Crap, I left the buckets!
The thought hit her like a caravan of stampeding antelope.
There's no way I'm going back for them. I'll take my chances with the High Priestess!
Ramla probably wouldn't be too happy with her, but it was better then going back. Khet's thoughts were interrupted when she ran into the gate.
The gate of the Temple of Bastet.
She was home.
Khet knew the temple better than anyone she knew. Except for maybe the High Priestess herself.
Right now, she was using that knowledge to avoid people who may ask questions.
Mainly, everyone.
It took her a long time to make it to her room.
The room she shared with nine other girls.
Nine other excessively cheery and annoying roommates.
They all worked in the …pleasure… area of the Temple. She didn't get along well with them at all. For the most part, she ignored them, and they ignored her. Though when they did clash, it was trouble.
Khet had a nasty temper. That was one reason her name fit her so well. Khet was the flame of the underworld. And everyone knows how nasty those are when provoked.
And Khet herself was no different.
Lets just say that if it weren't for Ramla, her roommates would be chatting with Anubis, where they'd be HIS problem.
Finally, she reached the room.
Her roommates ignored her, which suited her just fine. She wasn't in the mood for an encounter.
She pulled a scroll out form under her bed and started reading it. She'd borrowed it from Akila, and needed to return it sometime between tomorrow and the day after.
But soon after she settled down, one of the girls rushes in.
"Aziza!"
"What?"
"Someone just arrived!"
"Who?"
After that they started whispering. It passed all around the room. All around the room to everyone but Khet that is.
Her roommates all crowd around the door.
Khet rolls her eyes. Some new cute guy come to be a priest, most likely. They always make such a fuss about such things. It was ridiculous really…
Less than an hour later, Khet faced a big problem. The crowd around the door hadn't left yet, and she'd finished her scroll.
Now she'd have to fight past the crowd of swooning girls, sneak to the stables to get a horse to get to the library, which required sneaking across the room where the High Priestess would most likely be.
Joy.
Taking a deep breath Khet pushed her way to the front of the girls.
"What's Khet doing?"
"I don't know!"
"She's never shown an interest in guys before…"
She ignores their comments and walks out of the room. Keeping to the shadows, She could see Ramla, talking to someone she couldn't see.
Unfortunately, there was only so much shadow to sneak through.
And she'd reached the end of it
Now she faced the open space between her and the door. Taking a deep breath, she quietly starts to sneak across the room.
Almost there…"Kamilah-khet."
Ah crud.
Khet froze then turned around with an innocent expression on her face.
"Come here, child."
Khet winces and walks over towards her. Ramla was in plain view; the stranger she'd been talking to wasn't.
"Kamilah-khet, I do not see your buckets."
Khet sighed.
"It is a long story, High Priestess."
"I have time, young one."
Khet takes a deep breath, the third one in a matter of a few minutes and tells her what had happened, conveniently omitting Ain entirely.
When Khet finished, Ramla smiled. This shocked her. What was she smiling about?
"Do you recall any details about the figure on horseback? Any at all?"
Khet shakes her head.
"Like I said, the ra (sun) was in my eyes. Except for-"
"Yes?"
"The rider had a piece of jewelry. A golden necklace. It was shaped like an upside down pyramid. And it had a symbol like the Eye of Horus on it. Like it, but not exactly like it…It was…different…"
"How so, my child?"
"I don't know…it's hard to describe…but it reminded me of…something…what was it…It was like…my HARP! That's it!"
Khet reaches behind her pulls a silver harp into view. At the bottom of it was the symbol she'd been trying to describe. This was where she'd seen it before. On her harp!
The High Priestess studied the harp, then Khet, and then at the harp again. Then she turned to the stranger.
"Is this the girl?"
Confused, Khet watches as the stranger stands up.
He stood a couple of inches taller than she, not counting his star shaped, tri colored hair. He studied her with deep violet eyes. She averted her eyes, only to find them stop on the necklace around his neck.
It was exactly the same as the one she'd been trying to describe.
"Yes, this is she."
He looked at her for a moment longer, and then he settled back down into his chair.
Just like every other guy.
Ramla however nodded and turned to Khet.
"Kamilah-khet, meet the Pharaoh."
The WHAT?"P-P-P-Pharaoh?" Khet repeated, stammering in shock.
"Yes, Khet, Pharaoh Atemu."
Khet stood there frozen for a moment, and then sank into a shallow bow.
However the Pharaoh smiled.
"Whatever happened to I bow only before the gods?"
Khet blushed slightly.
"I-"
However, Ramla stopped her from finishing that.
"Nevermind that, Kamilah-khet. The past is the past. But now for the future. The pharaoh has decided that it is time he appointed a personal guardian. A follower of Bastet is the natural choice, isn't it, Khet?"
Khet, still unsure about where the Priestess was going with this, nodded slowly.
"Good then, its settled. Khet will accompany the Pharaoh to Thebes, and from there, be appointed as the official guardian of the Pharaoh."
"What! But I-"
"Kamilah-khet." She says sternly.
Khet sighed. This was going to be a bad idea. She just knew it.
Now it gets fun...