Disclamier: If I owned Yugioh, the world as we know it would be doomed. As the world as we know it is not doomed... not yet anyway... heck, I don't own Yugioh.
o0O0o
As it turns out, Seto has it hard enough without me blackmailing him. I returned to the palace an hour ago, and I'll begin from there.
A shadow came up behind me as I mounted the steps to one of the palace courtyards, and I turned to see Seto.
"Hey," I greeted him mildly.
"Hello..." he muttered absently, continuing to ascend the front steps (There are quite a lot!). I ran up behind him.
"Have a good time?"
One of his annoying I-know-more-than-you smirks came over his face. Once I become Pharaoh, I will ban them. "Oh, yes."
We came to the door to a front courtyard, and together entered. Mahaado and Mana were doing something with their staffs off in a corner, Mother and Shimon meditating not far from them. Isis and Karim sat together on a bench, the ground around them littered with texts and scrolls, Shaadii reading something over Isis's shoulder. We were all still in our commoner disguises, as the courtyard was where we always meet after allowed escapades such as the one yesterday, for a presence check and the like.
"So what did you do?" I asked him.
"That's my business." No wonder there, Seto!
"Seto!" We each turned in the direction of the voice that had called his name. It was Akunadin, my father next to him. The former of the two looked about to kill (much as Mana did a few nights ago), and as for the latter... It's impossible to read Father's expression when he doesn't want it to be read.
"Seto! Come here now!" Akunadin roared, jerking Mother and Shimon from their meditation and causing all other occupants of the courtyard to stop and stare. Seto walked toward where Akunadin and my father were standing. Akunadin turned to Seto.
"Seto, exactly what did you do during yesterday's (Dawn was rising, so it was a new morning.) festivities?"
Something odd crossed Seto's face, and I knew the reason, but he handled the situation quite coolly, despite the fact that his cheeks were tinged a light pink.
"I believe that what I did yesterday can be regarded as my own personal business, and that you inquiring about it can be fairly called rude in the presence of others."
"Fine then. Does this look familiar? And Muka (That's our new nickname for my father. 'Akunamukanon' is jut too long!), watch this!" He held out his hand to produce a large orb of shadow magic, a gazing orb. I saw nothing short of horrified fear cross Seto's face as the orb's colors blurred then cleared, and a mini-Seto could be seen in it, exiting the palace in his disguise of white linen. The Orb-Seto looked around him to make sure none of orb-us were around, and he strode briskly over to a large rock.
The girl I caught him dancing with last night appeared from behind a tree. Orb-Seto smiled and kissed her on the cheek, taking her by the hand.
Then the whole of Seto's day played in the orb in a space of twenty minutes. First the two of them just walked around talking, then they waded into a safe place in the Nile, bought a bit of food, then borrowed a horse from a commoner. Orb-Seto lifted the girl up and climbed on behind her, and they rode through fields for what must have been an hour before stopping in a cool, shady spot. The orb-two ate the food they had purchased earlier, then brought the horse back to its owner. They played on the game street for a short while, then left.
They were now at the kaa monsters dancing, and were instantly paired together. Night hadn't even fallen yet, I realized. They must have been dancing for an hour before I spotted them!
Seto's face flamed red as the orb-music changed to the drifting tune I'd seen them dance to, and he closed his eyes as the music came to the pause in which he kissed her. The real Seto didn't look up until he was sure it was over. Now they had headed to the Nile's bank, and back to the city, where they danced a bit more, then sat together on a bench for the orb-equivalent of a few hours. She yawned and leaned her head on his shoulder. He smiled softly and whispered something to her and they kissed again, then Seto led her back to a home on the west side of the city and turned back in the direction of the palace as the pale gray light of dawn began to sweep over the sky, and Akunadin snapped his fingers, the gazing orb of shadow magic disappearing.
Akunadin's eyes flashed dangerously, though why Akunadin was is concerned with Seto's love life is far beyond my comprehension. Why does he care who Seto makes out with? Seto IS sixteen, after all. And also, why did he conjure a gazing orb specifically to track and record Seto's day?
"How long have you been seeing her?" Akunadin asked, and I realized that he was pulling age rank on Seto, also using a truth spell on him.
"Three moon cycles."
"Is this why your magic and dueling skills have seemed to decline as of late?"
