Chapter 4

"The Pharaoh will see you now."

I shot up from my bench at the sound of the voice. My mind had been preoccupied with rehearsing the steps that Nabneteru and the maids had repeatedly explained to me the night before.

"First is the clothing. You can not appear in the abominations you arrived in." She said tossing my clothes into the arms of the young servant girl who had to help me bathed my first night in the palace.

"You will wear this." My vision was then absurd by the yards of white linen now in my arms.

"You can only approach the Pharaoh when the council indicates," rattled off Nabneteru.

"This hair. What am I to do with this tangled mess of curls." Said another maid.

"And you must never speak to the Pharaoh unless he asks you a question," continued Nabneteru.

"Where are those sandals. Chione I told you to..." The head maid scolded the young maid I had met my first day.

"Here they are!" Chione cried producing the elusive sandals.

"And don't look away from the Pharoah while he is speaking to you. Doing so would be disrespectful and would offend his majesty." Nabneteru continued as if there weren't maids also attempting to claim my attention.

After what felt like hours, I was deemed acceptable by both the maids and Nabneteru. We were about to leave for my audience when a knock came at the door. The knock was more of an announcement than the question of permission because the door was immediately opened.

All heads lowered in a bow as Queen Tuya entered.

"Leave us." She commanded.

The maids quickly exited the room. Nabneteru remained seated in a chair; Queen Tuya eyed him. Realizing that he was also included in the command, he quickly left.

Queen Tuya sighed and sat down in the same chair Nabneteru had been occupying. The room was filled with silence while the queen chose her words.

What could she want? I thought. Maybe she heard about my run-in with the soldier and Prince? I shifted uneasily on my feet.

"You can not tell the Pharaoh the truth about where you come from." Queen Tuya final spoke breaking the silence. "You can not tell anyone beyond Nabneteru and me. Do you understand?"

It was not a question. I nodded my understanding.

"Good. We must come up with a backstory from you. Something that explains away enough questions with our rasing to many more.

The Queen and I make eye contact and an I felt and understanding pass between us. I would soon discover that my being here and Queen Tuya's fate was inseparably intertwined. I also understood that it would not help to stand out any more than was necessary in a place like this if I wished to survive.

"RAMESSES!" they cry penetrated the marble of the walls palace walls.

Ramsses, who had been enjoying an afternoon nap, perked up at the sound of his father's voice. Racking his brain, he tried to remember if he had done anything worthy of this level of anger from his father. Nothing came to mind.

His father walked into the pavilion with a less than happy expression on his face.

"Ramasses is possible that you have forgotten about something," Seti said in a scarily calm voice.

He had attended his lessons, at this mother instance, gone to pray to the gods, and not messed around too much at training. Altogether, he thought he had been the pinnacle of the well behaved son today. But he sensed that 'no' was not the answer to this question.

"I sware the mess with the horses was not my fault, honest." he may be twisted the truth a little on that one.

Seti sighed, "You are supposed to attend the open council today."

Ramses stood up. "That is today?"

"Yes, hurry up. We are already late, and I thought you would be there early for once with the girl from the Nile being there," Seti said exacerbated.

"I'm coming I'm coming.  So she is still here?" Ramesses questioned, eagerness apparent behind his eyes.

"Maybe not anymore. At your rate, the whole council might be gone by the time we arrive." Seti chided his son as the two may there way the council room.

I entered to council room and all eyes fixed on me. Keeping my head high and my eyes on the Pharaoh, I proceeded to walk across the floor to stand in front of the powerful-looking man residing in his gold throne. I bowed as Nabneteru instructed and waited for the Pharoah to speak. My eyes wander around the council chamber. The room was full of columns that reached up to the high stone ceiling with carvings depicting stories of gods and previous Pharaohs all brightly colored. I never knew ancient Egypt was so vibrant.

"Hello my dear," my eyes come back to focus the Pharoah. "Are you enjoying your stay in my palace?"

