A/N: Here is the second installment. Sorry it took me so long to update. But, please enjoy.
Warnings: Maybe slight Season 5 spoilers. And when I edited- there didn't seem to be that many mistakes during my read-through. But, it's still probably riddled with them.
Mahad crossed the palace's plaza, set at an irritated pace, and continued to fume profusely. His Egyptian robes swirled around his taut, muscular frame and the morning air held that of a refreshing one. It didn't soothe him; Mana had skipped that morning's magic lesson, again. For the first few times, Mahad had let it pass, deciding to turn a blind eye to her actions. That was the first two times. Now, it was probably her sixth or seventh time she had skipped in just that month alone.
How could she expect to become a magician? How could she even expect to become a mere apprentice? She always begged and begged that he might take her one of the magician's missions. And, Mahad had even minutely considered doing so. But now? Oh no. At the rate she was currently going, she might finish her training by the time the gods decided to end all life in Egypt!
Mahad stopped his angry pacing, just realizing that a nearby group of priests were eyeing him warily and talking to each other in hushed tones. Mahad grimaced and swiftly turned his back on them, easily guessing their topic of conversation.
Not surprising- the youngest magician master unable to keep up with his students. And, not only that but a female student! Sure, women were steadily gaining a more superior role in their society nowadays but for them to have any power at all was still looked down upon, a taboo subject. Not too many of the other priests were too happy in learning Mana would be a student, much less a student of Mahad; the youngest, most inexperienced of them. It was quite often discussed among the others at how he only got to his position simply because of his close ties with the royal family. And even though he knew it wasn't necessarily true, Mahad couldn't help but loathe Mana's laziness for making him look like an even bigger fool in the eyes of the other magicians.
"Mahad!" one called out, breaking his angry stream of temperament. Mahad turned at the sound of his name and saw they were each looking at him, quite pointedly. Mahad sighed impatiently and went over to them.
"Yes, what is it?" The elder of the group addressed him.
"You say that girl student of yours, Mana, is missing?" Mahad, despite his respect for those elderly, couldn't help but narrow his eyes at him; he had made that factor obvious earlier.
"Yes, she is."
"Isn't she a friend of the prince?" At the mention of Atem, the planes of Mahad's face lost their hardness in effect of his own surprise.
"Yes, I do believe she is."
"Isn't that something," he mused to himself.
"What is?"
"He's missing as well. The pharaoh's been causing an uproar at the palace because of it." At this, Mahad felt his narrowed eyes widen in surprise. For an insurmountable moment, he stared at the elder in his own disbelief. But he quickly recovered, blinking away his stupor.
Oh Mana… he thought exasperatedly, mentally shaking his head as he realized the only probable possibility; Atem was with Mana. If the pharaoh or someone else of high status were to discover that she was responsible for the prince's slinking away… What was she doing, anyway? Sure she did this when they were younger but they weren't kids anymore! Such things weren't proper, weren't proper at all.
"Mahad?" asked the elder carefully, voicing his concern over Mahad's silence. Mahad's attention managed to find its way to the present at the sound of his voice.
"If you will excuse me, gentlemen, I'm going to look for my student and possibly the prince." Mahad was just about to turn away from the gathered group when the elder interjected once again.
"You might want to be careful; Isis has predicted a bad sand storm coming." Mahad felt his back stiffen, but nodded curtly at the piece of information before swiftly marching his way out of the plaza. He made his way to the stables, all the while thinking vehement thoughts about Mana's ignorance. It was her fault that he looked like an idiot in the eyes of the other priests. And now, it was going to be her fault if something happened to the prince. Did she have any idea at what kind of punishment that would entail? If something happened to the prince, that could mean death for her! It didn't matter if she was a young woman in training to serve as high priestess. It didn't mean if her intentions meant no harm. And what of Atem? He knew of these consequences, it wasn't like him to be so careless. Did he not care whether or not if it was Mana instead of him that faced retribution? It wasn't entirely Mana's fault; she was naïve about the whole situation and what it could possibly mean. Why didn't Atem try to dissuade her?
