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Chapter Text

She hadn’t been unconscious while the events were occurring, but when she managed to dig her mind out of the dream-like state it had been in, she was already in the carriage and her village had left her sight long ago.

She had lived an uncomplicated life with her mother in their small house. Her father had fallen ill and passed away when she was five and the baby her mother had been pregnant with hadn’t survived the complications of birth. Her mother had raised her to see sixteen summers to the best of her abilities and between the two of them, they managed to live simply by farming and brewing beer. They earned their lives honestly and meant no harm to anyone.

She hadn’t deserved what happened to her.

The name “rare hunters” had been known between the small villages outside of the capital. They would find people with rare physical traits and hijack them at night when they were alone or vulnerable. It had even been said that some people had been kidnapped from their own beds without their spouses or bed partners realizing they were gone. And when the family and friends of the kidnapped person understood what had happened, it would be too late to do anything.

Even though these kidnappings actually occurred, most villagers treated them as nothing more than unsettling stories told by the travelers and visitors from other places until several people of their village would go missing at the same night. As far as the villagers knew, these rare hunters didn’t operate under anyone and it was believed that they would sell the people they hijacked as pretty trophies to the rich.

She had been taken in broad daylight while returning from the marketplace with necessities she had purchased for their small house.

Two men walking in front of her had suddenly turned around, one of them holding what she had initially thought as a bandage and the other a large bag. Since they lived in a small village, everyone knew everyone, yet she hadn’t recognized the two men. She had assumed they were travelers passing through their village and were either buyers or sellers in the marketplace, stopping to ask her a question about something.

She had been wrong.

Because suddenly the bandages were in her mouth and the sack was over her body, rendering her completely helpless as the men lifted her up and onto their shoulders. She could imagine that from outside, they looked like they were just carrying a sack of goods, so she was sure that no one would notice something strange. She had tried to struggle as much as she could to disrupt their balance and scream through the linen gag, unable to use her hands to take it off due to the tight fit of the sack. It hadn’t taken long for one of the men to stop her efforts with a solid fist through her middle, the waves of pain effectively stealing the air from her lungs and silencing her.

And then the next thing she knew, she had been hurled into the people inside the carriage, which looked more like a portable cage with the bars connecting the ceiling and the bottom.

As the carriage kept going with what would otherwise be a soothing rhythm, she thought about her mother. Would she think her daughter had just left her with no reason? Would she blame herself? Would she worry herself sick and follow her husband and dead son to Duat because her daughter was just too stupid to be kidnapped in broad daylight?

She wanted to gauge her own eyes out with rage as tears leaked out of them.

Neither of her parents had been foreigners, their features prominently Kemetian with their dark hair, tanned skin and brown eyes. And she was proud to resemble them quite a lot, her facial structure echoing that of her mother’s and her somewhat gangly figure looking a lot like her late father’s. The only part out of place was her strange, blue eyes. Obviously, her parents had been confused with the striking color of her eyes as she grew out of childhood but they never said anything bad about them to her. Others, mostly the housewives in their village though, had never felt the need to be quiet about their speculations. Some said she was cursed by the gods in birth and some said she was blessed by them with exotic beauty.

That was how she had known, from the moment she had been taken into the forceful grasps of the two men, she had known that she was being taken away because of her eyes. So how dared they cry with sorrow when they were the cause of it in the first place?

She hugged her knees to herself and buried her head in her arms, glad that her long hair shielded her tears by falling forward and obscuring her face. Judging by the brief glance she had caught of the other occupants in the cage, crying wasn’t an uncommon thing as tear tracks and swollen eyes accompanied almost all faces. She had noticed the other occupants to be relatively healthy looking girls and boys close to her age but there were some occasional children in the carriage as well. Though for some reason, none of them, including the children, made any noise while crying. None of them tried to escape or yell at their kidnappers, which was exactly what she felt like doing. She guessed that the bastards had silenced everyone into submission, probably with violence or something equally unpleasant.

Her shoulders rattled and her teeth clenched as another wave of uncontrollable tears left her cursed eyes.

Suddenly, a hand touched her own. She forced herself to stay silent as she shook the hand off and lifted her head in fury. She didn’t know if she was being touched with bad intentions or with pity but she didn’t want either of them. But just as she was about to lash out to tell the stranger to leave her alone, words died on her lips.

She thought that if she was cursed by the gods with just her blue eyes, the owner of the hand must have been hated by all of creation.

The girl had pale skin, almost like marble, and white hair, whiter than the linen they wore on their bodies, and blue eyes a shade lighter than her own. She looked small of stature, despite looking to be the same age as her and relatively dirty with her darkened clothing, dusty face and scraped legs. She looked scared after the reaction she had received and had pulled her hand back to herself, holding it close to her body.

Obviously, she didn’t know this girl, and she didn’t owe her any kindness either, but the look on her eyes reminded her that both of them were captives in similar situations. In fact, the girl looked more of a foreigner since her facial features didn’t resemble any of theirs, so if that was the case, she was probably in an even worse situation than her. Gradually, she let the scowl in her face melt, even though she didn’t apologize out loud. Instead, she unfolded her body, leaning back towards the bars of the carriage and inspecting the girl silently, letting herself be seen by her as well.

She had felt the girl’s hand to be smaller and softer than hers, which had been calloused through the years by harvesting crops and doing housework. She couldn’t say it for sure since they were both sitting but the girl looked to be at least a head shorter than her. Her dress didn’t resemble the long kalasiris she wore except for the fact that it was white. She looked thin, not sickly so, but more like someone who wasn’t expected to perform physical activities as a routine, seemingly lacking body bulk.

Slowly, she lowered her hand and put it down between their adjacent legs, opening her clenched fingers when it came close enough for the girl to reach. The scared expression slowly left the girl’s face as she reached down to hold the fingers extended to her. She lifted her hand up a little after grabbing it with a curious look on her eyes. She didn’t hate the foreign feeling of a thumb moving across the back of her hand and sliding over her knuckles along with the breath ghosting over her skin. The fleeting touches of this strange girl gave her a feeling of calmness and soothing, as well as… something else. No one but her mother had touched her with such tenderness and care. She couldn’t help but stare at the white fluttering lashes as the girl’s eyes moved across her hand.

With a reflex, she squeezed the smaller hand in her grasp, unwittingly prompting the stranger’s attention back to herself from their joint hands. She gave in to feeling of turning her head to the other side when the girl gave her a wan smile, warmth spreading across her cheeks almost immediately. She didn’t know if the gods had cursed the two of them, or the other occupants of the stacked carriage for that matter, but this girl, with her pale presence and ethereal smile, had a divine beauty like the moon himself. She felt like she was being blessed in an unusual way, like she was being held in the grasp of a goddess herself.

She scolded herself for being so faint of heart for a foreigner girl she had just met. But nevertheless, she couldn’t bring herself to loosen their still joined hands.

To distract herself from the warm, bony fingers grasping her own, she inspected the inside of the carriage. There wasn’t anyone she knew from the village but she didn’t know if she was resentful or relieved about that. Her eyes caught sight of a girl with red hair, reminding her the words of the housewives in her village about Set, the god of the red sanded lands, being the patron of red headed people who would bring bad luck to their families and loved ones by being associated with chaos himself. She found it stupid, of course, that girl had no say in her hair color any more than she had any say in her blue eyes.

Then, she noticed another person with white hair, just like the strange girl holding her hand. The boy, who looked slightly older than her, had curly white hair and skin that looked oddly colorless, rather than a natural pale. She didn’t know what the housewives would say about him, but he was relatively different than the girl with white hair. If he had the right coloring, she was pretty sure the boy would look just like any other Kemetian while the girl was without a doubt a foreigner.

Between all the oddity in the carriage, she supposed she was relatively normal. There were others with blue eyes, one girl with green eyes and fair hair and one boy with striking gray eyes that sometimes turned into a strange shade of purple under certain angles of the sun light. The unwanted, but very noticeable sense of comradery stopped her from thinking of them as odd since oddness was clearly the norm between all of them.

When she felt her hand being squeezed, she turned her head to her right. The girl, once again smiling, pointed at herself for a couple of times and murmured something. It sounded like a word rather than something longer, she guessed, but it was hard to catch after hearing it only once. She shook her head and the girl repeated it, this time slower and with separated syllables.

“Kisara.”

It was highly probable that she was being told the name of this white haired girl.

She repeated it after her, the word sounding more like a question rather than a statement, but felt her brows relaxing when the girl smiled and nodded in approval. Then, the pale finger pointed at her in return, prompting her to share her name in return.

“Isetemakhbit.”

It wasn’t particularly funny watching the girl struggle over her name but it amused her, nonetheless. The language of wherever the girl was from didn’t allow her to pronounce the word properly. She corrected her for a couple of times and Kisara continued to look angry with herself for being unable to say it. She allowed herself to smile for the first time that day and pointed at herself to gain Kisara’s attention.

“Set,” she restated, pointedly looking at Kisara to make that sure she understood the new and relatively easier syllable clearly.

“Set?”

She tested the new variation out loud, nodding at herself and repeating it over and over again with more certainty in her voice than before, her tongue still slipping once in every several tries, making it sound like ‘zed’. Isetemakhbit found that she really liked the way her thin, small lips formed the word.

It wasn’t too different from her own birth name but still, the feeling it conveyed… It had a certain energy to it, an energy which was slightly unsettling but not unwelcoming. Names were more than just identifiers for them, they were a part of one’s soul, and so long as the name was spoken, the soul would live. She wondered what her mother would say to her for so casually throwing the name she had been given and taking another name in its place.

It was an undeniable truth that Isetemakhbit’s life had been crashed by an unpredictable storm and thrown into chaos in the blink of an eye. Her future was sure to be even more unstable, just like the god whose name she had suddenly adopted. She had lost the village she had grown up and lived with her mother, but more than that, she had lost the sense of security in which she lived her entire life in, and wailing about it didn’t bring it back. Isetemakhbit never had any particular aims or dreams about her life as her life has been set a course by the people who came before her. But she would remember this feeling of being robbed of everything she had for the rest of her life, and so long as she breathed, she would move forward to have it back.

Under the guidance of this new-found purpose, fueled with the first dream she ever had, she believed in her heart that her mother would understand.

And Kisara, this strange girl with blue eyes and white hair had helped her to name herself a new future, a new purpose, a new dream.

Set didn’t find it unfitting.

Chapter Text

It took them several days to get to their designated location, which turned out to be the capital city. Set had never been to the capital before but she was fairly sure that they were crossing the borders into the city in an unusual way. The cross section where they were let into the city was practically desolated. There were two guards that let them through a gate but Set definitely saw one of the hunters exchange a pouch with the guards.