There was a pause before remember that I was supposed to answer the question. "Yes, thank you... Your Majesty"

Smiling at my answer the Pharaoh continued. "My wife has told me a little about you, but I insisted that I met you in person. Tell how was your swim on my river."

Before I could hold my tongue my answer slipped out. "Besides nearly drowning and being hit by your boat it was an overall quite a refreshing experience. Thanks for asking." My hand shot up to my mouth.

Queen Tuya, seated beside the Pharoah, ever so slightly glared her eyes at me. While Pharoah Seti sat looking surprised. This was it. I was going to be thrown back into the river by some palace guards and eaten by crocodiles.

Then laugh broke the silence.

I turn to see who it was. Siting to my right, in a smaller golden chair, was the red-haired soldier who had caught me spying the other day.

"I say that's a fair answer. Though I'll admit, it quite made my day to pull you out,"' the soldier continued.

"That's enough Ramesses." The Pharoah said sternly. "I must apologize for my son. He has still not learned when to hold his tongue." Ramesses just smiled.

Son? I thought, but then Pharoah spoke.

"Where are you from Natalie?" Asked the Pharoah.

Had I told him my name? I guess nothing is a secret in a place like this for long.

"I don't remember," I said acting embarrassed, which wasn't hard. The Queen and I had decided that the best answer would be no answer. I was to say that I had no memories of my home except for bit and pieces. This way no one could check to see if my stories matched up.

"You don't remember?" The Pharoah repeated looking skeptical.

"Only a few moments, faces and a house, but no names or places. I must have hit my head before I needed up in the Nile." I finished making sure to look sadly at my feet and praying that my story was believable.

"She was quite frightened when she woke up and at first didn't even know this was in the capital." The queen broke in with a voice I had not heard before. It was... charming? "I spoke with her on the matter and all is being done to discover her identity," Queen Tuya concluded.

Pharaoh Seti softened with the Queen's words and waved his hand.

"Very well, if her Majesty has no cause to suspect you of ill-nature than you are free to remain in the palace till you can return home."

I looked around and saw Nabneteru motion for me to bow. Clumsily doing so, I hurried out the room away from the prying eyes of the council.

Ramesses watched the girl leave. Something about her felt different; she didn't carry herself like the other women of the court, and she seemed to exist apart from his world. He watched his father motion for a representative from Thebes to come forward. With his father fully preoccupied with the man, Ramesses slipped out of the council room.

"Where could she have gone." Ramesses thought as he scanned the wide hallway. Wandering around he heard two female voices coming from a down the next hall.

"What was it like. You promised you would tell me."

"There's not much to tell. Just a bunch of men all waiting to pass judgment of me. And me not being able to keep my mouth shut."

Leaning around the corner, Ramesses saw Natalie and a little servant girl sitting on the steps leading down to the river.

"But you got to meet Prince Ramesses." the little girl continued.

"Don't get me started on him. I thought he was a soldier."

"Oh, I can't be that bad, after all, I did save your life." Ramesses broke in.

The little girl froze as Natalie's head shot around.

"Your Highness, I... you see we... were just..." The girl looked from Ramesses to Natalie, then smiled. "Actually I have to go." And she scampered away.

"Wait, Chione!" Natalie looked stunned as she found herself alone on the steps. Ramasses walk over and sat a few steps below her and turned to speak.

"There something about you that different, but I can't quite put my finger on it," Ramesses said.

Natalie remained silent scanning him with her eyes. "So you are not a soldier."

"No, but you could be. You are a brave one, aren't you? Or maybe you're just reckless. Either way, I have never seen someone speak to my father like that.  I found it quite refreshing, to be honest." Ramesses said smiling down at her.

Natalie gave a small smile. "I thought he was going the throw be back in the river for a moment."

"Don't worry, I would have saved you again."

Natalie look at Ramesses with those big green eyes and a big smile broke out over her face. She laughed. It was a wonderful sound.

Ramesses could have sat there all day watching her smile and laugh.

"Ramesses!"

Natalie looked at him. He put his finger to his lips and pulled down the hallway away from his father's voice.