"Y-Y-You l-love- H-H-How? W-Why?!" Rath continued to stammer as she finished putting what was left of the clothing she had bought for them in the back of her car then got inside, knowing that the distraught mummy was too preoccupied by what she had said to Sherry before checking out- that he didn't even realize that he was in the car again.

Awesome. Now all she had to do was pick up the food and-

"How could you say such words so carelessly! That woman now probably thinks she will one day be Queen!" Rath wailed as Lexie started the car, startling him into silence for a moment before he started up again. This time with Ja-Kal wholeheartedly agreeing with him.

"Rath is right, my princess. You must be very careful about who you give you're affections too."

"Aw quit it. I don't want to hear that from a bunch of people who lived during an age of indiscriminant sex and orgies."

"What the-" Ja-Kal started.

"Where did you hear such-" Rath started to say when Nefer-tina sighed wistfully and said aloud,

"Yeah. Those were fun times. I kind of miss them," Causing Lexie and the two men to slowly turn to look at her, Rath's jaw slack, Ja-Kal's face was flushed with embarrassment as he thought about the orgy where he had met his wife Tia, while Lexie just stared at her for a moment before Nefer-tina seemed to realize that they were all looking at her. "Er, what I mean is- Rath and Ja-Kal are right. You should listen to them." She said, trying to divert attention from her by shifting it back to Lexie.

"Nice save. But I think you're still gonna get lectured." Lexie said as she drove the car around to the loading dock to the side of the store and parked with the back to the store then got out and walked around the car and opened the trunk as several kids she knew came out carrying her stuff and load it into the back of the car on top of the bags of clothing. Once that was done, Lexie waved at the kids after promising to see them at the local youth center in a few days time for their usual game of hoops then got back into the car which had fallen completely silent up until she got back in.

"I cannot believe that you attended an orgy, Nefer-tina!" Rath said in an aghast tone. Nefer-tina shrugged her shoulders at his tone then deflected the conversation away from her by saying,

"What's the big deal Rath? So I attended one. I was old enough to participate. Besides, if you really want to lecture someone then lecture Ja-Kal. I know for a fact that he went to a few before he married-" Causing said man to stiffen in his seat and flush furiously as he shook his head no and tried to shut Nefer-tina up with a glare that was downright threatening. He didn't want the princess to know anything of his sorded past. It was mortifying!

Besides, he didn't like the way his princess was suddenly looking at him with that odd look that practically screamed, "Oh really. Interesting."

Like she could somehow see- Oh...right. He'd sort of forgotten about her little ability for the moment. He thought as he gave himself a mental shake. Ra in the heavens above, how could he have forgotten about her ability so easily? It was such a peculiar power that one would think he and the others would be utterly fascinated by it and want to know what else she could do with it aside from 'see' and 'hear' what cannot be seen or heard.

After all there had to be a few things that she was neglecting to tell them about it. Like could she touch someone and automatically absorb their knowledge and life experiences? He was curious to know. But for some strange reason he couldn't bring himself to ask as she carefully maneuvered the car out of the market parking lot and back onto the road.

He reached over and gripped the strange handle attached to the door and tried not to start panicking like he had before. But it was difficult. There were so many horseless chariots everywhere and not many of them were as carefully driven as his princess's chariot was. In fact by the time they came to their second stop for the day, Ja-Kal was practically vibrating with rage at some of the people's behavior towards his princess.

How was it possible that royalty couldn't be recognized? Surely the people of this strange new era knew that the princess would one day rule them. So why show such disrespect? Was it some sort of rite of passage? A way to test her and see if she was worthy of the throne?

He didn't get it.

He did however growl like a rabid animal at some young men who approached them with the intent to speak to the princess. Thus scaring them away. And it was a good thing too, he was in a very dark mood and might have tried ripping them apart with his bare hands if they hadn't run.

Lexie looked over at him as he took up a position to her right, well within arms reach of her- His blue eyes glaring at everyone and everything that dared to get close, and sighed. She couldn't very well take him and the others furniture shopping like this. Reaching out with one of her hands she tapped him on the shoulder and waited until he turned his head to look at her- then flicked him on the forehead.

He stood there next to her with a startled look on his handsome face, probably wondering what had just happened as she said, "I know that you mean well but please stop growling and snarling for now. I'll not stand for you scaring innocent people just because you're pissed. Whatever is on you're mind can wait until we get home and you have proper time to vent and calm down."

He lifted his hand to his forehead and gently touched the spot where she had flicked him and stared at her for a moment before dropping his hand. His expression one of astonishment as he thought, How odd. All of the anger he'd felt just moments ago was gone as if it had never been. How had she done that? He wondered as he and the others followed her into a small building full of furniture and such.

"Uh, princess-"

"Shh." Lexie shushed him as a sales rep came walking up looking happy. But then everyone in this side of town knew about the kid multi millionaire.

"Miss Carnovan, how are you today?" The rep asked as he reached out and tried to shake Lexie's hand. Lexie looked at the appendage as if it were a snake just waiting to bite her and stuffed her hands in her pants pockets. The man looked a little disappointed that she didn't take his hand, but his smile only faultered for a second before he seemed to get over his disappointment.

"I'm fine Ethan. How are you?"

"Great. My wife, Ann just had our first baby. A little boy. Wanna see his picture?" The man asked excitedly as he fished out the picture before Lexie could say anything to stop him. He pulled the picture out of his wallet and handed it to her and gave her a grin that only a new father could pull off as she studied the image of his son.

"He looks like he'll be a little heartbreaker Ethan."

"Damn right he will. He's got his mother's looks after all."

"What'd you name him?"

"We haven't yet. My wife and her side of the family are all very superstitious when it comes to naming children. Especially when they think the wrong name could cause them to be cursed in life."

"Cursed?" Well that was a peculiar thing to hear, Lexie thought as she took one of her glove tips in between her teeth and pulled the material off of her hand and said, "Let's see if I can help keep him from being cursed." She switched hands and grasped the picture between her bare fingers and focused for a second. Trying to see a small glimpse of the kid's future.

"What are you doing little man?" A woman with strawberry blond hair and amber eyes asked the cooing toddler crawling at her feet. The baby looked up at her and grinned.

"He's going to have you're smile Ethan. You're honey colored eyes too-" Lexie said absently as she pushed further unaware that she was drawing a little bit of a crowd. Ethan remained quiet as the mummies all shifted uncomfortably.

"Ma, ma, ma, ma!" The baby said over and over again, excited that he was starting to pick up on words and how to say them. The woman smiled down at him and scooped him up and spun him around causing him to laugh like mad. Ma-ma fun! The baby thought happily as he curled up in the woman's arms and put his thumb in his mouth.

"That's right sweetie. Grab a nap before daddy gets home so you can talk to him," The baby cooed at her a few times then drifted off to sleep to the sound of his mother's voice. "Sleep tight Ash."

Lexie opened her eyes and handed Ethan the photo and smirked and said, "His name is Ash." Ethan blinked at her then gave her a slow smile. Ash. He'd always liked that name.