Characters:
Jabari: Brave (small mouse)

(Chapter 4): Temple Festival

"The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"" Luke 17:5

The sun slowly blinds me as I walk through the outskirts of the temple grounds, trying to cover my eyes with my hands from the light to see several people set up different tables, booths, and tents in every direction. One Egyptian merchant is locating rare finds on top of a wooden table of valuable necklaces made of real gold, embedded with rare pink African rubies or blue deep exotic sapphires, and placing other unique jewelry. The bearded merchant sets an old, wooden chair in the askew sands behind the table as he waits for customers with his hands neatly on his lap, gazing into the crowded street. A tent next to it is of an Egyptian cook setting up different types of rich dishes as in roasted goose or ducks with figs and grapes to the side and accompanied by fresh bread with yeast. A bottle of honey is place to the side of the table to sweeten the drinks of sour wine. Already that booth has a lot of customers crowding in to try to get ahold of the freshly prepared food.

I roll my eyes and smirk deviously at the insignificant scene of fat men devouring the poor ducks, ignoring the view of the vegetables and fruits, and slurping the cups of wine in one gulp. Men can be such pigs. Though, the content look on the busy cook can disagree with me as he is the one making all the money and while I am just the observer gaining nothing. I quickly walk away from the crude scene when I see duck grease dripping from the mouths of the men into their stained cloaks.

A few steps ahead of me, I see strange people with darker skin than mine. Black men and women with their children are in their booths dressed in the most peculiar clothes I have ever seen. One man has woven leopard skins use as an open cloak with colorful bright feathers adorn in his headdress and large gold hoops in his ears and nose. His, what I assume, wife is wearing an entire outfit made out of glass and wooden beads with an open cut in one arm and a large slit in the legs, almost naked, with her hair in braids that reaches to the end of her back and wears the same jewelry as her husband. But what amazes me the most is that their black skin has a red glow that shimmers with the sun's ray as in one and with their big lips and wide nose with small black eyes is extremely hard not to look at. They are one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen!

I impassively without the consent of my will, equally if in a dream, walk to their booth, ignoring the judgmental looks from the Egyptian onlookers, and stand in awe when I reach their little, cluttered space. A sudden familiar warmth fills my core with exotic aromas of fruits and flowers that greets my nostrils in welcome. Strange syllables spoken by a sharp tongue embraces me that dance in the air with the dry desert air to such extent. The man's smile is so warm and friendly that I cannot stop looking at his pearly white teeth, and when more words come out of his mouth, I meet his tiny black eyes that shine with ecstasy. I shyly smile back at his approachability with my eyes looking down on the table to see strange herbs and plants, potions with tree roots in glowing glass vases underneath an open flame, and rare creams that are not originated from here in my lovely Egypt. This is like anything that I have never seen in the Egyptian medicines and remedies (from what I know). Who are these beautiful people, and where do they come from? But more importantly, can these secret remedies actually save Pharaoh Thutmose from the world of evil spirits and the Fields of Yaru?

"Ricinus Communis."

The feather headdress man states to me suddenly as I swiftly look up to the same man with the same smile, feeling my core tighten from the unknown. What did he say; his name or a greeting? I try to remain calm, not wanting my eyes to reveal my slight fear of the unknown. His eyes show eagerness with the movement of both of his hands as I look down to see what he is trying to show me or tell me. He points to a green herb with a red spikey flower, and I look at him in wonder with my eyes wide. Is that the name of the herb?

"Castor Oil." The woman in the beaded dress unexpectedly spoke harshly as she reads a papyrus paper printed with strange designs and wording, not paying attention to me. "It use for lot of remedie. You buy." Her voice is of a deep tone with a soft edge to it, gazing me at the corner of her eyes. "Heal most wound and pain. Lots pain."

I directly look at her and back to the herbs on the table. How can they speak the Egyptian language so … well for people that are not from this country? Just like the Hebrew, I meet earlier in the god's temple. They must of have been here in Egypt before, of course, but I have never seen this lovely race before, and I am sure to be precise that they stand out from the regular Egyptian culture; am I too close off from the world than I thought I was of only worrying about a little farm if I have the world right in front of me?

