My Fair Dragon Lady
Me: Okay, it all comes down to this one Ball - oh and, sorry, I had a brief change of mind, the bit where Seth says "have some wine it'll quieten your nerves", in the trailer which is on YouTube, Mahado is the one who goes "I'm not nervous", but since Mahado in this fic doesn't really get nervous about anything (except perhaps Isis being pregnant) I changed it to Atem instead lol. Oh and btw Teutonic means "Germanic", it's more of an ancient thing though, hence the title of this chappie.
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"Seth, if anything should happen at the Ball tonight, if any embarrassment whatsoever should happen to Kisara it'll be on your head alone!"
Seth sighed. "Atem, Kisara can do anything."
Still the Pharaoh worried. Seth leant back against a pillar in the palace foyer and took to simply giving his cousin a cool and confident gaze, noting that the guests had already started arriving, noisily, he might add. "Suppose someone discovers her, remember the Races? Suppose she makes another gastly mistake."
"There will be no horses at the Ball, Atem. Come to think of it there won't be any suitors either."
"Think how agonising it would be. If anything happened tonight I don't know what I'd do!"
"Well you could always go and sit on that overlarge chair of yours."
"The Throne?"
"That's the one."
"This is no time for flippency cousin... Ah, good evening Mahado, Isis."
Mahado, with a smile on his face and Isis on his arm, gave a short bow before Atem. "I quite agree." he turned to Seth, "The way you've driven the poor girl over the last six moontides has exceeded all bounds of common decency."
Seth ignored him and tried to push the thought of what kind of double-meaning those words could possibly have had if Mahado had meant them like that to the back of his mind and turned his attention to his pacing cousin. "Oh for Rê's sake Atem will you stop pacing can't you settle somewhere? Have some wine, it will quieten your nerves."
"I'm not nervous!" he said, and then with another lap of pacing, "Where is it?"
"Over there."
"Thank you."
A servant entered. "They are expecting your presences your Majesties."
"Thank you, tell him we'll be out in a minute." said Isis, straightening her dress, which was cleverly designed to hide the two month-old bump in her abdomen.
Atem continued, holding a wine glass to his mouth. "Are you sure Kisara will retain everything you've hammered into her?"
Seth scowled. "If there's a double-meaning in that then you're going to be going to the Ball with a nasty red stain down your front." he said, eyeing the wine glass, "And it won't be wine."
"What if she doesn't?"
"You win our bet."
"Does she matter to you at all?" Atem asked.
Seth gave him a knowing look. "Of course she matters. What do you think I've been doing all these months? What could possibly matter more than to take a human being and change her into a different human being by creating a new speech for her? It's filling up the deepest gap that separates class from class and soul from soul. Oh, she matters immensely."
"I thought she might have done."
Seth decided not to answer. His attention had not belonged to his cousin for the past two seconds. On a small sweeping sound of a door against a rug, his eyes had darted up the steps and to the figure standing at the top.
Grinning like a Chesire cat, Kisara began to descend the flight of steps, her hair brushed all behind her shoulders bar a slightly shorter strand on her left side. Her dress this time was more of the elegant Grecian style than the obvious Egyptian, it was brilliant white, halternecked, with a small silver band around her ribcage, and below that a sash translucent periwinkle which tied and gave two long tails behind her back. With matching white shoes and silver, not gold, silver jewellry. Seth had had all the pieces made, knowing that the gold armbands like the ones that Isis wore would not suit her. She did however have the slimmer bands that fitted on the upper arms, these were also silver and engraved. Her make-up was once again very light, but visible eyeliner paint, and one line of patterning down each arm, outlined in black and filled in with blue and silver.
A Cheshire cat grin was not the word for it. Kisara was practically ecstatic as she traipsed elegantly down the stairs. And the look on Seth's face... Seth... Who for the past two weeks had been her lover, not pretend-lover, her actual lover. Just being with him made her so happy she couldn't even begin to describe. She felt so safe in his arms, almost to the extent where she could cry. And when he had said that she could stay, her heart had made up her mind.
