Chapter Two: A Working Girl
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"It's just so...stupid," Teana said, hands clenched into fists and looking down at the stone floor. "Do these kids think I'm making all this gold for myself? No, it's for them."
"No matter what the situation is, darling, there's always shame in taking what is not yours," the old lady sitting on the cushion in the center of the room replied. She shifted around in the seat, pushing her long, white hair out of her face.
"Well, why?" Teana spat. "It's stupid! I do all this so I don't have to see anyone get shipped off, but if people aren't going to let me know what's going on, then what's the point?" She walked over to a stool set on the far side of the small and barren room. "There's no shame in it."
"I'm very sorry, sweetie," she said somberly. "Merit was...well, we'll all miss her."
Teana sat down heavily, punching her knee." I talked to her a few days ago. All she had to say was one word, one word, and whatever she wanted would have been hers. Whatever she owed, whatever she was short on...now she's gonna spend the rest of her life performing lewd acts for old, fat, ugly men. Her mother too, and her father's gonna die of heat exhaustion in some field while getting bullwhipped. All because she couldn't give me one word."
"Teana, you're so sweet." The old lady smiled. "You want to control everything around you. You want the best for every single person in this section. It's so...noble."
"I'm just so upset, Sitto," Teana said grudgingly. "I don't play cards so I have enough gold for...jewelry or dresses, I do it to protect these guys. But they gotta let me protect them!"
"Why don't you go downstairs and have a drink to calm yourself?" Sitto suggested, motioning with her right hand towards the small staircase behind where Teana had sat. "You're such a wonderful person, and your friends don't know how lucky they are."
Teana stood up, then nodded, staggering down the stone steps.
"The barrel on the right!" Sitto called out as she disappeared down below. "The one on the left is the cheap stuff!"
Teana went down into the dimmed underground chamber, enjoying the chilling feel that hit her on entrance.
This is sitto. No, I don't know her real name, and no, she's not actually my sitto. But she's a sitto to everyone in section six. And given she was there for me after my parents bit it, she's my sitto. If I'm the financial support for everyone in this section, then she's definitely the emotional support. You need advice, help, comfort, whatever, and she's there to lean on.
She's the best. Wise, funny, experienced in the ways of the world. We'd all be lost without her presence. She deserves better than this section six craphole, but her husband died in battle fifteen years ago and this is the best she can do. It's a crime, but it's life. She's got two daughters, a little younger than me, who grow crops like you wouldn't believe to cover costs.
"I can't believe it," Teana said roughly, coming up the steps with a wooden cup in hand, drinking down the last of the contents. "I still keep hoping I'll wake up and she'll be there with her parents."
"Let it go, child," Sitto insisted. "You can't help everyone, no matter how much you want to. It's great that you want to, it really is, but it's not always going to work out."
Teana looked down at her feet. "Yeah."
"Be proud of what you've done! If it wasn't for you over the past four years, every single person living here would have gotten scooped up and rotated out!" Sitto smiled to herself. "Except for me of course, they'll never get rid of me."
"And the gender scales keep tipping," Teana added bitterly. "There are twenty-three kids left in section six, and twenty of them are boys."
"You're selling yourself short, sweetie," Sitto said. "You're no kid. Nineteen years old and taking on the responsibility of caring for everyone here? You're a grown woman. Besides, you like to hang out with the boys, don't deny it."
"Yeah, sure, but I don't want to be the only girl left," Teana said, looking down.
"Woman, dear. I might call you child because I'm ancient, but you're a woman. And a fine one at that." She glanced at the far wall. "I wish you had more women to socialize with too, dear. Spending all your time with boys, nothing good can come of that."
Teana shrugged. "I suppose it's just as well. Cards isn't really a common female passion."
"You just keep on going into town and teaching those pigs a thing or two about women," Sitto said sternly. "Either they'll learn to respect us or you'll get enough gold to buy all of Egypt, one or the other."
"I don't want Egypt." Teana walked towards the door. "I just want my friends to not have to be field slaves and whores."
