Thanks again to Dana for reviewing! You are really awesome! And I have to agree with you, I could not share my guy and if he tried to have other women he would be in a lot of trouble. And if some other woman tried to take him from me then she would have to be taught a very hard lesson. :)
VII: Thief's Change
Seshafi lingered in the bath this morning. The warm water was so blissful and incredibly comfortable. She swore that she would never go so long without a bath anymore. This was one luxury she would fight to keep for herself.
Still, the food was something she also enjoyed. She grinned as she smoothed some scented soap over herself. After twelve days of being here in that man's palace she was certainly more filled out than she had been. Her bones were no longer visible or sharp, and her figure was no longer gaunt and very skinny.
Not that he had been around to notice. She thought with a small hiss.
Hastily she shoved the thought aside as easily as she washed to soap off of her skin. He had not seen her since that first day when he had brought her here. Seshafi had truly begun to wonder if he had forgotten her. She didn't see how; in fact, she was truly sure that that must have been impossible. Amisi and the other women would have made sure that he did not forget the new woman he had brought into the house.
Seshafi grinned and stood to climb from the water. She was sure that Amisi would have much to say to that man about Seshafi.
Matala knocked once and then entered carrying a towel and come clothing. The matronly woman had gotten used to Seshafi's constant and long bathing, and she was well attuned to when the younger woman would be getting out.
Seshafi held back a laugh as the other woman looked at her with suspicion in a sideways stare. Let them all think what they wanted. She was enjoying herself here in this palace. The only mar on her happiness was that man. His absence both thrilled and irritated her as nothing else ever had. Not that he had truly been absent though; Amisi gloated everyday about how her nights were not spent alone.
Seshafi was wondering when it would occur to the stupid woman that it would be better if she stopped speaking so loud and condescendingly. But the first concubine had yet to learn her lesson, so Seshafi had yet to stop punishing her for it.
"Well you certainly have filled out some." Matala said breaking Seshafi of her musings. The former thief smiled as she understood what the other was speaking of.
If she were to be brought before pharaoh's court now they would not see her as the street-rat she had been. Her skin was smooth, glossy, and clear with no more traces of dirt left. Her body's shape had been filled out from the good nutrition she found here. She was proud to realize that she had some shapeliness to her own form instead of being the skinny plain woman she had thought herself to be. Her hair was straight long and smooth now. It reached down to her hips and she had learned since coming here how to arrange small golden chains in it so that her hair was held away from her face and yet was also free to flow down her back easily.
"I suppose I have." Seshafi said softly to answer Matala. While she was pleased at her new state of comeliness, she was also very aware that she did not look nearly as beautiful as any of he other nine here. And she had met all but the ninth woman who was apparently near the end of her pregnancy and therefore she stayed in her bed all day.
"What will you be up to today?" Matala asked with another sideways glance at Seshafi as she helped the younger woman into a long white dress. The dress today was the same dress from her first day here although it had needed some stitches to be pulled out when she lost her boniness.
"I don't have anything special to do here. I suppose I shall simply sit somewhere and read to myself." Seshafi had been born a street-rat and had lived nearly all her life as such; but she did know how to read and now that she was here she had found to her surprise and delight that there was a large well stocked library with anything she wished to read available to her. It was how she had spent her days since coming here.
"Why do you ask?" Seshafi asked looking sharply at the care-taker of the house as she put the chains into her long hair. Matala knew her habits well enough; why did she bother to ask what she would have already known?
The woman shrugged and slipped a golden collar around the other's neck. "I was simply checking. You are known for running loose after all." Matala answered sharply as she often did. Seshafi then sighed and shook her head and continued the fix her hair as the older woman mumbled on and on about thieves and women and 'rightful places' and other such nonsense.
When she was finished pampering herself, Seshafi left the bathing room and went to get some food for her lunch. Having been so long without a lot of food she had found that she was unable to eat a big portion of it. While having her meals with consistency had done wonders for her hunger and her appearance, she was still full very easily.
Once she was done eating she made her way across the palace until she was in the north wing. There, covering a lot of space, was the large extensive library. She slipped inside with a grateful sigh. It was quite and still in here. The peace and silence of the place was another reason why she had come to adopt this room as her sanctuary. That and the fact that none of the other women ever came here. They seemed to hold these scrolls with disdain. Seshafi didn't understand that anymore than she understood their need for power or influence. To her these scrolls held the mysteries of so many kingdoms; they held the accounts of kings and warriors. Inside these many and varied scrolls she could learn anything she wished to know. She could stop being the ignorant street-rat and instead become knowledgeable in every system and profession she might ever have an interest for.
With another happy sigh Seshafi selected the scroll she had been reading for the past three days. It was a long account of a previous pharaoh's life. She would finish it today and then she could find a new topic to interest her.
Her life here in his palace might not be well earned, but it was well enjoyed.
