Son Drawn from the River
Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Egypt or any of the characters there within.
"Ramses!" the Queen of Egypt called to her only son as her handmaidens dressed her bare shoulders in a comfortable cotton shawl that came down to her ankles. Her illustrious headdress remained on its stand on her table, though she still donned the royal crown and a regal vestige to grace her shoulders. She gazed into the looking glass which mirrored her lovely reflection.
"That will be fine, thank you." She waved off the maidens and they silently complied with bowed heads. "Ramses!" she called again and the patter of tiny feet welcomed her awaiting ears as a small boy of three gripped at the newly placed shawl on his mother's slim legs. She smiled affectionately at her son; he was walking already. The gods blessed her with such a brilliant child, but also a lonely one. "Come Ramses; let us rest a bit in the calm of the Nile."
Ramses exhaled a chirrup of glee and rushed ahead of his mother as fast as his toddler legs could carry him. The Queen followed him at a slightly more leisurely pace.
"Be careful, not too fast Ramses!" she called after him but he only glanced back to her and laughed heartily, already crawling down the steps in his perfected art of sitting on one stair and turning over to reach the next and crawling down in a sort of backwards practice.
She was pleased to see him so eager, she herself needed to forget that most of the Egyptian militia had gone out on order of the pharaoh for a deed darker than she would have liked. Although the plan seemed truly terrible, the Queen could not argue with her husband. Had the Hebrews the inclination to overthrow the empire, their growing numbers would have made it easily so. She still had her own inner qualms, but pharaoh calmed her with reassuring words and gentle caresses; smoothing away doubts and fears. She smiled to him and left his chambers, still not entirely convinced. The Nile called to her to forget, to relax in its peaceful embrace. This subtle repose had been known to do wonder's for a troubled mind.
At the bottom step just before the water, Ramses paused at last to wait for his mother. She descended the steps, the maids following a few respectful paces behind. Having reached her son at last, Ramses reached up to her with open arms.
"Mommy," he spoke and she lovingly took him up into her embrace, balancing him on her hip as she stepped at last into the cool water of the Nile. The cool was a refreshing welcome to the heat of the day. She sighed softly to herself, feeling as though her duties as Queen had been lifted for a few moments to be a mother to her only son. Ramses hugged to his mother, emphasizing that delightful detail, as he pointed to the many cranes that resided in the private pool. He looked up to his mother inquisitively.
"Those are birds." She said softly, motioning with her free hand as if it were a flying bird.
"Birds." Ramses mimicked his mother.
"My clever son!" she cooed and brushed her nose against his, eliciting a pleasurable trill from Ramses. Quite suddenly the cranes erupted into sound and life, leaving the Queen's private pool in a flurry of movement. The Queen noted it, but quickly became distracted as Ramses slipped dangerously down her hip, reaching for something in the water. Her attentions caught up, Ramses held onto his mother's shawl as he reached and she shifted him higher onto her hip and reached a long bronze arm into the pool and scooped up the lazily floating flower and gave it to her son. He smiled and took it, examining it in untold interest.
The Queen smiled at him warmly as something moved in the corner of her vision. She gasped in surprise, holding firmly to her son and shifting him behind her body to shield him from harm. It was not the first time a particularly large and potentially dangerous creature had found its way into the pool. Discovering that the object was merely a basket and not a creature intending to endanger her or her son, the Queen took Ramses beneath the arms and placed him back on the dais. One maid leapt to attend him as the Queen turned back to the basket.
Long, elegant fingers dipped beneath the lip of the cover and drew it away.
To the Queen's utter shock and surprise, she let the cover slide from her fingers into the Nile.
A baby! A baby set afloat in a basket. But who's child was this; who had done this and why? Was the child ill with some wretched ailment, or perhaps the family was simply too poor to care for the child?
This was such a mysterious infant that came to her on the river…
The baby gurgled in the basket, smiling up at her in stark innocence and curiosity. The Queen could feel her shock melt away in those brown eyes; her maternal instinct filled her and obscured any doubt that hovered in her mind. He was a beautiful babe.
The boy reached up to her with a little hand and she could feel her heart rise in her throat; a motherly instinct that, since the dawn of time, overtook all rational thought. This child needed her. She took up the baby, he was light in her arms for his size, and cradled him to her breast. He smiled and gurbled little comments of pleasure. She chuckled softly to herself and placed a light kiss on his little forehead. He trilled happily at the action. The Queen knew at once that this child was an answer to her prayers and that she was so stricken with love for this child that she would have him adopted into her family.
