Wedding Night

A/N: I wanted this to be a multi-chapter story, but I've gotten so busy that I decided to make this into a oneshot. It is a fan fiction inspired by the book The Talisman of Set by Sara Hylton. I was unhappy about the tragic end of the life of the character Princess Tuia that I decided to create a more optimistic one.

In this story, Tuia never got hold of the Talisman. All the egyptian characters belong to Sara Hylton.

Thanks to Chie Shinohara, creator of the Red River manga series, for information about the Hittite empire.

Disclaimer: All egyptian characters belong to S. Hylton.

Photo Source: https://www.salonofthedames.com/

***

Tuia parted the curtains and stared out of the tall window into the cold darkness. Her slender, childlike form shuddered as a cool gust of wind entered the room. How dark and forbidding Hattusa seemed at sundown. It was so different from the warm, romantic nights she had loved in Thebes, her home.

'And I will spend the rest of my life in this hateful place!' She thought in dismay. Tears formed in her slanted green eyes, and she brushed them away impatiently.

Everything was strange in this Hittite empire: the food, the buildings, the rituals, and most especially the people. They spoke a strange tongue and looked different. While her skin was golden and her hair black, most of the citizens here had fair skin and brown hair.

They had a most unusual way of doing things. Even the celebration of weddings was far from the Egyptian custom.

"What would I expect from the Hittites, a barbaric and backward people?" she said under her breath.

She was uprooted from everything that was dear and familiar to her and brought here to this foreign land to wilt and die. If not for familiar faces at the wedding, like those of Asnefer, Ptahotep, and Ipey, she would have gone mad completely.

She remembered the words of Ptahotep, priest of Amon and her loving childhood friend, right before her wedding ceremony.

"I know this is the hardest thing you had ever faced in your life, Princess, even harder than losing your beloved father. But death is not the answer. Your father and the gods will not receive you kindly should you dare to fight what fate has given you."

"I don't care anymore!" she had cried angrily. "Nobody cares for me. It is better that I die and face the consequences than live an empty life without the man I love!"

Ptahotep seemed to recoil from her words. "But the Pharaoh is already married to your sister, Asnefer."

She shook her head. "A foolish decision, one that he will regret forever. But now that he has left me alone, I resolve to end things my way."

Ptahotep held her hand. "Please, Princess. If you kill yourself now, wouldn't that be a coward's way out? You would lose in your struggle against your grandmother. That is not what Tuia, the strong and relentless young woman that I know and love, would do."

She turned to him, her green eyes sad. "I don't care anymore, Ptahotep. I'm tired of fighting. It's all useless."

"Do not lose to the Queen dowager. Prove to her that her plan of making you suffer will fail."

Ptahotep's words were like a tiny fire that was suddenly ignited in her cold heart.

"You are right, as always, Ptahotep. If she saw my despair now, how my grandmother would gloat. I must show her a happy and bold face so that she will doubt her decision to marry me off to a foreign Prince so far away from home."