"You should punish her! Or throw her to the streets where she belongs! Hand her back to pharaoh and let the Nile devourer her whole!"
Ramses held back the sharp words he felt rising to his mouth. Amisi was very angry. She had been angry for the past twelve days. He was beginning to become greatly annoyed with her constant nagging about his newest concubine.
Apparently more than one or two of Amisi's favorite gems had disappeared. And she was not the only one. All of his other women had reported similar disappearances. The only difference being that the other women had stopped loosing their jewels. Amisi however had continued to lose another item everyday. It had infuriated her, and so she in turn began to infuriate him.
"You must do something!" she hissed loudly at him. Ramses turned away from the wine that he was drinking and the tablets he was overlooking to stare at his favorite concubine with an even stare.
She stiffened suddenly and became silent. She had at least learned to recognize when she was annoying him and therefore when to be silent.
Now was one of those times.
With a sigh he tossed aside the tablet he was looking over. It was a letter from Nefert in Memphis. His sister was torturing her suitors one after the other. They continued to come to her though, but as yet she had been unable to find one she was at all interested in.
Amisi was staring at him anxiously. Now mixed with her anger she was worried that she had overstepped her boundaries and perhaps the general was upset with her now.
Ramses took another sip of his wine and glanced at the woman sitting beside him on the couch.
Amisi was the daughter of a high count of Egypt. She was the only daughter of the family and therefore she had been quite spoiled by her mother and by her four brothers.
While she was very beautiful, Ramses often thought her to be a shallow and useless woman. Still, as his concubine he was more pleased with her than any of his others, so he put up with her annoying and arrogant attitude. At times though she became too trying for him. Now was almost one of those times.
Of course this time she has reason. He thought forgiving her presumptuousness slightly. She had thought to tell him how to handle his house, so he had let her know she was saying too much.
Now she sat nervously beside him waiting for him to speak and either reprimand her or to let her slide out of her trouble.
Ramses set his cup on the table and reached out toward his woman. She softened instantly as he took hold of her. With his hand on the back of her neck he brought her forward and kissed her lips softly.
"Don't speak so much." he warned her softly as he nibbled at her lower lip. She shivered under his touch and he released her. He stood up from the couch and grinned down at her now blushing limp form. He left the room and made his way towards his kitchens.
"Matala." he called from the hall.
Shouts were heard from the kitchen on the other side of the wall. He heard the sound of a pot crashing to the floor and more muffled shouts. A second later the head servant of the palace stepped from the kitchen rubbing her hands on her apron.
"What is it you're interrupting me for?" she demanded in a way most inappropriate for a servant.
"How is the progress coming along?" Ramses asked holding his arms folded across his chest.
The woman nodded her head. She had expected him to ask her that. "I thought you would be coming in today. That woman seemed to be getting on your own nerves of late. How you can stand to have her around I shall never know." Matala said shaking her head and throwing him a small glare as well.
Ramses shrugged slightly. He knew that Matala hated Amisi; no, that was not enough. Matala loathed Amisi completely. He didn't quite understand why it was that way, but Matala made no point in hiding it.
"The progress?" Ramses asked again to get his servant back on track again.
She scowled at him openly. "If you want to see how the woman is doing go check on her yourself. It's been twelve days since you brought her here and you haven't been anywhere near her once."
She was right. And he did want to see her. Surely twelve days had been enough to get her clean and somewhat presentable. She hadn't been so hopeless when he had first seen her.
He felt excited and ready as he stood and gestured for Matala to lead the way.
The woman brushed past him with small growl about dinner going unmade. She walked quickly and he followed behind her. He was surprised at the direction they were taking though. He had thought they might be going to one of the gardens or a sitting room somewhere. He was very interested to find that they were going to the library. He would have never thought to look for any of his women in this place.
Matala opened the door quietly for him and stepped back. He stepped inside and looked around.
His eyes instantly found her form.
"Improved quite a bit hasn't she?" Matala chuckled before she shut the door and left him there alone.
Ramses hadn't expected this. He had thought she would look well; he had seen enough to know she would be beautiful but he had not thought to imagine such a sight before.
She hadn't looked up when he had come in. She was reading out of a scroll and hardly paying attention to anything around her. She sat in one of the high-back chairs in the rooms although her posture was not what was intended. She lay sideways across the seat of the chair so that her back leaned against the arm rest and her legs hung out over the other arm rest.
Ramses followed the trace of her legs. They were bared and smooth and well shaped. He followed their form all the way up to her thighs where he could see just a small amount of her skin as the dress's slit had slid open a little too much.
She looked up then from her scroll then, reluctantly looking away from the words painted there. Ramses almost caught his breath as he suddenly stared into a pair of strong beautifully outline dark gray eyes.
He had not expected her to be so breathtakingly splendid to look at, but he was very pleased that she did look so.