Disclaimer: Aida is... well, it's probably part Elton John and Tim Rice's, part Verdi's, but it's not mine. I'm just writing for fun.

I overheard much during my father's frequent meetings with the other ministers, although admittedly few were held at our home. Those that were, I overheard curious things. Around the time I was ten or eleven, the meetings began to concern largely something called Nubia. At first I thought Nubia must be a person, since the ministers said such things as, " Nubia will not relent" and "Our friendship with Nubia may require severing." And then it changed to things about, "The time approaches to invade Nubia," though they argued much about precisely when this time would occur.

One day, when my father excused himself for a moment I slipped into the meeting.

The ministers looked to me. "We have no need of your services," one minister said. Perhaps the fact that I carried no wine had gone unnoticed by these so-called intelligent men.

"What is Nubia?" I asked.

"None of your business, boy," was the first answer I received.

The second answer was, "It's a nation south of Egypt." The minister who said as much pointed it out to me on a map—not a very good one, though, I noticed. It looked like something I could've drawn, the rough borders of Egypt and other places, the Nile and the sea.

"Oh." I leaned up on tiptoe to see the map better. "And we trade with them?" I asked.

The minister who had been kind now smiled at me. "Yes," he said, "we do."

"Why would we want to harm them, then, if we need them to trade with us?" I asked. It didn't seem logical to me. Isolating them would just lose us whatever resources they had that we wanted.

The kind minister chuckled. "If we had the power of Nubia we would have their resources, too, and not need to trade. We would also have control of the second and third Cataracts. We would open the Nile to our rule," he said, and traced the Nile with his finger.

I frowned. There was a piece of information here I didn't understand, a piece of information I needed to understand all the others. "Sir… please… do we like Nubia?"

"In matters of politics, that is of very little importance."

"If we asked nicely, wouldn't they let us use the river?" I wanted to know.

"No, they would not."

"Why?"

"Because they could gain something by withholding. It would give them an edge in trade, do you see?"

"Why can't we just share?" I asked. "That way everyone's happy."

"That is not how politics works." Zoser lifted me off my feet and moved me a few feet back. "Run and play, Radames, or make yourself useful, boy."

"I want to learn more about Nubia," I protested. Wouldn't that make me useful? Other boys my age were apprenticed to their fathers, like Bes, a boy I had played with years before. I only saw him now at market. His father made sandals and now he did, too.

Zoser gave me a shove towards the door. He had a way of shoving that looked gentle, that made me look clumsy when I stumbled and fell. I pulled myself out of the dirt, blushing painfully, and fled the room. The last thing I heard was the voice of the minister who had been kind to me asking, "Was that truly necessary?"

I paused. Zoser said, "The boy's been nothing but an embarrassment since his mother died. He's, ah… not all right in the head. I am sorry for the interruption."

I left the house. I had no idea where I was headed, only that I was going away from him. I wasn't going to play—who would I play with? Zoser knew I had no one to play with; Zoser had seen to it that no one wanted to play with me. He told all the other adults that I wasn't right in the head and let word leak to the children; they all enjoyed a laugh at my expense. There goes Zoser's stupid child.

I wandered that day. I wandered to the Nile and followed its shore. Where the path veered away I walked instead through sand. I heard the birds calling and saw how the water shimmered if you looked out of the corner of your eye. The weeds grew thickly, sometimes so thickly they blotted the river from view—I was only a small boy then, and achieving heights greater than my own took little effort, even for plants.

Then I unlaced my sandals. I held them in my fingers, leaned forward and ran. Sand gave and flew up in wheels behind me. I raced against nothing, running until in the heat of the afternoon I moved so quickly a cool wind formed around me. I ran until my legs began to burn, and then continued running until they refused to support me and I toppled over. Grains of sand stung my arms and legs, but the collective sands shifted to build me a berth.

I fell asleep there, along the Nile's edge.

Hours later, I awoke. It was dark now, but warm still, Egyptian warmth. The moon hung low in the sky and surfed the surface of the Nile's now-dark waters.

I picked myself up from the sand and brushed off my arms and legs. It was dark, and I was far from my home. As I stood I recalled how it was said among men that the Nile leads to the sea, and the sea leads to all lands. I could follow the Nile. I had proved that today. I could follow the Nile to the sea and go to any land I chose! I was free. Freedom swelled my lungs like too much air and made me dizzy. I could go anywhere I chose, do anything I wanted.

I could see the secrets of the Valley of Kings!

I could swim to Elephantine!

I could find what this Nubia truly was. In that moment I imagined myself speaking to the Nubian Pharaoh (because all lands have Pharaohs… right?) and telling him we really wanted to use the river, and he would agree. I would return to Egypt a hero! Everyone would love me, even Zoser! Especially Zoser, and even more he would be proud of me.

It is in this mind that I set out towards Nubia, at least where I thought I would find Nubia. I trudged, carrying my sandals and wishing I had something to drink. I was spared, at least, the heat of the sun, which would have melted me, but the air made my throat dry and sticky. My sides cramped.

In two hours I saw dwellings, buildings, low and solid. Nubia looked so like Egypt! I was bent and panting, but seeing Nubia I straightened and ran. Soon the sands gave way to streets. I marveled as my feet traveled a familiar path. Was this Nubia? It looked so like Thebes!

Perhaps I was as foolish as my father counted me. I did not realize until I arrived at his house what I had done.

Zoser whipped me like a dog for running away. I was just happy that he cared.

to be contiued!

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