Atem found it hard not to stare. Mahado was not allowed to stare, and Seth was, undoubtedly, staring. Atem mentally slapped himself around the face first. "Lady Kisara, you look beautiful."
Kisara smiled as if showered with undeserving complements. "Thank you my Pharaoh."
"Don't you agree Seth?"
Atem's interlude had given Seth some time to regain his composture, He stood up and approached her, intending to circle her to remain seeming like the imposing teacher, but his legs stopped working when he got within two yards. "Yes..." he said, "Yes..."
Isis passed Kisara a cloak, and Seth, now less confident than ever, he quietly went up to her right side and offered her his arm. She took it gingerly, smiling at him kindly and letting him walk her downstairs.
It was now, or never.
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As the announcer presented couples from various countries, Atem, Seth, Kisara, Mahado and Isis crept in through the servants quarters. And they had just about gotten away with it. Atem snuck onto the throne while the others stood for the entrances of the important guests. Smartly clad men and beautifully clad women with flowing dresses and elegant postures. As they watched the long procession of important couples walk down the soft red carpet - which had been laid especially for this evening - and knelt before the Throne - which had also been moved from the Throne-room to the Grand Hall, Seth looked at his flowergirl out of the corner of his eye, partially because he could sense she was nervous, partially because she was squeezing his arm rather tightly. Kisara's eyes widened slightly when she felt a hand clasp around hers.
Seth smiled at her. "Don't worry." he whispered in her ear, "You'll be fine."
Following a round of applause for the couple currently walking away from the Throne, which had been the Greçian king and queen and their son, the announcer spoke again: "And finally, we present to you, imposterologist to the Greçian Court, Ambassador Epiktetos and his wife the Lady Ambassador Hypatia."
Seth looked up with interest at this name. The man was in his mid-thirties, and was distinctly Greçian, but he knew this man quite well. He was the only Greçian for generations to become an Egyptian language specialist. He had also learnt phonetics from Seth's mentor, and was good too.
Isis prodded Seth on the shoulder. "Look who it is." she whispered.
"Who?" asked Kisara.
Isis got closer to Kisara so she could whisper so as not to draw attention to herself above Atem's welcome speech. "He works for the Greçian government as an Egyptian language specialist, indispensable to them at this sort of function. He speaks thirty-two languages, and knows practically everybody north of our territory. Supposedly no imposter can escape his detection. That's why he's here tonight. He'll be glued to their Majesties' sides, just you wait. Stay away from him, if I were you, known to be a chauvanist."
Mahado sideled up to Seth. "Watch him." he said, "You are standing in good stead, but I do fear that she will be exposed by Epiktetos."
Once sitting at their tables, Seth gloomily realised that he and Kisara were put on a table with Epiktetos, his wife, the Greçian prince Ptolemy. Before he could dash off and beg Mahado to pretend to be him for the evening, the couple and the prince had already sat down, leaving Seth cursing silently.
"High Priest Seth!" he said, "Why, I haven't seen you for a while, how goes it?"
"It goes fine, thank you." he said, putting his manners into play, yet with a danger in his voice that said 'don't fool about with me', "And yourself."
"Ah likewise, likewise." he said. His wife remaining silent at his side, not even making eye-contact with anyone on the table, "Ah..." he had spotted Kisara, "Whoever is this young beauty? Do you deceive me, or have you brought an escort?"
Seth chuckled quite fakely. "Oh deceive you I shall old friend, but not now. This is Lady Kisara."
"Delighted to meet you." she said.
"An enchanting young lady." he remarked, "What do you think, wife?"
Seth's eyes narrowed at the use of the word 'wife', and Kisara watched as the woman raised her eyes from her lap and looked at her, not really seeing anything. The dark eyes seemed almost dead. "Charming, quite charming." she commented, managing a smile.
