Edit: Merci to Kokoro for fixing my mistake
Chapter Four
Seth could see someone walking towards him. He rolled up the scroll he had in his hand, and stood tall. A servant walked up to him.
The young boy, around the age of 16, looked up at the man before him.
"Well? What is it?" Demanded Seth.
"My lord, his majesty, Pharoh Atem summons your presence. He has send me to invite you to conference with him."
Seth looked off into the distance, "Very well, I shall accompany you to where he wishes to speak with me."
Kaiba felt as though he was plunged into a pitcher of cold water, as Seth walked directly through him. He gave a shudder, and followed his heels, Kisara behind him.
Seth paced slowly across the courtyard, stepping around odd bushes and cactuses, past a fountain, in which a beautiful mosaic of fish was on the bottom. He entered the door-less palace and followed the servant boy, who grabbed a torch along the wall. The boy turned down a set of different halls, and then stopped infront of a doorway, handing the torch to Seth.
Seth said something in a different language, and the boy nodded and was off.
Both Seth and Seto entered the dimly lit room. Odd tapestries adorned the walls, and there was a table in the middle of the room, in which pieces of parchment were scattered across.
Seth stood infront of Atem, waiting for a reply. Atem, who was bent over the table, scribbling something onto a piece of papyrus paper, looked up briefly. He rolled up whatever he was doing, and placed it in a pile at the top of the table.
"I trust you got my message?"
"I would not be here if I had not," was Seth's response.
Atem nodded, "I have found suitable work for the girl you brought yesterday. I sent her into a servants quarters as a tailor. If she does not fair well there, I will move her somewhere else."
Seth merely nodded, knowing this was not the only reason that the Pharoh had wanted to talk to him. "I am aware that there is something bothering you."
Atem looked up; "I cannot put my finger on it. I sense something in that woman."
"I sensed something yesterday when I brought her. You know me, I do not pick up just anyone off the streets."
Atem frowned for a moment, looking at a golden bracelet that adorned his slender wrist; "You need to keep a close eye on her."
"As I promised to," replied Seth.
"Very well, that is all I needed. Be careful cousin. I would hate to see a catastrophe come of all this."
Seth nodded and headed out the door, Seto close on his heels again.
He walked for several moments, and took a hallway that led downstairs. Torch in hand, he descended down the damp passage, and stopped at the first door on his left. Knocking quietly, he entered.
Unlike the rest of the Palace, this room was quite busy. Maids were washing linen in a large basin at one end of the room, while at another part; servants were flattening papyrus leaves to make paper. The room was quite spacious, and it smelled of many things. Doors around the outside of it went off into unknown rooms, which probably led into a labyrinth of hallways.
Seth spotted Kisara, hunched over a piece of cotton, sewing what looked like a rip. She gently placed the needle at the rim of the cloth, making sure she pulled it out without leaving any marks behind. He walked towards her, just as she was finished, examining her work.
"It looks good."
Kisara looked up, and met Seth's blue eyes. "I only started today, I never learned how to sew before, I used to farm a lot though." She gave a weak smile, and played with a piece of her silver hair that had fallen out of the leather that tied it back.
"Are you being treated well?"
She nodded, "Oh yes, the food and room are very acceptable. I could not ask for more."
Seth knew if he was deemed to work his life for someone else, who barely spoke to him, he would not be pleased. Then again, he had always grown up in a wealthy surrounding, and he could have guessed that Kisara was not used to much more.
"I need to go now, but I will see you again tonight, to make sure things are going well."
She nodded, and proceeded to grab another piece of cotton, ready to work again.
Seth exited, and walked up the stairs again, the only light coming from the fire in his hand. He reached the top of the stairs, wondering what to do next.
"Who is she?"
Seth turned around, startled by the male voice.
A tall man, with dark chestnut hair stood in the shadow of a doorway. His clothes were white and clean, and he had a single coil around his upper arm.
"A servant girl," Replied Seth.
"Have you always been interested in servant girls then? Or have the more wealthy ones lack to grab your interest now-a-days."
"I saved her from the street, I was making sure she was ok." There was an edge of annoyance in Seth's voice. Seto thought it sounded more like hate.
The man stepped out of the shadows, illuminated by the light Seth held. The colour in Seto's face drained, and he put a hand over his mouth.
"That was quite nice of you, I am sure she appreciated it."
Seth gave the man a cold look.
"There is just something about her. I do not know what it is. She is odd."
Seth turned around and walked down the rest of the hallway, ignoring his father's last remark.
It felt as of Seto had walked through a wall of water, as scenery around him changed.
"The one with the light hair, sewing near the right."
The guard turned his gaze to the young girl, around the age of 17, quietly sitting and stitching something.
He approached her, and she turned to look at him, alarmed.
He said something to her, and she got up from where she was sitting.
"Hello." The man's heavy gaze bore into Kisara's face.
She bowed and acknowledged him.
They were left alone in an empty hallway.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Begging your pardon sir. I came into residence here only yesterday, and have not had the privilege to meet all of the palace's esteemed beings."
The man gave a hollow laugh, "Very well, let me introduce myself. My name is Akunadin. I believe you have met my son already."
Kisara shook her head politely, intimidated by this man.
"Why? Of course you have! He is the one who saved you from your petty street life just yesterday!" He laughed again.
"Begging your pardon yet again sir. I was told that High Priest Seth did not have parents. I am sorry to have scorned your politeness with my rueful ways. Please shine your forgiveness upon me."
"No…it was not your fault," said Akunadin Slowly, "You should go back to work, I have business to attend to."
"It was my greatest pleasure in having met you sir,' said Kisara, bowing again.
"No, dear lady, the pleasure was all mine."
Seth checked the tags on the wall of scrolls. Each one held information, history, poems, stories. He picked one out, looked at it, and put it back again. He continued his search, aware of footsteps down the hallway.
His father was in the doorway.
"She is interesting."
Seth's brow darkened, but he said nothing.
Akunadin approached him slowly; "You told her you had no family."
"I don't," replied Seth.
He could feel the heated form of his father behind him. "I daresay, if Atem were ever to fall under the misfortune to die, you would make a most distasteful Pharoh."
"It is not my concern."
Seth was knocked against the wall, and several scrolls fell out of their holes.
"Listen to me boy. You are royality, and I am your father. Family I am, and I better be respected. It is not in you best interest to displease me, or the consequences will be severe."
Seth said nothing, but stared into the empty brown eyes that bore into his own.
The hem of his shirt was let go of, and his father left the room in a rush. Seth stood up, and gained composure. He continued looking for scrolls as if nothing had happened, but could not shake the fear he held within his heart.
Seto looked away. He could feel the way Seth did. He knew how it was to be pushed around by ones deemed family. It had been his own determination that led him to be CEO of Kaiba Corp. after overthrowing his own stepfather. For once, connections started to work in his head. Perhaps him and Seth were not so different after all.
"Miss, you are finished for tonight."
Kisara looked up at the young woman? "I am done?"
"Yes miss, the High Priest wishes to see you tonight." She handed her a piece of papyrus, and Kisara struggled to read it.
"Where is the courtyard?"
The young girl talked to Kisara, and told her where she must go.
Kisara packed the few things she had in the room, stored them in her quarters, and headed out of her small room.