Mahad took a deep, even breath in an attempt to control his angry thoughts; anger wouldn't help solve anything. And anger surely wasn't going to help him find Mana or Prince Atem.
He had made it to the stables and had his horse ready for riding when he looked up at the bright Egyptian sun, blinking away some of the bright light as a hawk soared above. He watched this hawk, reminded of how one such as this would obey Mana and send messages for her. And for a fleeting moment, he wondered if this was the same hawk that belonged to Mana.
"The birds don't belong to anyone, Mahad. They're just friends that help out when the fancy suits them. The day a bird belongs to someone is the day they stop flying."
Mahad gave a small start of surprise at hearing Mana's voice inside his own head. He remembered this statement she had told him when he inquired upon her bird fetish last week. And he had remembered his own response:
"Mana, if you go out into the markets right now, you'll see merchants selling exotic birds from as far away as India and Greece. Those birds belong to someone and they still fly."
Mana had shook her head defiantly and bent down to pick up a handful of sand. She had stood up and shown it to him, as if proving a point.
"What is this, Mahad?"
"Sand, what else?"
"What is used for?"
"People walk on it."
"Could you walk on this?" She nodded her head to her outstretched palm, indicating the sand
"No but-"
"Then therefore, because this amount of sand belongs to me at the moment, it's purpose is unrequited."
"Mana, you're not making any sense."
She had opened her fingers and let all but a few grains sift through the cracks in her fingers and fall to the ground.
"Now, I have relinquished ownership of some of the sand, and it has returned back to the ground where it can be of use again."
"You're still not making any sense."
"What else is sand used for, Mahad?" He had to think for a moment.
"Farming." She nodded and smiled.
"Could you grow or farm anything with the sand remaining my hand." Mahad had remembered sighing.
"No," he had admitted. "But it still doesn't prove anything, Mana." She dusted the rest of the sand off on her skirt and walked a few feet away from him to draw a square on the sand with the toe of her foot.
"Supposing this patch of sand belonged to me, could I grow anything in it?" Mahad stared at the square. It was small but it could in fact grow something.
"Yes, you could. But that just contradicts your original theory."
"No it doesn't. But because it can fulfill its purpose, the sand doesn't belong to me."
"That's nonsense."
And then Mana's temper, usually nonexistent, flared at that moment when Mahad had criticized her idea.
"How do you prove something belongs to you, Mahad? How? You push it into submission until it knows no worth! How do you think the slaves feel?!" And, with that, Mana, upon realizing what she had just said, widened her eyes and quickly clasped her tanned hands over mouth. And, in a swift moment, promptly turned away from Mahad and dashed away, as if for her life. And no matter how long or loud he called out "Mana!" or how fast he ran after her, she didn't acknowledge him. So after a while, he gave up, feeling extremely guilty he had hurt her feelings, unintentionally.
Mahad remembered that conversation well but he wondered why it had just reoccurred for him now. He looked back up at the blue sky and saw the hawk fly off into the distance, becoming nothing more than a black smudge against the horizon. And, upon thinking back to Isis' prediction about the sand storm, wondered if Mana would use the hawk to send for help. His hands flexed instinctively at the thought of Mana being caught in the sand storm, gripping the horse reigns tightly. He turned his steed around, so he could begin looking for his prince and his apprentice when he saw the objects of his search approach him with speed and urgency.
It was Mana's brown mare, Coco. And for a split second, Mahad allowed a moment of relief wash over him as he saw Atem on his white stallion accompanying the mare. But as they drew closer, Mahad saw Coco's saddle empty of its rider and Atem's face empty of his usual patience and serenity. Replaced with that of worry and anxiousness as Atem held onto Coco's reigns.
Mahad felt his face hardened into an expression that matched for Atem's distress as he yelled out, "What happened? Where is Mana?"
I apologize again for keeping you waiting. Please review- I appreciate them all, even though I do not respond to them all.
-Nuit Songeur