The second visit Effie paid to the museum after hours was somewhat less emotional than the first, and she found her self able to enjoy herself a little bit more, and grow accustomed to most of the strangeness. It was just like one big child-friendly costume party, she realised, if you managed to get past the fact that the attendees weren't actually dressed up for the occasion, but were inanimate museum displays brought to life every night but some unseen force of Ahkmenrah's tablet. Which she could. Sort of.
The one thing she still couldn't accept, however, was the so-called 'magic' behind the works of the tablet, and the apparent lack of a logical and scientific explanation. She also couldn't believe that Larry hadn't ever chased one up for himself, along with the countless night guards before him. Had they all be so dense?
"It's not that." Larry tried to explain when she quickly quizzed him in his five-minute break from the football field. "It was more of an, I-don't-want-to-know-so-I-wont-ask kind of thing."
"But why?" She cried, exasperated, but Larry was already jogging back onto the 'pitch' with a sheepish but somewhat relieved expression on his face. She gave a muffled squeak and threw her hands in the air in despair, much to the amusement of a nearby and watching Nicky Daley.
"You need to chill." He told her laughing, handing her a plastic cup of water. She scowled at him over the rim before taking a gulp, and wiping her lips on the sleeve of her cardigan.
"It annoys me when I don't know things!"
"I know, but just forget about it for now and have fun! Look, you're all stressy. That's what thinking about things too much does to you. C'mon. Loosen up and enjoy yourself more."
"It's not that easy." She grumbled, taking another sip of her water and glaring moodily to where the football match had resumed. Well, they called it football – or 'soccer', it didn't matter – but it was more than obvious that half of the players had absolutely no idea what they were doing. The ball was currently clutched in the arms of one of the Huns - running towards the wrong goal - with a vexed looking Teddy and Ahkmenrah shouting tiredly after him.
"Sure it is." Nick told her firmly, grabbing her arm. "Come on, let me introduce you properly to the people here."
And so he dragged her off from exhibit to exhibit, throwing out more names – most with difficult pronunciations - into the open than she could even try to remember. The couple that stood out to her the most were both the chivalrous Roman general – what was his name? Octavus? Octavius – and his somewhat less polite cowboy friend, Jedediah. Maybe it was the mismatched but somewhat charming pair they made that brought on her instant liking for them, or perhaps the fact that they were no longer than her index finger, but Effie enjoyed talking with them greatly and was slightly disappointed when Nick dragged her on. Oh, and Sacajawea had been lovely, in a motherly sort of way. She hadn't been too fond of the Huns with their guttural tongues and generally intimidating demeanours, and the Civil War 'Dudes' had been a little frightening with their featureless faces, but Effie chose not to hold that little handicap against them. She wouldn't even go near to Rexy, despite Nick's pleas and persuasion. Not even his reassurances that the dinosaur was 'more like a big dog,' and that he and Ahk had even ridden on his back would win her over.
"I'll be in my grave before you'll get me on his back!" She huffed indignantly, marching away from the rather forlorn and dejected looking dinosaur, his head hanging and a slow whine emitting from somewhere as he nudged the rib bone with his…nose.
It was only shortly afterwards when the football match had to be called off after an unfortunate accident with one of the Huns attempting knock the ball into the goal with the sharpened head of his axe. The players groaned and protested as both they and the spectators began to slowly ebb away to various other parts of the museum, Larry calling after them with promises of a new ball by the next night.
"Want to go see Ahkmenrah now that he's free?" Nicky offered Effie after a few moments of awkward silence – the atmosphere in the lobby had sizzled into almost nothing at the abrupt ending of the game, and the masses had moved elsewhere. She nodded absently and followed Nick over to where the Sovereign was standing, engaged in half-hearted conversation with Larry. Effie guessed they were both pretty miffed at the disappointing end to the night's festivities. They both looked up as the youngsters approached, and Larry ruffled a hand through his son's hair, nodding in Effie's direction.
"Hey Nicky, Effie. You guys doing alright?"
"Yep, sure." Nick answered his father, shrugging. "I've just introduced Effie to all the other exhibits and stuff."
"Good. Good." The foursome lapsed into a heavy and uncomfortable silence – the kind where you find yourself blushing and staring at your feet - and Nick found himself suddenly desperate for someone to break it, as it always it.
"So-" he started blindly, just as Ahkmenrah opened up with a question of his own – evidently also making at attempt at breaking up the awkwardness between them - and the young boy nodded for the Pharaoh to continue.
"I was just going to ask Effie how she feels about the museum now that she has had a more… organised introduction." He admitted, smiling briefly at the young girl. She smiled back – relieved for the conversation – and started to tell him – in great detail, as she usually did when she was nervous – about her evening so far. After a few moments Larry started backing away, and Nick soon followed – not really interested in where Effie was going. Ahkmenrah tried to listen attentively to what she was saying but found her slightly hard to understand, as her speech was both faster and somewhat… different to what he had grown accustomed to in his years in the museum. Effie, noticing his shift in expression, trailed off suddenly and blushed a chagrined red, immediately beginning to stumble an apology for her chattiness.
