Chapter 4: The King's Garden
In which growth is anticipated.
Since Siduri found out about Arjuna's existence, order and discipline returned to his 'life' with all might. That extraordinary woman subjugated Rider pretty quickly. He'd been fed, clothed, instructed about the local customs and placed in a small chamber in the palace. No matter how much he tried to explain his true nature to Siduri, she insisted on treating him like a person.
Although she never demanded anything in return or tried to stop him from exploring, Arjuna felt obliged to repay the kindness. So he accepted literally any task she was willing to bestow on him, mostly ran various errands around the city.
After delivering a set of clay tablets to the temple, Rider finally had some free time for today. He planned to spend it in his room, on learning to write properly in the local language, so he could help Siduri even more in the future. Having no time to waste until sunset, he decided to take a shortcut through the palace gardens.
Pleasant coolness and the smell of leaves from the inside encouraged Arjuna to enter, even though he had no official permission to do so. He walked the narrow path through the lush greenery, curiously looking around and admiring various kinds of flowers, ferns i thorny bushes he had never seen before. There were also ponds, benches with carved handrails, soft seats with lots of pillows, small birds and butterflies circling over the flowers...
All of it looked magnificent, but a very unusual tree interested Arjuna the most - one with twisted branches, thick cork trunk and yellowish leaves.
"Oh? Most visitors praise the flowers and ignore this rare beauty," someone said behind his back.
Arjuna glanced at Enkidu, who approached him with a faint smile. They did not look bothered by the fact, that Rider invided their space without permission, rather pleased to have company in this little floral kingdom.
"Really? I find it the most curious, with such uncommon colors of its leaves. The shape of branches is interesting as well. It suggests ability to survive in harsh environment."
"Exactly. Because of that it's unusually long-lived. But when it blooms, it's only once for a lifetime."
"Did it bloom already?"
"No, this beauty is still too young for that. I'm looking forward to it."
The way they said it, with pure admiration and enthusiasm, brought a smile to Arjuna's face. He could easily tell that, despite their nature of a construct, Enkidu had a kind heart.
It matched the description Rider got from the citizens of Uruk. They said that Gilgamesh used be a rotten tyrant not so long ago... Well, he still was, but it got better since Enkidu's arrival to the city.
Arjuna wasn't very happy about the idea of serving an evil person, but he decided to gather information first. He knew nothing about local culture, of what people here considered to be a sin and how, if at all, their gods punished evildoers.
From what he had observed already, Gilgamesh showed tendencies to follow the 'I'm the rules' statement, taken to extreme levels. However, the people of Uruk did not seem oppressed on a daily basis, life here looked pretty normal, with moments of happiness and hardships, as in any other place in the world. No one tried to rebel either, and some good-hearted people like Siduri faithfully supported the king. From the day of his summoning, Arjuna had not yet witnessed an open injustice towards innocent...
So maybe it wasn't all that bad and the king was just as powerful and splendid as he claimed to be?
"Why your gods made you?" - Enkidu asked, before the silence became too awkward. "Gil was made to become the Wedge of Heavens. I was made to make him stay on that path. You had a purpose as well, right? The gods rather don't share their powers with mortals on a whim."
Arjuna was thinking about it for a while.
"Wedge of Heavens... I haven't been born with such a magnificent purpose. I had a task to perform, that's all. You can say I was meant to serve."
"Don't ever tell him that. Gil may make you a ruler just to prove a point."
"That... simply won't do, I'm afraid." Arjuna chuckled. Chatting with Enkidu made him feel much less lonely in this strange place.
"He will take up the challenge."
"That would be a wasted effort, honestly. A Servant is a weapon, to strike what it's pointed at, not to mess with the affairs of the living."
"And you will strike whatever Gil orders you to?"
Arjuna visibly hesitated; even if it was only for a split second, the doubt was there.
"I should," he said, as if he tried to convince himself about it, which earned for a scrutinizing look of Enkidu.
"I see. A weapon should not possess a sense of self. It complicates things." Obviously, they were talking about themselves, not Rider. "So it is a defect, after all."
"Is it, really, if it lets you learn and grow? Gods and weapons cannot truly evolve on their own, I suppose. Only the living things, like humans, can. Our gods often walked the earth as mortals for that purpose."
Another moment of silence. Enkidu's face seemed impossible to be read, at least for someone like Rider, who did not really know them yet, but their focus on some difficult topic was clear even for him.
"Thank you, Arjuna. Talking with you was... mentally stimulating." Enkidu smiled eventually, looking satisfied with the conclusion of their thinking process. "Let's chat some more later."
"Ah, it was a pleasure, really. Thank you, Enkidu." Rider noded before them with respect. "Can I...?"
"Yes, you're free to come and rest here whenever you like."
With those words, Enkidu vanished among the leaves, literally blended into the green, as unexpectedly as they had appeared.