"My King, if you are going to be awake so early, you should be preparing for today's ritual."

Gilgamesh looked up at his baru in annoyance but alas, like always Ekur was immune to the King's stare. "There is plenty of time until the event, I do not understand why I need to get ready now."

"Well some other Kings might spend the time to pray to Tammuz but I would rather not subject the goddess to your insincere words." Ekur fluffed out his robes and sat down next to Gilgamesh, on the bench that overlooked the gardens. "I assume you are out here because you are frustrated?"

Gilgamesh hated the twinkle in Ekur's eyes. He crossed his arms and huffed, "Nonsense! It is not that at all! I am just here because it is a lovely morning and I wanted to see the dawn. It is not because I am annoyed because I have not been able to spend a night with my Queen, not at all!"

It had been a few months since the return of Hakuno as her rightful place as Queen. For the most part, during the day, they had been busy. Gilgamesh had apparently "taken a toll" (her words) on the kingdom as a whole and they have been fixing up all of the "wrong" he had done. The people seemed happy with her return too as the line for having audiences with citizens of Urk went out the door and most of the time they had to turn people away due to the amount that showed up.

That was fine and all, Gods, he did not even mind all the work that needed to be done, the problem was Enkidu.

Well, not Enkidu as a person…god creature ur-sal. They had also been a great help to the kingdom as they had a sense of peace and a calming demeanor. Plus, they always went with Hakuno on her trips to the azu houses to heal the injured and Gilgamesh could not ask for a better bodyguard for her.

The problem was at night. Enkidu had gotten so used to sleeping next to Hakuno that they had trouble going to sleep without her next to them. Sure that was fine with Gilgamesh, as most nights as the work that needed to put into the kingdom left him exhausted. It was just, any time he wanted to lay with his Queen, he could not because of Enkidu. He could still remember the conversation they had a few weeks back regarding the manner.

"Enkidu, can you sleep in my room tonight?" Gilgamesh sat on the edge of Hakuno's bed. Of course, she had moved back into her own space and Enkidu had dutifully followed her. It had taken a few words on Hakuno's part and a rumor sent through the slave network to have Enkidu thought of as her protector instead of a scandal brewing under the surface.

"Sleep in your room?" Enkidu stared at Gilgamesh in confusion. "Hakuno, why does he want us to sleep in his room?"

"Gil is talking about you," she replied gently. She sat near the head of her bed. "He wants you to go sleep in his room tonight so the two of us can sleep in here."

"But why?" asked Enkidu. They looked like they were trying to understand a puzzle they could not crack.

"Because…" Hakuno hesitated and her face flushed red. She buried her face in her hands. "Enkidu, sometimes a husband and a wife want to spend time together…at night…in a bed."

Enkidu blinked and nodded. "Oh! I understand." They hopped off the bed. "Why did you not say so before?"

Hakuno and Gilgamesh exchanged looks. The King tried not to jump up in joy. Finally! He tapped his fingers on the edge of the bed as Enkidu, innocent as ever, left the room.

"I did not think they would actually accept that response," Hakuno said in surprise. "I-" The rest of her words were cut off as the King rushed to her and swept her up into his arms, his lips locked on hers, his hands struggling to get off her dress.

"Stupid dress!" he growled.

"Do not rip it, I do not want to have to explain to Shub." Despite the protest, she made no move to stop him, in fact she seemed to be encouraging it!

He had finally gotten her breasts free when he heard a guard from outside the door.

"Welcome back Lord Enkidu."

He didn't know Hakuno could move that fast. She had slid her dress back up and dove under the covers in what appeared to be one smooth motion. He would have been impressed if he was not trying to make himself not look like he had been trying to rip off Hakuno's clothes mere seconds before.

Enkidu skipped into the room, a single white flower in hand "I found these really nice flowers outside and I took one to show you Hakuno! Look!"

"I see that Enkidu," Hakuno replied weakly.