As they went through the gate, the hunters draped a large cloth over their carriage and told them to stay silent. They couldn’t see anything outside of the carriage but Set’s suspicions were confirmed after the cloth was retracted and they were let out of their moving prison. They weren’t in a marketplace, but on the outside of a large tent. They were far enough from other buildings nearby that no prying eyes would look their way but close enough to be accessible to their potential buyers.

The whole setting made it obvious that they had been brought into the city illegally and were going to be sold unsupervised.

After they were taken inside the tent, inspected by a man other hunters addressed as ‘the Chief’ and pushed around roughly until they were all standing next to each other in a single line, their buyers started to trickle in. One look was enough to understand that the buyers were filthy rich with all of the jewelry and colorful clothes they donned themselves with. Set vaguely noticed how the hunters who had been manhandling them and cursing their ears off earlier were sucking up to the newcomers now so that they would buy at least one person, but she was occupied with something else to pay close attention to any of them and be angry.

Kisara, who luckily hadn’t been separated from her as the hunters had lined them up, had been swaying dangerously from time to time ever since they got out of the carriage that brought them there. Set could think of several different reasons as to why Kisara was so unstable on her feet but none of them were any more solvable than the other.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Kisara was clearly not used to the scorching climate, Set had realized how the weather was unusually hot that day. They were inside the tent so the vicious rays of Ra didn’t target them directly, but the closed up air inside wasn’t too easy to deal with either. In the several days they had been being carried inside the moving prison, those bastards had given them the bare minimum amount of food and water so that their ‘rarities’ wouldn’t just die at their hands, but it had been a while since they had any water, so dehydration combined with humidity was obviously not helping Kisara’s condition. Moreover, they had been forced to stand on their feet ever since they had stepped out of the carriage.

Set didn’t blame Kisara for looking like she was about to keel over and pass out.

She did her best to support Kisara’s weight by looping her arm around Kisara’s without being noticed by the hunters. Kisara was almost a head shorter than her and holding her weight wasn’t anything difficult for Set who had spent years working in the fields. But the hunters were aggressively adamant that they didn’t stand in any way that would block their features or bodies from their potential buyers. Before any customers were inside the tent, one of the hunters had slapped the joint hands of two girls who looked like they were twins and loudly threatened to cut a boy’s hair if he didn’t keep it away from his face which blocked his fair colored eyes.

So, for a while, Set had managed to successfully avoid the hunters’ eyes and prevent Kisara from falling. Until a man, adorned with colorful robes and multitude of jewelry approached them.

Set had to let Kisara’s arm go, and Kisara, who had been observant enough despite her state and lack of knowledge about their language, understood why Set had to release her. She felt relieved as she saw that Kisara could stand on her own without swaying, but irritation and anger flooded her mind as the potential buyer and one of the hunters kept getting closer to them.

When the man, who had relatively fair skin compared to others, since he obviously didn’t have to spend time and effort under the sun, stopped in front of them, his eyes immediately fell on Kisara. His expression twisted and changed into what Set identified as disgust. He clicked his tongue and shook his head with distaste as his nose scrunched up. “What an abominable creature,” he said, the clicking of his tongue never stopping as his eyes kept assessing Kisara’s figure.

Set had to dig her nails into her palms to stop herself from lashing out towards the man and show him who was the abominable one between the two of them.

Finally, the clicking stopped and the man turned his gaze towards Set. He inspected her for a shorter amount of time compared to the time he had taken to disapprove Kisara, then hummed to himself. “How old are you, girl?”

The only answer Set wanted to give him was ‘I hope Ammit will feast on your heart’, but with the look the hunter was giving her, she had to hold that retort back. “Sixteen.”

He began asking her questions about her personal hygiene, her health condition, her marital status and what duties she could perform in a house. Set was so worried about Kisara that she forgot about the questions after she had answered them as curtly as she possibly could. She felt the man supervising their interaction glaring at her next to his customer but she paid no mind to him as he didn’t intervene outright. She tried her best to stay unobserved as she tried to steal glances at Kisara and her condition from what she could see. When it became clear to her that even though the man was resentful towards her experience about plowing a field or harvesting goods instead of cleaning and cooking inside a house, he sounded like he could buy her, Set tensed up.

She tried to come up with something, anything, that would make the man change his mind about buying only her. If he were to take Set alone, she would have absolutely no care about how she would be treated if she disobeyed the man. But that would also mean leaving Kisara behind in the claws of fate. She had to stay. Or she had to convince the man to buy Kisara with her, which probably was more difficult to achieve than the other option. But no matter what, she was determined not to leave Kisara alone.

Later, she thought that perhaps some god had overheard her thoughts at that moment. Because, albeit unwanted in any other circumstances, another scenario presented itself.

Before she saw exactly what was happening, she felt it. Even though they hadn’t been touching, Kisara was standing next to Set close enough for her to feel the air of movement. And in the next moment, Kisara was descending, her knees hitting the floor with a thud.

Set didn’t even think twice as she almost threw herself down next to Kisara’s unmoving form. She called out Kisara’s name several times, shook her shoulders and patted her cheeks but nothing worked. The hunter next to them was ordering her to get up and follow her buyer immediately, but Set ignored him. “She needs water,” she said, her voice coming out weirdly pitched with the urgency she felt. “She’s a foreigner, she’s not used to the weather and we have been standing up for hours. She needs to— ”

“What she needs is a lesson!” A burly hand came within Set’s vision and left with a handful of long white hair twisted in its grip. For a moment, Set’s mind didn’t register Kisara’s head lifting up as the hunter shook her by her hair, shouting at her to wake up. But when it did, the only thing she felt was rage.

She lunged towards the man, grabbing his wrist and trying to force his fingers to release Kisara’s hair. Instead, she felt the back of his empty hand colliding with her cheek, making her fall backwards with the force. She ignored the sting on her shoulder as she collected herself and stepped forward once more. She knew she couldn’t do any real damage to the man but the frustration she felt with everything that happened pushed her to continue. Without a specific target, she clawed at him and one of her nails managed to catch his eye, which made the man momentarily stop and instinctively let go of Kisara to clutch his face.

Set pulled Kisara towards herself, even though she wasn’t sure what the best course of action was after that. Everybody who was inside the tent was staring at them and it was clear that the hunter wouldn’t take his momentary defeat lightly. Several hunters were calling out to the man, asking him what was going on. Set didn’t expect anything from other captives at all, since they would obviously choose to preserve their own lives instead of helping two strangers, and she didn’t blame them for it. But she had to do something, something other than hauling Kisara up and trying to run blindly, as it was plainly dumb, and she had to do it fast.

Suddenly, the rich customer spoke for the first time after Kisara’s fall. “This is unacceptable!” he said, hands flailing around as he talked. “A slave who clearly cannot follow orders and physically attacks her owner? What an outrage! No matter how rare, I will not pay for someone like that! If the other slaves you have here is anything like her, I want nothing to do with them, either!”

A deadly silence filled the tent as the man, along with several other customers, left the tent with hurried steps and no purchases.

Over the sound of her furiously beating heart, she heard a pair of footsteps. The man others had called the Chief was walking towards them with clear fury written in his eyes. Set knew that he was going to do something to her, but all she did was to straighten her back from where she was kneeling on the floor. As long as his attention was off of Kisara, it didn’t matter to her.

The Chief walked slowly as if he had all the time in the world. His voice was gravelly and low as fitting to someone who looked like the human version of a huge, intimidating wall. “You,” he trailed, almost in a soft manner. “You cost me several loaded customers. Do you understand what that means? They will never purchase from us again. They will tell others that our slaves are not worth buying for, that they are either disobedient or weak and unhealthy.” Set tightened her grip on Kisara’s torso as his eyes slid down. “This girl is one of the rarest ones we have ever found. My men collected her from far away and she is meant to worth a fortune. But, if durability is something she does not have, and if you will cause us problems because of this wench, no matter how rare, both of you are worthless to me.”

The Chief reached for his belt, dread clutching Set’s heart as she saw him unsheathe a large knife. “Let this be an example to everyone,” he bellowed, the previous calmness gone from his voice. “Weak and disobedient will face the same fate as these two –sliced open and left to bleed on the dirt! If you value your lives, you will learn how to be of use to me!”

Even as the blade was swung high, Set couldn’t turn her eyes away. How… how did things even end up like that? How could this man just decide to murder two people for no legitimate reason and plan to continue living with a clear conscience? This was not fair. Set was not a fighter, she did not know how to use a weapon or deflect one. Every fiber of her being told her to not give up, but she did not know how. Anger towards the man and herself crowded her soul, but more than that, she felt the weight of guilt in her heart. She had brought this upon both herself and Kisara. No one else was responsible for that.

Set closed her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Kisara.”

But then suddenly, there was light.

A strong gush of wind blew around them and exclaiming voices rung in her ears. She hesitated for a moment before she pried her eyes open. Set didn’t know what she had expected to see, but what she did find was something truly unimaginable.

Because there was a massive dragon floating above them.

It had white skin and scales all around its body. A very intriguing feature on its face, other than its sharp teeth, was its blue eyes. Wind blew around them with each flap of its lengthy wings. As it rose higher, it nudged the tent over them with its head and body, making it fly away and giving the creature more space to move freely.

Everyone around them, the hunters and the captives alike, was staring at the dragon with varying degrees of shock and confusion, but the most prominent expression on all of their faces was fear. This dragon had appeared out of nowhere and nobody knew why. Was it sent by the gods? Was it a god itself? Was it going to attack the rest of them as well? Set understood why it evoked such reactions from them, but she didn’t feel such negative emotions. She felt calm and protected. Truly amazed, if nothing else. It was a magnificent creature and Set knew that it wasn’t going to hurt her. It felt familiar somehow, reminding her how she had felt when she first met…

Kisara.

She slowly lowered her eyes towards the girl she was still holding on her arms. Kisara’s eyes were open but they looked unfocused. A blue glow covered her blue eyes like a thin, transparent sheet. Her expression was slack, as if she was still passed out. Set didn’t understand exactly what that meant, but one thing was certain despite all the questions she had: That white dragon with blue eyes somehow obeyed Kisara and it wasn’t going to harm them.

Set felt a wave of confidence with that conclusion. What she was witnessing was just incredible. Kisara was incredible. She couldn’t even imagine having such power over that dragon like Kisara had. Perhaps she wasn’t as durable physically, but obviously Kisara was far from a helpless person. Set didn’t know whether she was aware of her control over the dragon but Kisara was most definitely sent by the gods themselves.

