I have the next part up now! Because Youlan had it written as a double part, I'm only posting the first half here. The second half will be up in a few days. sighs At last, the main characters in this fanfic meet. I hope you enjoy reading it!
BTW, Youlan has this message for you that she wanted me to mention: I am very grateful for the comments and criticisms you readers have given me.NeferNeferi: Yep, they meet in this chapter, all right. It's actually rather romantic ... but I'll let you be the judge of that.
Roanna Luna: I wanted to let you know that I did manage to contact Youlan about your comments and she sent me her response. I'll be posting that in the OVA fic for Past Memory. Anyway, I remember you asking me once why she chose the name 'Ku Lei De' as Atem's Chinese name. Here's my translation of her response: As for the part about the name, the reader may feel confused because of the differences between the two cultures and languages. The main character's name in Chinese doesn't feel as strange and confusing when read in that language. It may sound that way when read in English. I also mentioned (eariler in her e-mail response to me) that when I first started writing this story, I was only in the fifth year of school so I didn't put much thought in the choice of names. What's more, I am not familiar with how to name people from a foreign country. As a result, I just put together some characters as the male lead's name. I hope that answered your question.
Chapter 18
The group of people arrived at the remote little village. Their arrival had, naturally enough, disturbed the ones living in the village itself. One by one, they went to the village's entrance, discussing what they guessed about the appearance of the guests staying there for the night. In a short while, Atem and the caravan was surrounded by the villagers.
'Oh my ... I didn't think that such a remote village would have so many people ...' Atem thought silently.
"I truly thank everyone for greeting us here. May I ask if there is any lodging for us to stay the night here?"
Because the caravans usually would pay a higher lodging fee than most, so when the captain asked this question, someone answered immediately, "Come to my home! My residence is very spacious!"
"What a strange thing to say!" Another retorted. "Your house is, obviously, so small that it looks like nothing!"
"That's not true! I had just recently redesigned it!"
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, the captain spoke out. "Thank you very much, everyone! I think it's best that we decide where we will stay." He turned around and said to Atem, "Put the merchandise in a safe place and attend to the horses."
"Understood."
After taking care of that petty business, Atem sat down on the meadow, exhausted.
"Whew! I'm so tired. I never thought that being a messenger boy would be such hard work ..." He lay down and gazed up at the twinkling stars filling the sky.
'Leaving the palace for so long ... I bet Seto is very angry ... I wonder if my mother has found out about this yet ...'
Atem closed his eyes as something unexpected happened that interrupted his train of thought: the beautiful sounds of a flute playing.
"Eh? This ... this is ... music from a flute? There's someone who can play it in this kind of place?"
He climbed back up and followed the sounds of the flute. Soon, he saw a young girl standing on the banks of the Nile River, a flute in her hand as she performed a tune that seemed to be praising the feats done by the river. Atem found himself completely enraptured by the music, but he accidentally disturbed the birds perched in a nearby tree.
"who's there?!" The girl realized that someone was watching her.
Atem moved towards her. "... Forgive me ... I didn't mean to disturb you on purpose ..."
The girl saw that he held no malice toward her and relaxed. "You are?"
"My name is Uro, merely a servant running errands for a caravan group." He thought to himself, 'At this point, it's best not to tell her my real name ...'
"Uro?" The girl stared at him, and smiled. "My name's Tameri and I live here."
Under these circumstances where neither of them knew the other ... the two meet for the first time ...
Author's Corner:
Youlan: I can't continue this ... the ending seems so strange ...
Yami Youlan: ... This is unacceptable. It's plain that this is only the first part ... where's the second part?!
Youlan: Spare ... please spare my life ... The second part's ... right here! (points to her head)
Yami Youlan: Damn! Then, you better hurry up and type it up! Do you want me to cut your head off?!
Youlan: Fine already! 'Whew, she's so ferocious!'
Posted on July 9, 2004 by Rika.