Chapter 3: Temperance

"Initiative—Water dripping drop by drop erodes even the hardest of stone."

Rebecca Fogg was not in the mood for…well, most things. The mission had not been a good one, mainly involving a quick snatch-and-grab. Simple, but then turning complicated, and finally leading to her getting the information in just on time, and instead of enjoying a relaxing return home, they saw one of the Prometheus ships being attacked.

Or so they thought. Passepartout had looked through the spyglass, gasped, than began to steer away from the massive ship and added more power to getting away from said ship. Phileas and Rebecca had protested (Rebecca needed to let off some steam, and Phileas…well, he was Phileas, being a thorn in the League's side was good enough entertainment for him on most days), but then Passepartout had shoved the telescope into Phileas' hands and pointed. Phileas had looked, paled, than went about not protesting as Passepartout tried to get as much speed as he could out of the Aurora.

Rebecca was now curious, and a formerly-angry-now-curious Rebecca was not one to be denied the telescope from an overly-protective cousin.

So as Jules tried to ensure Phileas was okay after she had all but threw him back into the main room and, moving to the outer section of the scaffolding, held her prize to see what there was, she had to admit that her week, in general, had turned worse.

The whole of the deck was littered with corpses, or parts of them, and to one side she saw what appeared to be a lion with wings and a snake for a tail that was snacking on some unfortunate soul. From out of the main room walked a blood-splattered woman, and as the lion-thing lifted its head, Rebecca was almost worried the woman would be the next on the list. Instead, she walked up to it and offered it a pat on the head.

Like it was a kitten or something!

Two other shadows, both with a lion-like form and wings, though one was most certainly large then most lions she had heard about and would never like to encounter, and the other appeared to have the head of a large bird-of-prey, walked up and she turned to them before petting them as well, then looked over.

Rebecca had only caught a glimpse of tawny eyes before lowering the telescope, walking back in, and completely denied Jules the telescope. Lord knew she would have nightmares from that, what about Jules? He had enough of an imagination!

Days later, they were in London, and just to conclude Rebecca's wonderful time, Chattsworth had told her to 'take time off' and that apparently he was too busy with some odd occurrences involving those who had traveled to Egypt on expeditions or who had possible dark connections turning up dead and with a feather as the only proof 1.

Phileas had picked her up after the meeting and listened to her fume, offering a sympathetic ear and also what he knew, or had heard from his trip to his gentlemen's club, about the murders.

"It may be interesting to note," Phileas pointed out, "that most of them came back with items from Egypt, all of which were gone completely from record by the time the dead men were discovered, and those who hadn't gone to Egypt were under investigation after the first League incident."

Rebecca was thoughtful, thinking on it, then said, "Chattsworth made mention for us to be watchful as well. He said one of the first deaths not linked to Egypt was actually a prisoner: that woman who ran the Mole machine and who kidnapped Jules."

Phileas frowned at this and said, "So we have someone killing off possible League members as well as those who would've, in a sense, defiled sacred ground. This is like something out of a novel about the savages of America."

Rebecca frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I know of a few which mention how the specific settlers or people were killed horrifically if they 'defiled' the holy ground of the savages, mainly their graveyards and such. Well, considering where most of the items of value in Egypt come from, don't you think the killings, if that was one motivation, would make sense?"

Rebecca finally nodded. "But what about the feather?" she got out of the coach and walked up to the door of the Aurora, "Or the League connection? Most of those men had nothing to do with the League, and yet they were killed anyway."
The door opened and Phileas stopped speaking before Rebecca turned to see the reason for his silence.

Sitting the main room with Jules were two people whom they didn't know, and one who looked vaguely familiar. The woman had her head down, looking at a map, while the man had turned and stared at the two with wide, violet eyes that seemed to come back into focus only after a moment. Jules looked up and offered a weak smile as explanation for the two strangers onboard the ship.

"Master, Miss Rebecca, you have returned early!" Passepartout said, appearing with a few cups and his tea cart.

"Yes, and we'd like to know who these people are," Phileas said rather rudely, causing the woman to tilt her head in their direction before her shoulders straightened and she cast a look at the wide-eyed man with tanned skin. Rebecca realized he looked Egyptian, and then said, "Jules, what's going on?"

Jules swallowed and said, "Um…it's complicated."

