Ch. 7 Marriage and Realizing
"Who?" Malaya inquired, her silver, black-rimmed eyes flashed darkly. "The Lady Karri, from Cairo." Ender answered gently, "Yes, Madame Karri seems like such a nice woman. Her inactive and lady-like behavior would be good for him." Tibia reasoned as Malaya's pale lips opened in shock, "When is she? Does he… Even know?" she choked out. "Well… No… We were hoping that you'd tell him…" Ender staggered over her words, "Yes," Tibia persuaded, "Since you are really not interested in him, and we are like aunts to him, we didn't want to feel pressured by our telling him." "Oh…" Malaya whispered, "I'll tell him next time I see him." She floated out the door. Tibia called to her, "Karri will be here in a week!" Then, when the two elder women knew the rogue was gone, they both began to laugh giddily.
Yami stood in the practice arena, holding the bow in the way Malaya had taught him nearly a month ago. He drew back his arm, aimed, and then shot. The arrow sang before slamming into the practice target, a perfect shot. "Very nice, Pharaoh," Malaya's voice reached him, "You have learned well." Her compliment made him turn to face her. Yet, when he saw her face, dread filled his heart. No gentle expression graced her features, instead her bangs covered one eye, and the other eye, was full of misery. "Malaya? What's wrong?" he asked, watching her face. "Congratulations, Yami…" this was the first time she had respectfully used his name, "Your new wife will be here in a week…" he dropped the bow, "What?" "The lady Karri is going to be your wife in about a half month." She looked at him sadly, "You are going to wed her after everything is set up. She will be here in 7 days so we can start planning the wedding…" she walked forward, picking up his bow and an arrow. With a quick, practiced motion, she shot, watching her arrow. The arrow hit the same target, yet Yami watched as her arrow sliced his in half. She then handed him his bow. "Yami, I thank you… I might even… trust you…" she turned and disappeared into the garden.
---------Karri's Arrival Day-------
Yami watched the fast approaching chariot that was carrying his bride-to-be. "Awww… And I was hoping you would wed Malaya…" Seto teased from his right, while Malaya stood silent to his left, even at Seto's comment, she remained mute. Yet she punched Seto hard over Yami's head, "Ow! You psycho wench!" Seto roared, and Malaya was suddenly pounding him into the dirt with her fists. Yami sighed and shook his head at the two's antics. The chariot had arrived, and from inside stepped Karri's father, along with what might have been Karri. "Hello, my Pharaoh." The man said, bowing, "I'm Genii, Karri's father. This, of course is Karri." He gestured to the young woman beside him. She was shorter then Malaya, much shorter, '… that's no surprise, Malaya's taller then some of my men…' her raven hair was shoulder-length, yet well taken care of. Her build was slightly heavier than Malaya's; her deep brown eyes were warmer than the other woman's as well. "My husband!" she chirped, embracing him, and then she looked around, not seeing Seto and Malaya, who had disappeared around the corner in their fighting. "Don't you have servant's?" "Yes. They are just quiet and keep to themselves. Don't worry, two should be back here shortly." He sighed as cries of pain echoed, "Here they come…" Karri put on a smile. "You bastard priest!" Malaya's voice boomed, wiping of the smile, "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME THAT, CRAZY WENCH!!!!!!" Seto retaliated. The argument continued as they came wildly around the corner Malaya was now kicking and punching the High Priest. Seto was trying to fend her off, but to no avail, and then he saw Yami, "Pharaoh, call off your attack slave!" he cried. "Malaya! Stop!" Yami called softly, watching her freeze. She kicked Seto one final time before trotting calmly over. "Yes, My Pharaoh?" "I need my High Priest alive…" "Oh." "You can proceed in your beating of him, but don't injure him too horribly." She grinned evilly at his statement, "Maybe later." She turned and made a rude gesture at the priest, who cursed and threw a religious symbol in her face, "Back fiend!" "Hissss… It burns!" Malaya called sarcastically, pretending to be burned by the medallion. Seto recognized her sarcasm and pulled out various protective wards, trying to egg her sarcasm on. The game ended when he pulled out the dried eye of a Dark Magician and held it in front of her. (A/N: Remember Malaya's bloodline? Well Seto's never showed her the eye before…) Malaya suddenly screamed in pain, falling to her knees and curling up in a ball at Seto's feet. She screamed again, as he jumped backwards in fear of her painful cries, and dropped the eye on her, when the eye rolled to the ground, they all saw the burn it had left behind on her arm. Suddenly, Yami picked it up handing it to Seto, who put the eye away. The screams stopped. Karri and her father were both shocked, "Well, Karri, enjoy your home…" Genii then raced into the chariot, riding away. Karri looked at Yami, "Is she?" "I'm not sure…" he reached down and touched Malaya, who suddenly blinked and moaned in pain. Seto held out his hand, "I'm sorry, Malaya, I didn't know it would hurt you." "It's fine, High Priest, I didn't know it would burn me, either." She took his hand and drew herself up. "I'm going to go now." She muttered, walking into the temple.
A feast was held for Karri's arrival, yet Malaya did not appear. Seto walked nervously over to Yami, "Where is she?" "I don't know I hope she's okay." Seto suddenly sighed, "Let's go check in on her, she's probably in her chamber. So the two men raced out the door, unnoticed by all. They found Malaya's room quickly enough, and began to knock. After no answer, along with the door swinging open, the two slipped into the dark room. A sudden light, accompanied by a, "Who's there?" made both leap back as Malaya attacked them, stopping when she recognized the pair. "Are you alright?" both men asked, "Yes, why?" Yami gulped, "You didn't show up at the festivities…"
"I know… I was reading about the creatures of the Shadow Realm." She held up a text. Seto nodded, "I'm sorry about the eye…" "It's fine, no harm done." Her voice was soft and accepting. "What kind of eye was that?" Yami questioned. "The eye of the Dark Magician." Seto replied, "It is a ward against monsters…" Malaya whispered. "So why did it burn you?" both men looked at each other, and then at Malaya, who sighed. "I've never told or shown anyone this, but I've been able to do it since I was a child…" She extended her arm, concentrating on her bed. Suddenly, the bed was enveloped in a soft light, raising a few inches off the ground before gently landing again. Both men paled, then looked at her. Malaya turned away from them to pick something up, it was a pebble. She held it in her hands, "I must be a monster, then." Her voice wavered as the pebble shattered, turning to small splinters of stone.