The House of Life

Chapter 4

The events that took place the night before rattled the Medjai order as Ardeth had to call an emergency meeting with the commanders of the tribes. Of course I had to tell Ardeth everything that I conversed with Meela and he felt it was necessary to bring me to this meeting to tell the commanders what occurred. Ardeth didn't leave my side the entire night as he believed he was to blame for leaving me alone. Of course Rick and Evelyn had much to say over Ardeth's stay in their place. But once I told them everything that happened, they eased off. Throughout the night, Ardeth was talking and coordinating with his soldiers to send a message to the other commanders, to discuss what they should do about Meela and her men. The commander's agreed to meet at the museum in Cairo, since that was the last sighting of Meela.

Morning came and I couldn't close my eyes for a second. Qasim was sleeping next to me the entire night as I was stressed, trying to figure out who informed Meela about the secret corridor and more so my weakness. The door to the bedroom opened as Ardeth came to check in on me, he let out a breath or air before sitting on the end of the bed. I could tell that he was just as tired as I was. His eyes where heavy and his face showed no emotion, as if trying to save any energy he had left to make sure he checked in on me. I felt horrible knowing that I caused such a stir in his life, more so I'm probably making his job even harder by being here. "Anna, did you sleep at all?" he asked with a low tone in his voice.

I hesitated to answer, so instead I just nodded my head left to right as an answer. Ardeth gave out a deep sigh and said, "Anna, you need to get some sleep." My eyes shifted towards his direction, as I sat myself over the bed, making sure I didn't wake up Qasim in the process as I whispered. "How did everything go with the Medjai?" Ardeth shot me a look, showing that me asking that question was not the response that he wanted. "You know that's not what I'm asking, Anna."

I started rubbing my eyes, then next thing I knew, my eyes started watering and everything came out like water from a faucet. I wiped my tears and said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten involved in this. Now I fear that I won't be able to get them back." Ardeth grabbed a strand of hair that was laying in front of my face and tucked it behind my ear. "I thought I was the one who was suppose to apologize, not you." he explained. We both gave a faint smile and chuckled a little. Ardeth then sat next to me on the bed and grabbed my head to lean on his shoulder.

Ardeth's shoulder was not the softest, as it showed how much upper body strength he has, especially when he was a master swordsmen. I thought crossed my mind, thinking about that night after the river boat sank, when David offered his shoulder to comfort me. I knew that Ardeth was trying to ease my pain, but I can't help but wonder, why is he doing this? David did so because we were friends and he knew I was stressed, but Ardeth was only a stranger compared to them. My body was exhausted, but in an attempt to better understand why Ardeth was acting like this, I asked "Why do you treat me like this?" Ardeth, not knowing what to say, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Do you not want me to treat you like this?"

I pushed off of his shoulder and continued to ask, "Not without reasoning behind it." Ardeth blew out a breath through his nostrils, trying to come up with his answer. "Does everything need to have a reason behind it?" he asked. I tried to put myself in his shoes. For one, we had only met just recently, more so I don't know much about him, so I wouldn't say we were friends for him to show this type of compassion for me. I wanted more of a concrete answer from him, so I kept playing his game. "I guess not, but there is usually some sort of empathy behind any act of kindness." I paused for a beat before asking, "Do you feel sorry for me?"

My question must have struck a nerve to him because he replied in a stern manner, "I feel that you are a friend who needs someone to lean on at this moment." A friend? Why would he consider me a friend. Wasn't it my group who almost got the world destroyed over gold? "So I'm your friend now?" I replied, in hopes he can dwell more into his reasoning as to why he considered me a friend. Ardeth then grabbed my hand as he said, "We were friends the moment you showed compassion for my people. You helped me bury them and for that I am grateful." I paused at his response, I didn't think that doing that would grant me a seat as his friend. I moved my hand away from his grasp and crossed my arms to shield myself. Ardeth must have sensed my discomfort as he said, "Then I'll leave you to it." He stood from the bed and proceeded to walk to the doorway. I must have upset him, before he closed the door, I walked over to stop him from closing it and called out his name, "Ardeth." I reached out my hand to stop the door from closing as I continued, "you're my friend too."