I own nothing, get it?
"Do you really have to leave?"
Radames smiled. It was at least the eighth time Mereb had asked that question. "Yes, I do, Mereb. I could try to get you passage on the ship, but I don't think the Captain wants Nubians."
Mereb carried another drawer full of clothes over to the bed where he and Radames were packing for his trip. "It's not that, sir." He said, dumping the clothes onto the mattress. "Your father-your father said that when you left, he'd send me to the mines."
Radames whipped around, a scared and confused look on the fifteen-year-old's face. "What?" he gasped. "But just this week there's been three cave ins. That's suicide!"
Mereb nodded. "I know, sir."
Radames smiled sadly. "Don't worry, I'll think of something."
But even after almost all afternoon of thinking about it, he could only come up with one idea. "There's no way around it." He said. "You'll have to stow away on the ship."
"But sir," it was Mereb's turn to look confused. "I thought the Captain didn't want Nubians."
Radames smiled. "He doesn't, but by the time he knows you're there, it'll be too late. He'll just have to live with you."
Mereb looked pleased. "I'll stay out of your father's way until tomorrow. I don't want to give him an excuse to send me to the mines." He finished helping Radames pack, asking all kinds of questions.
"What's a ship like? I haven't been on one since I got brought over from Nubia. I remember that they're big and tilting. And they rock a lot."
"What are we trying to find? A big piece of land or something?"
"Will we see Nubia?"
Radames tried to answer all his friend's questions, though it wasn't easy, because he really didn't know the answers to some of them himself. He had never realized that Mereb was scared of the water, and he teased him about it mercilessly.
"You'd be scared of the water, too." Mereb retorted, "If the last time you saw your home was from the top of a barge with shackles on your wrists." Then he muttered something in his native tongue, a habit he only referred to whenever he was upset or angry about something.
Radames was quiet, "I'm sorry." He finally said. "I never thought of that in that way. I know that you were only a boy."
"Yeah, well, now you know." Mereb muttered something else in his old language, and Radames was fascinated.
"How do you make sounds like that? For all I know, you could be cursing all of Egypt, but it makes it sound beautiful-like music." Radames was amazed that he had never thought to ask Mereb about his home.
"Yes, my language makes everything sound good. Much better then the clunky Egyptian tongues." He smiled to show he was kidding, and Radames put his arm around his friend. They walked towards the door, getting ready for the next part of their journey.
Together.
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