Chapter 8
'I ... what was with me just a moment ago? How could I have ended up playing with her ...'
Seto found himself unable to believe what he had just did. From his youth, his aloof temperament that seemed to follow him from his birth had already made it quite difficult for others to become close to him. Added to that was the fact that his parents had died when he was young, which deepened the cold feelings he felt towards others. In his family, he was not close to anyone else other than his grandfather Meti. Yet today he had started playing with a girl who he had only known for less than a day!
"Hmm?" Unexpectedly, he felt that something about her was rather odd. 'Is she ... really a girl?'
Earlier when he had accidentally fallen on top of her, she didn't have the usual embarrassed response most girls would do. On the contrary, she seemed to act like nothing was wrong, as if she was a boy like him.
'If she isn't male, then her thinking is too open-minded!" He finally reached a conclusion and decided to believe that the latter was true. 'How could a boy be so beautiful? I must be thinking too much ...' Seto knocked at his head. "Stop imagining things. I better go read some papers ..." He headed towards the study.
"Oh ... I am so bored." Atem sat on the stone steps, feeling restless. After Seto had ran off unexpectedly, he didn't know how to pass the time.
"What's wrong, little girl?" Meti noticed that Atem had a very bored expression on his face. "That reminds me. I don't even know what's your name." He squatted down to his level.
"My name is At ... no, it's Betuké [1]." 'Whew ... I nearly told him my real name ...'
"Betuké?" Meti repeated the name. "It's a good name, but I wonder why your parents chose it for you."
"Ahahaha ... I don't know why either ..." 'Maybe you should go ask them why ...' [2]
Meti decided to introduce himself as well. "I am Priest Meti, and the person you had been playing with is my grandson Seto."
"Priest ... Meti?" Atem thought, 'Hey, I think I heard this name somewhere before ...'
"I want to thank you for what happened, Betuké." Meti told Atem.
"Huh? What did I do?" Other than playing with Seto, he didn't do anything else.
Meti smiled at him and sat down on the stone steps as well. "Seto has always treated others coldly since he was young. Added to that was the fact that my son and daughter-in-law had died from an accident at a point when he needed their love. So he began to gradually seal his heart away and refused to have any contact with other children of his age. This caused him to treat everyone else with distrust. But ..." He looked at Atem. "When he was with you eariler, I had a feeling that he had changed back to the old innocent Seto. He was smiling, the smile that I last saw five years ago. One that was full of happiness and no worry."
"Then that means ... Seto's parents died when he was five?" Atem asked.
Meti nodded. "When he had to see the bodies of his parents, he didn't shed a single tear. Everyone kept saying that he was grim to the point of being the devil. But no one knew that after the burial, Seto had gone to the shores of the Nile River by himself and allowed himself the tears that he tried so hard to hold back ... On the outside he may look strong, but he feels very lonely inside."
'So ... he also had a period of sorrow and suffering ... just like me ...' Atem thought.
"That's why I hope you can help him."
"What?"
Meti laughed. "Help him find his smile once more. This is the task I'm giving you."
"I understand, Priest Meti." Atem stood up and ran towards the study.
"Maybe that child could find a way to do it ..." Meti commented to himself as he watched Atem's retreating figure.
Translator's Notes:
[1] The name originally used here was De Lei Ku, which sounds like an rearranged name to Atem's original Chinese name used in this story. I had to change it to something more Egyptian sounding and decided to choose 'Betuk' which means 'watermelon head'. Don't ask me why I chose it; I probably wasn't even thinking clearly when I did that.
[2] I changed the wording to some of the sentences because of the name change mentioned in note 1. The original lines went like this (if you're interested):
"I am called Ku Lei ... that's not right, I am known as De Lei Ku. You can call me De Lei." [Whew ... I almost told him my real name ...]
"De Lei?" Se Te repeated. "It's a good name, but why has 'Ku' [warehouse] been added to the end?"
"Ahahaha ... I don't know either ..." [Go ask the priest who named me ...]
Author's Corner:
Seto: Damn! Why the heck did you write me so weak here?!
Pharaoh: Ahaha! This time, it's you who has been made a fool of.
Youlan: Hehehe ... I'll be leaving now ... (wants to slip away)
Seto: Damn you! Don't even think of getting away from me!
Youlan: Help! (a fugitive on the run)
Posted on August 11, 2004.