"I…" I swiftly close my mouth, not knowing what to say or do, for I feel if I do not buy their request, I will offend them greatly, and this will be the last time I will ever see them again. I inwardly smirk at my foolish thoughts that I dare to think of something of the sort. I have never met them before, and here they are, strangers, to me, trying to do anything to have a sell for the week of the Temple festival. And here I am having doubts of offending strangers I will never see them again regardless if I do offend them.

"Here, we free. You get plant. Yes?" His sudden voices cloud my mind as I see the same plant in his dark hand, reaching out towards me. He must have sensed my hesitation, but this I can never do.

"No, sir. Please let me trade it for something of more value." I reach my little leather pouch that hopefully has something that has worth to them.

"No." He sternly states with his open palm right in front of me, slightly startling me from my wits. "We different gods, you different gods. But we friends!"

I thought that I look precisely at every detail from these exotic people earlier, but now I am seeing them in a new light. I believe words have power, and if used in the right way can guide someone to the right path in life. A small smile escapes my lips as I happily grab the herb from his callous hands, feeling a tingle inside me as I slightly make contact with his harsh red glowing skin.

"Thank- you kind sir. I will never forget this day until I die for that, I promise you." I breathe slowly, letting my words take a toll on my life and seeing now the herb in my hands. I vow down in high respect, winning a nod from the black man.

I leisurely walk away from their booth as I hear the women scowl her husband for giving me the free, now priceless, herb, and he replies with a loud, deep laugh that vibrates every inch of my skin. I turn around to see them again, to smile at them again, but all I see is a sudden large dust storm in their direction, suffocating anyone and anything inside of the sands. As quickly as the sand storm appeared, just like that, it disappears, leaving an open space for another tent to open and sell their finds. In that same second, a young Egyptian couple rapidly set up their booth of perfumes and makeup powder, and soon it is all filled up with the ladies of high societies as if they were waiting for the shop to open. I stand in shock of what just happen, trying to tell myself that it was all an illusion from the hotness that has invaded my mind, but as soon as a feel a prick in my hands caused by the spikey flowers I know it is not a lie and put it inside my small pouch.

I ruthlessly rub my eyes to somehow correct my vision if it were wrong, but no, I see the same stall of the young couple bartering their cosmetic for the beautiful and not-so-beautiful women of Egypt, regardless of race and culture the Temple Festival has brought from unknown lands. I let my hands go to side slowly and look around my surroundings to see if anyone, besides me, saw the exact mystical actions that my orbs had just witnessed. No, for everything looks normal. People walking around, bartering their old finds for new exquisite items. While some men are fighting for the last roasted duck to buy and eat by getting their swords for show and throwing each other weightless insult. Yes, everything is totally normal to the absolute.

Amen-Ra, the god of my life, that what I just saw was not an illusion; is it not? Tell me the meaning of the mystical actions that my dear life has beheld. Who were those strangers with skin more darker than the night sky with no stars and skin that glows with a red tint like a shadowy, obscure sunset on the western horizon? And the flowering herb; what can it do? Can it help my Pharaoh of all Egypt or me? God of the sun and life, please help me find these answers, for I feel I am connected to them and the little red plant. Amen-Ra…

I suddenly feel a little tickle in my feet and look down in alarm to see a small mouse squirming around on my feet. I release a short breath that I accidentally trapped when it is nothing of terror and start to walk to the other stalls to see if they have magical remedies for King of Egypt (orders by Priest Yahya) when I hear a little squeak in the ground.

"You little rascal. Shoo!" I shout when I notice the mouse is following my steps. "Stop following me!" Not only have I quickened my pace, but also the little rodent that is behind me, almost as if I am racing the mouse to see who is the fastest and who will win a big prize at the end of the swift journey.

Murmurs interrupt my distractions when I notice I am making a big scene in the middle of the street by me shouting and running, at what looks like, at myself. I put my head in high and walk away as if in the norm, ignoring their strange expressions and baffled words. One does get used to these actions if one makes it possible to recreate. The same squeak seeps through my ears to see the same mouse near my foot, sitting idly as if waiting for my next action.

"Wait for a second!" I exclaim to myself quietly when I notice something peculiar about it. "You have the same brown spot on the back, just like the damn little mouse that gave me a fright inside The Temple!" I feel anger rising inside of me when I remember about my dramatic 'death' about thinking it was a demon after me, but as the gods like to play with my life, it was only a mere mouse squiring in the old eerie hallways of the sanctuary. "Could it be the …? No," I tell myself sternly when a little peep came from the mouse.