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Teana stepped into her hut, hut number three, kicking her sandals off by the door and walking right into the main room. Just a simple square room with nothing in the way of decoration, three stools around a cushioned chair. She collapsed into the cushioned chair, exhaling a quick, large breath as she did so. She leaned back, putting her palms up to her forehead, covering her face with her hands.
"God dammit," she huffed, picking her bare feet off the floor and crossing them in front of her.
"Never fear, perch is here!"
"AUGH!" Teana screamed, jumping to her feet and raising her fists up in front of her, spinning towards the passageway to the other room of her hut.
"Whoa, whoa!" A man, sitting on the threshold between the two rooms, raised his hands up defensively. "Calm down!"
"Akiiki!" Teana yelled, bringing her hands back down to her sides. "What is it with boys and breaking into my house today?"
"Calm down, it's me." Akiiki took a step back into the other room. "I just knew you were going to have a rough day today, so I thought I'd get something cooking before you got here. I have perch."
"Oh." Teana sat back down, even heavier this time. "You scared me half to death. Stop breaking into my house, all of you. You get what you needed today?"
"Yeah, sorry I couldn't make it out to town today, but I had to take care of some business." Akiiki reached over to his right and grabbed a wooden slab with a cooked fish on it.
"Don't worry, I did pretty well." Teana lifted her feet up into the air in front of her and looked at them. "Though my poor feet are gonna be paying for it for weeks."
"You could have taken the day off." Akiiki went over to Teana and handed the wooden slab to her. She took it and set it down in her lap.
"No I can't. I can't take days off." She started picking bits of meat off the fishbones with her right hand's fingers. "Not anymore at least."
"Well, I'll be out there with you tomorrow." Akiiki nodded.
Teana pulled her gold sack out of her robes, using her left hand to open the neck as her right hand continued to pick off the fish meat. "Where's Kafele?"
"Not back yet."
She took a pinch of gold debens out of the bag, then held them out towards Akiiki.
"Oh, no, not today, you flew solo today, I don't need it." Akiiki backed away.
"Doesn't matter, we're partners. It's just ten, you do need it, your mother has a new kid on the way." Teana kept the gold out towards Akiiki as she quickly gulped more fish down.
"Don't worry about it-"
"Take it before I shove it up your ass," Teana said flatly. Finally, Akiiki took the ten gold debens. Teana finished the fish and threw the wooden platter across the room against the wall.
"You, uh...you ate that fast," Akiiki said uneasily. "You uh, you okay? You seem a little-"
"Merit got scooped," Teana explained, scowling as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh, you're kidding me!" Akiiki staggered back. "She couldn't make good on rent?"
"All she had to do was ask." Teana reached underneath her chair and pulled out a reed pen, tiny bottle of ink, and scroll of parchment. "Stupid, stupid girl. Have I ever discouraged anyone from bringing me their financial problems? Ever?"
Akiiki looked towards the far wall of the room and shook his head. "I don't get it. Can't believe it, Merit. Last place she should be is in a brothel."
"Yeah, well...that's why I can't take days off," Teana muttered. "Not that it matters if these guys don't keep me informed on how things are going."
"Oh, you found a new game?" Akiiki asked as Teana unfurled her parchment scroll. Setting the small ink bottle on the armrest and opening it, she dipped her reed pen into it. "Cool." He stepped forward to peek at the scroll.
Teana hugged the surface of the parchment to her chest, staring at Akiiki. "Beat it."
"Oh come on, we're partners, right?" Akiiki held his hands out defensively. "Why can't I see it?"
"Because it's on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know. I need to know, Kafele needs to know, and that's it." Teana shooed him away with her left hand. "Back off."
Reluctantly, he took a couple steps away, and Teana started writing near the bottom of the scroll.
A lot of work goes into me maintaining my character. I have to remember the location of the games I play, the names of each person I play, the personality and play style of each person, and of course whatever fake name I fed them. A single fuzzy memory could blow my entire operation. I could wander into a game with one person who thinks my name is Mesta, and another who thinks my name is Bast, and who knows if I'll be able to worm my way out of it. I have to remember everything. I find it helps to write things down.
"List of games is getting...pretty long, huh?" Akiiki said awkwardly.
