Hakuno paused in the doorway. "Why is there a mirror in here?"

"We bought it." Enkidu sat cross legged on the bed and they put a card on the growing pile. Gilgamesh groaned before adding a card of his own.

"You bought it from where?" Hakuno approached the huge copper mirror. It was circular and almost her height. How this managed to be wheeled into this room was a mystery to her. "And why? Gil, we do not need something like this. How are we going to take it home?"

"I told you we should have went with the smaller one," scolded Enkidu.

"Oh be quiet, you liked this one better," growled Gilgamesh.

Hakuno massaged the bridge of her nose. "Where did you get this? And do not lie to my Gil, I know you would not go down to the city to go mirror shopping." She eyed her King.

Both of them had the audacity to not look at her. Oh Gods. "You visited the caravan." No question. A matter of fact comment.

"No!" protested Gilgamesh.

At the same time Enkidu said, "I am sorry, I tried to stop him!"

Gilgamesh looked at Enkidu with an expression of pure betrayal.

Enkidu looked sheepishly at him. "I am sorry Gil, but I fear her more than I fear you."

Hakuno took in a few deep, slow breaths. She should have expected this. Gilgamesh was the type of person who, if revealed something about her, he would do everything he could to figure it out. He was curious about her past, she should have expected that as she rarely talked about it.

Truthfully, she did not want to think about it. The chance of seeing them again was slim and if they were out of sight, they were out of mind. What was the point on dwelling on the past? On the people she would never see again? Of course, they ended up appearing here and now, at the worst possible time for everyone involved.

Perhaps, if she was in his position, she would have done the same thing.

However, that still did not excuse the fact he had went behind her back and did something she explicitly told him not to do.

"The leader of the caravan, Susuda was glad to know you were safe," put in Enkidu. They gave the sense of a nervous child, fessing up to something bad they had done.

"Yes, that! I also let them know they can come visit Uruk soon, so you can see them again," Gilgamesh added proudly.

"I did not ask you to do that," she snapped. "For once couldn't you just listen to me? We did all this planning and you might have ruined it with that one action Gil. We are not in Uruk!"

"I know we are not in Uruk!" he responded. His red eyes flashed dangerously. "I know why we are here. Why is it such a problem that I want to learn about my Queen? It is not like you tell me anything about yourself from before!"

Enkidu stood frozen like a deer between them, their eyes wide and darting back and forth between them.

"It is because I do not want to remember it!" She rubbed her eyes, hating how the tears were starting to spring in them due to her anger. "Gods, I was forced to become a slave in a palace against my will and they left without me. I did not think I would ever see them again. I was trying to move on and be okay with what I had now."

Gilgamesh looked taken aback by her response. Hesitantly he reached out to her, but she pulled away, not ready to forgive him just yet.

"I am going to bed," she said quietly before she pushed past him into the bedroom.

"Did something happen?" asked Queen Ninki.

"Oh nothing much," Hakuno replied lightly and put down the cup a little harder than she wanted to.

"You cannot fool me Queen Hakuno. I assume it has to be something. There is a crease to your brow that was not there before." She gestured to her daughter, who was working on transcribing something onto a clay tablet. "We are women here…" She eyed Enkidu, who sat in the corner of the Queen's audience chamber. "For the most part."

"My King was uh, a bit out of line last night." Hakuno relented. Enkidu became very interested in the stone walls in that moment.

"Oh yes, I know that feeling." Ninki put a hand on her cheek and shook her head. "Sometimes Kings can be so foolish about matters. Why a few days ago my King decided he had to talk back to me while we were in audience with the people."

Hakuno half-tuned out the conversation as Ninki went on a full-blown rant about Ditanu's shortcomings. She had to admit, despite Gilgamesh's faults he was overall enjoyable to be around. Based on the way Ninki talked about Ditanu either this was a political marriage or one that the relationship changed after getting married. She really hoped she would not fall out of love like Ninki did if that was the case.

Queen Ninki stopped mid-rant as a slave walked into the room and scurried to the Queen's side to whisper something in her ears.

"I hope everything is alright," said Hakuno.

Ninki waved a hand at her daughter. "Aea, I completely forgot. You have your music lessons today."