"Oh, I am sorry, are you going to sleep?" They looked over at Gilgamesh. "Did you finish your time together or should I go out and come back later?"

Gilgamesh wanted to tell Enkidu to go out and not come back until morning but from the way Hakuno had her face buried in her hands, it looked like they were done for the night.

If only they were not so busy during the day. All Gilgamesh wanted to do was to lock himself in a room with Hakuno and go at it but there was so much work that needed to be done and it did not help that the New Year's celebration required so much planning and organizing. Thankfully it was the last day of that so, hopefully, once the festivals were over, he could think straight and figure out a time he could lay with his wife that did not involve sending Enkidu far away. Wait, that might actually be a good idea.

Ekur cleared his throat and shook his head. "My King, it is perhaps time for you to go get ready."

Gilgamesh let out a long sigh. He hated the Dumuzid costume with a passion. It was so outdated. However, he knew he could not voice his concerns as Ekur would then go into a lecture about the importance of it and if Hakuno got wind, she would also go on a long winded lecture herself.

The King stood and headed for his rooms to put on the blasted thing.

"Enkidu, I fear if you keep whipping your head around like that, you are going to break your neck."

Enkidu turned to Hakuno, the glimmer and wonder in their eyes as strong as it has been for the past eleven days of the New Year's festival. Even the prayers to the Gods for a bountiful harvest on the first few days did not deter the wonder in Enkidu's eyes.

Although, as this was her first real experience of the New Year's festival in Uruk, she probably had the same sense of wonder as she witnessed firsthand the various parades and celebrations that had occurred the past few days.

Of course, today was the most important ritual of them all. The people of Uruk were gathered around the temple of Ishtar, most of them separated into couples. As she was Queen, Hakuno was allowed to sit in the courtyard right outside the temple proper along with Enkidu under an awning to keep the midday sun at bay.

Her King stood in front of the temple, clad in robes spun from sheep's wool. A shepard's crook was in one of his hands to complete the look. Out of the temple walked the high priestess of Ishtar, adorned in jewels, the light and wispy dress she wore did not leave much to the imagination.

Other priestesses of the temple of Ishtar accompanied her as she approached Gilgamesh. A priestess stepped forward and began recounting the words of marriage.

"Hakuno? What is going on?" Enkidu leaned towards her, so they could whisper. "I thought Gil was married to you? Why is that woman saying he's marrying Ishtar right now?" Concern etched their face as well as a slight trace of anger.

Ah, perhaps it would have been better to have warned Enkidu ahead of time about this festival. She put a hand on Enkidu's arm to help placate them and to make sure they would not go running towards Gilgamesh. "It's a sacred marriage just for today," Hakuno replied softly. "The New Year's festival ends with the mating of Dumuzid, the god of shepherds with his divine lover Ishtar. The purpose of this festival is to renew the land for the growing of the crops for the next season."

Enkidu seemed confused by the explanation, but at least they did not look like they were going to throttle Gilgamesh now.

The ritual words now over, the priestess stepped back. Gilgamesh held hands with the high priestess and she began leading him into the temple proper.

Hakuno leaned back in her seat. It was weird to think about her husband having sex with another woman, but this was a sacred ritual and it was an important one. Now was just a matter of waiting until the "mating" was complete.

"How come you and Gil do not mate?"

It was a good thing Hakuno had not attempted to eat anything in that moment because she probably would have choked on it. "Wha… what you mean Enkidu?"

That innocent look on Enkidu's face did not match the question they were asking. "You two have not seen each other in so long and before we were here, Gil was doing it with many women."

Heat rose up Hakuno's face and she dropped her eyes to the ground. "We, we want to do it," she said quietly.

"What is stopping you?"

Oh gods, how in the world was she supposed to answer that!? "Enkidu," she began slowly as she tried to formulate her thoughts. "Humans are not like animals…we do not do it in front of others, it is a private affair."

