Desert
Joey's POV
We should be nearly at the water hole and I ride closer to Yugi. He and Seto hardly exchanged a single word with each other since we left Giza. I'm still shocked at how brave Yugi was since I know how much he fears my husband, and I still can see him shiver whenever he looks into Seto's death glare. "Don't worry, Yugi. He won't dare to do anything and he'll calm down sooner or later."
"Are you sure?" I hear Yugi ask and see him look over his shoulder towards Seto, who is a little back with Mana sitting in front of him; her face angry towards me. "He still looks mad."
"Oh he is," I confirm honestly "And he will be even more infuriated when we find water at the waterhole. He hates to be wrong, but he will also be more angry if there isn't any water and we took too much risk in his opinion. But you still don't need to worry because he simply can't touch you."
"Because Atemu will hurt him?" Yugi asks "He can always try to lie to Atemu and make it look like an accident."
"No he can't," I say with a smile to comfort him. "You're my friend and he knows that I would protect you and that I want you safe, and I would see it if he did anything to you. Trust me, there is nothing he can do and he isn't that angry anyway; I got him under control."
"I'm just happy that you're with me too," I hear him say. "When you talked about the kids needing you close I feared that I would have to travel with Seto alone."
I can't help but laugh a little. I wish I could be alone with Seto again for a little while. He is just too cute when he's mad and I know how to get him in the right mood with ease, and even know that he would be in a much better mood after that, but the twins in the tent next to us would hear us and that would just be troublesome. "Don't worry, we're all together and Seto can't do anything," I say, sort of upset that it also means that he can't do anything with me. I see Yugi look at me with a confused expression, obviously noticing that I'm less pleased that we're all here than he might be, so I add, "I just wish it wasn't necessary, you know? I wish you wouldn't need to worry about your Gramps so much."
"Yeah, I wish that too," he says and looks sad. "We're nearly at the waterhole."
"Really? How do you know? One place looks like the next," I say, and it's true; there are absolutely no landmarks like there had been a little closer to the Nile, and even though there is still a bit of green here and there since we're not that far from the river it still all looks the same to me.
"The desert is never the same," Yugi disagrees. "The grass, and the sun, and the shadows on it don't look alike. Trust me, I know where we are and the air already told me that the waterhole is just fine. There is a tree just on the other side of that dune over there and that's where the waterhole is."
We ride on, and once we are across the dune I really can see a tree and right next to it is a little waterhole. It really isn't more than a hole that's not much bigger than a well, but it is there and the water looks clean and fresh.
"I hope the water there is fresh," I hear Seto grumble.
I share his fear since, unlike an oasis, a waterhole isn't always very stable; even the ones on the map aren't, so this one must be even worse. And that it isn't stable doesn't only mean that it might be dry. A waterhole can also change from fresh water to salt water depending on the weather or season, as well as a lot of other factors. The temperature can vary from 3 to 40 degrees as well, but at least the Nile isn't far away and we can always ride there quickly if need be. If Seto rides there alone to get water he'll be even faster and the twins can rest, and we still have some water supplies to get us through one more day.
We reach the waterhole and Yugi looks confident as he walks right up and takes some in his cupped hands. I see the crystal clear water slowly run through his fingers while I hear Seto's warning. "Careful, what if there is something in the water?"
Yugi just smiles and drinks some, "It's fine. It looks fine, smells fine and tastes fine as well, so you can drink it."
"Did you have to be the one to try it? Atemu will kill me if you kill yourself," Seto says, still upset. I wonder what's worse, that Yugi is the one ordering him around, or that Yugi was right. It definitely isn't his worry for Yugi's life that upsets him.
"Would you rather have Joey taste it?" Yugi asks.
"No, but I could have tried it," Seto suggests.
"Oh, so I can't take a piss on my own without you worrying your ass off but you can risk your life?" I mumble but only smile at him when he glares at me silently. "Just calm down, dragon. We have fresh water like Yugi said; have some faith in him. He grew up in the desert, so trust him." He still glares but is quiet for now.
"Tomorrow night we'll reach the river bend and then follow it straight to Merimda," Yugi says. "The way we travel, and from what I know about the tribe, I guess that we'll catch up there or along the river the day after that."
We rest for the night at the waterhole and I see a vision while sitting around the fire. Mana sneaks a small log of which one side was already aflame from the fireplace, and brings it to her sleeping brother. I watch the fire this night and as soon as she crawls out of the tent she looks at me and crawls back inside. I guess from now on Seto and I will have to take turns watching out for the twins during the night. We didn't think it necessary so far since we're not enough to attract raiders or slave traders, and even if they get desperate enough to go for our tiny group we can still hear them and summon a shadow monster to scare them off with ease, but Mana's attacks on Aknamkanon are silent; and just in case I miss one of them with my visions I better have a closer watch on her. I still wonder what is going on though.
When is she controlled and by what? Is her brother controlled too, and if yes, who or what is controlling him? But most of all why in the name of Ra should anyone try to control one four year old, never mind two of them! They have no power yet. There is nothing to be gained. Or is this just a test and whoever controls them is simply practicing? But then some random children who have nothing to do with the palace would be less noticeable and, due to that, better targets for testing. I just don't understand the reasoning behind all of this.
I take a deep breath and try to focus on the more important things now; we have to find Yugi's Gramps. The kids can be sorted once we're back and Shadi is back with the millennium key. He will be able to find out what's going on now that we know that something is up, so until then we just need to keep Aknamkanon alive. And I want to get back to inb-hD soon because it hurts to hear Yugi cry his eyes out because he misses his Atemu every single night while I keep an eye out for trouble.
