Chapter 59: Nefer(i)a

Kija left the hut and met Ramses outside. "You can come in now and meet your baby," she said gently, a smile on her face, informing him that the birth was over, and that even men could now enter the birthing hut.

Ramses didn't even look at Kija. Instead, he walked a few steps forward. The new father took a last breath before entering the hut.

What he saw inside was his wife, lying in bed, a small human in her arms. In the background were the two other nurses who had supported Dedyet from the back and the side, joined by Kija, cleaning up the blood and bodily waste that was left from birth.

Ramses approached his wife without any words, looking at his sleeping baby. He sat down on a small chair next to the bed, speechless.

"It's a little girl," Dedyet told him gently, also looking down at the human in her arms.

"She's… She's beautiful," Ramses replied, his voice cracking. Suddenly, it didn't seem like he had wanted a boy at all. Suddenly, his little girl was perfect.

"Do you want to hold her?" Dedyet asked, smiling, now looking up to her husband.

Ramses slowly reached out for his child. As he held her in his arms, he examined her carefully before kissing her forehead.

Dedyet smiled happily, almost in tears.

Right when Ramses gave the baby back to his wife, several priests came inside. They didn't talk, but bowed down in front of the royal family.

Ramses suddenly realized that had almost forgotten the urgency to name the baby! That was why the priests were here, after all!

A high priest looked up, asking quietly, "Is the child named yet?"

Ramses looked at Dedyet. It was the mother's final word that counted.

"Hm," Dedyet said. The baby's name was not to be spoken out before its birth due to religious reasons, so Ramses and her had obviously not talked about anything specific before.

It was Ramses who suddenly remembered the conversation he had had with his mother, as well as her final words: 'So are we clear about it? If it's a girl, you will name her after the only sister you have. Neferia de Nile.'.

The pharaoh gulped. What to do now?!

Dedyet noticed Ramses' anxiousness.

"I do not want to rush you highnesses," the high priest said, "but the child's name needs to be decided as quickly as possible, in case of death. Should this tragedy happen, would the child's poor soul never reach the afterlife."

Ramses was even more nervous now, unsure if he should say anything at all, imagining the fury that his mother would have in her eyes if Ramses told her that the baby's name wasn't Neferia. Yet, he didn't want Dedyet to be unhappy or think something wrong of him…

"Ramses can decide," Dedyet suddenly announced.

Her husband was shocked. "Really?!"

"Of course! She's yours as well!"

He couldn't believe it. "...That's so kind, my love."

"So, do you have an idea?"

The pharaoh gulped before speaking it out through clenched teeth, again bowing to his mother's expectations, "Neferia."

Dedyet seemed surprised. "Neferia?"

"We will call her Neferia," Ramses said as a final word, immediately regretting that sentence after it was said.

"Neferia it is then," one of the priests said, about to write it down on a well-prepared papyrus.

"Wait!" Dedyet interrupted. "That's your sister's name!"

"Yes, that's why I want to call her that," Ramses spoke out, obviously unhappy. He hated himself for this. But whatever he would have done, the result would have been self-hate.

Dedyet looked right through him, seeing what was wrong. "Neferia is a really nice name, but since it's already your sister's, maybe it would be better to change it a bit. How about Nefera instead? Is that okay with you?"

Ramses flinched. "Nefera?"

"It's a term for inner and outer beauty. Inner beauty, because I told you how important I think it is. And outer beauty, because…," she chuckled, "well, she's a de Nile."

"Dedyet, that's a beautiful name!"

"So, it's Nefera," Dedyet said to the priest, a smile on her face.

The priest wrote it down, nodding.

"It's a beautiful name that you have chosen," one of the priests said. "What should be the child's guarding goddess?"

Dedyet's eyes widened. "Guarding goddess?"

"There's a god or goddess chosen for children after their birth. The god or goddess is supposed to keep the child safe every day of their life," Ramses explained. "Boys choose a god and girls a goddess. It's a privilege suited only for royalty."

"That's a beautiful idea!" Dedyet said, obviously surprised. "I didn't even know that!"

"It's a Southern practice," the priest explained. "So who should it be?"

Dedyet looked at Ramses. It was free for him to decide.

After a second of thinking, Ramses announced, "Goddess Hathor."

The priest nodded. "Fine then."

And so the group of priests began their religious rituals, thanking many gods and goddess for the birth of this child. Goddess Hathor was especially addressed, as well as many of the evil gods and demons, which were strictly warned to not come near the baby. Several amulets were given to mother and baby.

After the rituals, Dedyet laid back and looked at her baby, knowing that this day was the best one of her life.