Teana remained silent, concentrating on the ink she was putting to the parchment.
"A lot to remember, it's...impressive. Really. I mean, I couldn't even imagine doing what you do."
No response, Teana now staring at what she had just written and focusing hard on it.
"Seriously-"
"Zip it," she said sternly.
He complied as she stared for several more seconds. Finally, satisfied, she rolled the scroll back up and shoved it underneath her chair, followed quickly by her ink bottle and pen. She leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes.
"Can I talk now?" he asked tenatively.
"If you must," Teana said, not opening her eyes. At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Can you get that, please?"
Akiiki made a quick trot over to the north side of the room as Teana remained sitting there, relaxing her body.
"Who is it?" Akiiki called out.
"It's...it's me."
"Philitis? That you?" Akiiki asked. Immediately, Teana stood up and walked out of the room, into the room where Akiiki had prepared the fish.
"Teana wanted to...talk to me, can I come in?"
Akiiki opened the door and admitted the slightly younger boy in. "Well, you don't look happy at all," he commented as Philitis slowly walked towards the near stool.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Philitis replied glumly, sitting down on one of the stools. A moment later, Teana re-entered, carrying a small sack with a closed neck in her right hand.
"Philitis," she said, her voice flat and emotion-less. "Go get yourself out of Akhekh's books."
"Teana, I'm really sorry, I-" Philitis started to babble. Teana cut him off by throwing the sack at him. He raised his hands up and just barely managed to catch it.
"You don't tell anyone I gave that to you," she said, voice still even and calm. "If anyone asks, I spotted you twenty to pay off part of it and then you earned the rest in town. Got it?"
Philitis felt the sack in his hand, which clearly contained many times more than the twenty gold debens he asked for.
"N-no, that's all I wanted, you don't have to-"
"Philitis, go to Akhekh, pay your debt off with that, and then make sure you never see him again so long as you live," Teana interrupted, approaching him slowly. "This isn't a discussion, I'm telling you what to do."
"O-okay, and again, I'm really sorry-"
In a flash, Teana reared back with her right hand, made a fist, and socked Philitis right in the left cheek. He fell off the stool and rolled over onto the ground, clutching the quickly-reddening mark on his face.
"That's so you remember." Teana started breathing heavily, pointing down at Philitis as he pushed himself up. "I'm serious, this isn't a small thing. You're pissing me off with this. You don't borrow from Akhekh, I've said it before."
Philitis got to his feet and quickly scrambled towards the door.
"If that gold goes anywhere other than Akhekh, you haven't seen me angry, by the way," Teana said to Philitis's retreating back as he bolted out.
"Nice right hook," Akiiki complimented, looking at Teana. "Couple inches higher and he's knocked out cold."
"Don't look at me like that," Teana said, moving back over to the cushioned chair in the middle of the room and flopping down on it. "I gotta scare him. I can't have the kids thinking it's okay to deal with Akhekh."
"No, I think it's the right play," Akiiki looked down at the ground. "Yeah, it's all part of being a good leader. What'd you give him?"
"Hundred twenty," Teana replied coolly. Akiiki double taked.
"Seriously?" Akiiki bulged his eyes at Teana. "One twenty? Oh, Teana, I know you want to protect these kids, but at some point you gotta let them pay for their mistakes! That's a lot of coin."
"Nobody knows my own finances better than me. Akiiki, it's fine, trust me." Teana tapped her right hand's fingers on her knee. "It's fine. I wouldn't give him more gold than I could spare, we're fine."
"Okay, but...one twenty. It's like you said, we have to be tighter with gold now that you can't disguise yourself as a boy anymore, can't just throw debens at every problem."
Another knock at the door. Akiiki quickly turned to go answer it.
"Let me worry about it," Teana insisted. Akiiki opened the door.
"Oh hey, back in town."
Teana looked up and saw Kafele walk in, holding a pair of apples in either hand.
"New shipment came in today," he said, handing one to Akiiki and tossing the second to Teana. "Fresh. Delicious. The best."
"You handle your stuff?" Teana asked, looking the piece of fruit over in her hands.
