The Festival

Disclaimer: I am not an Egyptologist. So there would be several fallacies in this story regarding Ancient Egypt.

Nightfall!

Keyon, the Nubian runaway slave, walked as he remembered his reason for his hatred towards the Nubian royals. He came from a family of Medjays. They were a small tribe living a peaceful, nomadic life. Then, one fateful day, they were spotted by a militia serving under the ruthless Nubian rulers. He was only a toddler when the soldiers surrounded his tribe and attacked. Vastly outnumbered and overpowered, the Medjay warriors were quickly slain. Those who survived were bound in thick, chaffing rope and stripped of their possessions, their joy, and their freedom. The years of performing backbreaking labor under the scorching sun fed Keyon's flame of vengeance. Fortunately, his family taught him the Medjay's skills of stealth, survival, and knife combat. Tonight, though his skills were unpolished, he would put them to good use. Tonight, he will assassinate.

"YOU! What is your business here?" an Egyptian guard shouted. Keyon was spotted trying to sneak with the crowd onto the festival grounds. Turns out that wearing a hooded cloak does not camouflage you very well. Especially if you are in a crowd of girls wearing pretty dresses.

The Nile Mansion was full of life and color. All sorts of Egyptian flowers sat in gem-covered vases. The walls were decorated with gold, silver, precious stones, and beautiful tapestries. Candles illuminated inside the huge mansion and even the courtyard outside. And the silver moon glimmered on the vast Nile river's ripples.

"This is so exciting. Isn't it, Aba?" Akila said to her friend.

"Haha! But I still can't believe you are wearing that to the festival," Abayomi replied.

Akila was wearing the Ladybug dress that Abayomi created for her. It was an exact replica of Ladybug's red Egyptian dress with each black spot at the exact same place. The only differences between Akila's costume and the actual outfit were that there were no gold bracelets because Abayomi could not afford gold and there was no mask because Abayomi insisted it to be left at home.

As for the talented weaver, Abayomi was wearing her newly created kalasiris. It was a bright orange sleeveless dress of a simple design. To top it off, she wore her latest invention: sandals made of red cloth, which were leftover when she finished the Ladybug costume.

They stood in line where hundreds of maidens waited. As they entered the mansion one-by-one, they were to walk into the main chamber and bow before the Pharaoh, who sat on his throne with Prince Tut seated at his right hand. What the guests did not know was that this was part of the Pharaoh's plan to find the girl with the purest heart. Hidden behind a curtain, Chief Priest Sebak stood near the throne with the Scale of Anubis. As the girls stood before Pharaoh, Sebak weighed their hearts.

"Neith from Thebes," the royal announcer proclaimed. Neith walked up and bowed in front of Pharaoh.

The scale tipped down. Too heavy with greed.

"Nenet from Rosetta," the royal announcer proclaimed.

The scale tipped down slightly. A little jealousy.

After a couple hundred girls, Akila entered the main chamber.

"Akila from Memphis," the announcer shouted.

Akila came to the foot of the throne and bowed.

The Scale of the Anubis tipped up. Her heart was very pure with good character.

Then, it was Abayomi's turn.

"Abayomi from Memphis," the announcer proclaimed.

Slowly, Abayomi walked towards the throne. But when she got there, she just stood there.

That's her! That the girl, Tut said in his thoughts, The announcer said she is Abayomi. 'Abayomi'. So that is her name. Abayomi – 'bringer of joy.' What a fitting name! That night, she saw my pain behind the mask. From just a small kind gesture, she cured me from my haunting loneliness, mended my aching heart, and filled it with sweet joy.

The prince was trained to sit in a regal manner at all times. But at that moment, all the teachings and formalities were forgotten as the prince got out of his seat and walked over to the girl. Her dress was plain and austere. She did not wear any jewelry except black earrings and a wesekh collar Akila lent her. And her face was cute but unimpressive and clearly showed that she was a poor commoner. But in Tut's eyes, she was the most precious girl in all of Egypt.

Standing in front of her, Tut was about to greet her when his father slammed his fist on the throne's arm. The prince turned around and saw the Pharaoh's angry eyes, and he returned to his seat where he belonged. With a sigh, the Pharaoh dismissed Abayomi and the next girl came in.

A buffet was set in the courtyard. How extravagant! How divine! There were hundreds of platters filled with Egyptian delicacies. There was a roasted pig, seasoned lamb, honeyed dates, fried fish, stuffed waterfowl, boiled locusts, spiced alligator, and roasted scarab beetles.

