Shards of Ankh

Chapter Thirteen

"So!" Thea replied in a chipper manner, rushing away from Ahmed. She caught him looking at her out of the corner of his eye, the same half-dreaming expression on his face. Another shiver coursed through Thea. "You did excellent work on these pots. Lets decipher them, shall we?"

That seemed to rouse Ahmed from his trance-like state, and he walked over. Thea grabbed a pair of gloves. As she watched Ahmed put on his own, her eyes fell to his ring. She wanted desperately to dispel the uncomfortable feeling that had taken up every crevice of the room.

"The shen ring can be stretched to encompass different things," Thea said, sitting in a stool and opening her file folder to begin her notes. Ahmed sat across from her, studying the other side of the vase. "It's usually carried by the two bird God's, Horus and Nekhbet. Horus was represented by a falcon while Nekhbet was represented by a vulture."

Ahmed briefly flicked his dark eyes to Thea. "Nekhbet is a Goddess."

"Yes--I know."

Ahmed nodded, pulling out a laptop to begin his own notes.

"Mut--another vulture Goddess--is associated with the shen ring, too."

Ahmed said nothing, craning his head down as he studied the vase.

"Heqet, the Goddess frog of fertility, she also was associated with the shen ring," Thea rambled on. 

"Did you know," Ahmed commented, typing away on his laptop, "that women often wore her amulets during childbirth for good luck."

"If I did, I've forgotten."

"She eventually become associated with resurrection," Ahmed said, looking back at the vase. "In fact, the phrase I am the Resurrection in Christianity stems from Heqet."

Thea laughed. "I don't know much about Christianity."

Ahmed briefly glanced at her. "Heqet was worshiped by midwives, and she was the one who breathed life into Horus. Since Horus is so closely tied with raising Osiris from the dead, she too became associated with Osiris. As time went on, she became more heavily associated with rebirth than fresh birth."

"Hmm," Thea said, studying the vase intently. Talking was helping to ease the tension. Thea thought about her dream, and she looked at Ahmed. "I'm curious; how does Ra fit into all this, then?"

Ahmed looked at her, blinking. "I don't follow."

Thea bit her lip. "The shen ring is associated with the God Aqen, one of the Gods of death."

Ahmed visibly bristled. "Not death--the underworld."

"Sorry," Thea said. "But I know Aqen was associated with Ra...Aqen brought Ra a shen ring, if I'm not mistaken?"

"That is correct."

Thea shrugged. "I'm just noticing the shen ring overlaps several different origin stories."

"It does," Ahmed said. He closed his laptop, leaning his chin in his hands and staring directly at Thea. "Mut is the mother-God, married to Ra. When she is in her bird form, she carries a shen ring in her talons."

"And Aqen delivers a shen ring to Ra."

"Correct."

"What's so important about the shen ring?"

Ahmed shrugged, leaning back and opening his laptop again. "Symbolism. It's designation is eternal protection."

"So...Aqen delivers eternal protection to Ra?"

"Correct." Ahmed dropped his eyes. "Being a holder of a shen ring, Aqen can give eternal protection to, well, anyone he chooses."

Thea shuddered, thinking of being pulled into the gaping mouth by a shen ring. She dropped her eyes, trying to make her voice sound as neutral as possible. "I don't know much about the God Aqen..."