"So?"

Urash took a deep breath and willed his legs not to shake before Imi. Meeting this spymaster almost every day had not dulled the man's overwhelming presence.

"There is really nothing new to report."

"Really now?" Imi narrowed his eyes. "Now even after what Princess Aea did?"

Urash shook his head. "Not at all."

"Really now?" scoffed Imi. "You mean to tell me that the Queen of Uruk did not cause any discourse due to her husband being seen with another woman?"

"Queen Hakuno is the type of woman to think of the situation through," Urash replied. "From my experience, she rarely acts on emotions and instead does it on logic."

"Logic huh?" Imi smiled. "I suspect the two of us would get along well."

Urash shivered at Imi's grin.

"Anyway, that is all. You may go." Imi waved for Urash to leave.

Urash was about to but he paused in the doorway. "Uh, may I ask a question?"

Imi narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

Urash took a few breaths. Spymasters can be prickly at times. "I have been meaning to ask, since my loyalty lies with Nippur, are the King and Queen alive? With the young Prince in the palace, I fear for my King and Queen. Are they safe?"

Imi examined Urash and for a moment Urash thought the guard outside the door would come in and slit his throat. "They are well. Alive and hidden, do not worry about them young Urash."

Urash sighed in relief. "That is all I wanted to know. Thank you Imi."

Imi waved the compliment away. "I'm done with you. Go."

Urash bowed again and hurried out of the room. The guard gave him a nod and Urash nodded back before returning to the rooms and crawled back into his bed.

"Urash?" Shub mumbled from her palette. "You had to go to the bathroom again? You might want to see an azu about that."

"Yes, I probably should," agreed Urash. Shub was way too much of a light sleeper. He turned over in his bed and went over what he learned from Imi and smiled. The King and Queen of Nippur were alive!

Gilgamesh walked out of the meeting with a headache forming in the back of his brain. Today had already been a long day as he had finished drafting the trade treaties with King Ditanu. Of course they still had plenty left to do but at least the basic was out of the way. If they kept to this schedule, then it meant they would be able to leave when they planned on instead of having to extend their trip. Thank the Gods because staying here anymore than they had to was out of the question.

He paused as he spotted Princess Aea sitting on a bench in one of the many palace gardens. She seemed to be engrossed in the tablet she was reading but based on the low cut of her dress and the provocative way she was sitting, with her leg perched on the bench so her dress rode up, it was an obvious ploy to try to make Gilgamesh approach her.

He sighed and gestured for his guards to wait at the entrance into the gardens. He might want nothing to do with her after what happened a few days ago but Hakuno did tell him if she did try again to try to get some information out of her.

"Princess Aea," he said as he approached her.

Aea looked up in the most fake surprise Gilgamesh had ever seen. "King of Uruk, I did not see you there." She put her feet on the ground and adjusted her dress, like she was suddenly modest. "What are you doing here, in the gardens?"

"I had just finished a meeting with your father and I spotted you here, so I thought I would come over and chat." He hated how her eyes seemed to brighten at the comment. For his Queen, he reminded himself. This was him doing his duty and getting information from this woman. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"From a few days ago. It was a bad fall."

"Oh. That. I am fine." She rested her hands in her lap. "Were you alright King Bilgames?"

"It will take more than a little tumble to take me down."

He could see the questions dancing in her eyes. She wanted to know what had happened afterwards with Hakuno. Probably wondering if her plan worked in order to cause a rift between him and his Queen. How dare this woman think she was anything compared to Hakuno?

"May I sit next to you?"

"Oh! Of course!" she squeaked as she shifted over to give him room.

He sat down as far as he could on the other end of the bench. "I realized I do not know too much about you or your siblings as I have been spending so much time with your parents."

"Ah, I am not that interesting," she replied shyly.

"Nonsense, I am sure there is something interesting about you." He gestured to the tablet. "What were you reading?"

"Oh, nothing really. It's a tablet about ancient musical instruments." She clutched the tablet against her chest like a lifeline.

"I noticed you seem to like music a lot." A beat and then Gilgamesh added. "Does your brother also enjoy music?"

"Oh, not really. None of my brothers too. Sabium and Sangasu like to play with a sword rather than play an instrument."

Ah, the other princes of Suse. "What about Shulpae? Does he play music?"

"I doubt he has interest in sword play either."

"It sounds like you do not know him that well." At Aea's confused look Gilgamesh added. "Since you said you 'doubt'. Was he raised somewhere else?"

"Oh uh, for a time, yes."

He wanted to grin at how nervous she looked. That is what she got for trying to seduce a King. However, he knew he could get a little more out of her. He slid closer and dropped his voice to a purr. "Perhaps you should get to know your brother more. No time like the present correct?"

