"What.."
Yugi stepped back.
"What the hell do you mean, you have no food?!"
The room fell silent.
Everyone stared at Yugi, who's face had dropped to a nervous, angry half-smile. Yugi found himself dropping to the ground, defeated on his knees. Finally, one of the men, who Yugi recognised from prior as Mahad, spoke.
"The Nile did not flood as it should have. So, the farmers were not able to get a high enough crop yield."
"I…" Yugi found the strength to stand back up into his proud stance, "You didn't try to fix this?"
He gave Atem an estranged look, Atem muttered something like a sad, bullied dog. Yugi didn't listen, he didn't care for excuses.
"What.. What about material? You have that, right? Because at least we can-"
"Well.." Mana awkwardly butted into the conversation, "'Tem does, because he's Pharaoh… Everyone else? Nope."
"Wha- Why?!"
"The people who make the fabric refuse to give any without a trade of food. The people in charge of the silo cannot trade food so there's an internal conflict." Mahad grabbed Mana by the back of her collar and dragged her so she sat by his side. Even Yugi could tell that, if not controlled, she would probably run off somewhere.
The traveler gave Atem another suspicious glare and sighed loudly.
"You're very high and mighty, aren't you?" One of the Priests, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke. His voice was firm and cold.
"Seto, do not be rude." The lady yelled with her teeth gritted.
"What? Why shouldn't I be?" The man walked up to Yugi and looked down on him, his bright blue eyes judging and dark, "This brat… They are clearly judging the Pharaoh! It's the highest offense! If he thinks the job is so easy, he should just do it himself! What does he think he is - waltzing in here and ordering us about when we don't even know who he is!!"
"The job is easy!" Yugi snapped, "I could do it! Easily!!"
"Then do it!!" 'Seto' yelled back, "Fix the farms! Give the Pharaoh time to do something actually worth his holy time!"
Yugi shook his head, "Oh, no, no, no. You're not making me do your dirty work."
"I bet it is because you can't." Seto gave Yugi a disgustingly teasing grin, the traveler glanced at Atem, who was yawning sleepily on his throne. Awfully casual for someone who just found out he would die soon.
"Like that is going to taunt me into doing it?" Yugi growled, everyone was silent for a moment, just staring at the boy with eager eyes. Yugi sighed. "Because it is. Where is the farm?"
"What about the material issue?" The one lady in the room asked, her already narrow eyes narrowing more.
"Surely they, themselves, should be able to figure that out." Atem remarked. Yugi gave Atem a shocked look and stomped on the ground with his foot.
"We can't leave these people discontent!" Yugi snapped, "Did you not listen to my explanation? The people attacking, they're trying to stage a revolution against you. By doing nothing, more people will be inclined to join!! This is your responsibility, this is one of your only jobs!"
"My lord, where did you find this buffoon?" the priest Seto folded his arms. "He is mad! The people are perfectly happy as they are right now!"
Atem slowly explained everything to the court, demonstrating the reactions between Pendant's, the way he found him fallen from the sky and how the 'gods' had sent him as a warning against danger. He even demonstrated the reaction between the two pendants, the only proof these single-celled-minds needed.
"Even if this person is a godsent, he is rude and disrespectful!" Seto boomed, "Ordering us about like he means something… if you're so special why don't you fix it all yourself?!"
"You know what?" Yugi put his hands against his hips, his right hand resting against the base of his prosthetic, "I will! I'll fix all of your stupid little problems! And it'll be easy! Just watch me you moronic pig!"
"More words I do not know.." Atem sighed, he rubbed his eyes with his hands. "You do not have to do it, Yugi. Do not listen to Seto, he is just a very grumpy person."
"He first taunts me then insults me.." Yugi growled under his breath, "I'll show him who's a buffoon…"
"Uh..if you do wish to fix the farming and material issue.." Mahad put his hand up a San indicator that he wanted to butt into the conversation, "Mana and I are heading over there."
"For fun?" Mana's eyes gleamed, her usual resting smile grew larger, before dropping to a halt as Mahad shook his head.
"For training."
"Please, take me. I'll do everyone's dirty work." Yugi scowled, "He never put this shit in the job description…"
"Who?"
"No one." Yugi fiddled with his hair as he looked awkwardly around the room. "Take me. I'll see what's wrong with your farm."
"Wait a second!!" Atem smashed his foot against the ground again, the commanding boom of the hall causing everyone's quiet chatter to suddenly stop. "DID I SAY THIS AUDIENCE WAS ADJOURNED?"
"N.. No sir!!"
Three out of the Priests said in unison. They dropped down onto their hands and knees bowing politely. Atem gave Yugi a angry side eye, but didn't get the reaction he had hoped for.
