Beauty and the Pharaoh

Chapter 41 - [Beauty and the Brother]

After taking a bath in flower petals and something that I think may have actually been milk, I got into yet another dress and followed my maid friends out to wherever I was being taken.

I think now that the four girls were getting more and more comfortable with me, they were letting me handle myself a little more... which made me happy. I rather scrub the dirt off my own body than have someone else do it for me.

As we walked towards wherever, I noticed how similar the inside of this palace was to Atem's. Almost identical, to be honest. Except the walls had different paintings and I'm sure that if I could read what it said, it said different things.

"How do you four know your way around here?" I asked the girls, wondering if it was because all these palaces were meant to be the same.

"The four of us come with the queen all the time," Kiki said to me. "And Siti, Nauni and I actually lived here prior to coming to Thebes to be maids."

"Oh! So your family is here, huh?"

Kiki, Siti and Nauni nodded.

"My family is in Thebes," Aat added.

"So when was the last time you saw your family?"

Siti and Nauni sighed. "Aat is lucky," Nauni started. "Her family works at the palace so she gets to see them all the time. But we only get to see ours maybe once a year if we are lucky."

"Memphis is so far away!" Siti added. "Coming here on the Pharaoh's boats is the fastest way! But any other way can take weeks."

I felt bad for them.

It was so strange to hear this... especially since it's so easy to travel around the world back at home. Uncle Ethan can come and go to Egypt from where we live within a day!

Man... I wish I could help them invent a train. But I had no idea how trains worked... and who knows what kind of crazy damage would happen in the future if I helped the train be invented thousands of years earlier than it actually was.

"What about you?" Kiki asked. "Did you live with your family back at home?"

I shook my head. "I did until I was eighteen. And then I moved out, alone."

"Alone?" The four girls looked shocked as they said it together.

I nodded again. "My parents and I... well, my father and I don't really get along."

"Why?" Siti asked.

"He's unhappy with how I conduct my life."

"What do you do that is so bad?" Aat asked.

"Well... my father wants me to be a lawyer. I don't want to be a lawyer."

"Oh!" Nauni sighed in relief, "we thought it was going to be something horrible."

I let out a laugh.

"What do you want to do?" Kiki asked.

"I don't really know... my favourite uncle is a sort of teacher... and so was my favourite aunt. And I want to be like them. So I guess I want to be a teacher."

"That's a lovely idea," Kiki smiled. "Teachers are great and important people. It's unfortunate your father does not agree."

Before I could open my mouth to respond, I heard a couple gasps and I suddenly bumped into the butt of Nauni. The three girls in front of me were suddenly bowing and Kiki, who was beside me, immediately bowed too.