"Well, you see I had lived in England all my life," Effie began, sitting cross-legged on the floor opposite the wheely chair in which Ahkmenrah was residing. He had offered her the seat but she had declined politely, insisting that she was much more comfortable as she was. "I lived there until I was about nine years old. You understand the modern concept of years, don't you?"

Ahkmenrah nodded. Larry had partially explained all that to him at the very beginning.

"Well, it all changed with an accident, unfortunately. A very sad accident."

"What sort of accident?" Ahkmenrah asked curiously, and Effie sighed somewhat sadly, her expression turning slightly distant.

"Well, actually, my parents both died." She admitted, her lips pressing together, and Ahkmenrah was suddenly unsure of what to say. "A house fire."

"Ah…" he tried, nodding slowly. "I see. My condolences…"

Effie shrugged, blinking rapidly, before continuing on.

"Anyway, I was given to a foster family to look after me. I had no other relations you see. Both of my parents were only-children and both sets of grandparents were long gone by then. A foster family is simply a 'temporary family.' People who volunteer to look after me and get paid for it. I was too devastated by my loss to get to know them properly to start with, as you may imagine. I thought that my parents – wherever they were. Are. – Might hate me for replacing them. I soon realised that was silly and untrue, grew used to my foster parents and began to quite like them. The feeling must have been mutual as they adopted me, before bringing me back here to the United States – where they were originally from. I'm technically Effie Trident now, but I much prefer to keep my parent's name – Kensington."

"Do you ever miss your home country?" Ahkmenrah asked carefully, not wanting to hit anything too sensitive. Effie didn't seem to mind however, and she nodded vehemently in response, her expression firm.

"I miss England a lot. Especially Hythe – a little village near Southampton where I lived with my parents. The school I went to there was a Public School*, and so was very good, and I fitted right in. My foster parents were unable to afford to pay the tuition for a Public School and I had to go to a state school instead. A state is simply funded by the government, and practically anyone can attend whether they are as thick as posts or not. Naturally, it was rubbish, and everybody made fun of how I spoke, and how clever I was. I hated it."

"And what about the school here?"

"Erm…" Effie began, squinting as she thought. "It's what I would call mediocre. It's not as bad as the state school in England was, but it is still quite rubbish. It's government run as well, although it's actually also known as a Public School. A Public School here in America is something different to a Public School in England though."

"Do people still make fun of your speech?" Ahkmenrah probed, suddenly quite keen. Seeing as his accent was similar to that of Effie, he would be able to gauge by her answer whether or not he should have problems with his own should he one day be able to go out into the modern world, somehow.

"Some people do, yes." She answered frankly, her expression souring. "There is one girl in particular who wont let it go, but I can find comfort in the fact that she is thicker than clotted cream, and will go nowhere. There's no chance of her marrying into wealth either as she is far too fat and ugly. One day I hope to hire her to clean my toilets."

Ahkmenrah was slightly taken aback but never-the-less amused at this comment. He hadn't expected to hear something so catty and spiteful from Effie's mouth, of all people.

"Is that not somewhat harsh to say?" He tried hesitantly, feeling that he had to. "Insisting that another girl is too ugly and idiotic to succeed?"

"No." She snorted vehemently, shaking her hair over her shoulders. "There are only two things that will get you anywhere, Ahkmenrah. Beauty, or Intelligence. Tara is unlucky enough to have been graced with neither, and so will fail in life."

"And I suppose you have both," Ahkmenrah finished for her, raising his eyebrows slightly. Self-assurance radiated in waves from this girl. She was unlike any child he had ever known, in that manner. Effie narrowed her eyes challengingly at the Pharaoh, mistaking his statement for sarcasm, and sat up a little straighter, her brow furrowed as she met his gaze defensively.

"I don't think I have the Beauty, actually, but I know that I've got the intelligence. You can scorn all you want, and think I'm as boastful as you like, but I know I've got the brains to go anywhere or do anything, and it would be pointless for me to believe otherwise. I know far more about everything than anybody else my age, that I know of, and that's a fact."