"Uncomplicate it, if you would," Phileas muttered, edging near the swords before the woman, who had not lifted her head at all to look at where they were, spoke.

"'Courageous hero' can be defined as one who gets a good deal of people killed.2 I would hate for that definition to apply here, Mister Fogg."

Both Foggs turned to her as she continued, "I must apologize for my rudeness, however, but I am used to being blunt and flattery or false-anything is not something I was well-schooled in. I and my companion are here to ask for your help in regaining something the League stole from his clan. After that, we will leave quietly and not return."

The Egyptian looked at her and then down to the ground, as if unsure what to say or do in such a situation. Rebecca noticed a shift in his outfit and also saw the now-barely concealed bandages going around his shoulder.

Rebecca cast a look at Phileas, one which said this woman was not one to try and play her bluff (if it was one) before asking, "May we ask what these items are, per se?"

"You may."

…Rebecca was getting less and less in the mood for someone who was cheeky…

The Egyptian, as if sensing this, spoke instead, "They are two items which are of great importance for a tomb that my clan guards. They are supposed to have magical powers and the League wishes to see if they can be used. If the magic is activated, the League will have a very terrible weapon at their hands, but it takes the right kind of person to activate it. We can only hope that they have yet to find that person."

Something seemed to click because Phileas said, "I think we've heard about something like that. You see, a few recent murders have happened around London, all involving those who are supposed League members, and those who have led expeditions into Egyptian tombs. The only way for anyone to tell there is a connection is due to the way they all died, and the fact that a feather was left next to the body."

The Egyptian stiffened, his eyes showing his fear, and Phileas continued, "I take you know something about this?"

"Saim," the woman spoke again, "it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't, does it?" Rebecca said, "They are our countrymen--."

"Who vandalized and stole from the Dead," the woman argued back, tilting her head slightly in Rebecca's direction, "I am not to say that they got what they deserved: I myself wouldn't have left enough evidence for them to bury properly had I caught them in the Valley of the Dead. But you cannot accuse him of being a murderer when you only have half the facts."

Jules cut in, and seemed to be unnervingly calm about the fact that this woman had all but insulted Rebecca, "Fogg was just wondering if he knew anything, not accusing him of murder. But…well, shouldn't we be concentrating more on finding the location of those items you need, as opposed to fighting?"

"Thank you, Verne," Fogg said, his gaze still on the trembling Saim.

The woman had turned her full gaze to Jules, then sighed and said, "What do you know, Saim?"

Saim lifted a hand to rub his shoulder near a golden choker around his neck, then said, "The feather is the Feather of Ma'at."

The woman paused then cast a look at him, enough that Rebecca now saw her eyes.

They were tawny colored, like a lion's eyes.

Good Lord…it's the woman!

What sounded like a very calm but deadly tone, and in a dialect of Egyptian that Rebecca didn't fully understand, came from the woman's mouth and Saim, trembling even more, nodded weakly. The woman's eyes seemed to glow and she let out a small growl of frustration.

Phileas now had a confused look on his face and Rebecca moved next to him. "Phileas," she said, "it's--."

"It's more then just what happened on the Prometheus," he whispered to her, "we should agree to help."

"Phil!"

"Listen to me, Rebecca. I…understood…what they said. This is very bad, and it could get worse, a lot worse, then even what might happen if Verne's drawings fall into the hands of the League."

Rebecca was taken aback by this. Worse then that even? The last few times anything of Jules' had gotten in League hands, nothing good had come of it, especially from the Mole machine or from Jules' quick if not entirely unexpected joining of the League (with or without him fully knowing it).

Rebecca cast him a look which said she wanted the fully story later, and from the looks of Jules and Passepartout, so did they.

The woman and Saim gave them the opportunity as she pointed and Saim nodded. The woman stood and now turned to fully face Rebecca.

It surprised Rebecca how young the woman's face looked. If her eyes had not been so harsh and unyielding, anyone could easily mistake this woman for anywhere from fifteen to twenty. Her hair was black and fell down a little ways past her shoulders and straight, much like some of the drawings alone a tomb wall, and her skin was paler then Saim's, more like that of one from the Mediterranean then Egypt. Her outfit was not there to flatter anyone, but rather for practicality, and a small item, which looked like a crude hilt to a sword, was hanging from her belt.