"What? You think I'll do that?" Yugi spat, "Uh.. No. I don't think so. You two, get up."
"Um… Ye.. Yes.. Sir?" Mahad spluttered, slowly standing up. He gave a dazed look of empty, pitiful bewilderment, awkwardly lumbered upwards, following closely behind Yugi. Mana did the same, saying goodbye to Atem happily as she held onto Mahad's arm.
From the back, the rest of the court and Atem stared in a mix of perplexity and concern at the trio leaving. Seto stomped his foot down and yelled.
"The disrespectfulness! The sheer rudeness of that person!! Directly ignoring our Pharaoh, he should be-Atem?" He looked at Atem, his blue eyes watching as the King's face reddened a little at the sight of the boy leaving. He huffed quietly under his breath, orchid eyes of crystal quickly looking away as he silently stood up from his throne, brushed himself off and walked to the exit.
"A.. Audience adjourned…" Atem muttered before running off, giving the rest of the court a long, void moment of silence.
"The farms are just this way."
Mahad fiddled with the clothed veil that decorated his head. Yugi looked at the lands, inspecting them carefully. He felt around on his side for the mask that he had hung on his belt after he had taken it off and slowly pressed it against his face, taking a few deep breaths in with the filter. He pulled it away from his face, coughed loudly with his hand covering his mouth and inspecting closely.
The land was separated into a few close quarters, surrounded and lined with channels of water that didn't even teach the top of the channel. Flowing through was a large river, connecting to the main source of water that was linked to the distant Nile. Yugi knelt down and touched the soil with his hand.
"Hello there Mahad, Mana."
The voice of an old person croaked from behind Yugi's back.
"Hi Ms. Khepri!" Mana beamed as the old lady gave her a pat on the head and smiled back.
"Hoho, and who do we have here?"
"This is Yugi." Mahad gestured to the traveler, who stood up and put his hands onto his hips again. "He's.. Uh.."
"I'm a newly hired bodyguard for the Pharaoh, pleasure to meet you." Yugi put his hand out for the lady to shake, which she did so nervously. Yugi could feel the endless wrinkles and cracks in her skin as he gripped onto her hand, he quickly let go and tried to give the most charming smile he could.
"A bodyguard! Such a young one too!" She chuckled and looked out to the farm. "What is someone like you doing here?"
"See, he-"
Yugi cut off Mahad and stepped forwards. "I heard you were having troubles with your farms, I thought I would come and see what was wrong."
"Oh, you dearie!" She walked across the field and, with her crooked wooden cane she pointed at the small channels and whimpered, "The channels, they're not filling correctly." She sighed, "During the Akhet, the Nile did not flood correctly into the channels, so none of our soil was able to be watered."
"Couldn't you water it by hand?"
"Our last proper shaduf snapped recently, and we need to repair it with material, but they refuse to give us the things necessary to repair them without grain to trade. Everyone is starving!"
"I see…" Yugi knelt down next to the channel border, running his hand against the cool water. "Hmm.. I take it that it makes it difficult to water your orchard in the distance too?"
"Of course!! And with the extreme heat from our sun, even our youngest farmers can barely get to the plants and back with those heavy loads of water!"
"Hmm…" He felt along the base of one of the smaller channels, his hand brushing against the rocky mess of soil and sand underneath. "These channels are awfully deep.. Have you checked the current in your main water source?"
"I am sorry, I don't know what that means." The old lady let out a small suspire and looked at the pale boy as he struggled to stand back up.
Someone who had been working on the farm, another lady who was seemingly pregnant, joined in.
"The speed of the water in our fair river is a lot stronger than usual."
"Really?" Yugi mused, "I think the river base has carried the sediment underwater elsewhere, impacting your channel's ability to flood over and thus not allowing any creation of silt."
The two gave him a confused look. He groaned and reiterated, tugging on a piece of his hair as he did so.
"Stuff under the water has been taken away by the water and now it's slightly too deep to spill onto your dirt."
"Oh!" The younger lady finally seemed to get it. Yugi rolled his eyes - how humanity survived this long was beyond even his knowledge.
"What do we do?"
"Just.. Add more stuff." Yugi shrugged, "Or lower your farms, which would be the more sustainable option, but adding to the channel is much easier and less taxing."
He ignored their flummoxed mien, instead slipping his hands into his trouser pockets and giving a semi-charming smile.
"It is such a simple solution.." The old lady croaked, "How did we not notice that sooner?"