"Yup, it's handled." Kafele nodded. "We ready to roll tomorrow?"
"Always. Unlike you guys, I roll every day, even when both my partners decide to bail on me." Teana looked over at the two boys, giving a small smile. "Full day tomorrow."
"Get some sleep. You need it." Akiiki pointed at Teana. "Tomorrow's gonna be a great day!"
"You know," Teana said loudly. "I just realized something. There would be no problems in my life, if everyone in my life just listened to me and did what I told them."
There was a long silence following that statement, following by Kafele snickering. "Well, yeah."
"Seriously. Merit, Philitis...why can't people just do what I tell them to do?" Teana shook her head. "Life would be so easy if people just...followed my instructions. How hard is that?"
"Get some sleep," Akiiki repeated.
"I'm pissed off right now." Teana closed her eyes and leaned back. "Tomorrow, we go for a big score."
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"I'm serious," Teana said, leaning her left shoulder against the side of the building, hands at her sides, looking at the back of Akiiki's head. "Thank you for being the one person in my life I can depend on to do what I tell you to do. To follow instructions. If everyone in my life was like you, everything would be perfect."
"You're...welcome," Akiiki said, peering out from inbetween the two buildings, onto the busy streets of downtown Cairo.
"Seriously. What would I do without you?" Teana sighed wistfully.
At that moment, Kafele came into the alley between the two buildings from the left, shaking his head, kicking the sand up with his sandals.
"No good. Stay away." He came to a stop in front of Akiiki. "Merchants. Well off merchants, they're not playing with a woman unless we hold a knife to their throat."
"Alright, day's still young," Teana got up from against the wall. "Let's move a couple blocks down and feel things out."
"Hold on," Akiiki said, holding his hand up. "Switch it up, a lot of people around here are circling."
Immediately, Kafele shrugged off the pack on his back and swung it around in front of him, opening it up to reveal a small brown headdress. He put it onto his head. He reached back into the bag and pulled out a green bracelet, slipping it onto his left wrist.
I don't work alone. That's no way to work. These two are my loyal assistants. Kafele is the scout. He finds games, then has a seat and listens for a bit. Figures out if anyone in the game would know who I am, figures out the betting structure of the game, figures the likelyhood that they'd let a woman in the game...in a matter of moments, he figures out if the game is worth trying. Today, he's trying to sniff out a game with some real power. Some serious gold. And when you're scouting for a woman, well, you have to sniff really hard.
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"Okay, go for it," Kafele said quickly, running out of the main entrance to the bar. "Good a chance as any. It's just the kind of game you're looking for."
"Great," Teana said, ducking back into the side alley between buildings. "Alright, cover me up, guys."
Immediately, both boys pulled a large white sheet from their packs on their backs, unfurled them, and used them to shield Teana's body from anyone watching from either side of the alley.
"Don't peak," she said sternly as she shrugged off her own pack and pulled her worn, torn, and frayed robe out.
"Have we ever peaked before?" Akiiki said jokingly, turning away and closing his eyes.
"I've never had breasts before," Teana replied tartily, shrugging her nice, clean robe off her shoulders and putting it onto the ground. "I don't suppose I need to remind you that, if you mess this up, I'm going to kill you?"
"Hey, it's like you said. I do what you tell me to do." Akiiki said reassuringly.
Teana slipped into the worn robe, now looking very much like a section one. She handed her robe to Kafele, then reluctantly slipped her feet out of her sandals. As soon as her soles touched the boiling sands, she winced.
"Take them!" She said through gritted teeth, pointing down at them. "Alright, Akiiki, let's go!" She took in a deep breath, then screwed her face up and willed herself to ignore the pain. Akiiki grabbed her right hand in his left, and the two walked across the street.
It was a small bar, fairly empty at the time, three tables and a long counter along the far wall. At the table along the back, there was a group of half a dozen men, all with various amounts of gold coins in front of them. This was a bigger game, clearly showcased by the fact that all of the men had the much bigger 'ten-deben' coins in front of them. The two of them strolled in, Akiiki eagerly walking right up to the table when he saw a hand just wrapping up.