"Oh, of course, I completely forgot!" Aea scrambled to gather up her supplies.

"I hope you do not mind if my daughter leaves us."

Hakuno shook her head. "Not at all. It is important to get your lessons in."

"I hope we can speak more later," Aea said softly before hurrying out.

"I hope she is not late for her lesson."

"They will wait for her, it is fine." Ninki waved on the concern away. "Anyway, back to what I was saying…"

"The temple layout is set up in a way to make it welcoming to the worshippers and hospitable for the priests and priestess, this depending on the temple and its purpose…"

Gilgamesh put down the tablet, his mind protesting the incredibly boring text. Gods, how did Hakuno do this kind of stuff day in and out and stay sane? And she looked like she was having fun translating them. How could anyone find this fun!?

Perhaps there were some other tablet that would be less painful in this library? Gilgamesh left the tablet he had been attempting to read on the table and began skimming the shelves to see if any tablet would catch his eye.

Usually he would never set foot in a library unless he had to. Unlike Hakuno, who had a meeting with Queen Ninki, King Ditanu was busy with state matters, leaving Gilgamesh on his own for the day. Normally he would take a day like this and spend it in the rooms to recover from having to deal with another King. However, this time was different. Last night was different. Sure, they bickered, but last night was something else. He could sense it in the way she responded. She had been furious, furious to the point of crying! He even had to kick out his guards, so he could sleep in their bed. Enkidu had laid next to him and they were tossing and turning all night.

The next day had been no better and she barely said a word as she and Enkidu went to have an audience with Queen Ninki. At least she was willing to have Enkidu go with her.

He did not want to stay in the rooms with his thoughts, so he had come to the library to attempt to distract his mind. It was not really working like he thought it would. At least the library was pretty big so he was getting exercise by walking up and down the rows.

He turned the corner and cursed in surprise. "For the love of Sin!"

Princess Aea jumped and almost dropped the tablet she had just picked up from a shelf. "King Bilgames," she said in surprise. "I did not see you there."

"I did not know you were here Princess Aea." He was sure he was alone in the library. His guards were posted outside the door, so they would have warned him if anyone walked in. She was incredibly quiet though from what Hakuno had told him and from his experience of seeing her from the dinner on the first day.

"I like coming in here," she said softly. Her eyes darted up to him and then on the floor.

Gods, he hated girls like this. Too meek for his taste. There was probably no fire in her eyes like there was in Hakuno's. He grimanced as he thought of his angry Queen.

"I am sorry."

"Huh?" He looked at her. Oh, did she think his grimace was about her? If this was in his kingdom, he would not have cared what a foreign princess thought of him. However, they were in enemy territory and playing nice was a part of the game. "It is fine, I was not about you."

"Oh? Is it something I can help with?"

Gods her voice was so soft. He could barely hear her and they were in a quiet place! "It is something I need to figure out on my own."

"Forgive me for being forward but it was about Queen Hakuno right?" At Gilgamesh's look of surprise she added quickly. "My mother and her were talking and she spoke about you two having some…trouble."

Trouble? Gilgamesh frowned. What was she doing, telling their problems to another kingdom? The enemy kingdom. Unless this was part of a plan of hers? He would not put it past her.

"We will figure it out on our own. Thank you," he replied coldly.

"Of course. I did not mean to pry." She dipped her head. "If you will excuse me." She went to walk past him, but her foot caught on the edge of a tablet-shelf.

She pitched forward, and Gilgamesh moved forward to catch her before she could fall and possibly crack her head open. That would be incredibly difficult to explain. He winced as he felt her jeweled headpiece whack into his chest, the edges sharp enough that he was sure it had cut him.

She held onto his arms and took a few shaky breaths. "I am sorry King Bilgames. I felt a bit lightheaded there."

"It is alright," he replied lightly. "There's a chair over there, let me get you there."

"Oh, of course. Thank you." She stood on her own and was about to take a step when she pitched forward again, right into Gilgamesh.

He let out a curse in surprise as he slammed into the ground, landing on his tailbone. A weight was pressed down on top of him. Princess Aea.

"I am so sorry King Bilgames," she squealed as she looked down at him.

"It…" His voice trailed off as he noticed someone standing at the other end of the bookshelf. "Hakuno," he whispered.