"It might be hard with the way you measure your Nile." Yugi pointed at the awkward scratches in the crusty, rocky insides of the main river that flowed through and past the town area, into the horizon ahead, "Heatwaves can also cause a distorted vision so maybe the person measuring was dehydrated or overheated when they marked the river out?"
Yugi fiddled with his hands. Please be the right answer, please be the right answer… He kept begging to himself as the two tried to process the bigger words he spoke that could barely be translated into their natural tongue. The boy hadn't learned much about the agricultural process in Egypt during this time, except for the main points that he had listed out in his mind; flood-based irrigation, channels with a hand-watering container, orchards, silos… All the words muddled into his mind in a confusing, distorted array of knowledge that he was thankful for reading up on.
"Well.. It looks like that's.. Solved!" The voice of Mahad cut in. Yugi shook away his sudden train of anxious thinking and gave a small nod.
"Do you want us to escort you back to the Pharaoh?"
"Nah." Yugi looked up at the sky; it was almost mid-afternoon already based on the sun, he'd have to calculate the time with his hand later. "I'd like to stay and help fix their 'Shaduf'"
"Oh, really?" Mahad gave a small approving bop of his head, his clothed veil slipping a little as he adjusted the metal crown that held it in place. "Me and Mana shall leave you be then, we'll come back for you once we are done training."
Yugi grinned, waiting patiently for the man to leave.
"OI MANA! GET OUT OF THOSE VASE'S!"
Was the last thing Yugi heard, followed by loud and happy giggles and a small 'ow!' from the hyperactive girl as Mahad swiftly hit her on the head and dragged her to only god knows where.
"You're a very kind soul." 'Ms. Khepri' (the name which Mana had said to her, Yugi presumed that was her name due to that) chuckled. Yugi followed her to the first of many broken clay containers that were dumped on the ground next to the channel edges.
"Look! They're all broken!"
"Hm.. I see…"
"Oh, baba, who's this?" a male voice, this time, walked in. A semi-muscular, tan man with short, scruffy brown hair and small green eyes covered from head to toe in musky sweat.
"He is with the Pharaoh! He was sent to help us fix our farmlands!"
"Oh, finally. The Pharaoh's actually doing something for a change, eh?"
Yugi stopped glancing into space for a moment to think about that remark. He had gotten the impression that The Pharaoh wasn't very good purely from being in the room with him, but was he not doing anything truly a habit?
That could be hard to work with.
Yugi looked down at one of the buckets, a hand-tied rope wrapped around it caught his eye. The shaduf was a simple clay bucket attached to a scratchy rope that would be picked up and moved using a rod that was attached to the base of a stand.
Yugi didn't particularly want to touch the bucket too much (as he was mildly allergic to certain forms of clay and didn't want to end up an itchy red toad) but instead opted for holding the base of the rope close to the container, looking closely at the fraying.
"This wasn't done naturally. Someone cut this."
"That is impossible." The man knelt down and looked at the rope too. Yugi looked away, this man's breathing was too heavy for his liking.
"I know what I'm doing when it comes to rope." Yugi held up the end and pointed at the fraying, "This was broken off purposely, probably grinded down with something gritty."
"Oh…that couldn't be true." The man heartily leaghed, standing back up onto his feet and saying his goodbyes to the ladies.
"Moron." Yugi spat as he left.
"Well… whatever. I can fix this for you, but without material the rope will be a bit shorter."
"That should be fine for now." The old lady chuckled, "Thank you."
Yugi detached the broken rope from the stand and the pot and unraveled each rope part carefully. He could've just tied the two pieces together, but figured that doing it in a cleaner fashion will make things easier.
"Say… I am not from here. I want to know, and this won't be shared at all, what is your Pharaoh like?" The traveler spoke after a long while of silence. The younger girl gave the old lady a bad look.
"Oh! He's great! We love him! Thank the gods he-"
"I can tell you're lying." Yugi yawned, "Just skip to the part where you tell me the truth. I just want to know what kind of person I'm protecting."
"I don't think he has what it takes to rule." A random farmer hopped into the conversation, "The gods have already forsaken us with our last Pharaoh's death, at this point I do not care about Anubis' judgment in the beyond!"
"I agree." The old lady sighed. She look one of her small tools and turned over the soil while talking, "He was spoiled too much, he does not understand how bad things are right now."
"It's not like he's bad. He's better than his father, but I think he isn't ready." One of the farmers say, "I mean, if he had paid more attention, this issue wouldn't have arisen. The gods may abandon me for saying this, but I am worried about the state of my home."
"Not many grow old here." Ms. Khepri kept turning over the soil, "But many die. Recently, ever since our last almighty majesty passed away, those dying have been more and more. My time is coming, too."