"I'm sorry, I appear to be boring you. I do talk a lot, however. You should have just said something."
"No, no." Ahkmenrah assured her hastily. "It is not that. I simply find you slightly difficult to understand, that is all. You sound different to say, Larry and Nick."
"Well that's because I'm from another country," She explained, before frowning. "But hold up – your own accent is not too dissimilar to my own. You can hear yourself talk, surely?"
"Well yes I can, of course, but one grows so accustomed to their own voice or accent that they fail to notice it, do they not? And I have never had to listen to another like myself."
"You understood me the other day." Effie pointed out bluntly, crossing her arms, and Ahkmenrah sighed inwardly. Why was this girl so insistent on having everything explained to her so meticulously?
"Yes, but your speech was slower then. You have sped up in your enthusiasm." He pronounced each word slowly, and said them perhaps a tad more patronisingly than he had indented, and Effie's face flushed once more in response. He sighed inwardly for the second time, and attempted to change the conversation. He had to be careful not to lose his calm around this Effie in worry of offending her, but frankly it was just so difficult!
"You said you were not from this country," he started, and Effie nodded curtly, her cheeks still pink and her mouth set in a sulky line. "I take it you are from where I was originally sent to? Cambridge?"
"Not quite, but close." She answered slowly, her expression clearing with her new distraction. "Cambridge is a city in a country called England. I'm from Southampton – another city, but seeing as both are towards the south, the accents are not too dissimilar."
"There are many different accents of England, then?"
"Oh heavens, thousands!" She exclaimed, her arms unfolding. "But many people seem to fail to recognise that. They assume that everybody English either speaks like you and I, or like somebody from East London or Birmingham.
Ahkmenrah nodded, feigning sympathy, pretending to know what she was talking about.
"Even worse, they think everybody British sounds the same! It's ridiculous! There are hundreds of thousands of accents across Britain!"
Now Ahkmenrah was even more confused – was being British somehow linked to being English? Which country did one have to be from to be British? He had never seen a modern map in detail. Effie seemed to register his confusion, and she grabbed his arm quickly, pulling him towards the globe mounted in the middle of the lobby. The young king blanched and almost pulled away. He had never really been grabbed like this before – merely touching the king without permission had been both offensive and disrespectful back in his time. It appeared this was no longer the case.
"This here, is England, alright?" Effie explained, jumping up onto Larry's desk to get a better view of the earth mounted above it. Ahkmenrah hesitated, before doing the same. Something about parading over the desks felt very shameful, but Effie seemed too caught up in her enthusiasm to notice. He peered down at where she was indicating: A tiny landmass just separate from a much larger one to its East. He noticed another, smaller looking landmass just to the right of it, and then a speck just underneath.
"That island is England?" He guessed, but Effie shook her head adamantly.
"No, sorry. Perhaps I should have been clearer. Only this bit," she motioned to the lower half of the Island, which he suddenly realised was separated by a black line to both the north of it, and a part of the west, "is England. The country above and connected to it is Scotland. And the other one sticking out of it in the west is Wales. Understand?"
"Yes, I think so." Ahkmenrah answered, trying to make sense of it all.
"This other Island here – the one just to the west, is normally just called Ireland. Although technically it is again split into two countries: The Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland."
"Why are they split?"
"I'll come to that in a minute. Now, the concept of Britain or, 'Great Britain' in full." She paused and gave the Pharaoh a sidelong glance, holding up a finger in warning. "I won't lie to you, this is when it gets a bit tricky," she explained, and Ahkmenrah nodded for her to proceed.
"Great Britain is just England, Scotland, and Wales together." She started, pointing to each country respectively. "It all came about being known as this about four-hundred and something years ago, when King James of Scotland ascended the thrones of both Wales and England as well – so from then on they shared a monarchy. They formed an act of union about one-hundred years later. So, if you are from any of those three countries, you can be known as British. However, somebody from Scotland cannot be known as Welsh, and somebody from Wales cannot be known as English etcetera."
She paused, looking over at Ahkmenrah expectantly, who remained silent.
"Well?" She pressed, folding her arms, awaiting his reaction.
"I think…" He said slowly after a few moments, gazing intently at the map. "I think I understand."
"Brilliant!" She smiled, pleased that she had managed to teach the Pharaoh a little bit more about the modern – well, sort of – world. She got the impression that he had never been taught much. "Now, let's move on to the United Kingdom-"
"Wait!" Ahkmenrah demanded suddenly, holding up his hand to halt her stream of words. She stopped abruptly, her mouth still open, before snapping it shut. "Before we move on to a different Kingdom, you still have not explained this… this…" he motioned towards the map, distressed, unable to remember the name of the region he was trying to point out.
"Ireland?" Effie answered for him.
"Yes. Ireland. You said you would explain why they are split."