I saw rage flash in Seto's eyes, and knew instantly that Akunadin was to be the victim of assaults from Seto's sharp tongue. "Yes, but as your skills equal mine in neither, which we all know perfectly well, I would advise you to not pry into my personal life. What drove you to act so inconsiderately about any private feelings or relationships I might be having and involved in is beyond me. If there is something else you would like to discuss with me on this topic, you are welcome to do so; however I do request that we would hold such a discussion in a more private place and at a more appropriate time. And as it is now dawn, I must attend a meeting with a group of villagers to decide whether prison is necessary punishment for their stealing or not." He left in the direction of his chambers, presumably to change to his normal clothes and pick up his sennen rod.
Akunadin stood there stupidly, stunned that Seto had defied him so despite the difference in their ages. But I must side with Seto on this. If Akunadin had showed the whole courtyard a gazing orb of ME making out with a girl... good use of the sennen power would be made.
All of us in the courtyard were now either staring at Akunadin or after Seto, so you can imagine the highly amusing look on a servant's face as he entered to let us know that our morning meal was ready.
Isis and Akunadin had gotten into an argument as we all trooped into the dining hall and took up our usual positions at the high table.
"Why are you so concerned with this? Do you know how much you hurt him by doing that back there?"
"His devotion should be solely to magic and this kingdom. It is his duty as a High Priest to the Pharaoh, and to all of Egypt!"
"But what have you gained by embarrassing him so? His resentment! He's right, you know. If you had any worries about it you should have pulled him aside and talked to him, not openly announced the existence of his personal relationship to the public!"
"He is sixteen! A boy! Love such as he is in will surely result in him becoming distracted from his duties!"
"He's a man, certainly old enough to make his own decisions if he's old enough to be a High Priest to the Pharaoh of Egypt, just as Atemu is a man and Mana a woman! And it hasn't distracted him from duty so far, either! You know perfectly well that the reason he hasn't been working as efficiently as usual lately is his health!"
"He is not a man-"
"He is," my father cut in. "He is a man, and I believe that today he acted more maturely than you, brother."
Oh boy, did THAT shut Akunadin up! He looked as if he'd been slapped across the face! With a horsewhip! I do believe I shall remember that look on his face for as long as I live!
But I was up all night, so for now I shall take a nap.
Later:
I am writing this by torchlight now, and my bedchamber looks eerie and mystical, what with the torch blazing and moonlight sliding through my westward-facing window.
After morning meal I took a nap, as I said, and awoke about midday. Thinking of getting something to eat, I changed to a white linen tunic and my usual gold and silver jewelery, complete with scarabs and lotuses galore, with golden wing pieces over my ankh-adorned ears, making the sunlight-colored streaks in my hair stand out even more. If it were up to me I would wear none of this, mind you, but Father insists, and until I am Pharaoh I cannot do a thing about it.
As I was making my way toward the kitchens by way of a side hall, I heard a muffled noise to my right and turned towards it, to be greeted by the door to Seto's chambers. Another similar noise came from within, like someone coughing. I knew Seto had been having health problems, but if I could hear him cough from the hall...
I pushed open the door and came to a room with scrolls upon scrolls upon scrolls stacked high on shelves from floor to ceiling. He reads too much. I will have to invite him to sneak out of the palace with me sometime. Now, I love to read also, but too much is bad for a person's system and makes them grouchy all the time.
I entered his bedchamber through another door, and was shocked at what I saw. Seto's room was usually spotless, nothing like the harried state it was in now. Unfinished scrolls and letters littered a writing table and the floor around it, clothes were strewn about the wardrobe, and more scrolls peppered the bed and the floor near the bed, the linen (Seto also dislikes silk and satin.) covers of which were twisted towards the wall as their occupant's body shook with coughs and shivers.
"Seto?" I ventured as he turned in bed to face me.
"Atemu, what are you doing here?" he asked, voice raspy. "Is there more work that needs to be done? Is it morning? Did I oversleep? Oh no, I missed the second meeting with the commoners that were possibly unfairly sentenced to prison, didn't I? What time is it?" He swiftly got out of bed, coughing and dusting himself off. I was stunned.
"No. I heard you coughing and was wondering whether you were all right," I answered.
"Oh." He collapsed back onto the bed, chest heaving with coughs. He hadn't let any of this weakness show in public, so I had absolutey no idea he had been feeling this bad. I was rather shocked.
"Are you all right?"
"Not really, but your concern is appreciated," he replied dryly, grabbing a random scroll off his bed, reading it, and beginning to write something.
"What's with all this?" I asked, motioning towards the writing table, littered with scrolls, and then back to the bed, which was in a similar state of messiness.
"Work."
"You get this much work?"
