Lost in Amon

Chapter Four

The Sun Hawk

It had been a week since I landed in the pond of Amon. He'd been treating me well (aside from the few comments that I had stolen his bed), but often avoided any of my curious questions. There was only one thing I was sick of: grapes. I picked up a perfectly ripe grape, biting into its supple skin with irritation.

'Don't you have any other fruit to eat?' Amon looked at me, hurt. He'd explained many times that grapes were his favourite and most humans loved to be given grapes.

'I don't understand your distaste for them.' He picked one up and bit into it. 'These are perfect grapes.'

I rolled back onto my cushion, kicking my healing leg out towards his foot and bumping it roughly. He frowned and moved it aside, giving me the room I wanted. I'd demanded something softer than a rock and Amon obliged, creating a dozen pillows and the soft mattress we both sprawled across. It was round and filled the middle of the gazebo nicely. I'd demanded we spin it so that when we laid down, we looked out at the pond. He agreed quite happily. I knew he would since he spent most of his time standing there looking at it.

'I've told you already, I don't mind grapes. I just mind eating them every. Single. Day.'

I used my good arm—the one not tightly strapped to my chest—to reach over and pick another one up. The food had been quite good, so I really shouldn't be complaining. Amon often created fresh fruit and bread for dinner, with lentils and beans or fresh vegetables. My favourite was when he created this dessert he named "tiger nut balls". I tried extremely hard not to laugh when he said it but couldn't. He didn't understand the joke when I explained it to him. They were made from some ancient tiger nut chopped up with dates, honey and spices. Whatever they were, they were delicious, but he didn't take requests. He just created what he wanted when he wanted.

I say created because that's exactly what he did. He created. From nothing. It shocked me more than I wanted to admit when I first saw it. I'd said I was hungry and then he'd held his hand towards me, grapes magically dangling between his fingers. I'd enjoyed those grapes. He didn't explain his powers to me—as I said, he avoided all my questions—but he wasn't afraid to show them to me, either.

He often made good use of his creation ability. But mainly for food. I wanted to ask for clothes (more specifically, underwear) but I'd somehow convinced myself that asking for those would be counter-intuitive to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I had to experience life as an Ancient Egyptian would. Well, except for the fact that I had a helpful god. Still.

It was so hot, yet I'd gradually been getting used to it. Don't get me wrong, it still sucked, and I drank what felt like fifteen litres of water a day, but I'd been growing more acclimated to it as each day passed.

'What fruit do you like then?' He rolled over onto his side, resting his head in his hand as he looked at me. 'What does a human like these days? It seems grapes aren't in high demand.'

'I like strawberries. But humans like all different fruits. It depends on who you ask.'

'Strawberries?' He furrowed his brow. 'What are they?'

'You- you don't know what strawberries are?' I looked at him and then decided I wouldn't do that, as his tempting skin lay bare, asking to be touched.

'No. I didn't know humans had made new fruit.' I wanted to say we hadn't, but I didn't even know where strawberries came from. Did we make them? Were they natural? Even modern carrots were nothing like their originals...so maybe we had made strawberries.

I watched as an ibis bird walked across the water before asking, 'When was the last time you had contact with a human...apart from me?'

Amon rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. I wanted to run my hand over his short buzz-cut hair but kept it planted firmly by my side.