Thanks to KatG and as always, Buff (who will be happy to know I'm almost done with the next story in the Normal Life series :) Hopefully, unless I hit another speed bump, I should have that up next week.)
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Chapter 5 ~ The Princess and the Med-jai
The moon was rising over the desert, casting long, yellow shadows across the courtyard of the palace. Nefertiri had been unable to eat, excusing herself from the meal entirely. She walked thoughtfully through the Med-jai's wing of the palace, hoping that perhaps he had returned. No one had seen him since morning. She took the long way back to her chambers, hoping that he would pop up out of the stone pillars, with some rhyme or reason to this afternoon.
She sat alone in the silent courtyard, watching the palm fronds sway softly in the breeze. He really couldn't have left, could he? It was not like a Med-jai to abandon his post...then again, she reminded herself, he was not like other Med-jai. Life seemed to hold a different meaning for him; apparently, a rather bitter one no one knew of. She sighed, picking at the small frond that had landed near her bare foot. Just when she had thought she had found a friend in this cold palace...
"Highness?" Nefertiri nearly leapt out of her skin as she stood, spinning around to see the bedraggled Med-jai standing behind her.
"Onus, where have you been?" she queried, concern lacing her voice.
"It's a long story," he said quietly, avoiding her eyes. "I just wanted to apologize for how I behaved earlier and to tell you come morning, I will be leaving. This won't happen again."
"Leaving? No! You can't go! I won't allow you."
"Princess, I am a disgrace to the Med-jai," he said quietly, his soft eyes tracing the lines in the ground. "I abandoned my post in the middle of Thebes. That's an unforgivable crime against the Med-jai and the Royal Family."
"Is that all I am to you? A post?"
"No, that's not what—" He stopped, sighing as he ran his hand through his short, unruly hair. "I let you down, I've let the Pharaoh down...That alone calls for more punishments than I can think to count...more than I'd really care to at the moment..."
"At least tell me where you were tonight. Then I shall be the one to decide if you were a disgrace." He glanced at Nefertiri, shaking his head as he leaned against a pillar.
"Look, it doesn't matter." Nefertiri raised an eyebrow at him – a trait, he mused, she had no doubt picked up from him over the last few days.
"I know it's really not my business... But at least tell me what this afternoon was all about. If nothing else, I'd like to at least know what you meant."
Onus slid down the pillar, keeping one leg drawn close to himself while the other stretched out before him. "It's a long story."
"I'm a patient listener," she said with a small grin, her teeth just barely showing. Onus shook his head, smiling inwardly to himself as she sat down. How he would miss that little smile.
"When I was...less than a year old," he started, "my parents came into Thebes as part of a nomad tribe. So the story goes, they had encountered an old wise man that laid a prophecy on me, saying that I would be a warrior for the gods. Naturally, in the middle of Thebes, my parents took this to meaning they had to stay here; that somehow that meant I would be a Med-jai. So the departed from their tribe, and as soon as I was old enough to hold a sword, they had me training as a Med-jai. I understand that, in the eyes of the Gods at least, people have no control over their own destiny, but I could have used for a little say in mine... even if it got me nowhere..." Nefertiri stood slowly, walking over to him, staring down through lowered eyelids. "I know it sounds petty. And I know what you're going to say – You didn't have a choice either. I suppose no one really does..." The Princess stared at the Med-jai for a moment, rolling her shoulders back as she began to speak.
"Well, while this afternoon's tirade was certainly uncalled for," she said regally, "it was not unheard of. You are not a God, after all. You are human. Therefore, I say to you – you will not abandon your post again so that I may have yet another Med-jai assigned to guard me and have to train him all over again." Her lips broke into a slow smile as she held her hand out toward him. "Now come. We have a long day of training tomorrow." She pulled Onus to his feet, walking down the hall a little closer than one might have though appropriate for a princess and a med-jai.
Two sets of eyes watched from the shadows as Nefertiri and Onus left the courtyard...
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\/ Lookie... See it? It's calling your name... :) \/