The dragon roared and a surge of light appeared inside its mouth. It turned its head towards the Chief who was still standing in front of them with a look of surprise and attacked him, the impact sending him flying across the ground. That snapped everyone out of the trance they had been in, shouts of distress rising as they scattered away from the dragon as fast as their legs could take them. But the dragon wasn’t done apparently, because it aimed for the remaining hunters and took them out one by one. Set didn’t know if the force of the dragon’s light would kill them but she didn’t particularly care. They had deserved what they got.

After the dragon was done, it let out another mighty roar and slowly disappeared in a shower of light. It left as if it had never even existed, but Set knew that other people inside the city had most definitely seen it for a short moment. They hadn’t done anything wrong, but Set still felt like it would be better if they left before they encountered anyone.

A groan pulled her attention back to Kisara as she shook her head a little and blinked several times. Her eyes were back to normal and she looked fully awake instead of… whatever she was previously. When she looked at Set with fear written on her face, Set knew that Kisara was aware of the dragon’s existence.

She guessed that Kisara was worried about her reaction, maybe expecting her to be angry or afraid after what she had seen. Set let a small smile curl her lips. How could she be afraid of or angry at such a magnificent creature?

Set got up after Kisara pulled herself up into a sitting position. She extended a hand to help Kisara on her feet but stopped immediately when she saw the girl visibly flinch. The possibility of Kisara expecting her to strike her because of past experience made Set angry but she did her best to not let it show on her face. She kept her hand where Kisara could see it and let her make the first move in her own pace. After a short moment, when the fear on her face melted slowly, Kisara took her hand and allowed Set to pull her up.

Suddenly, there was a girl pressed up against her and arms around her body. She felt tears on her collar, slipping beneath her dress and wetting her skin. She caressed the long, white hair and rubbed the small shoulders gently, trying to reassure Kisara to the best of her ability. She knew that Kisara wouldn’t understand anything she would say, but still, she pulled back a little and cupped Kisara’s cheek. “Thank you, Kisara.”

Whatever Kisara heard in her voice or saw in her face caused her to dry her tears and nod at Set.

Set entwined their hands and tried to think of a way to tell Kisara that they should leave. But before they could even move more than several steps, she heard people approaching them.

Judging by the weapons they held and the uniform way they were dressed in, Set supposed that they were being surrounded by the soldiers responsible for the order in the capital. In her opinion, it was better that they were soldiers and not the overly curious, meddling civilians but that still didn’t guarantee their absolute safety, either.

If the soldiers arrested them, Set was fairly sure that they would take them to the palace but she didn’t know if the Pharaoh would believe them when he heard about their story. And currently, with almost a dozen of men lying around them and only Kisara and Set standing to take responsibility, they probably didn’t make too good of a first impression.

“It’s him!” one of the soldiers suddenly exclaimed, momentarily surprising Set. “It’s the man they call the Chief! The man who has been hijacking and selling people!”

As murmurs were exchanged between the soldiers, Set felt slightly hopeful. It sounded like they had been trying to capture the Chief anyway, so Kisara wouldn’t be punished for putting him and his men down.

Between the soldiers who had been inspecting the other men lying down, a particular soldier stepped forward. She tightened her hold around Kisara as he came closer to them. He didn’t look angry or accusing, but mildly confused and maybe a little curious. He stopped a couple of steps away from them.

“Are you the ones responsible for the appearance of the white dragon several moments ago?” he asked with a smooth voice.

Kisara couldn’t understand him and Set was reluctant to talk, so neither of them answered. She needed to know the honest answer wouldn’t hurt either of them before she said anything.

The man seemed to understand as much from their hesitance as he began to elaborate. “We are searching for the conjurer of the dragon under the Pharaoh’s orders. We are to accompany the conjurer to the palace and they will be treated as a royal guest in exchange of answers about what happened here. Are you, in any way, involved with today’s events?”

“Perhaps, ” Set finally answered.

He only nodded at the vague response. “Very well. You will not be asked any further questions right now but I will interpret that answer as you being eyewitnesses to the dragon’s presence and we have our orders to escort any witnesses to the palace. You shall still be treated with utmost care by the Pharaoh’s servants. You will not be harmed unless you do something wrong. Is this understood?”

It didn’t look like Set could dodge him any further. She didn’t feel like she could trust the Pharaoh or his men without question but if what they were being told was indeed true, it did sound like an agreeable arrangement. She turned to look at Kisara and received a hand squeeze in return. She felt like Kisara trusted her with whatever she decided to do.

It made her feel dangerously encouraged, knowing that Kisara would support her no matter what. Things had developed fast and unexpected circumstances had forced them to act decidedly, but perhaps that was why she had managed to form such a bond with the girl so quickly and so intensely.

She looked back at the man, nodding without a word.

As they were led through the glorious palace of the Pharaoh, nobody spoke to them except to give out short instructions. They weren’t treated roughly, but two guards were right at their side until they reached their destination. One of the guards opened the doors and gestured them inside. They didn’t follow them through but Set guessed that they were instructed to stand guard outside. It didn’t matter to her either way as long as they weren’t being mistreated.

After the events of the day, Set noticed how absolutely drained she felt. Instead of sitting down on one of the seemingly luxurious sofas or stools inside the room, she picked up a soft pillow and walked towards a wall which was across a huge window that presented the view of the capital. She threw the pillow on the floor and ungracefully lowered herself down, leaning against the cool surface of the wall. Kisara didn’t take a moment to follow her and curl her upper body over Set’s tiredly extended legs, reminding her of a big, white cat.

As Kisara delicately traced patterns over her legs, giving her pleasant goosebumps and almost lulling her to sleep, the doors opened and three people that Set didn’t recognize entered the room.

The one who stepped inside first was a boy with wild, spiky hair and several blond locks. A hoard of gold accessories accompanied his white shendyt and tunic along with a purple cape that cascaded down behind him. He was short, Set supposed, but somehow, he had a large presence that demanded attention.

Two others followed him from a respectful distance. One of them was a tall young man with long, white robes and an interesting headpiece over a cloth covering his hair. The other was also a short boy who had an uncanny resemblance to the firstcomer, except his paler skin and big, lilac colored eyes. He wore a simple tunic but for some reason, the single accessory he had on him, a gold, pyramid shaped pendant hanging over his torso, stood out in Set’s eyes.

The short boy with wine colored eyes sat on one of the sofas, gestured the other two to sit down as well, then welcomed them to the palace and apologized for the inconvenience caused to them, stressing how imperative it was that they heard about the events of today from them personally. Before he could start asking them questions though, Set interrupted the boy. “You didn’t introduce yourself. It’s poor manners.”

“Do you not know who I am?”

“Should I?”

“No, perhaps not.” The boy looked amused which irritated Set. “My name is Atem. This is my magician Mahad and my servant Yugi,” he gestured at the respective owners of the names. “May I ask your names in return?”

“Her name is Kisara. And I’m Set.”

“Intriguing name,” Atem smiled. “Well met, Set and Kisara. From what I understand, your friend is a foreigner, correct?” Set nodded. “Do you not live in the city, Set?”

“No. My home was a village outside of the city.”

“Was?”

Set sighed. She had somehow managed to evade the previous questions of the soldier who had first found them but she just knew that she couldn’t avoid talking inside the damn palace. And this Atem, who apparently had a personal magician and a servant, seemed like a person with influence, despite his young age. She had to tell them what had happened eventually. But before she did that, she had to know for sure that Kisara would be safe when the truth was out.

“Can you promise me that after I answer your questions, both of us will be safe and unpunished?”

Atem didn’t answer immediately. “Can you honestly say that neither you nor Kisara did nothing to be punished or judged by the laws?”

“Yes.”

“Then you may speak freely. No harm will come to you if you are truly innocent. That I swear on my name.”

It took Set a while to finish her story but nobody spoke for a moment after Set told them everything she could starting from her kidnapping.

Atem looked genuinely upset as he sighed and shook his head. “I am truly sorry for what you had to go through. The Pharaoh had been aware of these hunters who had been abducting the free people of this country for selfish reasons for a long while. Unfortunately, they had been impossible to track down and capture as they had always managed to work discreetly. But today, the hunters, along with the man who had been organizing them, had been captured and will face the law under the Pharaoh’s direct supervision. What you and Kisara had to do was done in self-preservation, therefore your innocence will not be questioned as it is clear. Both of you have our eternal gratitude. Our soldiers inside the city had managed to retrieve the other captives safely and will accompany them to their villages no later than tomorrow. But the matter of the dragon is… complicated, to say the least.”

“Complicated? How so?”

A grim expression clouded Atem’s face. “The dragon is a part of Kisara. It is her Ka.”

Set blinked several times. “But… how can that be? One cannot physically manifest their Ka unless they hold– ”

“Certain objects that would allow them to reflect their Ka, yes. And Kisara is able to do that without any means. That is how strong her Ka must be, which complicates her position. Before you were brought to the palace, the royal council had reached to a similar conclusion. We had several witnesses who had described the dragon before you did, but even without their testimony, almost everybody inside the palace had seen Kisara’s Ka. We wanted to hear the original story from you as well, but the council had already decided on several courses of action which would be finalized after listening you.”

Set didn’t like where things were going but Atem was quick to reassure her. “You need not worry. We apologize for not telling you earlier, but a truth spell has been cast to this room previous to your arrival. Not a single word coming out of anyone’s mouth can be a lie between these four walls, which validates both your story and what I will be saying. The Pharaoh and the council left the final decision to me and I truly believe that neither of you mean any harm with the power of Kisara’s Ka. Therefore, both of you will be released from the palace but as the Ka belongs to Kisara, she will not be able to leave the capital. The council…” He looked slightly uncomfortable before he continued. “They want to keep an eye on her. In return, she will be taken care of and be sheltered by the temple of Hathor.”

“And if she refuses?”

“The council did not say this outright, but it is clear that she is not given a choice. We are in an era of peace and prosperity and the council wants to keep it that way. They do not want Kisara’s power for any purpose, they only wish to supervise over her. You, on the other hand, are free to go. If you wish, you will be taken back to your village and will be rewarded as a compensation for your involvement in the arrest of the rare hunters.”

Set contemplated for a moment, but it didn’t take her long to reach a conclusion. In Kisara’s situation, even if Set spoke for her and demanded her liberation, she couldn’t just take her to her homeland as they had no means of transportation or income. It would probably be more beneficial for Kisara to be taken in by the temple. Temples were sacred places known for their hospitality, so if Kisara were to start living in any temple, Set wouldn’t worry about her safety and comfort. But, even so… she felt reluctant to leave Kisara with people neither of them knew.

Set loved and missed her mother who had cared for her with the best of her ability, but she also knew that her mother wouldn’t want her to abandon Kisara just to get back to her life. If the palace was so willing to reward her, she could ask to send word for her mother about their situation, but she couldn’t just desert Kisara.

“And should I choose to stay?”