"Well yes, but that falls under the United Kingdom more than anything else."
"What… explain." Ahkmenrah sighed, desperately confused. Why didn't this little collection of countries simply go by their names, instead of all these different titles? Surely it must be far too confusing for any foreigner to understand.
"Alright. Well, the United Kingdom is the name given to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as these small Islands here," she pointed on the map, "known as the Channel Islands, and here," again, she pointed, "called the Scilly Isles. Another act about two hundred years ago combined Great Britain and Ireland – the whole of it – but the Irish Free State – now the Republic of Ireland here in the South, you see here – broke away some time later, and formed its own government. There was a Civil War attempt at reuniting it with the United Kingdom at one point but it failed."
"So the United Kingdom is simply Great Britain and Ireland – ah, Northern Ireland – combined. Along with these Islands."
"Precisely!"
Ahkmenrah let out a long breath. Trying to get his head around the complicated geography of this United Kingdom had left him feeling as if he had spend the time running.
"That is complicated." He admitted, and Effie laughed, nodding in agreement. She was secretly pleased, however, as she always was when she felt cleverer than somebody else.
"If you think that's bad you should hear about the Commonwealth."
"Which is?"
"The same region again, but with more."
"No! Please…" Ahkmenrah almost begged, half-laughing and half-despairing. Effie giggled at his expression before planting her hands on the colossal globe and sending it spinning in a whirl of blue, green and yellow.
"I suppose I'll have to leave that for another time."
"I have a question, if I may?" He asked her politely, stepping down from the desk and back onto the tiled floors, before turning back to offer his assistance.
"Ask away." She replied, taking his outstretched arm and hopping down off the desk neatly.
"So – and tell me simply please, without diversion – where is it you are from again?"
Effie almost laughed aloud at the reminder of the question that had got her teaching geography to the Pharaoh in the first place. How much she had rambled!
"England." She answered. "But I do have a bit of Welsh in me, I believe. On my Mother's side."
"And your accent is…?"
"English. Southampton. Upper class Southampton anyway. Not everybody speaks like this in the city either."
"And mine is?"
"Very upper class Cambridge."
"Excellent. But how did you come to be in these Great United States?"
"'These Great United States?' You must have been listening to Teddy. Um, well it's another very long and complicated story. You don't want to hear it."
"Well surely I've just proved that I am capable with the long and complicated?" The king joked, motioning back towards the globe. His expression suddenly turned more serious, however, and his tone softened. "Unless it is too personal."
"No, it's not that." Effie sighed, tracing patterns on the tiles with the toes of her shoes. "I mean, I'll tell you if you want, but it wont be interesting. Not to a Pharaoh of all people," she said only half-jokingly.
"Why don't you allow this Pharaoh to decide for himself?"
"Fine," she admitted hesitantly, before perking with an idea and turning to face Ahkmenrah keenly. "But on one condition."
"What is it?" The sovereign replied slightly warily.
"I get to ask you something about yourself as well."
"Alright." Ahkmenrah answered after a moments pause. It was a fair enough deal to make, as long as she didn't try to probe too deeply into his personal affairs. There were certain things he didn't like to tell anybody. "But you begin."
Long. Yes. I am sorry. And there was more, as well, but I decided after 3500 words that I would split it up to spare you the torture of having to sift through it all. Boring – yes I would say so to an extent, but I wanted to improve Effie and Ahkmenrah's relationship through general introduction. The whole 'explaining the concept of the United Kingdom' was to be an indicator of Effie's personality. Clever. Rambling. Likes to show off what she knows and has go follow through with something when she has started it. I assure you she will go into depth on the Commonwealth at some-point, but I wont make my readers have to observe that.
By the way – I tried to be as accurate as I could with the explanation of the British Isles and it's many terms, but if you find something incorrect please do beat me with your words.
Shoutouts:
TTCyclone: Thank you! You made me feel much better about it :) And yes, poor Nicky. He is in for some disappointment!
Pinkxjellybean: Effie's brain is a marvellous thing.
Thornedbudx: I love the French Revolution, and I just had to put it in there! Along with the reference to the siege of Constantinople :)
Book of Belior: Thank you! I don't think I've ever had anything of my called 'amazing' before :) Much appreciated!
Keep them coming, please!
And finally PLEASE DO READ THIS
I am planning on posting another story in the NATM forum, but wanted your approval first. A short summary:
Trapped afterhours in the tomb of a certain King one summer's afternoon, Saskia van Deman sings to herself to fight her fear. Ten years down the line, now near to the forefront of the Gothic/Alternative music scene, she has all but forgotten the event. But Ahkmenrah hasn't.
It would be an OC story – mainly centring around the first NATM, but with a slightly different setting and sequence of events. It would also feature Kahmunrah and possibly a love triangle, seeing as people seem to be quite fond of those. Just in the rough. I've got nothing down on paper yet, but the seed of an idea has taken form. Let me know what you think please.
Rage xx