I gulp and get on my knees to have a closer look at the little rodent. "Hey, did you follow me all the way from the sanctuary?" His little black eyes shine with the same light from the sun as if one, and the little nose dances left and right as he shakes it very quickly. "You little fool. Well, you are kind of cute for a rodent, and if you want to come along, then come." I lower my palm for him to step on it, which happily he does.

"I am going to call you Jabari because you are a brave little mouse to follow me away from your home." I cannot help but feel my lips curl slightly when I see little Jabari go in circles from excitement in my palm, hopefully, because he likes the name I put him. "Though maybe I should call you little twerp or little nuisance or little creep or…" A sudden loud squeak escapes from the moving brown and black ball in my hands as I see him standing in his hind legs in anger.

Oh, for the love of gods…

"All right then, little Jabari it is. Now come on, I need to look for Priest Yahya to tell him everything is set for the grand feast for this afternoon."

I put the mouse inside of my leather pouch and look around me to see if the same throng is also following me around, but everything is ordinary as ever as if time stopped for a moment. I quickly blend in with the crowd to my next destination to the temple to see Priest Yahya. Tonight's feast will be dedicated to how everything will turn out not only for the week, but for the lives of the residents of Egypt and its exotic guests, but most importantly for the life of the King of Egypt, Pharaoh Thutmose.

"Yes. Yes. How delicious! Please place that offering next to the statue of the god Thoth." Priest Yahya gestures his hand to the direction where the wooden boxes are to be placed with the nod of the servant and walks off. "Oh! And you priest, please taste that potion to see how well it is made and if it is not poisonous. Oh, dear…"

The priest with a face made out of terror strolls to the big table picking up a silver tray of different transparent bottles filled with colorful liquids and walks inside a hallway each step at a time and looks at the statue of Horus for the last prayer before he exits to the shadows.

"How splendid! Bring that appetizing healing tea to that room to the left. " Yahya exclaims when more servants from different countries enter with their contributions. "And you girl, place those homely plants to the same hallway as that boy. Oh, and say my greetings to the King of Kush!"

For more than half of a week and day and night, people from different countries had come to Egypt when they heard the news of the upcoming Temple Festival for various reasons. Some came just to simply barter their products to gain new finds while others from high society came to win high favor with Egypt of hoping to be an ally within the near future. Everyone in the temple has been busy with the preparations, the upcoming offerings arriving at each hour, hosing the foreign royals inside the Guest Palace, next to the Grand Palace of the pharaoh.

And tonight will be the busiest night for the approaching feast held in the central plaza in The Delta. Chefs are preparing their most delectable dishes while the farmers are picking their freshest produce from the fields. Native Egyptian bellydancers are preparing their cougratory of the famous Raqs Sharki dance and the crane dance.

"Oh gods, please do not let all this preparation be in vain and hopefully, oh, how I hope, in a faraway land they will be a remedy to heal my Pharaoh Thutmose and dispose of the deadly demons that have conquered his ill body for if everything avails his brother, Prince Amenhotep, will be pharaoh and along ill come the destruction of you, my dear gods…" Priest Yahya thinks somberly as he stands still for a moment, forgetting his task at hand and winning odd looks from the upcoming servants that do not know where to place their offerings. A cold shadow surrounds Yahya as he comes aware of a dark presence in his surroundings, looking around to see who is this soul with a complex aroma.

"Priest Yahya…"

A deep and feminine voice states bitterly as dark chills run through his skin, turning around already knowing who this sinister voice belongs to.

"Princess Nefertiti." He utters quietly with all respects he can muster to his high royal, when he sees his highness dress in a simple dress with a black veil on her face as if to cover herself from the public, vowing down, but not out of veneration, but to hide his anger in his brown eyes. "Glad to see you have come."

"Yes. Well, I have come to see how the Temple Festival is coming along, and you have all my high respect, dear priest." She walks close to him to stand face to face, eye to eye. "And tell me, have you found a special remedy to cure Pharaoh Thutmose?" Nefertiti slightly bites her tongue so her lips will not curl into a mischievous smile.

Yahya reads her real desires, her true sentiments on her cold hazel eyes, and prays to his closest gods to give him strength and power to overcome this enduring trail he will fight for what seems in an eternity.