Her eyes, though, reminded Rebecca of a lion's eyes, or that of a cat who was not about to let you or anyone else near it.

"If you will excuse me, I must speak with Saim in private," the woman said, and without waiting for any response, walked away, Saim close behind and with the obvious stance of one who was about to be executed.

Rebecca's week was not going well.

-o-

"Your brother owns the Scales?"

Saim nodded, and she wished that the gods had not given her such a problem as one who ran away from his own clan to fix the problem. After getting into the room and away from the others, she had all but demanded an answer from Saim, and even without a harsh tone, or at least one she would've had to pull out for Set, he had told her everything.

His brother had forbidden him to get her help on this, as it appeared the priests, or at least someone, had passed down upon each generation a type of anger because she had left. She didn't understand it: when she left, Egypt had been at its height, the only other countries to rival it being Mesopotamia, Nubia, and a few others, but none wished to, mainly due to the Shadow Games which were still played, even after the catastrophe that had taken away her sebah and many of the priests. She sat down and remembered that she had met some of the priests once, when she had rescued one of the princes and his servant from some of the more rowdier parts of a city she had been living in. She hadn't known this was the prince until she had seen Mana awaiting the two. She had looked up, the Millennium Ring hanging from a rope around her neck, and gasped at the sight of her. Mana had even called her by her true name, and she remembered Mana smiling and thanking her for the return of the prince.

--"I am still a servant to my Pharaoh. If this one is one who will succeed him, then it is best to keep him and his friend out of harm's way."—

After that, Mana had somehow found her location and sent messages of the young Prince's progress as well as about the boy who had been with them. The boy had been chosen by the Rod and was to be the next Head Priest, and the boy himself was almost if not just as talented at the Shadow Games as her sebah, though the monsters he often chose were from elements and the Gods were never awakened by him. 3 Set had become a good Pharaoh, but the darkness that had taken over still haunted him at times, despite the companionship of his symbol of light, the White Dragon.

All the others had died but Mana. Mana had inherited the Ring…and life had gone on.

"Saim, do you think he has found the location of the other Secrets?" she asked, her mind drifting back into the present as well as the slight shock of seeing a face she had not remembered until looking up.

"I doubt it," Saim answered, "I was only able to find their location by using, or begging, the Tauk, but he has no such way. Only the Scales answer to him, and as it is--."

"I understand," she told him, sighing. This would be troublesome: the location of the last two was a good two-days outside of London, in the countryside. She was sure that the Foggs would know of the place, and while it appeared they agreed to let them stay for the moment, she was sure that one wrong word said or one thing done wrong and they would be threatened.

She did not want to kill those close to Jules, but she also did not take well to threats. For them, she would give a warning, at least, but only one.

They seemed smart enough, they would stop at one.

But that would be hard for her, if her memory overtook her again.

Brother…so you were reborn here, and in a way that is different from what I remember of you. But he is older then you were…

If this is true of my brother, whose soul is supposedly locked within my own Items, then will my sebah be reborn as well?

How much longer will fate keep him from me?

"We must tell them what we can, and leave as quickly as we can. I fear your brother's decision to punish people will only serve to keep us from the Secrets."

Saim nodded and started to move when he paused and a brief look of pain came over his features. She looked at him then said, "What happened?"

"It is…" her look made him stop before he could start his lie, and he said, "I must show you for you to understand."

-o-

"You understood them, Fogg?" Verne asked, the group over in one corner, the furthest from where the two slight-intruders had gone to.

"I did say that, didn't I Verne? It's odd…the moment I heard it, I understood what they were saying, as clearly as I would if they were speaking English…"

Rebecca frowned, "What were they talking about, if I may ask?"

Phileas frowned and thought of the words as well as how the woman seemed to word them, as well as how the man responded.

"So?"

Phileas sighed. "After he said that it was the feather of Ma'at that was what we were talking about, she asked him if that meant that someone he knew had the Sacred Scales. He answered that it was his older brother, and from his tone, this brother does not seem the nicest of men."

Rebecca frowned. "What does that have to do with how serious things are?"

Phileas struggled with how to answer that. "I have…heard, from an old poker-partner of mine about something known as the 'Seven Secrets' or 'Sacred Items of a Thousand Years'4. One was Scales, which could balance out the heart of a man while he was still alive, and send him to be devoured by Ammut…that demon of the Egyptian underworld…before they died."