"Ah, this city is beautiful!" He said loudly, drawing the attention of all six. "This is my first time here, and I gotta say, I might never leave!"
"Good for you," one of the men said as the table flicked their cards over to the dealer, seated on the right side of the table.
"Cards, huh?" Akiiki pressed on, leaning over the table. "The grand old game. My father's a big fan."
"Can we help you?" Another of the men said, turning around to look at the pair. "I'm sorry, that sounded rude, but we're trying to play here."
"Well, honestly, y'know, I'm new in town, and my dad finally isn't looking over my shoulder, so I was looking for a game." Akiiki reached down into the left pocket of his robes and pulled out a bulging sack. "I think it's time I finally stop watching and actually, y'know, try my hand at it."
Everyone at the table looked at him for a moment, glancing amongst each other.
"So you haven't played before?" one of them asked.
"Nope!" Akiiki shook his head. "But, y'know, first time for everything."
"What you got there?" He asked, pointing at the sack.
"Oh, about...five hundred gold debens." Akiiki replied, tossing the sack a couple inches up into the air.
"That's pretty strong," he said, nodding. He then wrinkled his nose as he glanced at Teana. "This your slave? In this city we typically don't bring our slaves into public places unless they're presentable."
"Oh, no!" Akiiki laughed, waving his hand at him. "No, ah, this here is my dear cousin!" He clapped her on the back as she stood there silently, hands clasped in front of her. "She doesn't talk much. I'm taking her around town."
"Right," one of the men said. "Well, you're more than welcome to pull up a chair. Always room for one more."
"Sure you don't wanna save some of that gold for a new robe for this poor girl?" Another said, looking with distaste at Teana's low-class wardrobe.
"Oh, I'd love to! I'd buy her a whole lot more than a new robe! I love this girl, she's...she's the best, but her husband..." Akiiki slowly got into one of the chairs surrounding the table. "He's a stubborn guy. Good guy, but stubborn. I keep telling him, let me get you some gold, help you out, but he won't take a single deben. He keeps going on and on, I'm gonna work my way out of this lifestyle, I'm gonna do it on my own...it's a mess."
"I had a uncle, did the same thing!" One of the men at the table said. "My father's a retired general, fat military pension, and my uncle was in section three. My father wanted nothing more than to just get him some gold, get him out of that craphole, but he wouldn't take it! Stupid, stupid. Died a few years ago, still be alive now if he had just accepted some help."
"You a section one?" The man nearest to her asked, looking her robe over. She nodded quickly. "My advice for you, talk some sense into the man. Nothing good is going to come of you guys staying there."
Akiiki made himself comfortable on the seat, placing the fat sack on the table in front of him. He exchanged a quick, meaningful look with Teana. "Ooh, yeah, guys, I almost forgot! I know it's really weird, but...I sort of promised her. And this would really be fulfilling a lifelong dream for her. I told her I'd get her in a real card game, how about it?"
Dead silence for several moments, then a exasperated sigh from the furthest man at the table. "You serious? You serious right now?"
"Yeah, I know, but she's always wanted to play in a real game." Akiiki shrugged, giving an awkward smile. "I promised her."
"We're not playing for bragging rights," one of the men said quietly. "Come on man, we're playing for gold, you know that." He motioned at Akiiki's gold sack on the table. "You want us to play with a woman? Even if I'd bite on that, she couldn't even afford our pre-card bets."
"Nah man," Akiiki said, waving him off. "This woman, she's been wanting to play in a real game of cards since she was little. Saving her debens, hiding it, little by little. She's got a hundred gold debens to play with."
"I've been saving for four years," Teana said meekly, giving a small smile to the other men.
"Well that's great," one of the men said flatly. "So we get to take the gold this woman's been saving for the last four years in one day? That makes me feel great about myself. No, forget about it, I draw the line here."
"Yeah, man, you can play, but I really don't think your cousin belongs here," another agreed.
"Well, that's too bad." Akiiki got up from the chair, grabbing his sack of gold and turning away. "Sorry, I promised her. Nothing personal, but I can't go back on my promise with my cousin. I'll find another game, don't even sweat it."