"If his own people are willing to speak out about his issues, this Pharaoh must be terrible at what he does." Yugi slowly began repairing the rope by tieing each unraveled strand to another end of the cut rope's strands, the pregnant lady sat down next to him with another rope and tried to mimic what he was doing.
"Where are you from?" She twiddle the rope, unraveling it. "You're dressed so strange!"
Yugi twitched. He didn't want to explain again.
"I'm not allowed to disclose that, Pharaoh's orders."
"Oh.. I see!"
Yugi gently showed her how to bind the fibers back together, the sky darkening by the time he was finished repairing all of their tools.
In the distance, over the blurry horizon, Yugi saw the tall silhouette of Mahad and his tiny sidekick. He eventually stopped, waving to Yugi, and approached him with an obvious manner of caution.
"Are you ready to return?"
"Sure." Yugi stood up, handing the girl the last bucket and wiping his hands on his trousers - a sharp sting rushing through his hands. He glanced at his pale palms, scratched, cut and cracked from handling rope, and winced.
"I fixed their tools and gave instructions to fix their flood-based irrigation." Yugi started following the two. 'And got information about your leader..' He thought to himself while pressing down on his prosthetic a few times to make sure it wouldn't snap out of place with the sudden movement.
"Wow. Impressive, stranger." Mahad returned to a confident stride, heading directly for the Palace. "Maybe you truly are god-sent."
"I am." Yugi spat, "Need I show you my Millennium Pendant?"
"It did glow!!" Mana hopped into the conversation, "I've never seen anything glow that brightly before! Apart from fire!"
Mahad nodded, walking back inside the Palace and looking around the lengthy, empty corridors - where was the Pharaoh?
Yugi slowly deviated from Mahad and Mana's hapless searches, leading them around to the corridor with the guest rooms before running into Atem casually.
"How did you know where he was?" Mana beamed.
"The Pendant." Yugi stated. That was technically true. Each one of the Millennium Items possessed the innate ability to locate each other, two Millennium Pendants in the same area felt strange, as if their minds were linked together as one.
"Oh, Yugi! Hello!" Atem chuckled, "I made Siamun prepare you the guest room to be fit to stay in, as a thank you for the help in the farms."
"Thanks." Yugi stepped into the room and looked. It was the same as it was when he had left, just without stinking of vomit and sweat.
"He found these, we didn't know what to do with them." Atem pointed at the two big black bars that were laid in the corner of the room.. Yugi picked them up, inspecting them closely.
Barey indistinguishable from the old AR-15 models, the guns Yugi kept strapped to his back were old fashioned at best, but they always did the job. He checked in the sheathing pocket, good, his small handgun was in there still.
Yugi glanced at Atem, cautious.
"What are they?" Atem finally spoke again. With a slightly comforting smile, Yugi stood up. "A last resort."
Making sure to be careful while handling them, Yugi placed the bars neatly next to his bed, taking the second largest one and pulling it over his head, strapping it to his back firmly.
"What sort of military training facilities do you have?"
"Um.." Atem seemed to think for a moment, his face bewildered. "We have a small training yard just outside the Palace and a larger one. The smaller one is for main guards and the larger one is for preparation of our military quarters."
"May I see?"
"I can show you the smaller one but I am not comfortable letting you into the larger training area."
Atem led Yugi outside and into a bordered but area with four men practicing their archery. Yugi crossed his arms and watched as they awkwardly fumbled with the bow, barely hitting their targets at all.
The traveller walked up behind the men and watched them shoot. After another missed round of arrow firing, Yugi stomped on the ground and yelled firmly.
"Straighten your back, keep your bows taught while using them!"
He held onto one of the men's wrists and gently guided him into a proper shooting form before tapping his hands a few times to release, getting a bullseye.
"I.. Did it!! Wow!! Tha- who-Oh my lord! Hello sir!" The man struggled to comprehend what was happening, probably deciding not to question it.
"Wow, good aim Yugi!" the voice of Mana chipped in, her skipping in from one of the courtyards. Yugi scoffed.
"Your people are terrible at shooting," He glared at Atem, "No wonder you die at the end of this story."
Atem shrunk in his space. "Well.. Most of our best died when my father did so-"
"I have not seen you do a single thing as a Pharaoh correctly." Yugi crossed his arms, "Where are your heirs, for one thing?! Or-"
Mana tries to get Yugi to shut up. He shoves her away.
Atem stares at Yugi and yells;
"I don't want to have any yet! Don't you start nagging me about that too, stranger!"
Yugi finally snaps.