She pressed the babe to her with a sigh of content and turned from the pool to alight softly on the stone dais. She fondled the child as she mounted the stairs to where her son and maidens stood. Her eyes slid to the first maid whom she caught rudely staring at the child in her arms. She shot a cold glare at the first, who guiltily dropped her gaze, then looked to the second who was guilty of the same crime. The second maid also looked down, cheeks flushing in disgrace and embarrassment. She would forgive them this time; blessed be of the child that was a gift from the gods had put her in a magnanimous frame of mind—but it was made to be so that they not forget their place. Her gaze fell back to the babe and affection claimed her features once more.
Ramses ran from the second maid and tugged at his mother's shawl, halting her in her pass, his arms were outstretched.
"Mommy."
The Queen looked down to her eldest son, this baby would give him some happy company at last; her deepest desire for her poor son.
"Come, Ramses," she murmured softly to him, proceeding forward again, "let us show pharaoh your new baby brother." She lightly tapped the babe's nose and he gurgled and laughed, gripping her teasing finger for a moment with a strong hold. The Queen had already decided a name; a wonderful name fitting for such a son to be drawn from the river.
"Moses."
"No. We cannot afford another son in the palace. Our hands are full enough with the rearing of our only son."
The Queen was not moved by pharaoh's abrupt decision. She still held the babe in her arms.
"I believe Ramses would not mind the company. I can see it in his eyes when he stands alone, how lonely he feels—Moses would be a wonderful playmate." She encouraged melodiously. Seti threw her an incredulous look.
"You've already name the babe?" he exclaimed. "It will only make it more difficult to give him up to the orphanage."
The Queen held tight to the baby, holding him close to her heart. He cooed softly and gazed with curious brown eyes at pharaoh.
"He needs us," she murmured softly, stepping closer to her husband, who sternly glared our over the vast deserts, but she could see his decided resolve was slipping ever so discreetly. If anyone were to convince pharaoh, it would be her. "Look at him, is he not a beautiful, healthy boy?" she ventured, her cradled arms now abreast her husband, allowing him a fair look at the babe. Seti sighed, his brow furrowed into a frown, as he studied his wife's unwavering smile. Seti's gaze fell to the child who still stared up at him in innocent curiosity. He glanced over the baby and his face softened. The babe smiled and reached his hands out to Seti. The ghost of a smile played at the pharaoh's lips as he lifted a hand to tickle to child's tummy. Moses gave a great laugh and gripped at the pharaoh's fingers. Seti chuckled to himself.
"Quite a strong grip."
The Queen smiled graciously of the comment and play. Who could resist this wondrous child's charm? She looked up to her husband in anxious anticipation when he withdrew his hand and his eyes met hers; torn between desire for her happiness and yet hesitant to give approval.
"Tuya," he murmured softly to his Queen, a note of sorrow entered his voice. He sighed, pausing as though searching for the right words. "I feel as though I have been a good pharaoh to my people, but not a good husband to my wife, nor father to my son. I…do not wish to fail twice with this new arrival."
The Queen's features softened further at having discovered his malcontent at last. She pressed closer to him so that their bodies touched; a reassurance she knew he needed.
"Oh my love, you are a good father to Ramses, but you are burdened with the crown of Egypt and you are unable to spend as much time with Ramses as either of you would hope. This child will mend for the lost time; they will both be excellent sons." She gazed up at him with her dark eyes shimmering in hope and encouragement. Seti sighed.
"Very well," he agreed at last, "if it will please my wife and my son, so be it. I adopt this child into our family."
The Queen smiled lovingly up at him and kissed his temple.
"Thank you, my love."
Seti embraced his wife, the babe still between them.
"I had hoped that had we another son…I would have at least had the pleasure of fathering him…"
Tuya grinned at him deviously, though not without shock.
"Not before our new son, my love."
Seti could not hold back a chuckle. "Of course." He turned to go back about his duties, but Tuya halted him with a brief clear of her throat that gave him a benefit of the doubt.
"But, perhaps tonight…" she smiled at him slyly, allowing the last syllable to hang in the air behind her. She did not fail to see the favorable smile of Seti as she set her attentions back to Moses, who had begun to fall to the allure of sleep.
The Queen turned from the chambers, happily cooing to her youngest son.
"Welcome to our family, my little prince."
A/N: I wrote this more or less on a whim--I've always enjoyed this movie; especially when it came to the soundtrack! That's Hans Zimmer is a genius!
I actually did some research on this one too! Queen Tuya, wife to Seti I of the 19th Dynasty. The Queen has always appealed to me in the movie for some odd reason, it makes you think back in ancient times that we weren't really all that different, (maybe a little more reserved, meh.)
At any rate, inspiration dawned on me after I watched and rewatched that river scene, that familiar tug to write the scene to the best of my ability and then expand on it had me typing my heart out.
I hope you all enjoyed! Please Review!
Blackfire 18