As Abayomi perused the choices skipping the pig and scarabs, Akila was complaining about alligators being on the menu.

"Alligators are such beautiful creatures," Akila argued.

"Remember when you tried to bring one home to be your pet?" Abayomi chuckled.

"Yes, yes. It is a rare honor for you, unfortunates, to be graced by my presence," a loud, obnoxious voice cried, "NOW, CAN ONE OF YOU UNDERPRIVELEDGED MONKEYS GET YOUR PRINCESS SOMETHING TO EAT!"

Oh, great! Princess Cleo was here.

The greeting ritual took forever. But it was finally over. And yet, Prince Tut was stuck at his seat because the stupid formalities require the future rising sun of Egypt to remain at the throne throughout the party. Well, he was not going to stay here for the entire night, especially when Abayomi was here. He needed to find a way to sneak off.

"I need to relieve myself at the toilet," the clever prince said, "May I be excused, father?"

It worked! He was allowed to leave to use the toilet. The plan was nice and simple. Go to the toilet room, but then sneak off to find Abayomi.

"EEEK!" a high-pitched shriek emerged when Tut opened the toilet room. Apparently, it was occupied.

"Sorry!" Tut shouted as he quickly closed the door. He was kind of embarrassed, but he could not shake off the feeling that she was rather large for a girl.

That was close, thought Keyon who was undressing in the toilet room. He just successfully infiltrated the mansion by disguising as a lady, complete with a wig and makeup. Unfortunately, the only kalasiris that fitted him was sleeveless, so he had to ditch his hidden arm blade. But now that he made it into the festival grounds, he can change back into his assassin clothes and move to phase two of his plan.

The atmosphere of the party suddenly turned sour as Miss. Snobby approached the buffet table.

"Can one of you, lower-class grunts, fetch me something to eat?" Princess Cleo continued her tirade, "I'M STARVING!"

"The table is only 5 feet away," Akila boldly said, "It's not that hard."

"EXACTLY!" Cleo said, "It's not that hard. So, somebody get it!"

A random Egyptian girl, named Salihah, quickly came with a plate of various meats, fruits, and vegetables and said with a sweet, pandering voice, "H-Here! I got you some food, your majesty!" Sampling a small piece of food, Cleo shrugged and said, "Hmph! It will do." Then, she noticed Abayomi and her plain orange dress. Uh, Oh! The predator has spotted it prey.

"Ha! You call that a dress?" Miss. Princess of Snobs started, "It looks like the burlap rags that my dirty slaves wear."

Standing behind a marble pillar, Prince Tut was scanning the crowd for Abayomi. Where could she be? Was it that girl? No, she was wearing too much jewelry. Was it that girl? No, her hair was too curly.

Wait! Near the edge of the dense crowd. Is that her? That must be her. Her gorgeous, dark, shoulder-length hair was straight, simple, and innocent.

Getting out from behind the pillar, the prince moved quickly to her and tapped on her shoulder. With his gentle, smooth voice, Prince Tut asked, "Excuse me, my lady. May I have this dance?"

The surprised girl quickly turn around and faced him with her … white and red face.

Oops! Wrong girl. Her entire face was caked with white lead powder, and her lips were painted red with crushed bug juice.

Health Warning: White lead, or any lead, is toxic and can lead to skin rash and lead poisoning.

The flattered girl said, "You know, where I come from, we greet each other by kissing each other's cheek."

Abayomi was use to people insulting her clothes. But this obnoxious princess went far beyond that.

"And what did you say your name was?" Cleo continued roasting her, "Abayomi? More like Aba-yucky. Am I right? Ahahahaha!"

"Hey!" Akila shouted to defend her best friend, "How would you feel when someone insults your name? And she is the most talented weaver in Egypt. She even made my dress."

"SHE made your dress?" the princess responded to this annoying peasant, "I think it is an insult. Ladybug would never wear such a cheap, unadorned imitation. She is far more refined than your simple, stupid, unsophisticated mind can ever understand. She clearly belongs to a higher class than you."

"You're wrong," a soft voice said. Finally, Abayomi spoke. She could not stay silent when her friend was targeted. But the princess was not impressed.