Ahkmenrah gazed down at her silently, unsure of whether to be vaguely insulted by the tone in which she had addressed him, amused at her attitude, or both. Effie seemed to think that she had spoken a little out of place, and winced, her expression turning regretful.

"Sorry…" she said apologetically, glancing back up to meet the gaze of king. "It's just, I'm so tired of getting it for being clever, and I naturally get very defensive when my intelligence is questioned."

Ahkmenrah pretended to remain somewhat stern, but was finding it difficult to hide his smile. Having a conversation with this girl could never be uninteresting, that was for certain. She seemed far too spirited and dynamic for that. She would have been wasted as a female in his time - much like another little girl he used to know, he suddenly remembered.

"Worry about it not." He answered after a moment, before sighing and settling back in his chair. His expression had turned suddenly and startlingly distant for a moment, but for now it snapped back to how it usually was; calm and collected. "Now, I believe I have to uphold my end of the bargain. What do you wish to know about myself?"

Effie paused for a few moments, her head cocked on one side, lips poised as she pondered. She hadn't really thought about what she was going to ask, but why not start at the basics?

"Tell me about yourself." She said decidedly, shifting slightly and stretching out her legs across the cold tiled floor. She had refused the chair out of courtesy, but it definitely looked more comfortable than her current position. Her bum was beginning to ache.

"That," Ahkmenrah started firmly, "is not a question."

"Alright, let me rephrase it then; Who are you, exactly? And what was your life like?"

"That is two questions-"

"Oh shush up!" Effie complained crossly, blowing a strand of ginger hair out of her eyes. "You know what I'm asking."

"Yes, however I feel the question is slightly too personal. I thought you would ask something about being a King, or my land itself."

"I already know those sort of things, Ahkmenrah. I want to know about you. Besides, I told you some things quite personal to me. Not even Nicky knows as much as you do now."

"You hardly told me anything."

"It was still personal!"

Ahkmenrah hesitated, none-the-less. He was reluctant to share what he had left of his memories of his life all those millennia ago – especially with a young girl. However, if what she had claimed about her own revelations was true, Akhmenrah did owe her something, at least.

"I will tell you about fractions of memories." He finally agreed, and Effie shifted her position slightly in an attempt to get more comfortable.

"Don't tell me things like, 'I was born here, and died like this,' etcetera. I already know all that." She warned him, and Akhmenrah raised an eyebrow, sceptical.

"Do you now?"

"Yes, I do. You were thought to have been born sometime in the fifteen-twenties BC. You were reported to have died due to a head injury due to scans showing several contusions across the back of your skull. That was never one-hundred percent confirmed, however…"

She glanced up at the King expectantly, who met her gaze, somewhat perplexed.

"I am afraid I cannot confirm either statements. – My memories do not cover my death nor do I yet fully understand this dating system that you use. How, though, did you get hold of this information?"

"Ever heard of the internet?" Effie replied after a moments thought, already anticipating the Pharaoh's answer.

"No, I have not."

"Never mind then." Effie shrugged, twizzling a strand of her hair around a finger. "You'll just have to take my word for it."

"How many people have access to this 'internet'?"

"Oh, Millions! Billions even!" Effie exclaimed, and Ahkmenrah felt uncomfortable. What more information regarding himself could these millions of people see? He decided to voice the question out loud.

"Oh not much." Effie assured him, shaking her head. "Not much is known about you really. You're tomb was robbed of most of it's contents shortly after you were buried, and there are very few written records of you. You're one of the lesser known Kings."

"Lesser known?" He challenged, slightly defensively.

"Well, you know." Effie explained awkwardly. "You're only famous for having a mummy and a pretty tablet. You're hardly one of the big-shots, like Tutankhamun, Akhenaten and Ramses the Great."

"A 'pretty tablet' that brings objects to life!" Akhmenrah protested, his brow furrowing and his body-language radiating a new arrogance. Effie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and chose her next words carefully.

"Yes, it does… but nobody but us knows that, do they?"

