Atem had started to notice something. It seemed like every time Shu would finish dinner, he would take leftover bread out into the garden with him. The Pharaoh didn't think anything of it at first. He just thought that his son was eating outside, it was his favorite place after all. A couple of weeks later, Mana began to join him also. As soon as Shu was done eating, he would run over to his mother's side and patiently wait for her to finish. Afterwards they would go outside. Atem thought it was about time to see what his wife and son were up to.
"Come on, hurry!" Shu said excitedly as he pulled on his father's hand.
Atem chuckled. "I'm coming, Little One. What do you have out here that's so interesting?"
"Well, you may not exactly like it." Mana slightly laughed.
The three stopped in front of the garden pond. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Just some dragonflies darting about. Shu jumped up on the side and started to tear the bread into small pieces before throwing them into the water. Not even a few moments later, hundreds of tadpoles came wriggling to the surface. Atem looked on trying to hide his disgust. Now he understood what his wife meant.
"Aren't they cute, Daddy? I've been feeding them this whole time!" The Prince said proudly.
Mana struggled to hold her laughter back at the expression on Atem's face. He liked a lot of things but frogs were definitely not one of them. Trying to be a good dad though, he agreed.
"They sure are! We'll have a lot of frogs this year." He added an "unfortunately" under his breath making the Queen playfully hit his arm.
Using up all the bread, Shu stuck his fingers in the water allowing the tadpoles to nibble on them.
"That tickles!" He said laughing.
Atem sighed looking at his son. Of all the animals the Prince could like, it had to be frogs.
Some time passed allowing the tadpoles to outgrow their nursery and begin their terrestrial life. As if the garden was not good enough for them, several moved inside the palace walls. Move a jar, find a frog. Move a scroll, find another. They were everywhere! One had to be quick when capturing them otherwise they would hide or relocate to a new spot.
That's where Shu came in. During that summer, he earned another title. First and foremost, he was the Prince of Kemet. His second title was the Royal Frog Capturer. He just had a way with them. The frogs never tried to hide or hop away. They would sit and allow him to pick them up. No one had seen anything like it. Shu had so much fun carrying them around that it wasn't uncommon to find a couple hidden in his scarf at any given time. Much to his parents' scolding, of course.
There was one frog in particular that would wait for him outside and croak loudly every time he saw the Prince. He was a bright green with tan markings on his legs and toes along with a stripe down his back. Not to mention he was the biggest frog Atem had ever seen. He was large enough to sit comfortably on Shu's shoulder who so proudly taught him how.
The frog was named Kek and he became the Prince's treasured companion. He went everywhere Shu did even to bed. Atem had woken up a time or two to find Kek staring at him on top of his pillow when Shu would sleep with him and Mana. The Pharaoh didn't like it but hey, what could he do? If Shu's pet brought him this much joy then he would try to look past his dislike of frogs. However, he did say that Kek had to stay in a cage at night so that was one small victory.
One fateful day, while Atem and Seto were arguing yet again over a trade deal, Shu came bursting into his father's study in tears.
"What's wrong, Little One?" The Pharaoh asked jumping up in a panic. Shu never cried! Did he hurt himself? Atem picked him up and looked him over but he seemed to be fine.
"Daddy! Daddy! Kek won't wake up!" The Prince cried into his father's shoulder.
Atem felt his heart drop. That was one thing a parent never wanted to hear. Oh, how was he going to explain this? Hopefully Kek was just sleeping like he usually did after being fed. The Pharaoh prayed to Amun that it was just that.
"Shh, shh, ok I'll take a look at him." Atem said trying to calm his son. He turned back to Seto who looked more than annoyed. "We'll finish discussing this when I return."
Walking out the door with Shu, the Pharaoh was pretty sure the Priest mumbled something about never having children.
The Pharaoh entered Shu's bed chamber and went over to the wooden cage that sat next to his bed. Kek was inside just like he had been when the Prince put him to bed the night before. He even still had his little blanket over him. Atem set Shu down and took the frog out of the cage. Kek stirred slightly but otherwise just laid there which was something he never did in Atem's grasp.
"What's wrong with him?" The Prince sniffled.
"I'm not sure, Shu." The Pharaoh said looking the frog over. He was just thankful he was still alive at the moment. Maybe he could heal him? But then again, he wasn't sure how. Ugh! He had to think fast! His son looked absolutely crushed! Kek had brought Shu so much happiness that Atem couldn't just give up on him. It was true that he hated frogs but this one was special. Thinking, he remembered an old tattered scroll in the library that he practiced with Mahad once. The spell allowed one to heal internal injuries, so maybe that could help. Now, that had been on a fish years ago and he was never really successful but...he had to try! Placing Kek back in the cage, he ruffled Shu's hair.
"I think I know what to do." He said grinning down at his son.
Shu wiped away his tears and smiled back up at him.
Once in the library, Atem placed Kek's cage on the desk and went over to the shelf to find the scroll. Shu pulled up a chair and took Kek out.
"Don't worry, Kek, Daddy will fix you!" Shu said confidently as he held the frog.
Atem winced. Ha, no pressure right? Finding the scroll, he went over to the desk to study it. He remembered it to be a complicated one and it still was. Mana had aced it first try. Why was she always called away at the worst times? Anyway, it looked like it required less magic and more concentration on his part. Figuring it was time to give it a go, he took a deep breath.
"Alright, let me see him."
Shu handed Kek over to his father and stood close by. Atem set the frog on the desk in front of him while placing his hand over him. Concentrating, he said the spell's incantation as a golden aura surrounded the frog. After a couple moments, the light faded making Atem remove his hand. He held his breath. Did it work?
"Kek? Are you ok?" The Prince asked concerned.
Hearing his name, the frog opened his eyes and looked around. Seeing Shu, he croaked happily and jumped onto his shoulder.
"You're ok!" Shu said hugging him and then his father. "Thank you, Daddy! You saved him!"
The Pharaoh smiled and hugged him back. "You're welcome, Shu."
Oh, he was so glad it had worked! Ha, wait until Mana heard about this one!
Later that evening, Atem and Mana watched as Shu played in the garden pond with Kek.
"Huh, I wonder what was wrong with him? He looks perfectly fine now." Mana said watching Kek swim away from the Prince. The frog was so fat that he mostly crawled but in the water he couldn't be beat.
Atem sighed. "No idea, I'm just glad that old spell worked. I wasn't prepared to tell Shu that Kek had passed on. You're better at explaining that sort of thing than I am."
"Oh, come now." The Queen laughed leaning her head against his shoulder. "I think you do just fine." She thought for a moment. "You said you used the spell we practiced on with the fish right? I'm pretty sure I threw that scroll out. It was to the point where you couldn't read it any more."
The Pharaoh gave her a questioning look. "Really? I wonder what I used then...?" He looked back over to Shu smiling at the sound of his laughter. Well, whatever it had been, he was ever so grateful that it worked.