Immediately, Cleo retaliated, "Oh! And you think Ladybug is more like you? A poor, common girl? In fact, you don't even look Egyptian." A shock suddenly went down Abayomi's spine. Seeing that she struck a nerve, the unrelenting princess stepped on Abayomi's foot. "And what's with your sandal? It's hideous. It's made out of cheap red cloth," Princess Cleo stated before she pushed the poor girl away. When Abayomi fell, her foot fell out of the red sandal, which the mean princess immediately picked up and threw across the courtyard. With tears flowing down her face, Abayomi got up and ran off to get away and to find her sandal.

Unbeknownst to the girls, Keyon stood hidden in the shadows with murderous eyes locked onto his target. After sneaking around the mansion grounds, he finally got close enough to make his move. He opened a bag and out slithered a venomous Cobra. One bite with its poison-dripping fangs would mean certain death to its victim. It slithered under the buffet table. It moved towards the group of girls. It approached the ankle of its target: Princess Cleo.

Just 10 inches away.

Just 6 inches away.

Just 3 inches away.

"Aww! Aren't you a cute one?" Akila uncontrollably said as she spotted the snake. She immediately picked it up and stroked its long scaly body. Surprisingly, the snake didn't attack. Instead, it forgot its mission and just enjoyed the warm, loving sensation.

"EEEEK!" Princess Cleo shrieked before dashing away. Oh, well! At least it scared her (along with many other girls).

As this was going on, Abayomi was on the other side of the courtyard looking for her sandal. Where could it be? Hopefully, nobody picked it up and took it away. She was crawling between people and combing the ground with her hands. Then, she came upon a pair of a man's feet.

"Hello! I believe this is yours," a gentle voice said.

Abayomi lifted her head and saw the blond prince of Egypt standing in front of her. Her glossy brown eyes met his emerald eyes. After a moment of staring silently, Tut gave her the most charming smile and offered her a hand to help her up. She felt a tingle as the prince's smooth, warm hand held her own as he led her to a seat and sat her down. In a role reversal, the prince kneeled in front of her. Then, he held out the red sandal that she lost and placed it on her foot. It was as if Abayomi, the normal girl, became a princess. Her face glowed red. It was like something from a dream. Don't wake me up.

"Why don't we go get some air?" Tut said as he got up as he took her hand again, and the pair went for a stroll along the Nile River's moonlit shore.

Frustration barely describes what Keyon was experiencing after the snake failed and Princess Cleo ran away. He came so close to achieving the biggest wish in his life, and his plan fell apart in front of him. If he was not busy hiding, he would have thrown the biggest rage that would have been heard throughout Africa.

Gurgle! Gurgle! Keyon's stomach rumbled. Ever since his defeat at the hands of Ladybug and Chat Bast, all he ate were scraps that he managed to steal or find. Fortunately, the buffet table was nearby. The food was so fragrant and succulent. Perhaps, if he was sneaky enough, maybe he could get a bite without being caught.

Slowly he crawled to the table. Creep! Creep! Creep! He was so close to getting a piece of fish when he turned his head to the side and saw Akila staring at him.

Oh! Shoot! He has been caught! He would need to run before her scream alerted the guards.

But a scream never came. Instead, Akila asked, "Do you want that fish?" and handed him the fried fish. Then, she said, "You must really hungry to sneak into the mansion for some food," as she placed a bunch of food on a plate for him.

Such a kind soul. Keyon never saw such generosity in all of Egypt. Then, when she kneeled down to hand him the plate, he got a good look at her face and he suddenly felt like crying. Above Akila's right brow was a mole. It was just like … on his daughter's forehead.

His dear little Kali. Nothing made him happier in his miserable life. She was a ray of sunshine full of sweetness and innocence. Then, his only sunshine was taken away on that fateful day when she was sold off to a foreign noble, and he never saw her again. The memories flooded his mind and led to a flood of tears as his hardened heart was breached.

"Are you okay, sir?" Akila asked. The weeping man nodded before he turned around and left the mansion ground.

No one will die tonight.

Sneak Peek for the Next Chapter

Tikki: Abayomi, do you remember the pocket?

Chat: Looks like this Prince Tut is a very nice guy

Abayomi: I thought cats rubbed their scent to claim them as their property.

Pharaoh Tutankhamun: The ritual will be performed today!

Author's Note: Phew! I can't believe how many chapters I wrote. I'm almost at the climax. If you were wondering what kind of ending I'm planning, check out the scroll in the Ladybug episode. Notice how Ladybug was not wearing a mask? Why is that?