"Wait!" The dealer said, holding his hand out towards Akiiki. "Come on man, you're not gonna find a game that lets a woman in, you'll be searching for a whole moon cycle. Just sit down and...I dunno, I'll buy the girl a drink."
"No, sorry, this girl has enough bad going on in her life without me breaking my promises to her." Akiiki took a couple steps away from the table.
"Alright, screw it, she's in," the dealer said quickly. "Just...keep this quiet please. And whatever happens, happens, we play for keeps."
Teana clapped her hands together in front of her and quickly ducked into the nearest empty chair. Akiiki retook his seat, dumping his gold into a pile in front of him. Teana pulled out a much smaller sack of gold, pouring it out on the edge of the table.
"I feel guilty already," one of the men said dryly. "Pre card bets are five, we have a rotating double spot. Two raises per rotation maximum, and raises can be either twenty or forty."
"Deal em!" Akiiki said loudly.
And Akiiki is the table partner. Me and him know the playbook as well as we know our own names. The general idea is simple. He draws all the focus to him so it's not on me. He's loud, a little obnoxious, and he's got a big wad of gold. All he has to do is claim he's a card novice, and the whole table starts drooling over themselves at the prospect of taking him to the cleaners.
It's so tempting, they can't help but bite even after he says they have to let me play too. All eyes are on his massive stack of debens, meaning there are no eyes left for me. And if you think that's a good trick, wait until the game starts.
.
"Oh man, someone is taking a swing at the fences!" Akiiki tapped the table with the bottom of his right fist a couple times. "You feeling big?"
"Yeah sure," the other man replied.
Akiiki took another peak at his two cards, then at the four cards out on the table. He licked his lips and glanced around at everyone.
"Nice pot, nice pot, big gold, big gold," Akiiki said excitedly. "You know what? Count me in. I'm re-raising, putting in twenty and adding another twenty." Akiiki pushed a good amount of gold into the center.
"Match," Teana said quietly, pushing forty pieces of gold to the center.
"Enjoying that run of five you just pulled?" The third man left in the hand said dryly, throwing his two cards over to the dealer. "Well, congratulations."
The fifth card came out. Ankh priest.
"Alright, alright!" Akiiki clapped his hands together a few times. "Let's do this thing, I wager twenty!" He pushed the gold into the pot.
"Re-raise," Teana muttered, pushing the twenty plus an additional twenty in. Akiiki's face twitched a few times.
"Well, you have guts, my dear cousin," Akiiki said through gritted teeth. "Guts." He threw his cards over to the dealer. "Too many guts for me, I think."
"Son of a bitch, you didn't have the run, did you?" The man to his immediate left.
"I had you guys!" Akiiki grunted. "I had you!"
Akiiki isn't nearly this bad at cards. He's okay. Average. Okay, he's good. He's no me, of course, but he can hold his own. But that's not his job today. All he has to do is play like the biggest card novice the world has ever seen, and make sure all the attention is on him while he's doing so. Everyone notices him losing his gold and making a big fuss about it, and nobody notices me being the beneficiary of it all.
Akiiki uses his big stack of gold to bully other people out of hands, and then conk out of the hand when I pressure him. He gets animated, angry, and generally acts like an idiot with a lot of gold. One thing's for sure: Akiiki may not be the best card player in the world, but he plays the part of the sore loser like a champ.
We come at them from all the different angles. Sometimes, he bullies everyone out of the pot, then hands it to me. Other times, he wins a hand and just bleeds the debens back to me in a later hand. Every now and then, I'll even make a move from time to time. And it always ends the same way.
.
"Ra!" Akiiki spat, throwing his cards back over to the dealer. "I don't know if it's the blood bond or what, but this woman is reading me like a book!"
"Pile getting thin, eh sport?" one of the men said, looking at the quickly dwindling mound of sparkling pieces in front of Akiiki. "Word of advice, ease up on the bluffing."
"I'll play the way I play, okay?" Akiiki spat, gripping the edges of the table. "Just...deal em."
"Pre-bets," the dealer demanded, everyone putting their gold in the middle.