As dinner went on, Kisara disliked this imposterologist more and more and felt more and more sorry for his wife, who only passed comment on anything when asked. The prince was good company, and classically handsome, yet somehow a parrot of Epiktetos. After dinner, music began to play and people started to dance. After modestly claiming to be 'not very good at it', Kisara managed to persuad Seth to dance. Epiktetos and Hypatia followed suit.
Dancing with Seth a few months ago would have been as farfetched as flying to the moon, but then again, much had changed. It truly was amazing, and she could not help but feel her heart drop when it was time to switch partners. Epiktetos was not a bad dancer, but she wanted to be with Seth. She didn't like him, there was something there that just creeped her out. Finally, the dance ended, and Seth and Epiktetos went to get some more wine for their table. Noticing that Lady Hypatia was sitting by herself, Kisara sat down next to her.
"Are you well my lady?" she asked.
The woman looked around, and smiled at Kisara. "Quite well, thank you." she replied.
"I could not help but notice your silence."
Hypatia looked terrified, playing with her bracelet. "My husband does not like it that I talk without his will." Kisara tried very hard not to gawp. She saw this, "Greçia is different, my child." she said, "Women do not have the privileges you have in Egypt. I know your custom is different and that this probably shocks you, but I know no other way. I apologise for my lack of contribution to conversation."
"Do not apologise." she said. She was about to inquire as to how she could ever live with a man controlling her every move, however Seth and Epiktetos had returned with the wine, and in hindsight, maybe it was better and more ladylike not to have asked.
Epiktetos took his wife's hand, and led her off to talk to some other people, while the prince had seemingly set his sights on Mana, who, to be quite frank, really wasn't interested, and kept ducking in and out of the servants' quarters. Mahado and Isis meanwhile, somehow managed to find themselves within eavesdropping distance of Epiktetos and the king and queen of Greçia. Mahado was just about to put as much distance between them and the prick as possible, when he heard something interesting...
"You see that pale, pretty girl over there?" Epiktetos asked their Majesties, "I can quite truly and honestly say that she is a fraud!"
Mahado paled. No... This man surely could not have seen through Seth's teaching!!
"Her Egyptian is too good." he said, "that clearly indicates that she is foreign, whereas others are instructed in their native language, Egyptian people aren't."
Mahado scoffed under his breath. "That's because there's nothing wrong with our language to start with." he thought. And any fool could see that she was foreign, with a paleness like hers, but it was the fraud thing he wasn't quite comfortable with.
"And although she may have studied with an expert dialectitian and grammarian..." he continued, "I can tell that she was born - Teutonic! Not only Teutonic, but of royal blood." he pointed toward Kisara, "She is a princess. Her blood," he said, "is bluer than the Nile is or ever was. Royalty is absolutely written on her face."
Mahado and Isis, who had caught onto the fact that he was eavesdropping, and had indeed started to copy, looked to each other with wide eyes, listening as Epiktetos spread rumours around amongst the guests that Kisara was a Teutonic princess. Had Seth heard this news yet?
"Enjoying the evening?" Mahado asked, as he and Isis slid into empty chairs on Seth and Kisara's table.
"I would be were it not for that blaggard who uses the science of speech more to blackmail and swindle than teach. He made it the devilish business of his to find out who this Lady Kisara is. Every time we looked around there he was that hairy hound from Athens. Never leaving us alone, never have I ever known a ruder pest..."
Isis leant on the table smugly, clasping her elbows and trying to smirk but it was more of a devilish smile. "That rude pest..." she said, "Has been spreading a rumour around the room, that Lady Kisara is a fraud."
Seth's face was classic. "What??"
"Yes, he has been saying that she is in fact a Teutonic Princess. What do you say to that?" said Mahado, elbowing Seth chummily. Seth and Kisara looked so ecstatic they couldn't even speak, "You said that you would do it and indeed you did."
...
"So who wants to tell the Pharaoh?"
Tonight young man you did it, you did it, you did
it.
You said that you would do it and indeed you did.
I thought
that you would rue it, I doubted you'd do it
But now I must admit
it that succeed you did...