“You will also be taken in by the temple. High Priestess Isis will take care of both of you and you will be able to pursue professions inside the temple freely.”

“I can give you my answer right now, but Kisara doesn’t understand any of our words. I will be unable to tell her about anything even if she is given no choice.”

“That will not be a problem,” spoke Mahad for the first time. “Our scribes are wise and knowledgeable. They will be able to act as a bridge between the two of you until Kisara starts to learn our language in the temple.”

“And what exactly is your answer, Set?” asked Atem. “Will you be staying with Kisara?”

“Yes.”

A smile played across Atem’s lips. “The council will never say this, but I will. They do not like to think that there are people or situations that they cannot directly control. They are most definitely wary of Kisara’s Ka and they do not know how to operate it, should the need arise. But from what you have told us, you two have been through a lot together. You would be able to help Kisara about her Ka if it would be necessary. For that, I personally thank you for your decision.”

“I do not need your gaudy words,” Set answered. “I just wish for both of us to live undisturbed and peacefully. Before you can prove that you are capable of providing us that, your words mean absolutely nothing to me.”

“How dare you speak that way towards the— ”

“Prince? Why not? Is he not a man just as you are? Does him having God blood obstruct him from being subjected to any expectations?”

“You had said you did not know who I am.”

“And I didn’t. But it wasn’t difficult to figure out. No one who is as young as you are would be able to freely make such serious promises if they did not have the authority to hold their words other than, perhaps, the Pharaoh, whom I know is an adult. I do feel flattered that the Prince himself is undertaking the task of our care, but before you deliver what you promise, I’m afraid I can’t show any gratitude.”

Silence stretched out for a moment before Atem shook his head and huffed a laugh. “You seem to be a very clever and a straightforward person, Set. I do not hate that. Your wisdom is acknowledged and appreciated. After you are taken to the temple, I will personally supervise both of your comfort and safety. That is the least I can do.”

Humble words of gratitude didn’t leave her mouth but she did send a silent nod to the Prince.

The other short boy standing next to Mahad suddenly spoke. “My Prince, if I may?” Yugi said and stepped forward when Atem gestured for him to come closer. He whispered something in Atem’s ear and to someone less observant, nothing would look out of the ordinary with that. But something about their body language and seemingly unnecessary proximity made Set lift her brow questioningly but she didn’t say anything.

Atem nodded at whatever Yugi was telling him and made a confirming noise. “That’s right,” he said and Yugi bowed his head, taking a step back towards where he sitting previously. “Both of you seem to have injuries. Before you are taken to the temple, Yugi will treat your wounds and Mahad will help you with his magic. You can trust both of them. Mahad is the most powerful magician this land has ever seen and Yugi is as skilled as a physician.”

She couldn’t clearly see Yugi with his bowed head but it amused Set to see a tint of red spreading across Mahad’s once expressionless face. He ducked his head a little and the piece of linen helped him cover a portion of his face. “You exaggerate, my Prince,” he humbly repelled, but apparently the Prince wasn’t having it.

“Do not be fooled by his words, he is both a loyal Priest of the temple of Ra and a skilled magician of our palace.” Set likened Atem to a preening bird with those words. “And Yugi here, is my most trusted companion next to Mahad. Both of them are my dear friends and advisors.” Yugi moved his head, revealing the pale skin of his face which made the redness over it more obvious than Mahad’s. “The three of us will take responsibility for you and Kisara’s comfort. I hope all of us can get along nicely.”

Set didn’t particularly wish for that but she didn’t oppose outright.

“Well then,” said Atem, getting up from the sofa. “I will sent for a scribe so that you can relay Kisara about your situation. Yugi, you may leave to gather whatever you need from the physicians.” Yugi bowed his head and left the room to do as he was instructed. “When you are done here, you will be escorted to the temple. Mahad will stay with you until then.” Mahad nodded as a confirmation to his Prince. “I shall take my leave now, to report your decision and the details you have given us to the council. Should you need anything, Yugi and Mahad will do everything they can for you. I once again thank both of you for your cooperation. Until we meet again, Set, Kisara.”

His purple cape fluttered behind him as he left the room.

Set absentmindedly combed Kisara’s hair as Mahad moved to one of the stools near them.

“If you don’t mind, may I ask you something about Kisara?”

“Are you still going to ask if I say no?”

“Yes.”

Set snorted. “Sure, go ahead.”

“What is your opinion about her Ka?” he asked in an attitude more straightforward than she expected from him. “Is it truly dangerous?”

For a moment, she wanted to say ‘What is it to you?’ but the genuine curiosity in Mahad’s brown eyes compelled her to answer honestly. “Depends,” she said. “I can say that it’s more than powerful enough to wipe almost a dozen men out. But I also think the only reason those men weren’t killed today was because Kisara is too good-hearted to want anyone dead. Even scum like them.”

“Do you trust her?”

From the second Set had laid eyes on the dragon, she had imagined what it would be like to have command over such a creature. If it was her decision to make back then, she would have killed those bastards without hesitation. But perhaps that was why Kisara was the one who possessed such a power instead of her. A gentle soul strong enough to contain the dragon. She supposed it was a wise decision made by the gods. And just as Kisara had trusted her judgement, Set trusted Kisara with the dragon.

“Yes. I do.”

That seemed to be enough for Mahad as he nodded and didn’t ask any further.

Silence stretched between them until a knock came from the doors and Mahad answered. “Enter.”

Yugi didn’t talk as he walked and sat down on the floor next to them. Set gently tapped Kisara’s head and gestured her to sit up. Kisara watched curiously as Yugi opened the small pouch and took out some bandages and a small cup. The sweet smell of honey assaulted Set’s nose while Yugi carefully applied the substance over her shoulder.

When Yugi put the honey cup down and started wrapping her shoulder, Kisara reached for the cup and smelled it with a confused expression. Then, she dipped a finger inside it and tasted the honey, a delighted smile appearing on her face.

Set watched her confusedly. It was normal for honey or moldy bread to be used for wound treatment, and Kisara clearly was familiar with honey itself, then why was she so surprised? Did they not use honey as a medicine in where she was from? The childlike amazement Kisara showed at honey as she pointed at the cup and then Set’s wound seriously confused her. The girl was definitely an elegant puzzle.

It was a good thing that Set enjoyed solving puzzles.

Yugi chuckled a little at Kisara and she heard an amused sound coming from Mahad. Kisara looked at them with a smile. She pointed at the honey again and pulled her skirts a little, revealing her scraped knees. Yugi didn’t meet Kisara’s eyes, or legs, for that matter, as he nodded and went next to her. Mahad cleared his throat and Set turned to look at him. “What?”

“My magic can help with the pain if you’d like. And to Kisara as well, after Yugi treats her wounds.”

“I don’t need it. It doesn’t hurt too much, anyway.”

For the first time that day, Mahad looked irritated, which made her momentarily amused. “My Prince ordered me to help you in any way I can and I can help with my magic. Could you please let me do my job, Set?”

Set didn’t answer him, allowing him to interpret that in whatever way he wanted to, and turned to look at Yugi treating Kisara. Kisara held the cup within Yugi’s reach to seemingly assist him but didn’t even try to hide the fact that she occasionally ate from the sweet substance inside it.

Mahad gently tapped her shoulder when he finished murmuring spells next to her. “All done.”

Set rolled her shoulder a little and rubbed it over the bandages. “It doesn’t feel different at all. Are you sure you are the most powerful magician in the country?”

“I never even said that,” Mahad grumbled. “I know that I cast the spell correctly but... I’m just… not that good with healing spells, that’s all.”

Yugi laughed at him and Mahad looked betrayed, quickly crossing his arms over his chest and turning his head to the side.

“Your name is Yugi, right?” Set asked and Yugi nodded. “It sounds foreign.”

“Yes, I am a foreigner, but I have been living here for three years now.”

“Why do you and the Prince look so alike? Are you two related?”

“No, we are not,” Yugi shook his head. “To this day, we still cannot explain why we look like each other so much, but when I had arrived at these lands three years ago, the Pharaoh and his Priests interpreted my resemblance to Atem –I mean, Prince! Prince Atem– as me being a messenger from your gods to indicate the Prince’s validity as the future Pharaoh. That was actually why I was taken in as a servant for the Prince.”

“But he became a close confidant to the Prince as well,” added Mahad.

Yugi bowed his head. “Master Mahad is too generous to call me that. He is one of Prince Atem’s oldest friends.”

“Not at all. The Prince may call me his friend, but I’m merely his humble servant, which is more than I could ever ask.”

“Would Atem personally take out snake venom out of someone who is just a mere servant, Master Mahad? You mislead our new friends. You are an amazing person and the Prince considers you a close friend. He said so himself only moments ago.”

“That happened many years ago, Yugi, and it proves nothing. Besides, you are the one to talk. Had he not gifted you with this pendant you wear because you managed to assemble it to its original state when the Prince himself could not for years? You underestimate your own value in the Prince’s eyes.”

“He gave me the pendant only because he was bored trying to solve it, that’s all! Also, if anyone is underestimating their worth, it’s you, Master Mahad! He’s going to make you a High Priest one day! If only you were proud of yourself as we are proud of you!”

As they kept bickering good-naturedly, trying to out-complement each other with politely aggressive sentences for some reason Set did not care to find out, Kisara giggled at their relatively funny faces even though she didn’t understand their words, and Set considered Atem’s hopeful request from before. Yugi had so easily declared them to be friends but they had only known each other for several short moments. Was making friends that easy? Set wouldn’t know as she lacked the personal experience on the subject. But she supposed being friends with the three of them would not be so bad.

It provided entertainment for her, if nothing else.

Chapter Text

It had taken Kisara a very long time to get used to being bathed and cared for by servants, as well as not turning red in the face every time they had to see her naked as a newborn babe while they poured water over her head or scrubbed her skin clean. But, she supposed, considering everything she had been through, even though it still filled her heart with a pang of guilt sometimes, several people taking care of her every need was probably the least troubling activity she had to endure in her life.

As servants washed her hair and rubbed her body, Kisara’s mind went pleasantly numb. It had been a little longer than three years since she had started a new life in Kemet and change had been a familiar companion to Kisara’s every day. Though, despite the incredibly unwelcoming beginning she had faced, the changes in her life had been unexpectedly lucky after that.

Thinking about it as the warm water surrounded her, the very first few weeks in this scorching, sandy land, was a blur for Kisara. There were only two impactful instances she clearly remembered from that time: being dragged across the ground as several men took her away from her village and meeting the person who had saved her pathetic life.

