"...Her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love; we cannot call her winds and waters, sighs and tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacs can report..."
― William Shakespeare
"Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Ash hadu an la ilaha illal lah. Ash hadu an la ilaha illal lah."
Eshne woke with a start, her gingery hair mussed up all around her freckled face. She struggled to get out of bed, running to the window to see what the commotion was.
A beautiful voice rang all throughout Cairo, chilling Eshne to the bone. She could just barely make out the sunrise through the blur of her sleepy violet eyes. The purple sky was now devoid of stars, streaks of red and orange lit up the horizon.
The voice rang again, "Ash hadu an-na Muhammadar rasulul lah. Ash hadu Anna Muhammadar rasulul lah."
Eshne went out into the hallway where she saw Alistair stumbling from his room, rubbing his eyes.
"What in the bloody Hell…" Cullen grumbled, coming out of his room and tying a blue robe around him.
"Hayya 'alas salah. Hayya 'alas salah." The voice rang again.
The three of them walked tiredly out near the staircase. They could see Melia, already dressed and writing notes in a book when she looked up and saw their faces.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"What's the noise?" Eshne asked, one eye closed.
A wave of relief fell over Melia and she laughed, "Do you not have any mosques where you're from? It is the Adhan. They are calling for the Salah."
There was a moment of silence before Eshne nodded.
"Okay. I'm going back to bed." She slumped away.
Cullen followed after her, nearly falling over in his stupor.
"I suppose I should have mentioned there is a prayer at dawn." Melia sighed, "You should get some more rest."
Alistair shrugged, "Well I'm awake," He laughed, "Usually it's difficult for me to fall asleep after I wake up."
"I apologize…" Melia started.
"You shouldn't. We should've remembered the five prayers." He rubbed the back of his neck.
After a moment of silence, Melia perked up, "Perhaps you'd like for me to get you some tea. Or coffee I suppose."
"I'll be alright."
At that moment, a ball of white sped past Alistair's feet, winding itself around Melia's legs.
"There you are, Merlin." Melia picked up her cat, "He doesn't take to strangers as much as Hatshepsut." She giggled, rubbing the cat's chin.
"How many do you have?" Alistair was reluctant to ask.
Melia thought for a moment, "I usually just take the three with me. But since I knew I'd be in Egypt for some time, all eight of them are here in the house."
"Eight?" Alistair was dumbfounded, "How does one woman have eight cats?"
"Quite easily I'm afraid," Melia laughed, "I've had Merlin since I was a girl. I found him on our farm, the poor dear had both of his eyes swollen. To this day he can't see properly out of his blue one." She changed the subject, "Are you sure I can't get you anything?"
"I'll be alright. Thank you, Lady Mahariel." Alistair said, turning back to the hallway so he could get an early start to the day, he turned back once to see Melia fixing her tan skirt.
"I think I like Egypt." He said to himself, listening to the rest of the Salah being called throughout the whole city.
Nani met Eshne while walking to the dining room. She had a bright smile on her face, excited to go about and explore.
"You're painfully chipper today." Eshne remarked.
"Can you blame me?" Nani asked, "I slept fantastically. Of course I woke up with a calico cat laying on my head. I'm surprised you didn't hear my screams."
"I ignore them at this point." Eshne laughed, getting a deserved punch in the arm.
Nani sighed, "I heard from Alistair she has eight of the damn things."
"Oh just because you hate animals doesn't mean other people can't like them." Eshne pointed out.
"That's exactly what it should mean."
When they came into the dining room for their breakfast, they found Alistair and Cullen already helping themselves to what was on the table. Both of them stood up when they saw the two, Alistair stuck with a cheese square in his mouth.
"Lady Mahariel said she was going to the museum for a bit," Cullen said to them, pulling out a chair for Eshne, "Sten has gone with her."
"She a busy one." Eshne said, "She's been up since the crack of dawn doing who knows what…"
"I admire it," Alistair said, "Lady Mahariel is obviously very passionate about this dig. As she should be. Finding this tomb could mean a lot of things...for all of us."
"That's exactly what I like to hear." Nani smiled, pouring herself coffee.