A few day's later we're getting close to Merimada. Seto decides that it is time to stop, trying to keep as much control as he can with Yugi giving us the directions. Yugi stops after Seto tells us that the children will need to rest and so should we. I stop too, but unlike me Yugi stays on his horse. I watch him and see him look at some point across the Nile. The river that already had started to spread here isn't nearly as wide as by inb-hD, but the water is still high.
"We need to across the river," Yugi suddenly says and watches the desert on the other side closely.
"Why?" Seto asks. "Merimda is on this side of the river and it is foolish to try and cross it."
"It isn't impossible though, and the tribe hasn't reached the city yet. They probably want to cross the river tomorrow," Yugi says.
"How can you possibly know that all of a sudden?" Seto asks and Yugi points to the sky on the other side.
I can't see anything there but after staring into the dark I notice a star disappearing for a second and then notice that there is some smoke rising somewhere but I can't see the fire. They must block the light with something. I guess the smell of the fire is enough to scare off the animals, but the light will attract raiders and such people, but I'm curious how they do this. "How do you know that it's them?" I ask. "Couldn't it be another tribe?"
"Trust me, it's them. It fits the time, and the size of the space over there is right too. We nomads don't like to go too close to a city during the evening, we always approach in the mornings. They must have gotten into some trouble on the way and are a little later than usual. And more people must be gone because it also is a tiny bit smaller, I think, but the smell is typical for them. I won't say more because it's a Nomad secret, but I know it's them by the sent in the air."
"How do you know the size," I ask surprised. I can hardly see the smoke, never mind anything else. "And what scent? I can't smell a thing."
"Joey, trust me. The place where the smoke rises between the dunes doesn't support a bigger group, and a smaller would use a place further south since there is even less space and the dunes are higher, making the place more protected and the fire harder to see. And like I said before, I'm not going to tell you the secrets of us Nomads. Not even Atemu will ever hear them from me. I'm not going to betray my tribe." Yugi explains, and I have to say that I'm impressed with his knowledge of the desert. He really seems to know every dune in all of Egypt.
"Fine, we cross, but if you're wrong I swear…"
We aren't hearing what he is going to do, and I guess he doesn't know that himself yet considering that there isn't much he can do. Yugi is Atemu's husband and therefore technically, like Aknamkanon had pointed out, our queen. We have to listen to him and can't touch him, and I'm happy about it since I really fear what Seto might like to do to my friend if he gets too furious.
We ride a little further along the river and cross it close to another bend where the current is slower and the river isn't quiet as deep. The horses should be able to get us across there even though the banks are a bit further away, but that is the reason for the decrease in the current.
Once we're on the other side we slowly ride closer to the smoke until Fenny jumps from Yugi's horse and runs ahead. Yugi smiles and rides after her in a hurry. She seems to recognize some people there, and I'm relived since it must mean that we really have the right tribe here.
"Fenny!" I hear a child scream and see a boy run down from a dune close to where the fire must be. The boy is maybe 8 years of age and plays with Fenny a little, "Did you find the old man again? Is he alright?" The boy looks up and scrams once he sees Yugi and shouts, "Yugi, you're here!"
I watch Yugi dismount his horse and the boy runs into his arms. "Jaden? Is that you?" I hear Yugi ask the boy with wild hair and obviously a lot of energy.
"Sure is," the boy says with a smile "You have to help me big brother."
"Brother?" I ask in surprise. "I didn't know you had a brother."
"I don't, not really anyway," Yugi says "But I used to mind him sometimes when his mum was on a market; his dad died just after he was born. He called me big bro, but I'm surprised he remembers me because I've been gone for so long and he was so small back then."
"Gramps talks about you all the time," Jaden says "He used to mind me after you left. And you have to find them… Slave traders got mum and he tried to help her but they took him too, as well as some others."
"What?" I see Yugi's shocked face. He is terrified of slave traders ever since one was really tough on him when taking him away from his desert. This is the first time he left the city ever since Atemu saved him from said trader. But he obviously still knows his desert, and during the day feels just as at home here as he did back in the day, but at night he misses his Atemu. I'm not surprised since during day time Atemu doesn't have as much time for Yugi as he might like to have, but at nights they're always together. During the day in the palace Yugi is in the gardens and misses the desert but the wind and sand there help him over the longing, and the knowledge that he'll see Atemu later is a great comfort too. I also think that it helped him when I showed up at the palace and we started to spend some time together. He was the one who suggested it and was brave enough to ask Seto if I was allowed to spend time with him since I was still Seto's slave back then.
"Do you know where they took him and when?" Yugi asks.
"No, but the others might," he says and we all follow them to the tribe. Yugi's old people are happy to see him and none of them treat him like they should treat the husband of their pharaoh, but Yugi is happy to be back. Seto and I are mainly ignored and they don't seem to trust either one of us.
Yugi talks to some of the grown ups there but they don't talk as freely with us around, and I pull Seto a little ways away just out of earshot but still keep Yugi in sight. "They don't like us do they?"
"They're Nomads," Seto says. "They live their life in the desert and live by it's rules. They follow the pharaoh's laws, most of the times at least, but they mistrust everything that civilization has to offer and would rather live wildly in the desert. It isn't that they dislike you personally, they just don't trust us. They only trust Yugi because he was born here and still understands them; that's why he could find them. He's still a child of the desert, just like he said."
"I know," I say and watch Yugi smile while talking to the others. He is finally truly home, and I wonder how hard it will be for him to leave again; but I know he will because he would miss Atemu too much to stay with his friends here.