Kisara had the courage to admit this to herself at that moment, but even before the day she had been forced to leave her home and family behind, and for the several months following after that, she hadn’t thought too highly of herself or her life. After all, she had to live fifteen summers of her life as an outcast for being born cursed by the gods. Her family… had not been kind or understanding, but they still had not thrown her out of their house, though Kisara never really understood why. It was a fact that being thrown rocks by the villagers on a daily basis and trying to control the beast within herself had not been great, but as far as bad events that might possibly occur in her already not very enjoyable life, being captured by some foreigner strangers had never even crossed her mind. Until it actually happened, that is.

But in a twisted, ironic way, she supposed she should think of that event as the turning point of her life, because the gods had proven her belief of being forsaken wrong by sending her a miracle.

Set… Brave, beautiful, smart, stubborn Set. Reliable as a cool, sturdy pillar under the scorching sun, ardent as a fire catching in a hay barn.

How was Kisara supposed to not fall in love?

Several days after she had met Set, Kisara vaguely recalled ending up in an ostentatious building, which she had later learned to be the palace of the Pharaoh. Their interactions with the Prince and his companions had gone over her head at that moment since she had not known how to speak their language. And although she hadn’t understood any word, she also clearly remembered the person who had graciously welcomed both Kisara and Set into her temple. It had not taken High Priestess Isis long to take both of them under her sturdy wings.

However, even though her luck had finally turned at that point, the crippling dread had not left Kisara’s mind for a painfully long time.

She would forever feel grateful for the charity High Priestess Isis had shown them. After their admittance to the Temple of Hathor, High Priestess Isis had personally undertaken their education. Kisara had never been taught how to read or write in her mother tongue, but as she was learning how to speak Coptic, she had also been taught how to read and write the strange language. Surprisingly, the process of challenging herself to learn something new and relatively difficult had had a positive impact on her life. Focusing on the task of learning had helped Kisara’s fears to slightly decrease.

The day she had been taken to the temple, with the assistance of a scribe from the temple of Thoth, who had kindly informed her about what was happening, Kisara had understood the reason why she had to stay in the Temple of Hathor, where the people in the palace could keep an eye on her. She hadn’t had a particular opinion about that, it certainly was better than being left completely alone in a foreign country, but the possibility of causing someone harm in a place where people looked after her and cared for her… Kisara had never felt more burdened, more dreadful in her life.

So, distracting herself by taking in the education the priests and priestesses had been kind enough to provide for her, days had passed for Kisara as she had worried about getting her assignments done more than thinking about the beast within her. In the meanwhile, Set, who also had not been taught how to read and write, had been receiving private lessons as well. Both of them had been treated as special guests inside the temple, despite Set being a commoner and Kisara being a foreigner with no titles. But soon enough, as Kisara began to understand what was being spoken around her, she had started to pick up the disapproving thoughts of some people around them.

Set, who people had claimed to be a genius, had been learning whatever she was being taught quicker than any scholar could. With the endorsement of High Priestess Isis, Set had started to take lessons about mathematics, history and literature after spending a measly month of learning how to write. It had not taken long for the word to spread about how brilliant Set really was, prompting the High Priest of the Temple of Thoth himself to pay a personal visit to Set and invite her to his temple as a priestess and a scholar. Kisara had been incredibly happy for Set, truly amazed and genuinely excited for the invite she had received.

But surprisingly, Set had not been interested in said offer in the slightest. Her refusal of the High Priest had caused quite a stir in their temple, causing some to hesitantly applaud her audacity but most to call her arrogant behind her back. Kisara had been unsure of what to think about Set’s decision but a little, treacherous part of her heart had been inexplicably relieved that Set was not leaving her behind.

However, after refusing the High Priest’s invite, Set had requested to become a priestess of Hathor instead. Unsurprisingly, Isis had been quick to accept her request, ordering her training as an initiate to start immediately. Overwhelmed with the relief of not being abandoned and the glowing pride she had felt for Set’s incredible achievements, Kisara’s ears had been deafened towards the certain words people said about her behind her back for a while. But when Set’s training had intensified, causing her to be busy and unable to accompany her during the day, Kisara had once again started to hear people calling her unpleasant things such as “burden” or “freeloader”.

Kisara had understood the importance of effort and labor for the people of Kemet after spending some time in their midst. So, logically, she had also understood why some people called her such words behind her back. She had been being treated as a special guest in their temple despite being a foreigner nobody who contributed nothing to their society, unlike Set, who was a genius and on her way to become a priestess.

Kisara had not been taught religion exclusively and the fact that she was a foreigner prevented her from applying for a job within the temple. Still, with the hopes of finding some form of assistance, Kisara had consulted Isis about wanting to work, which had surprised the High Priestess. She had reminded her that she was their guest in the temple and did not have to work for any reason. “The Pharaoh wants you to be treated as a guest of honor and be cared for. May I ask why you want to acquire a job?” Isis had politely inquired.

Obviously, Kisara had not told her the real reason, not wanting to create discourse between the High Priestess and her priests and priestesses, so she had confessed to feeling lonely with Set so vigorously training as an initiate priestess. Kisara had been truly proud of Set and everything she had managed to achieve in such a short time but, despite not being the root reason, the fact that Kisara felt lonely had also been true.

Isis had not refused her request but had warned her about the limited amount of professions she could have as a foreigner commoner. As dictated by laws, she was not allowed to acquire any kind of job inside the temple which was related to their religion. But she had to stay in the temple as ordered by the Pharaoh and his council, so she could not go outside to look for a job, which had not left her with many options to choose from.

Fortunately, after their discussion, Isis had been kind enough to offer Kisara a position among her personal servants, which Kisara had gladly accepted. The High Priestess had been a polite and delightful person in the months Kisara had known her and she had seen how the High Priestess had interacted with her servants with reverence and clemency, so she had had no qualms about accepting the gracious offer.

That sentiment had apparently not been appreciated by Set, though.

Feeling quite accomplished with herself and finally content about not being a burden, Kisara had gleefully told Set about her new job that night. But, instead of congratulations, she had received an unexpected reaction from Set when she had bolted through the halls of the temple and rudely invaded the High Priestess’ chambers, demanding to know why Kisara had been accepted as a servant but not as an initiate to priestess-hood. It had taken Kisara’s overwhelmingly embarrassed begs and Isis’ warnings about revoking her initiate status for Set to finally calm down and step back a little.

Isis, truly a gift from the gods, had been righteously angry at Set for disrespecting herself and blindly disregarding Kisara’s decision but she had also been quick to accept Set’s somewhat forced apology and overlook the chaos she had created. Though even after that, Set, being Set, had calmly but still adamantly demanded to know why the royally acknowledged guest of the temple had not been granted a higher positioned profession. Kisara had been surprised at Set’s insistence despite her foreigner status, expecting her to know more about the laws than most people, but apparently Set had believed that an exception would be made if Kisara ever wanted to become a priestess.

Isis had explained that even if she were to accept Kisara as an initiate, other people would complain about her acceptance, since except a selected few, others knew of Kisara as a foreigner commoner taking refuge in their temple instead of the ka-wielder that she was. Kisara had felt immensely grateful for the High Priestess’ consideration and thoughtfulness while Set had to begrudgingly accept Isis’ words as she had known the truth in them –though not before murmuring that she would personally “deal with” anyone who would even dare to utter anything. Kisara had laughed at that, deeply touched and slightly embarrassed by Set’s words, finding her aggressive care relatively adorable.

Luckily for Kisara, after starting to work as Isis’ servant, though despite not completely stopping, the badmouthing had dramatically decreased, making Kisara more content than she had ever been. Moreover, and in a more important note, the depressing thoughts and the active feeling of fear that had previously surrounded her heart had become incredibly easy to disregard during the day in which her priority had to be care of the High Priestess. Sure, they always had a constant presence in her dreams during the night but Kisara had finally started to feel as if she had some amount of power over her fears.

The beginning of that period of hard-earned stability had coincided with Set proposing for Kisara to train and actively control the beast within herself, out of nowhere.

Kisara had been so careful to not let Set figure out about her inner demons, but apparently it was not an easy task to achieve with someone claimed to be a genius. Because, almost two months into Kisara’s new job, Set had demanded a private audience with the High Priestess and openly asked Kisara to be present as well. Kisara and her mistress alike had been confused by Set’s sudden request but nonetheless, they had obliged. So when Set had claimed, out of all the things she could have said, that it would be a good idea to somehow teach Kisara how to control the beast, the only thing Kisara wanted to do had been fleeing the room.

Isis had clearly noticed Kisara’s sudden discomfort and had asked Set why she wanted to bring that up at that moment. Set, not one to evade any question, had surprisingly refused to answer, saying that she did have an answer to that but did not want to disclose it. She had proposed that Mahad, the Prince’s personal magician, might be able to help her if he was as brilliant as the Prince and his little companion had bragged him to be. They had already been accustomed with said magician so Kisara would be comfortable with him as an instructor, should she agree to undertake the training Set had suggested.

The High Priestess had listened to her silently, while Set had reasoned why that was a good idea and had stated that she could see the benefit of Kisara learning to have control over the beast. Ultimately though, Isis’ decision had been to leave the final say to Kisara as the wielder of the ka. The only thing Kisara had felt in the power of doing had been to quietly ask for some time to think and rush out of Isis’ chambers, momentarily abandoning her duties and Set behind.

Training? Learning how to control something she had been so afraid of? Willingly letting out the beast who had plagued Kisara her whole life? Of course the immediate answer in her head had been “no”. No, she would not let the beast out to roam free and hurt innocent people, people she had cared about. What was so great about having control over something like that, anyway? And why had Set brought that up out of nowhere, at a time in her life when she had finally felt like she had some control over the things around her? Especially when it had taken her a tremendous amount of will power to accept the luck she had finally been given by the gods, even though she had known that she wasn’t deserving of it! Control… Why had that turned to be such an essential part of her life as someone who simply wanted to live a life without being bothered by anyone?

She had spent the rest of the day alone, unable to find the courage to face both the High Priestess and Set. At the end though, Kisara had to admit that she didn’t have the answers she had sought, however, she had also concluded that she wanted someone else to have them for once in her life. Honestly, Kisara remembered how tired and drained she had felt from sitting in a corner and crying her eyes out the whole day as she had contemplated her life, but that had probably been why she was able to face Set and talk to her that night.

She also remembered feeling bad about causing the worry in Set’s eyes as she had silently entered their shared chambers to retire for the night. Set had jumped up from the windowsill and practically run towards her, hurriedly asking if she was alright. When they had seated themselves on the bed, sitting side by side as their legs had the briefest of contacts with one another, Set had gently slid her hand across the sheets and turned her palm up, patiently waiting for Kisara’s response. A smiled had formed on her lips, the gesture all too familiar to her, reminding her of the very first day they had found each other in this world. She had found herself unable to hold her hand back, sighing a little as Set’s long, warm fingers had circled her own, the tan of her skin creating a lovely contrast against Kisara’s pale one.