"It seems odd," Verne pointed out, then asked, "What about an Ankh?"

The two Foggs looked at him and Verne explained, "She made an Ankh appear, and used it to see into my…she called it a 'Soul Room'. She didn't go into it, but I think it's pretty powerful. She said that I'm immune to it, though."

"Thank God for small favors," Phileas muttered then nodded, "Yes, he mentioned them all. He said if anyone was to find even one of those items, they never lived to tell about it, or if they did, it was right before they died."

"Oh dear," Rebecca said, looking back. "And she has one of them? She said two more were missing, and the League had them."

The group was silent for a moment before Verne said, "I want to help her. There's more to this story then what she's willing to tell, and I want to find out what it is."

Phileas nodded. "This whole thing doesn't reek, but it's obvious there's more to our guests then we suspected."

Passepartout nodded as well, and Rebecca sighed. "I'm saying we should be cautious. We don't know--."

"What in the white sands belonging to Seth was your brother thinking?"

The group turned and Phileas blinked as he heard that. It sounded like a curse, and he had to guess it was.

There was a muted, unheard reply as the group now headed for the stairways.

"By all the vermin who feast on the Dead, and by the damned Thief Bakura and his damned village, he is an idiot! Did the priests go mad after the death of--." There was a pause, then more muted talking, none of which Phileas could make out.

So it appears the brother is not the smartest of all men, at least by this woman's thoughts on the matter. I wonder…what does that mean for him when we finally encounter him?

Phileas had to guess it was nothing good.

The group looked at Phileas and he said, "Just because I understand doesn't mean…"

"Phil!" "Fogg!" "Master…"

He hated being a translator…"She asked…what the devil his brother had been thinking about something. I couldn't hear his reply, but hers was that his brother was an idiot and something about all the priest going mad after the death of someone. She didn't mention them, though. After that, they began speaking as they are now, and I can't make out the words."

The group seemed satisfied with that, and Jules cast another look in the direction of the spare room. "I wonder what she saw that caused her to yell like that. She doesn't seem like someone to do that."

Phileas frowned and nodded, an odd thought/memory in his head.

--"Look, brother, look!" the girl with tawny eyes smiled up at him, holding a small knife their father had fashioned. He grinned at her, walking over to ruffle her hair, "Very good—"—

"No," he said, "she doesn't."

-o-

She had stood quickly and now cursed herself for losing her temper. Saim had, if possible, become even more quiet then before as she told him to lay down and she slowly looked over the wounds before applying a little of the healing ointment he had brought and tried to hide from her.

The carvings in his back, for that was all she could see them as, wrote of the three Gods and how they could unlock the Pharaoh's memory. She knew enough to read, but not to write. Her sebah and the boy with him had been surprised when she had told them, after a lesson with the sword and knife before them trying as a team to get at some other weapon (they never did reach it, she remembered that much), that she couldn't read. With that, her sebah had introduced her to his other friends in the temple: a magician named Mahaado and his very young student, Mana. Mana had been hiding at the time, and had sprung out to try and hug her sebah, but she had caught the small and nimble girl mid-air. Mana had complained how unfair it was, as she was Sakhmet and could catch anything, and she had taken a liking to the apprentice girl who was so carefree. It had also turned into a game, Mana popping out to attach herself to her sebah and seeing if she could evade the older woman if she happened to be there.

Mahaado, though, was very serious. He hardly played, devoting himself to studies and to use of his magic and understanding more. He had taught her in a matter-of-fact way how to read the writing, heretic and the divine one used by many of the priests, while her sebah, Mana, and the other had helped her, so that their breaks now included the boys practicing writing while seeing if she could read what they wrote.

But this…

She gently rubbed the ointment in and tilted her head. "Where did he get this?"

"from a wall along the tomb at Kul Eruna," Saim answered, "this is supposed to be tied to the magic of the sealed stone that the Pharaoh after the Nameless Pharaoh created."

My other…who became Pharaoh after my sebah…and who fathered that boy that I met so long ago, thinking I was free of Khmet. After that, after speaking to Mana, after hearing of what the new Pharaoh knew, I began to search for my sebah. Now I am here, and I find my brother instead.

Her heart hurt at the thought.

