Bolero

Author's note ~ The concept of Ravel's Bolero was a repetition of the same general idea (or in his case, melody line.) 

This story will be divided into four main parts, each at a different time and place in history. 

Feedback is always welcome and certainly wanted.  I thrive on it. :)

Book 1 ~ I Met You Before The Fall of Rome

Egypt ~ 1290 BC

"I met you before the fall of Rome

And I begged you to let me take you home

You were wrong, I was right

You said good-bye, I said good night."

                                    ~It's All Been Done, Bare Naked Ladies

Chapter 1 ~ Shadows

I can't stand him following me morning, noon, and night.  He's like a lost puppy that follows one on the streets...He speaks on command, he does as I say.  I stand corrected.  He *is* a puppy.  If only I could convince Father I am in no need of a guardian to stand watch over me as if I were but a babe.  Has Father so little faith in me?  I am certain he means well, but I feel as though he still sees me as the child I was when mother passed on to the other side.  He should know well that I train daily with Anck-su-namun, though he will never understand how I hate that woman.  Sleeping her way into my Father's marriage bed.  It doesn't matter.  What I say or do matters little in the gods' grand scheme.  They chose Father as their vessel; it is as he wills.

Nefertiri glanced behind her as she walked the glowing hall, the ever-present silent form following her an arm's length behind.  She walked faster, he kept pace; she slowed, he would begin to lag until she sped up once more, all in hopes that he would grow tired of her childish game.

"Stop!" she said, spinning around to face him.  He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing.  "Leave me be.  If I can walk the streets of the city safely without an escort, I think I can walk myself through the halls of my father's palace without one."

"I do only as I am ordered, Princess," the Med-jai replied.

"Then I order you to stop."  He smiled for a brief moment before resuming his usual stern expression.

"I cannot, for it is a power higher than yours that has ordered me."

"Then you are to be my shadow?"

"Until the end of time, if the Pharaoh wills it."

"I most certainly do not will it," Nefertiri said to herself, resuming her trek to the throne room.  She was sure she could convince her father this really was not necessary.

The Pharaoh sat in the sunlight that streamed in the high windows of the throne room, surrounded by a small entourage of servants and advisors.  She waited for the High Priest of Osiris to finish his long drawn speech before approaching the throne.

"Ahh, Nefertiri, my child.  Come, sit in the warmth with me."  She obeyed, sitting beside her father whose eyes were fixed elsewhere.

"Father, I must speak with you," she said softly, "about the Med-jai you have assigned to me."

"Ahh, yes," Seti said, tearing his eyes away to look to his daughter.  "Onus is a fine Med-jai.  He will protect you well."

"I'm sure he will, Father," Nefertiri said, slightly irritated that the conversation was already off to a bad start.  "But that's beside the point.  I do not understand why you think I need my own bodyguard?  Are the Med-jai no longer to protect you and your family as a whole?"

"Nefertiri, the incident on the streets the other day was more than enough to show me that you need Onus."

"Father, I was more than capable of defending myself!" Nefertiri shot.  "I did just fine without a shadow to protect me."

"Yes, you're training with Anck-su-namun has been paying off," Seti said proudly.  "But it was only two men.  Tomorrow it could be four."

"But Father-"

"Not another word," he interjected, holding up his hand.  "That is my decision on the matter, and come eternity, Onus will be ever by your side."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nefertiri walked quickly through the halls after the evening meal, slamming the door of her chamber without a word to her shadow.  She stalked across the room to the balcony, overlooking the courtyard.  She could see her father's chamber across the way, the servants scrambling to light the torches and ready him for sleep.  For a fleeting moment, she felt free – free of her shadow, free of her duties as princess of Egypt.  She closed her eyes, feeling the soft evening breeze against her warm skin as she tried to let everything go and be like the birds that rode the currents.  Her eyes opened sadly, bringing her back to her reality – the reality that one day, not too far from now, she would be married to someone she most likely won't know for more than a day, her life devoid of the simple pleasure of love.

She paced silently back into her room, flopping onto her bed dejectedly.  There had to be life outside the constraints of royalty.  Her mind suddenly sparked, and without a second thought, she was off her bed, throwing her wig on her dressing table.  Donning a long, sleeved cloak, she fashioned a rope from silk sheets, securing the edge to the heavy dressing table, tossing the other end down to the empty courtyard below.  She would not be held captive in her own kingdom.