“I should not have proposed this idea to the High Priestess without consulting you first,” Set had said. “I didn’t even think that you might have reservations about it. It is completely my fault that you had been upset the whole day. I will never bring this up again. Please forgive me.”

Instead of accepting or refusing her apologies, Kisara had directly asked for the answers she had desired, albeit a little tiredly. “Can you tell me the real reason behind your suggestion?”

She would not have called the look on Set’s face uncomfortable, but rather, something akin to remorseful. Desspite that, her answer had been immediate, in her usual fashion.

“I heard you talk in your sleep, asking the dragon to stop attacking you.”

Kisara didn’t remember exactly what kind of an answer she had expected, but it definitely had not been that.

“When I had first encountered the dragon within you, it never even crossed my mind that you didn’t have control over it. Or perhaps, you underestimate the control you have over it, because I clearly remember how the dragon had defended us without taking anyone’s lives, even though those scum absolutely deserved to be sent to Duat right then and there. More importantly, that dragon didn’t attack me, obeying your will to save us both. I have no place to tell you how much control you have or don't have over your beast, but if you feel that you do not have complete control over the dragon, I think that can easily be remedied with training. And, supposing that the magician accepts this demand, you can feel better about your dragon with his help.”

The kiss over her knuckles had burned her skin with a fire so pleasant that Kisara had felt like melting in that brief pause between Set's words.

“I’m so sorry that I could not see how troubled you have been about this until now, but believe me, we can do something about this. You can do something about this. Whatever the reason is for its existence, the dragon belongs to you and you have kept it under control without releasing it for so long, Kisara. And if you wish me to, I can take a break from my duties to accompany you, anytime you ask me to. I just do not want you to keep having nightmares and feel like you can never have control over the dragon. You are stronger than that beast will ever be on its own.”

And that had been the reason why their paths had crossed with the Prince and his companions once again.

After formally making their acquaintance while being able to speak their language, Kisara’s training had begun. Mahad, as their first interaction had made Kisara believe even without having a verbal understanding, had been, and still was, a gentle but disciplined person. When the High Priestess had personally talked to him and requested his aid, he had agreed enthusiastically. Isis, knowing that Mahad rarely spent his days without his Prince and his servant, had also invited them as well, after asking for Kisara’s approval. And all five of them had resumed their lives, spending several hours together every day as if each of them been the closest of companions for years.

Set had kept butting heads with both Mahad and Prince Atem without a care, and possibly a legitimate reason, but she had been surprisingly gentle when it came to Yugi. Of course, to everybody else, that had registered as indifference or dismissal, but Kisara had known better. Kisara herself had gotten along with Yugi the best due to sharing a lot of personality traits with him, as well as the number of years they had lived in this world. Atem was the same age as Yugi, but Mahad, to Set’s deep irritation, was a year older than Set, which he had not hesitated to use against her, much to Kisara’s amusement.

All three of them had been kind to both girls, despite Set… being Set, and Kisara had been nothing but grateful for their care and friendship. But the way they treated each other had always been different than how they treated Kisara and Set, in a more… intimate and somewhat sensual way. Kisara would see that small differences in the way they casually touched, looked or smiled at one another.

At first she had thought that there was only one romantically involved pair and one wistful bystander, but since she could never determine who had been the pair and who had been the bystander, with time, she had deduced that there had been no pair, but just an intimately involved trio. Before starting to live in Kemet, maybe she would have found that bizarre or inexplicable, but the people of Kemet had complex relationships with little to no stigma among them, welcoming practices such as premarital intercourse, orgies and relationships which consisted of people of the same sex. Their way of living had taught Kisara how to have an open mind about the matters of heart.

Though, her own yearning thoughts about the woman whom she called a friend demanded her to be open-minded, regardless.

The palace-dwellers would come to a secluded vault under the temple of Hathor for Kisara’s training, courtesy of the High Priestess, and Set would always take a leave of absence for several hours from her initiate training, even though Kisara would tell her that she didn’t need to come. Sometimes, when Isis would take Kisara out of the temple and into the marketplace for her “personal, priestess-ly” needs, along with Set of course, they would come across Mahad and Yugi accompanying Prince Atem as he “patrolled” among his citizens. Occasionally, Prince Atem’s teachers and servants (“his nannies”, Set always called them) would scold him as indirectly as they could for not attending his studies, but the Prince would always cleverly dodge by saying that he was “studying the way his people lived”.

It had been fun, living a content life with people who cared for her, who she was honored to call her friends.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that any time other than Kisara’s training hours had passed in a cheerful way, the hours in which Kisara had to vigorously try to assert her dominance over the beast had been anything but so. The first few days had not been so bad as all Kisara had to do was to follow Mahad’s instructions and meditate, trying to connect with the dragon. After the completion of the mediating period, however, had been the worst –probably worse than her nightmares had ever been. She had come so close to giving up, so close to just… letting it go. She had hated the beast and hated herself for being so weak that the hours she had spent with her friends had begun to feel like torture for her.

Kisara would have most likely given up on the beast if it had not been for Set’s encouragement.

Before her training days, whenever Kisara released the dragon, most of the time not on purpose, she wouldn’t clearly remember what had occurred when the dragon was out. That had also been the case when she had unwittingly let the beast out in the moment where she had wanted to protect both herself and Set. So, after one of her unsuccessful attempts to control the dragon, in which Mahad had to magically put her to sleep in order to force the beast to retreat, Set had hold her hand and told her how the dragon had saved both of them. She had told her how the dragon had clearly obeyed her like a divine beast of a goddess, describing Kisara as if she had been a powerful, strong-willed deity with such embarrassingly sweet sentences that Kisara had to go back to training in order to avoid letting the priestess see her reddened face.

After that day, Kisara had felt that she had started to make slow, but noticeable progress. At first she had overcome the problem of not being completely conscious as the dragon was released by Mahad’s instructions and magical mind prodding. Things had continued more smoothly once Kisara managed to reach that turning point.

Following that and the progress that had come after, the dread which had constantly haunted Kisara dramatically decreased. It never completely left her mind, even to that day, but it was mostly exclusive to some nights, rarely bothering her during the day. But during the nights where they would be more present in Kisara’s mind, Set would always be there to hold her.

Ever since they had first moved into the temple, as honorary guests of the palace, Set and Kisara had been given two conjoined rooms with two separate beds, but Kisara could not recall a single night in which they had spent in different beds. At the beginning, before Set had become a priestess-in-training, they had been rarely apart during the day, but even when they couldn’t spend the days together, they would always share their nights.

Unlike the daytime, the nights at Kemet were unexpectedly chilly. Even in the coolness of the night, though, Set would radiate heat and Kisara always clung to her like a lifeline. In the nights when Kisara would be haunted by her fears, Set would wake up and hold her in her strong arms, combing her hair with steady fingers until Kisara fell asleep to the rhythm of her calmly beating heart. And some nights, Kisara would wake up to a wet feeling on her face, only to find Set with a crease in her brow and tears on her cheeks. To Kisara, Set’s strength had always been unmatched, but she still acknowledged how much Set disliked being seen as anything but strong, so Kisara would never mention the tears when Set was awake but she would always wipe them with gentle caresses at night, trying her best to chase Set’s nightmares away.

When the nightmares would be too intense for Kisara to go back to sleep, they would talk about their lives prior to their days in the temple. Set would rarely talk about her home and her mother but despite that, she had told Kisara how she had asked servants from the palace to send word to her mother and how she always sent half of her wage to her mother. Set had invited her mother to the capital several times but the woman had always refused, saying that she was too used to the village life that city life would be too difficult to adapt for her.

Kisara had always been reluctant to tell Set about the previous aspects of her life and Set would never push her. But at some point, she had started to have faith in her ability to calm Set down before she would recklessly decide to undertake days of travelling just to find her hometown and give a piece of her mind to the villagers. And Set would react exactly as Kisara expected whenever she told her about her village and her family.

But, as they laid under the sheets together, arms and legs tangled in a casual yet intimate way, Set’s deep blue eyes shining even in the dark of the night, her usually braided hair falling over her pillow in long, brown waves, charming Kisara and numbing her mind; instead of feeling bad or even embarrassed, Set’s usual anger would make Kisara feel impossibly warm inside.

Kisara had never acted on her feelings for Set, always remaining unable to find the courage to make the first move since Set had never indicated that she had also viewed Kisara as someone different than just a loyal companion. Set had always been an intense person, showing every emotion with over-decisive actions, so there had never even been any lines for Kisara to read in between. But Kisara had been, and still was, content. Content to have this complex yet awkward woman in her life, even purely as a friend, yet constantly yearning to have her in the most impure way possible.

At least Prince Atem, Yugi and Mahad had better luck in that area than Kisara ever had.

A year after Kisara’s lessons had begun, several months before Set’s eighteenth birthday, the High Priestess had finally declared Set’s training over and welcomed her with open arms into the temple as an official priestess of Hathor. Set, always exceeding expectations, had finished her initiate period in less than two years when it would take most trainees at least five years to complete the scheduled training program. Set had mostly kept a stoic face during her acceptance ceremony, but Kisara had caught her smiling when she thought no one was watching. The Prince, along with his magician and his personal servant, had graced the ceremony with his presence, his friendship with Set known by everyone at the temple at that point.

The pride Kisara had felt as Set had received the ceremonial robes from Isis that priests and priestesses wore while serving their goddess had been immeasurable –too vast to depict by words, too powerful to convey verbally.

But as all good things had to come to an end, their celebration, which had continued beyond the one provided by the temple between the five friends, had been forced to an abrupt conclusion with the news of the Pharaoh passing into the next life.

Kisara had seen man in person only a handful of times but from what she had heard from others, the Pharaoh had been kind and generous towards his people, always willing to listen and provide his citizens with what they needed as much as possible. So his passing had affected everyone, but no one more deeply than his son, Prince Atem.

Through the seventy days of the mummification of the late Pharaoh’s body, neither Set nor Kisara had caught a single glimpse of Atem, which they had taken with understanding. Despite their constant bickering and Set’s eternal irritation at losing to the Prince in their regular matches of Senet, Kisara had always known that Set considered Atem a dear friend. So she had also been worried about him as Kisara had been, though their worries had been extinguished slightly with the occasional messages they received from either Mahad or Yugi.

Both of them had never left their Master’s side at the same time, at least one of them always accompanying Atem all the time. Of course, as Atem had always been very close with his father, his unexpected death had impacted him understandably strongly. In his period of mourning, Set and Kisara had given him space, relaying words of condolences and small, hand-made objects as tokens of their support and friendship through Yugi or Mahad. After the burial of the late Pharaoh, Atem finally had visited them at the temple, five of them not talking for hours and simply existing in Set and Kisara’s chambers with a solemn silence.