It had hurt only a few times since she gained her own Items. Once was when she couldn't find the other, having been sent away. She and Akunadin were frantic until her newer monster, Menw5, the griffin which had gone after him and brought him back, alive but only barely. Then it had hurt when she witnessed her other, possessed by evil, fighting her sebah, and with all the intent of killing him when the world around them crumbled. She had fought the evil, and was badly wounded.

Then her sebah had sacrificed himself, and not her, to seal away the evil, and his pendant had broken into a thousand pieces, taking him away from her…

"It speaks of how my Pharaoh can regain his memory, should it be lost, and battle the evil also trapped within the Puzzle," she told him. "This is a punishment?"

"Yes. There are few others who have received this, and they are said to guard the tomb where the stone tablet is."

"…I see." She looked to the door and sighed. "I am sorry if I was the cause of this."

His head turned and he move up slightly, wincing painfully as he did to look at her with determined eyes. "No, Mi—no, it was not your fault! My sister, she is the one who stole the Secrets, and I am the one who mentioned your name! My brother was the one to put these onto my back! He is the one to blame…my sister is the one to blame…but not you."

She looked at him, surprised at him for being so bold. Where had he turned determined, had changed from the timid man she had growled at in America a few weeks ago?

The Tauk changed Isis too…she was timid, and often soft-spoken, but her duty as the soothsayer of the court made her important. She knew this…and she and I were the only women among the men who protected my sebah. Mana was still learning, but she was a great woman when I met her again.

"Saim," she touched his shoulder, gently pushing him back down. She paused and considered her words. "I am going to tell the group where we must go. I will see how quickly we can retrieve the Secrets. And then we will have a word with your brother."

Her tone left nothing to the imagination at how this 'word' might turn out should his brother protest anything.

-o-

Rebecca wandered downstairs, sitting at the main room and looked up as the woman walked down as well. It seemed she wasn't the only one to not be able to sleep.

"I take it the men are asleep," the woman said, giving her a small smile before motioning, "May I sit?"

Rebecca nodded, drinking some of the tea she had made for herself in the hopes it would let her sleep. She set down the cup and looked at her. "What caused you to take up this life?"

The woman looked at her and then down. "That is a question with a very long answer."

"Should I answer for myself first?"

"If you wish to. I cannot say that my own answer will make anymore sense to you then your answer may make to me."

Rebecca smiled at this woman, a fellow Athena in a world of men, then leaned back to say, "Phileas and I are cousins. I lived with him for a very long time, and even after being introduced to society, I was never a very good lady, or at least one to stay still. Phil and his brother were in the Service, and I wanted to join. It took a good deal of arguments and pleas to my uncle, Phileas' father, before I was allowed in. Phileas protested, but this was…well, because we had lost Erasmus to his work in the Service. He didn't want to lose me like that. He had even quit after that, and he and Uncle Boniface never spoke after that."

The woman sighed. "Men can be like that. Sometimes the father do what they think is proper and good for their sons, but it backfires. Their wishes do not always come true, or if they do, it is after their deaths."

Rebecca looked at her and she said, "I knew such a pair…one I trained to be a fighter. He and…and my sebah…were close, at least when it came for rivals. They were always trying to outdo each other, it was rather entertaining to watch should a new contest come up. Shortly after I met them, I swore I would protect them. They were…they are…mine. I have no other word for it."

"I understand how that is," Rebecca said with a smile, "they aren't children, nor are they lovers, but they simply are, and you will do what you can to protect them, no matter what the cost. Jules is much like that for me…he is mine, more then a friend, but not a brother or anything. Simply someone I would want to protect." She paused then said, "What happened to them?"

"One died, and the other took his place as Pharaoh," she told her, "and I left."

"Why?"

"A lower priest defaced the name of my sebah. His name is lost in time, much like his spirit, and I became angry at this. The other wished for me to stay, to help put the name back, but upon realizing only I and maybe one other remembered it, he sent me away. He said for me to remember the name, and what had really happened, so that should I meet him along the way, then perhaps I can remind him."

The woman stopped and sighed. "It's been so long…I feel fate is playing a cruel joke on me. I have run into the children of my other, and they showed so much promise. I have—I have seen too much, and lost too much, that at times I wonder if I will ever see my sebah again."

Rebecca looked at the woman and realized just how vulnerable this girl could be. Even looking young, she was still a child. This girl had seen everything, perhaps (she said he was a Pharaoh, but the last Pharaoh was maybe a few thousand years ago!) more then what human history knew, and all of what she had gone through was to see the face of her 'sebah' again.

