. Kura sounded antsy, which meant something was wrong. Mena, sensing Akifa's worry, put on a burst of speed for the last mile. As she pulled to a stop outside the cave, Akifa jumped down and hurried in. Bast was sweating, her black hair clinging to her forehead and neck. The bandage on her arm had turned red.

Kasiya cursed as he led the horses in. Akifa looked at the man, jumped up and went about tying the horses and removing the saddle bags while Kasiya looked Bast over. Finding Bast's empty water skin, as well as the one in Kura's saddle bag and his own, Akifa ran out to the Nile and began to fill them. Once done, he started a fire outside the entrance and began to boil some water in a small saucepan Bast owned. Finding a saucepan stolen from the remains of Kul Elna, he started another fire and began heating water for drinking.

He looked up at Kasiya as the man sat down beside him an hour later. He handed the man a ladle of water, warning him that it was warm. He receive a thanks and he returned to his task. Kasiya watched him as he put the warm water into the water skins and then take them over to the river. Using pieces of string, he tied the water skins to a metal stake and placed them into the Nile. He then returned to where Kasiya was sitting and began to cook some meat. Kasiya frowned at him, whom he saw out of the corner of his eye and, not looking up, he nodded to himself.

"Why are you frowning?" he asked. The man looked away as Akifa sat back and turned to him.

"You are young, but quick. I did not ask you to, but the first thing you did was retrieve my items from my horse. And within the time it took for me to examine her and wrap the wound, you had drinking water ready to cool," said Kasiya. Akifa nodded again.

"I lived in a village of thieves that had very little. The children were taught very young what was needed to be done before we could play. I did most of my household chores myself, for my mother had died when I was born. My uncle's wife taught me how to cook and clean so I could have it done for my father when he returned from his journeys." Kasiya nodded, looking out over the water.

"No wonder," he said. "Bast is the same way. Sanura was a nice woman, and that trait passed on to Bast. When Sanura died, though, Bast did things herself. She began to study her magic more, and learned the rest of her healing abilities from my mother. She was in her fifth year when she took off. We woke up one morning and her and Kura were gone. All that was left was a piece of papyrus with a single symbol. Death."

Akifa laughed at the irony of the symbol. Kasiya glanced at him as he laughed himself.

"It suits her though," said Akifa. "Because, Bast was never the same again after that happened, huh?" Kasiya smiled as Akifa's words began to make sense to him. Akifa looked up into the rising sun and prayed to Ra that he was never the same again. With a snort, he returned to the cooking meat, only to find it was done. He nodded and looked around for the clay plates. He could not find them and was about to stand up when he found them floating in front of him. He glanced up to see they were being held by Kasiya, whom he didn't see move.

"You had left them in the cave." With a nod, Akifa took the plates and placed some of the meat on one, handing it to his companion before getting his own. They ate in silence only broken occasionally by a fish jumping from the water. When they had both finished, Kasiya returned to Bast as Akifa rinsed the clay in the river and set them out to dry. He then let Kasiya know he was leaving and went to find some wood.

When he returned with a full load of sticks and twigs for the fire, he found Kasiya sitting outside with a length of cloth that he was tearing into strips. The man looked up at Akifa set the twigs beside the entrance and grab one of the water skins that was still floating in the Nile. Akifa noticed another bundle floating with them and turned to Kasiya for an explanation.

"I took some animal skins I had brought and wrapped the meat in them. It will keep the meat from going bad." Akifa nodded and sat down beside the man. "Bast is going to be fine. Her arm is finally healing and her fever has broken. You did a good job of wrapping her arm before coming for me."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"She asked about you, you know." The man glanced at the boy. "I told her you were alright and that my father did not kill you." Out of shock, Akifa laughed at this. He looked at the older man, smiling.

"Why tell her that?"

"I wanted to see her smile," was his answer. Akifa shook his head, pouting a bit. "She has money, you know?" Nod. "Why did not you take any when you came to the city? And why did you even come for us?"

"She got that injury protecting me, so I returned the favor. We seem to be doing that a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Akifa crossed his legs and looked up into the sky. "We met one night because my father and I were returning from selling some things. We had spent all our money and were hoping to get back to the village to see if my uncle had any food. I noticed the smell of meat and followed it to Bast's campsite. She did not know who we were but she had taken the food and placed it away from her. Then she turned her back on it. We were not going to take it because we were afraid that she would hurt us. We had seen her playing with the shadows and knew of the stories."

"What did she do?"

"She told me to eat. Even sat and watched us so she could take her clay and leave. But, when we were done and she was getting ready to leave, I told her we would find her a place in our village. Someplace so she could rest. Yes, we have a tendency to rescue each other."

"Maybe," Kasiya said, a slight smile to his face. "Maybe the Gods mean for you to be friends."

"Maybe."