The cards went out, everyone getting two. Teana peaked at hers. Only years of experience prevented her from displaying her excitement. It had taken well over fifty hands, but she had finally found herself in possession of the hand of the gods. A pair of gods, ankh and pyramid.
It was time. Dinner was approaching fast. One last big take, and they'd get out of here. But for it to work, they'd need a couple other things to spin their way first.
"Alright, I feel things spinning my way now," Akiiki said, pushing twenty gold debens in to the pot. "Twenty deben raise."
Things went around, three of the other players electing to stay in the game. Things were falling into place perfect. One in a hundred hands type perfectly.
"Match," Teana mumbled, pushing some of her now impressively large gold stack to the middle.
"Alright, things are happening!" Akiiki said loudly, a sardonic grin on his face.
"Yeah, because that's not the twentieth time you've said that today," the dealer said dryly. He discarded a card, then put down three ones in the middle. A farmer, a pharaoh, and a queen.
"Alright, you guys don't even know what's gonna hit you here, I'm raising again," Akiiki announced immediately, pushing twenty more coins in.
"All yours," the one to his immediate left replied as he threw his cards back to the dealer. The other two, however, met his bet, making the pot the fattest one of the day after Teana stayed in the hand as well.
"Someone's about to be a very happy man," the dealer said slowly as he discarded a card. "Or woman," he added, glancing at Teana.
He put the fourth card down. Vizier. Teana shot Akiiki a glance. It was time to end the hand before the fifth card could save anyone.
"Alright, well, I think I've got about...thirty-seven debens left, why not? I bet it all!" Akiiki pushed the remainder of his gold into the middle.
"Nobody can try to bluff that many times in a row," one of the men across the table said, chucking his cards to the dealer. "Forget it."
The other man remaining in the game peeked down at his cards again. He looked down at his gold, then back to Akiiki.
"Dammit," he finally said, conking out of the hand and throwing his cards over to the dealer spot.
"Match," Teana said, flipping her cards over to reveal her two gods. After glaring at Teana's two cards, Akiiki reluctantly revealed his pharaoh and priest.
"Ooh boy! Unless you get another pharaoh or priest right here, you're walking out of here empty handed!" The man to the left of Akiiki said loudly, pounding his fist on the edge of the table and looking at the dealer.
The dealer scrapped a card, then threw down the final one. A queen. Akiiki stood up, throwing his hands into the air and cursing loud enough to draw the attention of the server.
"Well, better luck next time, eh?" One of the men said as Akiiki spun around, pacing back and forth.
"Yeah, luck, that's all it was. String of bad luck," Akiiki said malicefully. "You know, this game...there's something wrong with this game, there should be more skill involved, there's no way the cards should be able to go that cold for that long for one person."
"Man, you're already out of gold, leave while you still have a little scrap of dignity. You're losing it, fast," another man said, smirking up at Akiiki as his face went red.
"Whatever," Akiiki stormed towards the front door. "Peace."
Meanwhile, Teana had been scooping her large amount of winnings into her sack, frantically funneling the gold through the neck.
"Hey, word of advice," the dealer said to Teana, leaning in. Teana cowered down towards her seat slightly. "Play that idiot at cards as much as humanly possible. You'll be rich in no time."
"Yes sir," Teana said quietly, shoving the last bit of her winnings into her bag before closing the neck and heaving it up with both hands.
"Don't spend it all in one place," another man suggested as she got up. "Get out of those sections. Those places are the worst."
"Yes sir, thank you for the honor of letting me play," Teana said, bowing to the table before scampering off towards the door.
She ran across the street, skipping to keep her feet off the sand as much as possible, going down a couple buildings through a thin crowd before entering a small alley between two walls.
"Nobody loses like you," Teana said, dropping the bulging sack of coins into the much larger sack on Kafele's back, then reaching in to pull out her sandals. She threw them on the ground and slipped them on.
"That went about as well as they come," Akiiki said, smacking Teana on the back. "Drinks?"
"After I change." She pulled out her other robe and unfurled it as her two partners got out their sheets to cover her from any prying eyes.
.
"So what was the final haul, exactly? I lost count," Akiiki asked, pointing at the large bag Kafele wore on his back.
