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“It appears that there’s going to be a three-hour delay.” The clerk winced and shoved his bangs out of his eyes. “I’m very sorry, sir…”
“You don’t have flights that are sooner?” Pegasus craned his neck to try to scan the flight table, but had to blink back a blinding headache.
“I’m afraid not. Our international terminal can only service a few flights at a time. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. If you’re concerned about missing a connecting flight we could contact your travel agent or—”
“No,” Pegasus waved away the clerk’s concern with a gentle flutter. “That won’t be necessary.” He glanced around the terminal—rows of stiff metal seats, balls of crumbled newspaper, a splattering of pale and sleepy faces—and smiled softly. “How could I possibly object to adding another three hours to my vacation? Osiris knows I barely get enough of them.”
Pegasus turned away from the counter and drifted to the center of the terminal, gaze and feet never quite settling in one place for too long. But he had been away from home for weeks—away from fresh food and intelligent conversation, boarded up in a box and thrust through a carousel of desiccating investor meetings. And so while his imagination may still have been skipping across the skyline, his aching feet and his pounding headache ultimately insisted that he sit down next to the first figure he could spot that felt vaguely familiar.
As often happened with Pegasus, his unfocused intuition proved to be remarkably prescient.
“Is that—Ms. Ishtar, I certainly wasn’t expecting to find you here!”
Isis turned and smiled—cool and placid like high tide. “Neither did I.”
“Are you coming or going?”
Isis paused, and in her silence Pegasus noticed the fine gray lines under her eyes. “I believe it may ultimately be both.” Her eyes flickered across his face. “I never knew what became of you, after—”
Pegasus chuckled. “I didn’t know, either. Not for quite some time.”
Isis nodded. “And yet you’ve retained your effervescent spirit.”
“Hm—retained. You make it sound so easy.”
“I didn’t mean to imply—”
“No, it’s fine.” He placed his fingers to his temples. “No one escapes the torrents of life without a few cuts and bruises. Or gaping eye sockets, I suppose. I must admit though, I’m surprised to see a tomb keeper so far from home.” He leaned forward slightly, pretended to steal a conspiratorial glance around the room, and lowered his voice to a rushed whisper. “Have you uncovered any ancient mysteries? Any indication of a being strong enough to defeat the Egyptian Gods? I hear that Kaiba-boy is still looking.”
Isis laughed for a moment, then bit her lip and frowned. “Well, I’m pregnant.”
Pegasus bounced in his seat and clapped. “Congratulations! That’s wonderful! Or—” His gaze narrowed in on her dark eyes, the fists clenched tightly at her sides. “I’m missing a part of the picture.”
Isis shook her head quickly. “I’m thrilled, but—surprised.”
“So what brings you here?”
She sighed. “Malik and Rishid offered to help me in any way they could, the moment I told them.” She cast her eyes about the room, eventually resting her gaze on him, and remaining there. “I may take them up on that offer. But for now—I don’t know what’s going to happen. I was raised in a small box. It was my home, it always will be. But I want my child to have something beyond that—to have the hope.”
Pegasus nodded. Everything about her was straight-backed and straight ahead. There was no path that lacked direction—even the one that seemed to meander up and over, beyond the horizon. “I understand. In any case, since when has knowing everything ever made it any easier?” He placed his hand over hers. “There is at least one thing you can be sure of—my table will always have room for two more. And the Sunday brunches are superb.”
Isis laughed. “Perhaps one day I’ll join you.”
She gently intertwined their fingers.
Pegasus lost track of the industrial hum of the airport—the brutal bare walls and dry, cold light. But he felt it when she went to rest her head and fell asleep on his shoulder. And he missed his flight.