Even If It Means War || Ennead

Sand

Maat looked out on the desert as she laid in the daybed with Thoth, her husband kissing her nape lovingly. "You're so distracted today. Is there something bothering you, my love?"

Maat nodded, her eyes not leaving the desert for even a second. The sky above was grey and the air colder than usual. The winds were picking up their pace but the sand remained flat and motionless.

"Don't you think the desert has been looking emptier lately?" she asked, shifting in his embrace.

"What do you mean?" Thoth raised an eyebrow and rested his chin on her naked shoulder.

Maat pointed at the closest sand dunes, "There. The sand dunes are smaller than I remember them. Don't you think so too?"

"It must be the wind, my love." Thoth sighed softly, "The wind moves the sand now that there is no desert god anymore."

But Maat could swear that the sand had not just moved, but disappeared seemingly overnight.

–

Isis was sitting on the throne, eating grapes from a bowl when a servant walked up to her, a scroll in his hand. "Your Majesty, a report was sent to us from Khemis." He held up the scroll as he bowed down.

Isis looked down at the servant, "So what does it say?"

"There was an avalanche in the desert, not too far from Khemis. A herd of horses from Khemis got caught in the sand and died." The servant delivered the event with a grieving voice.

"What? But the desert is supposed to lie still now." Isis shifted uncomfortably in the throne, her voice alarmed. Things like these didn't usually happen in the desert.

"It wasn't a simple avalanche. Rumors say that a hole in the desert opened up out of nowhere and swallowed down the sand. By the time the falling sand had filled it, it was too late to save the horses."

"A hole opening up in the desert? Are you joking with me right now?" Isis stood up, her eyebrows in a deep frown. Did this servant think she was an idiot that would believe in such stupid rumors?

"It's true, Isis."

"Maat!" Isis looked away from the servant at the goddess of truth who had seemingly appeared out of nothing.
"What do you mean it's true? A hole can't just open up like that." Isis tried to argue.

"You're right, it can't. But it didn't just randomly open up." Maat crossed her arms, "The sand in Egypt is slowly disappearing."

"How do you know?" Isis signaled her servants to leave them alone and offered Maat and Thoth to sit down. It looked like this was just another problem she'd have to deal with now.

"I noticed it a while ago. It's only been a couple of months since the trial and it shouldn't have had such an effect on the desert but...it seems like demoting Seth from being the god of the desert has caused the desert to begin disappearing."

"But wasn't the whole point of giving Seth a grace period to prevent this from happening?"

Thoth nodded and rubbed his forehead, "Yes, but it seems that just like how your mind and body are connected to the Nile...Seth's body and mind are connected to the desert. Except, stripping him of his divine powers disturbed that connection and now the desert is slowly fading away."

Isis took a deep breath, "So what am supposed to do now? I can't possibly promote Seth to a god again. That would defeat the whole purpose of his punishment."

Maat looked at her husband and nodded, "Maybe that's something for the Ennead to decide."

"You want me to gather all the gods again? Maat, it's only been 7 months since the trial, I'm going to look like a joke if I call the Ennead already because of a minor issue like this."
Isis looked between the two gods hoping they would understand what she was getting at.