"What about my successes as a King? As a ruler?"

"As far as I've heard you only reigned for about a year or two. You couldn't really do anything spectacular in that time."

"I successfully took the throne after my father's passing and kept the country under stable control, if I remember correctly," Akhmenrah almost growled.

"Yes, like a whole load of others!" Effie exclaimed exasperatedly, reacting negatively and defensively to Akhmenrah's aggressive tone. . "You didn't try to abandon the traditional Egyptian gods and introduce one of the first known records of monotheism; you didn't live for about ninety years and become one of the most celebrated Pharaoh's of all time; your tomb wasn't found it it's full glory with an iconic death mask over your face; Oh! And you weren't the last ever Pharaoh - partially responsible for the fall of Egypt to Rome, who possibly poisoned herself with an Asp. You were not that important!"

Following her declaration, there was a short but tense silence – Effie making up for the breath lost in her little tirade and Akhmenrah staring thunderously down at her.

"I've have not ever been spoken to in such a way before. Nor have I ever had my significance questioned," He said quietly, but stonily, after a few moments. Effie simply shrugged.

"You're not my king." She intoned a touch sulkily – her natural emotive response when she felt she'd gone maybe a little bit too far with something.

"It doesn't take being a King to deserve respect." He replied in icy tones, before pushing himself out of his chair and turning on his heel without another word – marching with all the pomp of royalty up the stairs and no-doubt back to his tomb. Effie stayed where she was, sitting quietly, picking at a fingernail, her lips pouted and her face taking on a red flush. Regret at her words was already beginning to gnaw at her gut, despite her internal appeals that she had only been telling the truth. Maybe she hadn't had to make all those comparisons, and calling someone who obviously thought quite highly of himself 'unimportant' was probably a little harsh. It was the same as when people tried to insult her intelligence, she suddenly realised, remembering how much she hated that. She instantly wished she'd thought of that before, but her tongue had always been sharp and quick to respond without much reason.

Effie sighed then, and crossed her arms across her chest tightly, hating how mean she was suddenly feeling. It certainly didn't feel nice to know that she'd upset generally one of the kindest and most sincere people in the museum – that was for sure.

Oopsies. Effie can be quite a meanie. Curse her cutting-edge tongue.

Not much about Akhmenrah's life in this – that will come later. I will warn you in advance that I will have to alter history slightly to do this seeing as he didn't actually exist. I might have to invent some random new dynasty. I'll work it out somehow.

*I gather that a Public School is a non-fee-paying and government owned school in the US? In the UK it is normally a fee-paying school, or at least one that requires an entry test to attend. A Private school is the big fancy one where money talks more than intelligence. A state school is a government owned one, I believe. The kind where it depends on where you live as to which one you attend. Catchment areas and that. I hope I got that right, anyway – I don't live in the UK any more.

Thank you to:

Rumbleroar's-apprentice: I'm glad your computer is fixed, and thank you for the compliments :) I'm trying to introduce as much Effie/Ahk interaction as I can. Thank you for approving my other story as well :D

Mamalita: I'm glad you liked the accent thing! It took a while to put down right!

TTCyclone: Thank you for support with the other story again! And I'm glad you like the ranting/drabble :D I need to establish a good relationship between Effie and Ahk before I can take this any further, although I'm working on making the procedure a little quicker than planned. Bear with me!

Thornedbudx: Again, thank you for support with the other story. And I'm glad you understand the whole, UK/Britain thing!

LuvDanceGirl: Hopefully I got it all right and you have a headstart in Geography! Feel free to blame me if you fail though XD

Pinkxjellybean: I could have done something more interesting with the globe scene, yes. Gah well. I might go back and edit it later. Thanks for reviewing!

Tybs23: Effie is just exceptional :D Thank you for the blessing, and I'm glad you think I've got the personalities right. I find it hard to do Effie sometimes, because I'm so desperate to get you guys to see her how I see her!

You know the drill, everybody. Reviews – whether flames or whatnot.

Love you all :)

Rage x