"I…uh…he…he probably does not want to be disturbed. He keeps to himself." Aea looked down at her hands, her face flushed.

Ah, she did not know how to react if he was the one that took charge. "Trust me, family is important to know. They will be the ones to always help you when needed. They are the allies you will always be able to rely on."

"Oh I…I uh…"

Damn this girl. Gilgamesh took a quick look around. His guards were the closest, Ishne the only one facing towards them. There were no slaves around. He gritted his teeth, turned and kissed the damn woman.

She was frozen as he pulled away from her. "Let us see your brother, alright?"

She slowly nodded. "Alright, we can see my brother," she repeated, half dazed.

Hakuno was barely able to get the welcome out as Gilgamesh swept her into a long, deep, passionate kiss. Her breathe was gone and she had to gasp for air when her husband released her. "Gil, what…"

"Is that the kind of kiss that happens when you two are going to mate? Should we leave now?" asked Enkidu innocently.

"Uh I do not think this is one of those situations," Shub said slowly.

Gilgamesh kept an arm around Hakuno and sat on the bed, dragging her down with him. "I just need you close right now," he murmured, as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"Oh, you do?" She glanced down at him in confusion and then up at Enkidu. She caught Shub slipping out of the room, obviously sensing this was a situation she was not welcome. Seriously, Hakuno wished she had the skill to leave a room without drawing attention to herself.

"Did something happen Gil?" Enkidu sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the bed. "If you need me to go because you want to mate, just let me know."

Gods, Hakuno needed to have a conversation with them about what kind of conversations were appropriate at specific times.

"Perhaps I do want to mate…" mumbled Gilgamesh.

"Gil!?" Hakuno wrapped an arm around her stomach. With everything they had to focus on right now, that seemed like it was the last thing on Gilgamesh's mind (for once). Plus there was the fact she was with child.

Which was something Gilgamesh still did not know. It was not like she was trying to hide it, it just never seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring it up. Plus catching her King alone without Enkidu or any of the guards around was difficult in and of itself and she did not want to hurt their feelings by telling them to go away for a couple of minutes. This was something Gilgamesh needed to know first, before anyone else (besides Shub of course).

"What has gotten into you? What happened today?" asked Hakuno.

"I kissed that blasted princess."

"You did what now?" Hakuno shifted back so Gilgamesh was no longer able to support himself on her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow.

Enkidu frowned. "You are not supposed to do that, right Hakuno?"

Gilgamesh sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not like that. I was using it to get information out of her. She was right there and presented herself to me and do not look at me like that Hakuno! You said to get information out of her and that's how I can. If you want to slap me for it then fine." He showed her his cheek.

Hakuno sighed and lightly slapped the cheek with her palm. "There was nothing else right? Just a kiss?"

"Just a kiss," he promised.

"What did you learn?" She crossed her arms.

"I know where Prince Shulpae is. Well, where his quarters are. I had Princess Aea take me there." He grinned. "His rooms overlook the back gardens." He shrugged. "The Prince himself was not in the rooms but she said she does not know how he usually spends his days. Oh, and I also learned that he is definitely not from here or was raised away from here as she talked more like she was listing a tablet of facts rather than talking about her sibling.

"And before you say anything I do have something to compare it to. I got her talking about her other brothers and she was able to give me childhood stories of her with them. She was pretty much screaming at me that Shulpae is not her sibling."

"Well then, you did a good job after all." She patted Gilgamesh's arm. "But Gil, unless you are partaking in a holy festival…please do not go around kissing other women." She smiled with a slight trace of anger to it.

Gilgamesh grimaced. "Uh yes, duly noted."

"Should I go so you can mate now?" asked Enkidu. "I heard from the guards that sometimes people mate when they are angry."

"No, you do not have to go anywhere Enkidu." Hakuno noted she also needed to have a talk with the guards about what kind of conversation they had when Enkidu was around. "Gil, how are the treaties coming along?"

"We are almost done. It will take perhaps a day or two to get everything sorted but we will be done by your original timeline Hakuno and then we can get out of this blasted place."

Hakuno grimanced. They were running out of time and yet it seemed like they had gotten so little information. Besides young Shulpae, there was no other connection to Nippur and they were nowhere closer to figuring out where the rest of the royalty of Nippur were. However at the same time maybe it was for the best if they got of here as fast as possible. Not just for her own sake now but for the child growing inside of her. They needed to get back to Uruk where the child would be safe.

"Since we are on the topic of the treaties, I do want to go over a few of the ideas with you Hakuno."

Hakuno broke out of her thoughts and focused on her King. "Of course Gil. You can go out with Shub and the others if you want to," she said to Enkidu. "I know this kind of stuff bores you."

Enkidu shook their head. "No, I need to understand this. I will be fine. Go on."