"Private…" Enkidu's eyes brighten. "Oh! So that is why you kept sending me from the room. You should have just told me Hakuno! I would gladly give you and Gil time to mate!"

Hakuno could not look them in the eye. Her face burned and she was glad the guards were a good distance away so they could hear the conversation. "Thank…thank you Enkidu."

"You are welcome!"

Gilgamesh walked into Hakuno's room. The ringing of the celebration was still in his ears after he had walked out of the temple, having "fertilized the soil". Thankfully the last day of the festival was not as crazy as the previous ones as after a parade around the city, the people went to till the earth for the season's crop.

And that meant Gilgamesh could change out of the infernal scratchy clothing and bathe as he tended to sweat up a storm. Every other year he spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening in his chambers recovering from the whole thing, but this year he had a Queen. A queen he wanted to check up on as, from tales told by other kings, some queens got cranky after the Harvest Festival. It was a ridiculous notion as it was a sacred marriage and only for a few hours. Besides, Gilgamesh thought the high priestess of Ishtar's temple to be quite ugly.

"Hello Gil, finished with all of the festival rituals?" His wife was at her work table, a reed stylus in hand and a piece of papyrus in front of her.

"Are you working now of all times?" he scoffed. He took the seat across from her. "Today is a festive day. You can relax for one day can you not?"

"I am starting to put together the plan of us getting to Suse."

"Already?" Gilgamesh crossed his arms.

"Yes, already, it's been months since…" She hesitated as she took in Gilgamesh's darkened expression. "Gil, it's been months," she said firmly. "We have been able to keep them occupied with using the spy's system, but we need to move on to the next stage of the plan. We need to find out what is going on there, without going to war," she added before Gilgamesh could make the suggestion.

"Well they did try to murder my Queen," he growled.

"But we do not know everything of what is going on. We need to investigate there." She put down the stylus and ran her fingers through her hair. "And for that, we need to plan since you refuse to let me go on my own."

Gilgamesh ignored the pointed look she gave him. Her original plan was for her and Enkidu, along with guards visit Suse like she was supposed to months ago, only this time actually get to the palace. He had overruled that plan. There was no way in the Underworld he was going to let her go into that viper's den without him. Even if Enkidu was with her.

"Well then I have to plan," she said. "There are so many logistics that needs to be figured out if both a King and Queen are gone from the kingdom for a time."

"Ekur was able to rule with no problem in the past."

"Yes, I trust him on that matter, but I want to make sure the people will still be happy in the time we are gone. It has not been long since you were terrorizing your people."

He grimaced at her side-eye. He was working hard on forgetting about that, but she still kept bringing it back up. "Where is Enkidu?"

"Enkidu is…out."

"Out?"

"Yes uh…"

"Hakuno, your face is bright red."

She dropped the stylus and buried her face in her hands.

"Hakuno?" He reached out for her. "Hakuno, are you okay?" Had something happened? Gods, was Enkidu alright?

She lifted her head. "Oh, it is nothing bad." She grasped his hand in hers. "It just reminded me of a talk we had today while waiting for the sacred marriage to be completed."

"What was the talk about?" Seriously, what kind of talk would make Hakuno this flustered?

"Well, the result of that talk is Enkidu is giving us the rest of the afternoon and night to ourselves."

He stared at her blankly as he tried to comprehend what she said. "Wait, they are not coming back here tonight?"

Hakuno smiled at him. "Enkidu said they will give us space. I think they will sleep in your room tonight if you do not mind."

His face broke into a wide grin.

Hakuno smiled shyly and pulled her hand out of his. "I mean, this does give us time to plan out what to do with Sues and we have not had this much free time in a long time." She broke into laughter at Gilgamesh's expression of displeasure at the idea. "Or we can do something else with that time if you would like."

He grinned and walked around the table so he could pick her up without bumping into any of the clay tablet stacks. "My dear Queen, we have plenty to do for the rest of the afternoon, in fact I do not think we will be done until before dawn."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear. "Well then we better get started."