"Sixteen hundred something," Teana replied. "The high sixteen hundreds."
"From six hundred to start." Akiiki nodded. "Great day."
"We'll lay off for awhile now," Teana said slowly. "Play small games for the next moon cycle or so. Today felt good but if we get infamous the whole thing is squashed." The three were in a small, rather depressing looking bar, each with a large wooden cup of beer in front of them, seated around a small stone table.
"But days like this are good for the soul," Kafele insisted, grabbing his cup and taking a sip from it. "We need big days like this sometimes."
"Small world."
Teana turned around to look at the entrance. Ramses had just walked in, hands in the pockets on the side of his robe and a large bag on his back.
"Shouldn't you be at a classier joint?" Teana asked sarcastically, giving him a light punch on the shoulder as he walked by her. He took a seat to her left.
"Yeah I should be, but you guys just keep dragging me down to your level, what can I say?" Ramses shrugged, then raised his hand up towards the bartender. "I'll have what they're having?"
"Good action today?" Kafele asked, eye on the bag that Ramses had on his back.
"Oh, you better believe it." Ramses gave a low whistle. "Couple thousand debens up, at the casino down the street."
"Oh, rub it in, rub it in," Teana said bitterly. "Look at me, I'm Ramses, I can get into casinos, I'm so special."
"Yeah, it was great and...well, you know, I got banned from the place for life, but hey." Ramses smiled sheepishly.
"Come on man," Teana sighed. "How many places are you gonna get kicked out of before you figure it out? You win too much too fast, and people get sick of you real fast."
"Yeah, I know, but it feels awesome," Ramses said, shaking his head and grinning. "Taking big pots off of amateurs, taking control of the whole table, there's no better feeling. So how'd you guys do?"
"Little more than a thousand up," Teana replied. "I needed a big day, this Merit business had me pissed off. I feel better now."
"Nice!" Ramses gave her a thumbs up. "So where's that thousand gonna go?"
Teana rolled her eyes. "Jewelry, of course, you know how much I love jewelry."
"Let me guess. You're gonna stick it at home and let it collect dust until one of the kids asks for it." Ramses sighed. "I've never seen a more skilled card player live such a boring life."
"Ten debens for beer," Teana said, motioning at the three wooden cups on the table. "The rest gets saved for a rainy day."
"Whatever," Ramses said, pursing his lips. "You ever gonna start living for yourself? You're living for every single person in section six, never for yourself."
"Live for myself," Teana repeated. "What does that even mean?"
"It means, stop trying to control everything around you and make everyone happy," Ramses explained, putting his hands up in the air. "You go out here every day and make gold, damn good gold mind you, and then you just give it away to the first person who comes and asks for it. Meanwhile you're stuck as a section six peasant even though you're way more than that."
"Hey, mister big shot, last I checked you're a section sixxer too," Teana retorted, giving a curt smile.
"I'm saving for something big," Ramses replied, grinning. "None of your business."
"Okay, live for myself. I go out and buy a nice new robe, something high class with nice ornamentation. So now i'm a section six peasant with a nice robe. What am I gonna do, wear it around the house? Wear it down in the basement? Wear it in town, I can't wear it in town, I'm working when I'm in town. How does having a nice robe make me feel good about myself. Or I could buy jewelry, an expensive ruby ring or something. Great, now I can wear a ring everywhere, what's that do for me? None of that stuff matters, none of that does a thing."
"Do me a favor," Ramses said as his wooden cup was brought over from across the room. "Go over to the wall on the right side there and read the poster. The one on the left. And come back, and lemme know what you're thinking."
Teana gave a small sigh, but smiled and pushed herself into a standing position. Slowly, she walked over to the wall Ramses indicated and peered at the leftmost poster.
COUNTDOWN: SEVEN DAYS
THE GRANDEST PARTY IN EGYPT
COURTYARD OF THE GRAND PALACE
RUB ELBOWS WITH NOBILITY AND WEALTH
EAT THE FINEST FOODS
ENJOY THE FINEST MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT IN THE WORLD
MEET THE ROYAL FAMILY IN PERSON