Rebecca realized if anyone took away Phileas, or Jules, then she would have gladly done the same thing this woman is doing, with no reservations towards any damnation she had to endure, to see them again.

Rebecca finally asked, "So what is your name?"

The woman raised her face and smiled. "You wouldn't be able to pronounce it right."

"Perhaps, but I may be able to help you gain a new one. Everyone needs a name, don't they? I have one, and it makes me unique."

"Your name was given to you when you were born; all other names I go by I obtained through my years before I served my sebah and the other."

"Tell me."

The woman looked at her, then asked, "Why?"

"Because I am curious, because we are telling each other things we would not admit to the men onboard unless they were about to die, because we are both women who fight for those who are ours, and because I know you want to tell me." Rebecca paused then held out her hand. "I am Rebecca Fogg."

"That is not your full name."

"No, but that is what I go by. I have a rather long full name."

"I see," the woman smiled at her, then took the hand and spoke her name.

"…that is a rather complicated name."
"You should hear what it means."

"Maybe not. And what is it that the man…Saim, was it?...wanted to call you?"

"Mighty One. It is a title I gained after people began calling me Sakhmet."

Rebecca frowned then told her, "I'm not too sure about that name either."

"Sakhmet is a goddess who was created when humanity was being wicked. She was sent as a great lioness to destroy the wicked, but became so enthralled by killing that she continued to kill, despite the protests of the great Ra. He finally told humanity how to make a beer that was the color of blood, and after she drank it, forgot herself as well as what she had been doing."

"Don't like beer?"

"I find it soothing, but it will get me drunk a little quicker then most other liquors. I still prefer it to them, though."

"I see…well, I can't call you 'Mighty One' or 'Sakhmet' anymore then you could call me 'Athena' or 'Lady Spy'." Rebecca leaned back, then took another sip of her tea. "So you need a new name to go with this day, so you can blend in."
"I blend in well enough."

"How so?"

"I don't let people notice me, and I stay out of their affairs unless I must go into them."

Rebecca got thoughtful at the answer. "A good point."

"But you are still going to try and find me a name."

"Oh, I'm going to put a good deal of thought into it, too," Rebecca told her with a smile, "It must be a name that fits you, one which suits your personality and such."

The woman sighed. "I never should've entered this conversation."

"But you did. Regrets never turn back time."

"I know," the woman sighed, this time sadder, and Rebecca frowned.

"Sorry."

"I didn't tell you the fullness of everything."

"Neither did I. Shall we? It may take all night, but there is a good amount of tea, and we may even be able to find something to eat."

The woman gave her a small smile, but it seemed to lit her whole face, as it was not the same as before. This one was something that showed she had, almost unknowingly, made a friend. "Are you sure we should stay up all night?"

"No, but I can't get to sleep, and it appears you can't either. Besides, we can get a quick nap in along the way, can't we?"

Rebecca gave her much the same smile, and the woman finally nodded.

Rebecca then realized that this woman simply wanted someone to speak to, and had found it. While she could've used this to gain more information about everything, instead they simply traded stories on the two whom they had claimed as 'theirs' and their pigheaded natures.

1—The feather I explained later, but from the Yugioh manga (the first series), when Shadi, who used the Scales, had a small feather in his turban and, when he judged a corrupt museum manager, after killing him off left the feather behind, which was the only evidence that it might have been foul play instead of a heart attack.

2— If you've seen the movie 'Serenity' you will recognize my play on this quote. I had to…not really, but hey…

3—I'm becoming a Yugioh GX fan, and in the second episode, one of the new characters mentioned that it could've been like the main character was the Pharaoh and he was his High Priest. I decided that was a good idea. The thing about 'elements' is that the main character uses a type of monster called 'Elemental Heroes', which all have specific types of elements. He also used that particular deck to defeat Yugi's deck in one episode (though someone else was using it, so I have to guess that if Yugi was using it, he might've had a harder time).

4— The original (Japanese) name for the Millennium Items was "Sennen Items". "Sennen" translates roughly to "thousand", which was how long peace was supposed to last after their creation.

5—Egyptian for 'monument'. (She sees her 'other' as unyielding and unmoving as a monument or obelisk)