"It's no more than you get, just not all of it's finished. I should have stayed home yesterday, but I was feeling good, and I wanted to spend it with Kisara..."
"So that's her name? Kisara?"
For a second he looked like he would have liked to slap me, but he only smiled. "Yes."
I paused for a second, and couldn't help but comment, "She's pretty."
"I know. Not only in looks, either. She's so kind, and the way she speaks is so powerful... I met her through kaa dancing, and from the first dance I felt something so wonderful flow through me... I love her. I just can't believe Akunadin did that! And I must have been blushing like an idiot."
"Well that was nothing compared to what Akunadin looked like after you dealt him that mouthful before you walked off! He looked like a slapped mutt!"
Seto laughed at this, and ended up coughing- hard. When he finished he looked up at me. "I apologize for the mess in here. I've been trying to keep it clean, but I've been exhausted lately..."
"I didn't know you were so sick. You look fine at lessons and meetings, and hunting and fighting and all that."
"That's because I sleep whenever I'm NOT doing one of those things. It's why I'm so far behind on my work." He sighed, gesturing around at all the scrolls, quills and ink all over the place.
"Want some help?"
He raised an eyebrow. "This would take all of today and tonight to complete, even between the two of us."
"Come on then. Let's go."
He smiled. "Thanks. Okay, most of the ones around the table are correspondences from Greece, about wheat trade or something of the like. They keep sending us the same letters. So just use some creative vocabulary to deny them any wheat trade and sign it, 'Atemu, Crowned Prince of Egypt, son to the Pharaoh Akunamukanon of Egypt, who is the Morning and Evening Star,' and we should see a serious decrease in the number of letters they insist on sending over. I'll work on the ones here on the bed." He placed his scroll next to him, giving it an approving glance as he blew on the ink to dry it, and leaned over to pick one up off the floor. The single scarab necklace he always wore dangled down and glinted off the mid-afternoon sun. He saw me staring. "What?"
"Why do you always wear just that scarab?"
"Because if I should die suddenly, this one is all I need to go to a good afterlife. You only really need one scarab, despite the fact that everyone seems to think more will help them somehow."
"But why do you only wear that one? Do you ever take it off?"
He smiled. "Do you remember the day I stopped wearing lots of them, and decided that this little guy would be my only scarab jewelery, ever?"
I tried to remember far back. "Was it that day you finally beat Akunadin in a duel?"
"Yes. But a lot of other things happened that day, too. It was the day I actually turned thirteen, though it wouldn't be official for a while, as the flooding of the Nile was not for quite a time off. Do you remember what everyone at our table had a good laugh at at evening meal, to my expense?"
"Your voice."
"Right. It just kept cracking up at the exact moments I didn't want it to. I swear, by the end of that meal my face was redder than the tips of your hair."
"It was," I commented, and Seto laughed.
"There you go. But that was also the first day someone, Shimon specifically, mistook my voice for Karim's. Now everyone does it all the time."
"The two of you must have some little mechanism in your throats to make your voices sound alike," I joked.
"That would be funny. But anyway, everything that day seemed to change; everything seemed to somehow be different. I looked in the water of a courtyard fountain and my face looked older, and I banged my head on a low doorway I had always just walked under before. It was confusing; I'll bet you know that feeling by now. So I decided that I'd always wear just one scarab, so that no matter what changed about me, or the world, the scarab being just a single scarab was constant, just like how no matter how mixed-up you may feel, the world will keep going. So if I'm ever sad or confused, or mad, like I was at Akunadin today, I can think more clearly knowing that there's always a tomorrow, always something more to a hard situation that makes it worth living through."
And here I'd thought Seto lacked a compassionate side. Hah.
"Wow."
"Yeah, I think you'll find that there's something in there for everyone, a way to reach them no matter what they're feeling. Take you for example. To you, gaming is life, and you apply gaming to everything you do, I'm sure. A great Magician like Mahaado, and surely Mana someday, would try to find magic in every shadowy situation. Just remember that if ever you're hurt."
Needless to say, I could now think of nothing to say. I merely nodded and picked up a scroll, and remained there in Seto's room until we had all his work finished. I don't know why I feel so good now, really. My back is sore and my arms tired from endless scribbling, yet I feel like I've been sleeping, or floating more like, for hours. Ah, but I shall not ponder what is not meant to be known, and for now I shall go to bed.
-Atemu (Still trying to figure out a more interesting way to sign...)
o0O0o
Thanks, Laura! Yeah, I don't think many people have Seto make out with Kisara either, lol. Thanks for your review!