They all looked up when they heard someone running to the dining room door. One of the footmen popped out, his face beat red.
"I'm sorry to bother you...but…"
Behind him, a large resounding BOOM could be heard from the hall.
Outside, Melia and Sten had been walking from the car to the front door.
"...And I understand his resistance to coming alone but I think it would be beneficial if the director would at least accompany us into the desert. I do not ask that he do any physical labor. Instead he sends what? His librarian?"
"I agree, kadan," Sten said, "It is unprofessional."
"I don't have a problem with the young man himself, I just feel the director would want to be there. For my father's sake at least."
Sten opened the door for her.
"And that's another thing…" Melia began to rant.
She stopped dead in her tracks, mouth agape and eyes wide. Sten fell in behind her and was absolutely livid.
Two overly large dogs had been chasing three of Melia's cats. Nani had been at the top of the stairs trying to persuade a young man with long black hair to slide down on one of the shields that Melia remembered being placed above one of the fireplaces.
Alistair was in front of the stairs arguing with a dark haired woman who was pointing to the large dog and then to her soaked leg.
Eshne was up against a wall wheezing. Cullen tried to give her a puff from an inhaler but she was still laughing too hard at a short red haired man holding an object that seemed to have exploded black powder onto his face, the braids of his beard still had small flames at the end.
"Oh my…" Melia felt her legs start to give out, Sten helped her stand back up.
"Lady Mahariel." Alistair's voice croaked, catching the attention of everyone else.
The only sound left was Eshne huffing her inhaler, and Cullen putting out the fire in the smaller man's beard with two fingers.
Two of the footmen and a few maids had been off to the side, their faces paling when they saw Sten glaring at them.
Nani threw the shield off to the side nonchalantly, she chuckled awkwardly as she descended the stairs, "Listen, my Lady. It's not what you think."
"I think it's exactly what it looks like." Melia said.
"You are the woman in charge of our expedition correct?" The dark haired woman came over to Melia, "I expect you'll want those mangy beasts gotten rid of as soon as possible?"
The two dogs ended up in front of Melia, Hatshepsut flew into her arms and hissed at them. Melia gave the dogs one look and they both sat down and whined.
"Am I to assume, Miss Surana, that this is the rest of your crew in which you had given very little detail about?" She said through her teeth.
"You are correct in assuming so." Nani said, "I apologize about their current state, we're not usually like this. That right there is Morrigan, she is our on call doctor so to speak."
"I will not work if your dogs insist on urinating on me." Morrigan glared.
"C'mon Argos." Nani called to the pitbull, "You know better than that." She pulled the man with dark hair over, he fixed his glasses while she talked.
"This is Jowan. Eshne and I grew up with him, he's extremely handy with just about anything." Nani said, "The…" She looked at the redhaired man, "That's just Oghren. He is our main digger, and a mighty fine demolitions expert." She patted his shoulder, then she looked around, "And…"
"I am Leliana, my Lady." A young woman with short red hair came out of the shadows, "It is a pleasure to be in the house of one of the finest Egyptologists this world has seen."
"Thank you." Melia said, still bewildered with the whole situation.
"Leliana is our historian. She knows everything about the jobs we take." Nani said proudly.
"Quite," Melia said, absently petting her cat while looking at the mess, "I think I'll go to my study, Sten. I trust you can take the others to their rooms?"
"Of course, my Lady." Sten said.
Melia had gone off quietly to her study, holding her cat close to her chest. The rest of the room was quiet for a few moments after.
"Well," Alistair said, "We're fired."
Cullen and Alistair found Melia later that day sitting in her study. She was writing in a small notebook and looking at a map. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Cullen knocked on the entranceway.
Melia looked up and scrambled to stand up, "Please come in," She offered them a chair, "Tea?" She asked.
"I can get it," Cullen assured her, "We just came to apologize for what happened earlier…" He paused, "I know they can get out of hand at times, but this is really a good group of people…"
Melia held her hand up, "I'm not going to fire you if that's what you're going to ask me. I have dealt with worse."
"I find that hard to believe." Alistair laughed.
"You should meet my family." Melia said, pouring herself tea and handing the teapot to Cullen.