Before leaving that day, Atem had invited Kisara and Set to his initial coronation feast, the first one of many other feasts and ceremonies that would last almost a year, which they had accepted immediately.

For the people of Kemet, death was the end of one life and the beginning of the other. They believed the idea of passing on rather than passing away, but it still did not change the fact that beloved ones taken by the god of death were unable to return to the side of the living, leaving behind trails of tears as they continued with their lives in the next setting.

During the time when Atem had been struggling to adjust to his new life and responsibilities, Kisara had noticed certain changes between the newly named Pharaoh, his magician and his servant. At first it had been small gestures and fingers lingering on hands more than necessary, but then Kisara had started to take note of indecent details such as rustled clothes and reddened marks over their necks or napes.

And even though Kisara had been certainly happy for them, surely, they did not have to push their relationship into Kisara’s eyes, making her even more aware of her longing for one priestess of Hathor and how unlucky she had been for being unable to reach to their level of progress.

The progress Kisara had gotten instead of the one she was waiting for, however, had presented itself in an entirely different shape. Six months after the completion of Kisara’s first year under Mahad’s training, well over the second anniversary of their temple life, she had suddenly acquired an unexpected ability: Kisara had started to see other people’s ka.

The fact that Kisara could manifest her ka without any magical object had already been an unheard ability but to see others’ ka, which only left the body after a person’s death, while said person was alive and well? According to Mahad, who had been astonished to hear the news, this was something impossible to achieve. As the Pharaoh, Atem had been incredibly surprised about the news too, saying that the possibility of something like that happening had never even crossed his mind.

Kisara didn’t even want to recall the never-ending compliments and appreciations Set had bestowed upon her, the memories making her blush as she kept reminiscing.

If she had to be honest, a small part of Kisara had been worried that Atem, as a new Pharaoh, might feel slightly threatened about this new development and would want to keep a closer eye on her. But may gods bless his heart, Atem had never done anything remotely resembling that. In fact, he had asked Mahad to take Kisara as his apprentice and keep training her in this particular area instead of controlling the dragon –that is, if Mahad deemed Kisara’s control over the beast enough as her instructor.

Mahad had reported that Kisara’s control had been perfect for a while and that it would be completely safe for her to continue in this new path, which had made Kisara happier than she had been for a while. However, apparently Mahad had his hands full with his apprentice, Mana, a constantly excited and slightly mischievous girl with big magical ambitions, and it would be difficult for him to take care of two apprentices along with his position as a priest. But he had suggested that the temple of Thoth would be glad to accept her as an apprentice in magic and train her to become a part of their ranks.

Kisara had been quick to voice her worries about this arrangement, the reasons why Isis had been unable to make an exception for her suddenly appearing again, but Atem had reassured her that he could take care of that. “I am the Pharaoh after all,” he had simply said.

And just as he had said, he had done –a formal letter of acceptance had come to Kisara several days after their discussion.

Kisara had already talked with the High Priestess before the arrival of the letter. Isis, who had been kind to her all these years, had been happy for Kisara, just like the rest of her friends. She had kissed her forehead as a mother or a big sister would do, and had said, “You have come so far and I am proud of you. You have my blessing and may the gods bless the rest of your journey, Kisara.”

Thus, Kisara’s path as an apprentice for the temple of Thoth had begun.

For the entirety of the three days they had waited for the letter of acceptance, Set had been anxious about the High Priest of the Temple of Thoth refusing Kisara’s request to spite her, wanting to take revenge on Set for refusing his invitation in the past. Kisara had laughed at her and said to trust Atem, but Set hadn’t calmed down until the arrival of the letter. Fortunately for both of them, the High Priest they had encountered had decided to leave his post to someone else in order to spend time with his family for the rest of his days, so there had been no problems with Kisara’s acceptance.

Kisara’s excitement over the letter had lasted through the day, shared with her friends, Isis and some other acquaintances she had made in the temple and all of them had reflected her happiness back to her with encouraging smiles on their faces. However, as the night fell, and the time to sleep had arrived, Kisara had realized the appearance of a new problem.

Would she be able to stay in the temple of Hathor with Set when she was an apprentice of the temple of Thoth?

But before Kisara could even voice the problem, Set had approached her with an apparently pre-planned solution.

“Would you like to move into a house with me?” she had asked.

All Kisara could do was to stare at her with an open mouth.

As she had lived a considerable amount of time in Kemet, Kisara had learned quite a lot about them and their ways of living. For example, priests and priestesses served their respectful temple in rotation, for one month every four months, three times in total throughout a year. While they served their time, they stayed at the temple with the rest of their fellow peers of the same rotation and when their month was up, they returned to their homes, continuing their lives and work at their normal jobs other than priesthood.

The reason both Set and Kisara had to stay at the temple of Hathor had been because of Kisara’s circumstances, but as Atem had released Kisara and allowed her to join another temple, they could move into their own property with no official difficulties about Set’s priestesshood.

But the reason why Set’s suggestion had been too appalling for Kisara… was something else.

For the Kemetians who did not celebrate or put a special meaning on two people legally uniting their lives, when a person started to live with another person that wasn’t a relative, in a property they owned together, that simply meant… that they were married.

Of course, being legally married had more nuances than that and people lived in the same house without being lawfully married as well. And as long as they were not committing adultery and cheating on their legally acknowledged spouses, people could share their houses with whomever they desired without any legal or social repercussions.

At another note, people were expected to marry someone and start a new family by the time they were sixteen or seventeen. In a culture where reproduction and the start of a new life were celebrated and encouraged, people seldom decided to not marry or not have children. If any couple couldn’t have children for some reason or another, they were highly encouraged to adopt. And people who decided to not have children were mostly priests and priestesses, even though their religious duties didn’t require them to stay chaste in any way. In fact, most priests or priestesses had children who would later on also choose to serve a temple to follow their parents’ footsteps.

So Kisara had assumed that there could be absolutely no way that Set wouldn’t realize the implications of her proposition.

“What I mean is, we could use this opportunity to move out of the temple to have a change of scenery. There is some money I’ve put aside that would be enough for us to find a house as decent as a villa with a garden. That is, of course, if you would like to as well. You can stay in your temple as well, if that would be more convenient for your studies.”

Or not.

As the servants finally finished washing her body and helped her out of the square tub in order to dress her, Kisara begrudgingly admitted that the nature of moving into a villa with the love of her life was a huge progress, but that was still nowhere near what she had hoped for.

The years of yearning was starting to wear her heart down.

Kisara didn’t have a particular opinion about living in a villa as they had made plans to purchase a property, but she had to admit that it was more comfortable than anything else she had lived in the past eighteen years. And, once they had started to add in small details like modest sized shrines for their patron deities, a library full of scrolls that had been carefully organized by Set’s insistence and pots and pans they have purchased together from the marketplace, their house had started to feel like a true home.

Into the third month of their familiar, yet somewhat different co-habitation, Kisara was content as much as she was restless.

And on top of that, at that moment, Kisara was also unbearably lonely as she waited for Set’s month at the temple to finish.

She had complained to Set about the unfairness of the situation. They had just left the temple but it was already time for Set to go back. Set had chuckled at that before leaving, saying that it was simply bad timing that her rotation was due so early in their new settlement arrangements. But both of them had known they were skirting around the real problem without saying it out loud: It was the first time they had to be separated for such a long time without seeing each other in anyway.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Kisara,” Set had said in a quiet voice. “The month will be over before we know it.”

Kisara didn’t know if Set had lied back than or simply spoke out of ignorance, but that month had felt like the longest month she had ever lived.

Though that night was going to be the end of their separation.

As the servants finished clothing her and bowed respectfully, Kisara thanked them and dismissed them for the night to go to their homes. She sat down on the windowsill and brushed her hair while gazing at the city lazily. Since it was the last day of Set’s rotation, she wasn’t as upset about being alone for several more moments as she was impatient. Normally, the priests and priestesses would be released from their month-long duties as Ra started to descend, leaving his place to Khonsu to brighten up the night skies. But there had been a special occasion for Set to attend.

Set had been invited to a celebratory hunt to commemorate her change of position in the temple, and of course, she could not refuse the invite as the newly appointed High Priestess of the Temple of Hathor.

Their servants had to physically restrain Kisara as she kept jumping up and down inside the villa with ecstasy when she had received the news several days ago.

Apparently Isis had decided to retire from her post in order to take care of her little brother Malik, and had endorsed to the Pharaoh to select Set as her successor, which of course, had not taken too long of a consideration from Atem. Set had sent her a letter to notify Kisara about her promotion and that she had been invited to a celebratory hunt at the last day of her rotation. But she had promised to be at home that night no matter how late, making Kisara’s wait more anxious and somewhat more meaningful.

Her palpitating heart hoped that Set would not make her wait too long, though.

As Kisara reached for her nightstand and took a short branched anemone from the vase, placing it over her ear, her eyes paused at the statue next to the vase. Ever since she had become an apprentice in the temple of Thoth, people had started to talk about Kisara’s ability. But unlike the last time, people spoke words of acknowledgement instead of scornful complaints, which made Kisara feel unsure about the new situation, rather than grateful.

Of course, she was thankful for the acknowledgment and the lack of dislike towards her, but some people spoke about her as if she were a deity, or a messenger of the gods. Kisara understood why they would view her like that, even she herself did not know how or why she had this ability, but still, she didn’t desire any kind of glorification from people.

Thankfully, the new High Priest of her temple was an understanding man. He had told her that her ability was certainly a rare gift and if she wanted to, she could use that ability for the good of others rather than just leaving it as a mysterious element. He had suggested that she started working with the artisans of their temple to make customized ka statues for people.

As part of their tradition, when someone died, people carved statues of that person to represent their ka, allowing the statue to become a surrogate body for the ka of the deceased to return when the soul, along with other ethereal aspects of the body finished roaming the earth. But since Kisara was able to see the true versions of people’s ka, she could collaborate with the artists and help people to acquire more accurate ka statues of themselves before they passed on to the next life.

Kisara had been so excited about the High Priest’s idea, immediately accepting it and starting to work with the temple artists. At first, she had refused to accept any kind of money for her work but at some point, the people who had received the customized statues were so grateful that they had demanded to pay her for her efforts. The High Priest had advised that she could charge a small amount to satisfy her customers’ gratitude, which she had to accept due to the insistence of the customers.

After several weeks of verbally conveying the ka to the artists, Kisara had decided to learn how to make statues herself. The artists she had worked with had been happy to coach her. After learning how to carve a piece of wood, the first statue she ever made had been the one depicting the dragon that dwelled within her. It had been an important achievement for her, and as she had held the minimized version of the beast, Kisara had somehow felt that she could view the dragon more as an acquaintance than a threat.