"Wha- what kind of Pharaoh are you?! You can't arch, your own people don't even trust in you, you clearly have no control in your military, you aren't even with them while they battle RIGHT. NOW." Yugi yells, "You don't have hiers, when by now you need like what?! 5?! Your life expectancy isn't long enough for this bullshit! And you're clearly a fucking coward, crying and bitching for NOTHING! You're spoiled, you're childish, and I've seen that in ONLY A FEW HOURS!!"
"I.." Atem whimpered quietly. He wiped his eyes with his palm and turned around, his royal purple cape that he wore blowing in the sudden gust of gentle breeze as he glanced at Yugi before leaving.
"I know I'm a bad Pharaoh."
His figure slowly faded away from view.
Yugi came to his senses.
He dropped to his knees, his prosthetic detaching slightly from its socket in a response to the sudden impact. He didn't bother clipping it in correctly. His view quivered as he stared at the ground below.
"Why did you say those things?"
Mana sits next to Yugi.
"I.. Don't know.." Yugi sighed, "I'm stressed and-"
"He's trying, you know." She gave him a serious face. "He's really trying. But it's hard when you're on the top of an entire land while struggling with grief."
"I.." Yugi looked at his hands, chapped and scarred and scratched in so many ways that they were barely skin anymore. "I know.."
Nightfall.
He couldn't sleep, as was normal every night. This time, however, the impending sense of doom looming over him was great.
Yugi felt around in his pocket, digging out a small, metal box. He flicked it open and struck down in the flint a few times before a flame finally arisen.
Each footstep echoed in the long, empty halls. A light breeze rushed through like a wind chamber, Yugi shivered under the cold despite being boiling hot all day, creaking open one of the many doors to see where it lead.
The night sky was clear, free of the taint that is smog. A firm, stone balcony looked over the town below (clearly one of many viewing spots, Yugi didn't feel alert enough to internally monologue about the terrible security risks this posed). He felt along the wall, his back pressing against the cold limestone, and slumped down against the barricade that prevented him from falling. He raised his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them, letting out a small, weak whimper.
He had fucked up.
Big time.
He extinguished the flame he had lit using his lighter and felt his arm weakly drop to his side, it was a mistake coming here...
"Yugi?"
Yugi's eyes peeked up at the figure who stood in the doorway. Atem glanced at him, pressing his hands against his own, bare shoulders. The king sat next to the boy, his face serious.
"I.. Could not rest before talking to you again. I am sorry that I left like that, I know I am a bad ruler." He sighed, "Ever since my father passed away, I have had to be the bigger person. I have had to be the one in charge, the one to blame for everything. And... It is hard. And I do not want to do this. But I am trying."
"A proper Pharaoh would kick me out right now." Yugi muttered, his right hand pulling out strands of his hair.
"It is a good thing I am not a proper Pharaoh then." Atem shrugged, chuckling, "Look, what you said hurt. But it was not anything I had not heard before. Please, do not be upset."
"I'm not upset!" Yugi yelled, "I am fine!! You should be the one who is upset, what kind of gall do you have, asking ME not to be?!"
Atem didn't say anything. He placed one of his bare arms around Yugi's shoulder and pushed Yugi close, supporting his slouched back.
"I try not to get angry, like my father always did." Atem smiled like the sun, Yugi felt heat rush to his face so he turned away, "And you are here, godsent, to protect me from harm, right? What kind of message would kicking you out send?"
"Sorry." Yugi finally worked up the courage to say that. He rarely said that word, not anymore. "Uh.. I'm very stressed out and I just had this idea on what a- I mean…I…uh.."
"You do not have to apologise." Atem took a deep breath of fresh night air, "Your points were all correct."
"I.." Yugi let out a shaky breath, he nudged Atem's arm away and stood up. "I should maybe return to my chamber."
"Oh.. Of course. I should do the same, Siamun does not like me being awake at this hour."
"What are you, a child?" Yugi scoffed, covering his mouth and apologizing. Atem chuckled, standing up.
"I am! Compared to all the people my age, I am shocked how immature I am! I mean, you must be many years younger than me, and you are still way more mature!"
"Younger?" Yugi put his hands on his hips, "I am 19. I'm just short."
"You-what-" Atem looked Yugi up and down, his jaw dropped, "I thought you were 12!"
"That's an exaggeration." Yugi rolled his eyes, "You can't complain about my height, mister, you're only 5 feet tall yourself."
"5...feet?" Atem made a bad face, "What an odd and truly putrid form of measurement.
"Ugh. " Yugi groaned," Anyway, I'm going back."
"I am glad you have cheered up."
"I wasn't upset to begin with!" Yugi called out, before stepping back into the corridor, the darkness and the night.