Dawn came on the third day on the river and the sunlight that poured into the room hit Amneris in the face. She scrunched her features as it stung her eyes and she closed them for a longer stretch than she had all night. She was facing the window, but couldn't turn away from it for fear of waking Radames who slept soundly with his arms clutched tightly around her middle.

They lay in this fashion every night for three months and had yet to consummate the marriage. They stayed as close as possible and clung to one another for dear life in case if one should happen to awaken in the night, they would not find themselves alone. On the occasions when this did occur, the awoken was almost always Radames, mainly for the fact that Amneris rarely slept. Her days were busy and full of distraction; her nights, however, were quiet and her mind took this opportunity to go over every thought in her head over and over again. This night, her brain had been filled with the fight she'd had with Radames right before they'd gone to bed.

It had started simple enough. He'd asked her, "Do you really think this will work?"

"Of course it will," she'd replied, "We were invited, weren't we?"

"Only because he refused to meet on Egyptian soil. Not that I blame him, I mean we killed his daughter. Why would he come to us?"

At that moment, Amneris had slammed her brush down onto the table, "I don't know about you," she said icily to him, "but I didn't kill anyone. Furthermore, I am tired of being included in your guilty conscience!"

That had only been the start. The fight finally ended by Radames yelling, "Don't act like you have everything, when you can't make it out of bed without a glass of wine to numb your day!"

And she had fired back with, "At least I get out of bed! I don't think I've seen you above deck since we left Egypt!"

And although they'd gone to bed angry, Radames had fallen asleep in Amneris' arms and she'd let him without a second thought. After all, what other choice did she have? No matter how bad things could get, the simple fact remained that all they had in this was each other.

He would apologize when he awoke; he always did, though nothing ever really changed. As much as she hated the dance they did around one another, she understood why it was happening. Since the untimely death of the Pharaoh, Radames had been under a considerable amount of pressure. Despite the grief he still held for Aida, he'd taken on the role of ruler and had risen to the challenges it brought with it, allowing himself to breakdown only when he and Amneris were alone with each other. This, in turn, increased her load. Not only did she have to deal with the loss of her father and her best friend and support her husband through his own anguish, but she'd taken it upon herself to pick up certain tasks that he'd missed, or was avoiding. In other words, the whole reason they were on the river was because she had written to Amonasro about settling a peace treaty. It had taken some convincing to get both he and Radames to agree to meet, but she'd done it and was now worrying about the outcome.

As the boat moved past the direct light, Amneris carefully opened her eyes. There was a tray of food for them set on the table; one of the servants had been kind enough to bring it in. Whoever had done it had knowingly, decreased the portions to accommodate what was usually eaten, and to avoid wasting food. Even with a lessened amount, there would be leftovers. Radames would barely touch what they brought him. She eyed the food and felt her stomach give a slight ache. There was a small loaf of bread, grapes, a sort of porridge and-oh- the wine cask. Radames bringing that up had been the worst part of that fight for her. She didn't think he'd noticed and was surprised that it had taken as long to say something as it did. He'd overreacted, anyway. It wasn't like she spent her days drunk, but it was true, it did seem to dull the surface pain of the day she was about to endure.

She pondered what the chance would be of waking her husband if she were to get up and get it. She didn't want him to see; moreover, she didn't want him to think he was right. A moment later it no longer matter. Radames began to stir. For a moment his grip on her tightened, then, as realization set in, he slid his arms from around her body and looked at her in the face.

"Is it morning already?" he asked.

She shrugged at him, "Sorry to disappoint you."

Radames pulled himself away from her and sat up asking, "Did you talk to the captain, yet? Does he know how far we are from Nubia?"

Amneris pulled the blanket up around her, "He said we'd arrive sometime today."

She watched as his face suddenly paled. He'd seemed to have grown progressively tenser the closer they got to Nubia, but she'd never seen him suddenly drain like that; well, not in months.

"Uh," he stammered, "Sorry about last night."

She knew that was coming, "Me too," she replied, "Have you noticed we're getting worse?"

He spun his head quickly to look at her, shocked that she'd bring it up. Up till now, she'd seemed happier to simply keep quiet when something was bothering her, unless of course she was being provoked, which he had to admit, was usually his own fault. Anything to get her to say what she was feeling.

He nodded slowly, "I have noticed that," he took a long breath, "I don't want it this way, Amneris. I can't take you mad at me if you're not willing to talk it out."

"Likewise," she said sitting up with him, "I'm talking now. I don't want it this way either. Like it or not, we're stuck together.for life. I'd rather not spend my life with you, fighting all the time over things we can't change now. You didn't kill her, Radames, you need to accept that."

They'd had this fight before. He shook his head, "I should have gone with her."

"No," she countered in exacerbation and put her head in her hands, "you survived! There's nothing wrong with that."

Her eyes were still closed as she felt him leave the bed.

"We should prepare to dock," he said, "we want to be ready when we get there."

Amneris took her hands away and watched him change his shirt, then walk from the room. She made a deep sigh, then got out of the bed, walked to the table and poured herself a large glass of red wine. Once it had been entirely consumed, she returned to the bed and finally got a touch of sleep.

When the boat arrived a few hours later, a rather large Nubian man stood on the dock looking very official. He was not portly, just large in every respect. He stood a whole head above Radames and looked down at them with great, dark eyes. His intimidating presence, however, did not add up to the gracious attitude he took with them. The moment he saw Radames and Amneris, he made a respectful bow and lightly kissed Amneris' hand.

"My name is Noribnin," he said in greeting, "His Majesty has asked that I personally escort you to the palace. Oh, we have someone to get that."

He spoke his last sentence to the pair of servants that had accompanied the couple, and who were now gathering up the luggage.

"I believe it was requested that you arrive alone," Noribnin said.

Radames didn't reply. He simply stared at the man before him, again, his face quite pale. Amneris cleared her throat modestly and told the giant, "We brought them here. Do you really think we would take them back with us? They're here to bring our things to the palace. They will be paid once everything is safely stored and then they are free to go as they please."

Noribnin stepped up to the woman and asked her with some distrust, "You would have them do slave work in their own country?"

She cocked her head to the side as half of her mouth slid up into a smile and she replied charmingly, "Slave work? You must be joking. Why would I pay a slave? Of course, if you think I should turn them out with nothing, perhaps you're right. I've never been one to part with gold. More shopping money for me."

Noribnin kept up his suspicious eyeing only a second longer, then burst into a sudden laugh. He looked back to the servants, snapped his fingers, the pointed his thumb over his shoulder. They picked up the luggage and left the boat.

"Come" Noribnin said heartily, "There is food waiting and comfortable beds."

"When will we be meeting with the king?" asked Amneris as she fell into step with the large diplomat.

"He's not specified a certain time, but he'll call you when he's ready. Pardon, Your Highness, but is you husband all right?"

Amneris glanced back to Radames who'd fallen behind and replied softly, "He has not been well lately."