Set had suggested that she kept the statue and after contemplating a little, Kisara had agreed to keeping it. Ever since then, she kept the dragon on her nightstand, adjacent to her bed, and instead of haunting her nightmares, the dragon now guarded her dreams.

Kisara supposed that had been the last thing that finalized her acceptance of the dragon.

After carving her first statue, Kisara had kept working with the temple artists because the requests she received per day were absolutely astronomical, so more than carving the statues by herself, Kisara served as a mediator between the artists and the customers, which she did not mind at all. But there had been several statues she had carved by herself with the requests of her friends.

Unlike every other person she had encountered, Atem had three ka figures instead of one, and Kisara had carved all three of them for the Pharaoh, even coloring the beastly statues to their respectful red, yellow and blue herself. Mahad’s ka had resembled himself quite a lot, so with the proper adjustments, it had been the easiest statue to complete. Yugi’s ka had looked like a pretty woman with robes that made Kisara think of a magician, but unlike Mahad’s, Yugi’s magician had been brightly colored and always had a smile on her face. It had been an enjoyable statue to work on for Kisara.

The only case which Kisara found more perplexing than Atem’s had been Set’s. To that day, she still couldn’t understand the reason behind it but… Set’s ka looked like a three-headed version of the dragon within Kisara. And that was why hers was the only ka Kisara had refused to carve or describe, the butterflies in her stomach causing her too to feel too flustered to explain the situation to Set, who had been incredibly confused.

Overcame by thoughts and fond memories, Kisara failed to hear footsteps approaching her, only managing to break away from her mental space to a familiar voice she had not heard in a month.

“I still feel slightly offended that you refused to make a ka statue for me, you know.”

Kisara’s head whipped around as her feet moved on their own and forced her to get up, her eyes feasting on the figure standing in the doorway. The single candlelight illuminating the room reflected from her golden armor and the golden celebratory head-piece that cradled her crown. Her outfit, a casual mixture between her priestess robes and hunting equipment, was dirtied in certain places but Kisara thought that suited her even more. She had a sheathed sword hanging from her hip and a bow in her hand, complimented by the thick arrows inside the quiver slung over her shoulder. A somewhat amused smile was stretching her lips but the glow in her blue eyes were mischievous, almost hungry.

Set looked every bit the glorious war goddesses her people worshipped.

“You have depicted so many of others’ ka and brought them to life, you even made statues for some of our acquaintances personally, yet you still refuse to make one for me.” Her usual, albeit a little disorderly braid swung over her shoulder as Set shook her head with a fond expression. “Your ability which is so rare and certainly priceless will make me properly sad one day, Kisara.”

Only after managing to recall her own name when it spilled so sweetly, so gently from Set’s lips, Kisara was able to physically move, not hesitating as she practically jumped into Set’s arms.

The amused little noise that left Set as she looped her toned arms around her almost made Kisara tear up, her body finally catching up with the longing in her heart. “I missed you,” she whispered in Set’s neck.

Set pleasantly hummed before responding. “I missed you as well, Kisara.”

When they parted after what felt like an insufficient eternity, they looked at each other, silently assessing one another. Set’s smile grew as she reached for Kisara’s hair, tapping the white flower between her white strands. “Anemone, right? It’s beautiful.” Her blue eyes slid down on her figure, which prompted countless shivers to appear at the aftermath of her gaze. “And I suppose this is a new gown?”

Kisara averted her eyes. “Yes.”

“Dark colors suit you. This particular shade of blue is lovely, the contrast looks perfect on you.”

How Set managed to pay such compliments without a single change in her expression, Kisara would never know. Despite being able to stop herself from going red when their servants saw her naked in the bath, it truly did not take a lot of words coming from Set to turn her as red as the soil in lower Kemet.

The concepts of “Set” and “bath” in the same sentence created a dangerous line of thought Kisara really did not want to cross.

Set, may gods both bless her and damn her, chuckled at her, as if the difficulties Kisara was going through genuinely amused her.

“I apologize once more for not being able to come home earlier, the hunt lasted through the day and I had to take care of the distribution of the hunt game for the poor. I would have left earlier if I could but Isis insisted that I see it through.”

Kisara couldn’t help but giggle at Set’s sigh. “You do not sound happy about that.”

“The distribution of food isn’t too difficult to handle. I did not know that it would be my responsibility but it was a relatively easy one. Trying to organize a festival, on the other hand…”

Quickly catching up to what Set was implying, an involuntary gasp left Kisara’s mouth. “A festival? Do you mean the festival?!”

Set nodded solemnly. “The festival of drunkenness, in the honor of our patron goddess, Hathor. Isis, that treacherous woman, said that she had chosen to leave her post to me before the festival deliberately, because she does not want to deal with it. She thinks she is utterly hilarious.”

“Set!” Kisara cut her petty complaints and grabbed her calloused hands excitedly. “This is a great honor! You have been given such a great opportunity to serve your goddess and I am certain that you will do wonderfully. I’m so proud of you!”

“Of course I will.” Set’s voice betrayed the arrogance of her words, her expression melting into something calmer and more content.

The annual festival of drunkenness, which was hosted by all temples of Hathor through the country, was pretty much what its name suggested it to be. Apparently, with the joint decision of the gods, Hathor had come to the mortal lands in order to punish the duplicitous nature of mankind but went on an unexpected rampage in her mission to castigate humans. Feeling bad about the consequences of Hathor’s actions, the gods had willed the lands of the mortals to flood with beer for the goddess, eventually causing her to stop her slaughter by becoming drunk.

Thus, to commemorate the occasion in which the mankind was saved by drunkenness, every year, people of Kemet religiously got drunk in their homes or temples for a whole day until they fell asleep. In this ritual, different than most others, everyone participated without the segregation of the poor and rich or men and women. The point of the ritual was for people to fall asleep at the end of the festival but mostly, it was commonplace to extend the whole day of drunkenness into a night of… copulating.

In the previous years they had lived in the temple, they had only been required to join the feast in order to be a part of the drinking and other festivities, before embarrassedly going to their rooms when everyone else had started to get handsy with each other. And that would be the only night throughout the year when Set and Kisara willingly slept in different beds.

But that year… Kisara didn’t know the true extent of the responsibilities Set would have to oversee that day, but if she were to come home that night, it would be the first time they would spend the festival at their own house, and probably alone.

“Are you… planning to stay at the temple that night?” Kisara asked hesitantly.

“I am not required to, my job officially ends after the feast is done, so I was thinking of retiring to home for the night. Why do you ask?”

“Ah, for no important reason!” Her voice embarrassingly pitched up with Set’s question. “I just wanted to ask if I should dismiss the servants to their homes for the day of the festival. They might want to be with their families.”

Set hummed thoughtfully. “It is a good idea. We should let them pay their respects to the goddess freely.”

“So… Will we be alone?”

“Probably. But if you do not wish to, we can meet with Atem, Mahad and Yugi –”

“No!”

Under Set’s eyes she felt like a prey being sized up but Kisara had no intention of wavering. “No?”

“We probably should not bother them. They might be… busy.”

Set let out an almost condescending laugh. “True.” She started to take her weapons off of herself. “Do you have other plans for the night of the festival, Kisara?”

“No. I was planning to pay my respects to the goddess at home that day.”

“And will you continue… through the night?”

“Perhaps,” Kisara said, surprised by her own confirmation. “If I am to be accompanied.”

“Do you have someone in mind?”

“Possibly.”

“You should ask them, then. I do not believe there is a single person in the entire Kemet who would refuse you.”

If it had been a different day and different circumstances, Kisara would most likely drop the conversation after such a blatantly bold statement, unable to find the courage to come up with any kind of retort. But, Kisara had been through a very lonely, very longing month without even hearing the voice of the person of her affections. It was a fairly proportioned mixture of years of want and a month spent apart that pushed the words out of her mouth.

“I am, right now. Will you refuse me?”

The first emotion grasping her heart was relief and then a brief satisfaction caused by the utterly bamboozled expression on Set’s lovely face. But after those emotions quickly faded, the only thing left behind was a crippling anxiety that made Kisara lower her eyes and firmly grab the fabric of her nightgown, almost terrified of what was to come next.

She certainly did not expect warm fingers holding her chin and lifting her face up, greeted by the beautiful smile on Set’s face. “I wouldn’t dare to refuse you.”

Kisara didn’t even show the smallest amount of effort to keep her eyes open when a pair of warm lips met with hers.

It was like the River Nile overflowing its banks after that. Finally.

Set’s lips were unrelenting and persistent but Kisara would probably be angry with her if she were to hold back. Kisara didn’t hold back either, letting herself cup Set’s lovely face and broad shoulders. When she felt hands traveling around her body, on her back and over her waist, a gasp left her throat. But, as much as she appreciated the blessed feeling of Set’s hands over herself, Kisara would not mind having them without her nightgown as well.

When their enthusiastic, almost sloppy kiss made both of them feel like they were drowning, they separated for a breather, arms still around each other, hands caressing different parts with no pause.

“I need to bathe,” Set breathed out.

“Really, Set? That’s what you are worried about?”

“And you just bathed as well.”

“Does not matter,” Kisara curtly answered. “We shall bathe in the morning. Together, perhaps?”

“Oh, gods…” Kisara felt amused as the hardly restrained expression on Set’s face left its place to desperation. “It is not the festival time yet.”

“I hope you are not deliberately trying to be that one person who could allegedly refuse me, Set.”

“No, gods, no…”

“Then, practice makes perfect, no?”

The gulp going down Set’s throat emphasized how lovely her skin was.

“Then may I?”

“What?”

Set reached for the strap of Kisara’s nightgown and lifted it up from her skin for a fraction. “Take this off? It really is pretty but it’s slightly in the way. And it’s new, I would hate to ruin it.” Her hand moved towards Kisara’s reddened cheek, caressing it slowly before reaching for the anemone in her hair. “But I’d like it if you kept the flower, my lady,” a sudden kiss landed behind Kisara’s ear, eliciting an involuntary moan from her, “but preferably nothing else.”

Determined to not lose, Kisara bit her lips and moved towards the ends of Set’s knee-length skirt, slowly slipping under the linen, trying to gain some edge against this unbelievable woman who was more sacred to her heart than any deity. Triumph filled her when a poorly repressed gasp left Set’s reddened lips at the feel of Kisara’s fingers squeezing the curve of her firm flesh. “Of course,” Kisara gracefully responded. “That is, if you take your armor off first, High Priestess Isetemakhbit.”

Set claimed her lips in another, intoxicating kiss, leaving both of them breathless once again.

“I am but a humble servant of my goddess.”