"Time will tell princess for right now we are only receiving the contributions with open arms, and next week we will do a trial to test with each one." He faces where the servants are walking to and from with wooden boxes into the stockroom next to the sanctuary, with the eyes of Nefertiti following his vision also and a fearsome idea came into mind.

"I do hope everything will turn out well for the king, and an herb will cure the demons into oblivion where they belong. His sickness is not only killing him and us, his closest family, especially his brother. Poor of my husband of how he cries and cries at night that is almost overbearing. I do pray to our gods that they will cure him in time and not let death win."

She looks straight into his eyes, piercing his soul along the way. Hesitates a moment before she bows down and walks off to the same place where she enters, in the entrance of the temple. Takes a moment to look back to see Priest Yahya running off to do an errand and also to the store-room where the possible remedy might be found to cure the heinous poison.

. . .

I quickly arrive at the crowded temple to hopefully spot Priest Yahya among these entire strangers, but that is all that I see, strangers. I move through the vast throng, trying to avoid the busy servants and the idly religious societies that are in the middle of the Hypostyle Hall trying to call attention silently when I see an unexpected face that makes me halt into a stop. Princess Nefertiti is a few steps ahead of me, walking out of the temple in a hurry with hard features dressed as a peasant almost as a disguise with her brown-gray eyes harsh.

"Something grave must of happen with the main priest for her to go away in such haste! But hopefully, nothing terrible to my king, yes, for there is no panic around me, and everything is calm. However, I notice every time she speaks with Priest Yahya, she always goes out in alarm. Maybe…"

"Lapis!" The voice of Yahya interrupts my thoughts as I see a shaved man coming out towards me, smiling in his direction, deciding I will think of those thoughts later in peace. "Child! This is a grand success, for I know it was a good idea to have you check on the contribution of the other foreign lands." He places his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, I am glad." I express genuinely. "I do hope that all of those remedies one will be the one to save the Pharaoh Thutmose." I smile sadly as also the man smiles sadly with me, gripping tighter on my shoulder.

"Have faith, my dear child for our gods will help us – "

"Can any gods help us, not just ours? Could a god from a different culture or religion also help us?" I shout desperately, interrupting Yahya as his eyes grow wide from my absurd statement, and his small smile turns into a thin line. "Would Amen-Ra forgive us? Well, I mean…"

Yahya only hugs me tight in the middle of the Hypostyle Hall and whispers in my ears. "All the gods in the earth, regardless of culture and religion, will unite as one to help a good man from death whether be the Hebrew God or our gods. We are all one, my dear child."

A slight tear forms in my eyes as I hug him more tightly and let my silence fill my words. His touching words make an impact on my soft soul as I remember the words from the strange black man from earlier: "We different gods, you different gods. But we friends!" and let more tears flow without shame.

"Priest Yahya!" A sudden voice shouts, and we let go from our embrace to see who the voice belongs to, to see other priests running in our direction with such speed and with a face made out of terror. "Other priest got sick from testing the potions from Syria and is in great pain!"

Priest Yahya only cackles loudly from his statement as I raise my eyebrows and see the other priest with a puzzled expression. "Those senseless, reckless, headless Syrians! If they want war, then war will come. Well, until the Temple Festival and the end of the Feast of Nights, that is." He sighs and shakes his head. "Come, priest, let us see how your friend is doing and what remedy will help him."

He grabs the priest's shoulder as he takes him away to another room, avoiding the people during the way when he suddenly turns around to face me. "Lapis, dear. Do not get into a fight here in the temple and be ready for the Feast of Nights tonight! Oh, and please do not get drunk, or you will regret it. Go with the gods child." And walks off to an unknown destination away from me.

I beam a smile as I stand idly looking as their shadows fade away with other shadows during the stone path when a little squeal disturbs me, and I look down to see a little black face peeking out of my leather pouch. I caress his small head softly and look up to the sky to the sun shining down on me.

Amen-Ra… You are too good to me, and for that I am grateful. I hope you are doing well up in the sky, and I hope the sun is not too heavy for you today because, for me, it feels as a weight has been lifted from my weak body. And … I hope you will take care of me when I arrive at your boat and help me through the world of the spirits if I am vital enough for you, that is…

Quick Fact:
Raqs Sharki is Bellydancing in Arabic