"So you're not going to let us go?" Cullen asked.
"No," Melia shook her head, "I asked for your group specifically, did I not?"
"That's fair." Cullen gave a curt nod.
He looked at some of the maps she was taking notes on, noting that they were very different from the ones he had studied.
"Where exactly is this dig?" Alistair asked.
"If I am correct," Melia set her notebook by the map, "And looking at my father's findings, the tomb should most certainly in the Valley of the Kings. My father noted he would be placed somewhere near one of the tombs of Rameses. The only trouble I'm having is that I'm not sure which one."
"How many are there?" Cullen asked.
"A great many, I'm afraid," Melia said, "I've tried looking through notes and data entries left by my parents, but the closest I can get is it could very well be around the tombs of Rameses III, the IV, or V. Like I said I looked at the journal but it looks like the number was both faded and torn out."
Alistair looked at the notebook, he could see the neatly penned and meticulous note-taking left by Osiris. He read the entry.
'We left a day late, Ama was afraid to leave the baby back in Cairo. Praise Allah for Ashalle, the poor woman was left with the children as I am afraid to write that Isis and Hakuto were interested in the dig as well. Sajjad stayed in Cairo to prepare the exhibit, as I am confident I know where the boy King is laid to rest.
'The trip into the desert from the Nile is a long and arduous one, I was afraid for Ama when the heat almost became too great. She should not have come…
'Arrived just before sunset. We were glad for the rest. Isis kept making smart comments about sleeping in the sarcophagi, 'We would sleep like Kings I suspect' she said. My sister jests, but I can see that some of the workers we brought are hesitant to return. Even Hakuto was wary, and he didn't believe in "nonsense Egyptian superstitions". But I suppose it's good to have him with us, I am eager to ask him about life in Japan. It will be interesting to have him as a brother-in-law, I think. More later, Ama is feeling ill again.
Alistair looked at the next page, seeing that the date was a few days later.
'Ama is well again, praise Allah. I feel neglectful for not entering anything into this journal. But I have written much down in my other book.
'Nothing yet, but I can feel a presence in the tombs. We had accidentally broken a few organ jars when we opened up a new section of the tomb. It will be painstaking to get them collected and fixed (I am determined that I can).
'Isis found an ankh that she put on a chain. Ama said she should leave it for the recovery team, but as we all know Isis is a determined woman who does what she will. And I had no intention of stopping her.
'Hakuto and I noticed a second chamber that led from the main burial chamber. Perhaps we shall explore a little more once more workers arrive?
'I must tell Sajjad. I am eager for him to eat his own words once he sees what is next to Rameses…'
The journal cut off.
Melia cleared her throat, "I think that second chamber, the one they hadn't explored, leads to Tutankhamun," She sighed, "Though it does bother me-" She took the journal and pointed to the opposite side of the last entry, "It looks like the last page was torn out."
"Perhaps it was an accident." Cullen suggested.
"Maybe," Melia shrugged, "But I am eager to make our way to the Valley, as you can imagine. I would like to leave as soon as possible."
"I'll go tell the others to prepare then," Cullen said, "We leave tomorrow."
"I wouldn't want to impose…"
"Nonsense," Alistair said, "We came here to do a job. And we'd be happy to get started right away."
"Excellent." Melia said, "I'll tell Sten to telephone the museum. There is no time to waste I see."
Cullen left to inform the others.
"Would you like some help packing your maps?" Alistair offered.
"It's no trouble really. I feel almost guilty for making you all prepare to leave when you only just arrived." Melia sighed.
"Don't be. Cairo will always be here when we get back." Alistair laughed uncomfortably, "I look forward to travelling together. Not that I don't look forward to doing it with the others, I mean. Not Morrigan. And not doing it specifically. But...oh Maker."
"I look forward to it as well." Melia said.
"Good." Alistair blushed, "I'll just, go, and pack."
"Alistair," Melia looked up from her books, "Remember, it gets quite cold at night."
"I'll keep that in mind." Alistair smiled, "Thanks."
"Yeah…"
Melia watched him go, then mumbled to herself, "It gets cold? Oh, Mel…" She shook her head, placing her neatly furled maps into her bag.