Chapter 2

It has been exactly six days since I came to this house and ever since then I've felt like I was in a dream, floating about in a Utopia where nothing can hurt me. The wounds on my shoulders have gotten better. There is still quite a bit of swelling from the ointment and the opened wounds have an angry puckering line instead, but according to the physician, I am much better than when he first saw me. Thankfully, Sheftu suggested that we go to a small bath house nearby that supplies bath salts to repair skin. We are going there after he comes back from a meeting with the Pharaoh. The nobles complain saying something like, "smell like a slave once, smell like a slave forever." It angers me that they who have never even been scolded have the nerve to laugh at people who have suffered endlessly. They were intentionally antagonizing me, and doing a wonderful job of it. Of course, they didn't know they were doing so well since I only showed a smile whenever they were around.

I went for a walk and, as I went into the courtyard, I almost tripped over some stairs when I heard a loud cry a few walls down. It sounded like a child, so I quietly walked over and peeked through the small door that leads to the outside. What I saw enraged me! One of the nobles, who must have come to our house to finalize the status of things, was laying his dirty hands on a little girl not even ten years of age. I got the broom that was lying next to the door and went up to the snobby noble that had the girl against my wall that was facing my room, and knocked him out with a swing to his crotch. I helped the little girl up and turned around to see the noble having trouble getting up and hurling insults at me left and right.

When he did get up, I pushed the little girl behind me and got ready to have a one on one, when I saw Sheftu a few yards over watching me carefully with an amused look and slowly jogging towards us. I didn't know what he wanted me to do. Did he want me to fight him? Did he want me to stop and wait for him?

Wait, why would I need Sheftu's help with this dirt bag?

All fat and no brains. The fat bastard was lunging towards me before I could make up my mind. Due to instinct, my hands came up, took his forearm and twisted hard while my knee came up to meet his stomach. He fell back choking from the pain while Sheftu ran up to me. He had me in his arms before I could tell him of what I did.

"You haven't changed at all! Still as bold as ever," Sheftu said, as he kissed my forehead. I smiled and pulled back to give him a wink. Then, I felt him kicking something behind him and peeked under his arm to see the noble down again. I laughed, then suddenly remembered there was a little girl behind me.

"What's your name?" I ask gently as I checked for any injuries. It was awful. Her clothes were half torn and there were tear streaks on her face. She had an expression that just screamed 'I don't care anymore! Do whatever you want.'

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you? It's okay. We took care of him," I said softly while pulling her into a warm embrace. It took her awhile to relax, but then, she hung on to me and sobbed quietly, which made me all the more sad.

"She's coming with us to the bath house right? Sheftu, please let her come. She reminds me of myself and I want to do something now that I can," I pleaded.

"Of course she can come. You don't have to ask my blue-eyed one. If you wish to have her come, she can come," he whispered. He snuck a kiss while I was carrying the little girl inside.

A servant brought in lunch and I ate with Sheftu and the little girl. We both tried to get her to talk, but all she did was nod and grunt. I was smiling, even though, in the back of my mind, a younger me had tears flowing down my face. First, she hesitated and didn't really move, but you could see she was desperately trying not to grab for the food. It amused me to see, from another's point of view, how I must've looked if I was her. I started eating quickly, since I wanted to get to the bath house. After a few minutes, with the little girl staring at me, she snuck in small bites very quickly. I chuckled as she abandoned the small bites rather quickly and resorted to simply stuffing her face.

Lunch lasted for half an hour. I got ready to go, but I couldn't find anything for the little girl to wear. She was covered in mud and grease and smelled of bread. I asked a servant for clothes for now and to go buy a few more sets later. We made our way to the bath house a few cubits down. When they said small, they meant huge. Like ginormous. It might be as big as the whole house, including the parts I haven't seen yet. It had part wood and part cement walls that had to be at least equally big to the building beside it. The little girl and I were amazed and stared at the high class bath house.

"Do they have small private baths for every client or something?" I asked dumbfounded.

"Yes, of course. I'm not getting in a bath with ten other strangers," Sheftu said, shocked that I would even suggest we bathe with other people. I looked at him through narrowed eyes because of the stupidity of the situation and the fact that the girl and I didn't exactly have the most desired lives. He closed his eyes in guilt as he remembered we did not share the same childhood.

"I'm sorry Blue-Eyed One. The past days played tricks on my mind, thinking you were a goddess. I did not think long enough to register the facts." He buried his face in my neck in embarrassment from his mistake. I do understand why it happened. For the last few days, I myself have been in a daydream where I was like any other beauties. Where I didn't have any trauma in my childhood and lived a good life. Where I had everything I wanted and the past was never there.

"Let's go bathe in the bath salts now! I'm really starting to itch from not washing for a long time." I said scratching my hair. (Yes, the hair that needs to be washed still hasn't been washed.) We played around in the bath, wearing fabric undergarments in the water. We decided to get out when our stomachs were calling for food. The little girl even played around a little. She even let me wash her hair. She had beautiful hair, jet black, smooth, and long. She also has very fair skin considering she's still a child and has a petite build. She's going to break some hearts when she gets older.

We got back to the house as the sun was setting and the city was packing up to go eat dinner and go to bed. We watched as many merchants packed up their goods and headed back to their tents. I got a peek at the central market. It was huge and it was covered with small tents. I wanted to go there to see some of the things from other countries.

"Can we go to the market someday soon, my Darling," I whispered to Sheftu. He chuckled before kissing me and agreeing that, once he gets the physician to give me one more checkup and he approves of me going to the market, we will go. With the little girl, of course.

Sheftu spent the night in my room as usual, but, in the middle of the night, we heard shuffling footsteps. We were both awake and tense to catch the intruder off guard. I had my dagger at hand and Sheftu was in front of me with his dagger. He lit a small candle and walked slowly to the door. He swung the door open and had his dagger poised to kill the attacker within a second. He was about to, too, until he saw a small figure quivering and let out a small chuckle.

"My Love, I believe we have a small visitor." He stepped aside to allow me to see the small girl shivering. I let out a small giggle and opened my arms to let her come in the small circle. She ran right in, climbed into the bed, and snuggled up to me. We all laughed in delight. I was very tired from today's events. With the strange girl between Sheftu and me, I was slowly fell asleep, but not before I heard a little voice say, "My name is Nuri." I smiled at the small figure.

"And my name is Mara," I laid a small kiss on Sheftu's on arm who was already asleep and another on Nuri's forehead.

"Sleep well."