EnsTren: where were we?
Edmondia: um, Akunamukanon hugging Atemu while doll-Seth was fussed over.
EnsTren: *pets the poor traumatized boi*
EnsTren: does Atemu ever find out what happened?
EnsTren: I mean by the time he is "old enough" has it been so long ago he can't make the connection?
Edmondia: no, he's a very very smart boi
Edmondia: he'll make the connection
EnsTren: but does he want to
Edmondia: he doesn't want to, but he will
Edmondia: *huggles Atemu*
EnsTren: *makes Mahandoh (sooo sp) hug him*
Edmondia: (uh, Mahaado?)
EnsTren: (that's right!)
Edmondia: (^_^)
Edmondia: Mahaado: *kneels down and hugs him*
EnsTren: Atemu: *hugs back and sniffles* Why is Seth sick like that?
EnsTren: Atemu: He didn't get sick like that before! When the guard picked him up he kicked him so the guard's voice went really squeaky... he didn't act like he was dead.
Edmondia: Mahaado: *squeezes him a bit more tightly* Well, sometimes people... react to things in ways you don't expect, even if they've done things differently before.
EnsTren: Atemu: But... I can't feel him.
Edmondia: Mahaado: ...he's very hurt right now, little prince. He's probably wrapped up in himself, and that's why you can't feel him.
EnsTren: Atemu: I... thought he was dead though.
Edmondia: Mahaado: The healers are with him... he's alive, and you saved him, so he's going to be fine.
EnsTren: Atemu: But he's not.
Edmondia: Mahaado: We don't know that, princeling.
EnsTren: Atemu: He wouldn't be sick if he were fine. He wouldn't have looked at papa like he did when he ran away!
Edmondia: Mahaado leaned forward and tucked Atemu's head under his chin, sighing softly. "Some things... take a long time to heal."
EnsTren: "Papa told me I shouldn't kill the healers because they are working as fast as they can and still be safe for Seth," he nuzzled and wrapped his small arms around Mahaado's neck. He blinked a little, "When I'm Pharaoh I can have more than one high priest if I want to, right, Mahaado?"
Edmondia: Mahaado resisted the urge to touch the Ring that hung against his chest. "You'll have six priests, my prince, just as all those before you."
EnsTren: "Okay... One of father's will have to go then, but not you Mahaado, so Seth can be one of my priests."
EnsTren: And he turned that cherubic demon face up at him intently.
Edmondia: Mahaado did his best not to flinch under his gaze. "The choice is yours to make," he responded evenly, "I am sure Seth will be glad to hear of your decision."
EnsTren: "Seth asked me last night if I thought people would look for him if he was my high priest and I told him yes."
Edmondia: Mahaado didn't let the troubled frown cross his face. "Yes, they would."
Edmondia: Did they truly abandon a child?
EnsTren: Atemu was not yet skilled in reading people's faces, for his sense of shadows was very honed for his age, thus he noticed nothing but the goodness in his heart Mahaado had for him.
EnsTren: "If they looked for him then I wouldn't have had to run away to look for him and we would have found him and he wouldn't be nearly as sick."
EnsTren: "And maybe he'd still be able to walk, he told me they hurt his legs, lamed him so he couldn't run away easy." Suddenly a bit happier, "I helped him stand up all by myself."
Edmondia: And he pasted on a false smile for the sake of his prince's innocence, while something curdled inside him. "Your father must be very proud of you."
EnsTren: He nodded up at him happily, "He is! I made them all go boom when I got Seth to the horse! Seth watched and he laughed, he sounded a bit funny though. But we hugged and rode away."
Edmondia: He kept smiling his false smile and petted his wild hair. "That was very brave of you two, to do so much on your own."
EnsTren: Atemu understood smiling and assumed the bad feelings he sensed, for though his senses were honed they were only so for his age group, were worry for Seth.
EnsTren: "I'm glad you're worried about Seth, but he is getting better, even if it's not as fast as I like."
EnsTren: He pouted a little but then he looked sad, "He started crying before we were halfway to home, and he was bleeding lots too but I didn't see any wounds, so I thought maybe it was sand scouring."
EnsTren: "And when they took him off the horse he screamed worse than that guard he kicked and passed out."
Edmondia: "...he may have been hurt where you couldn't see, my prince." May have. A lie.
EnsTren: A sharp bloody eyed look at him, but though he thought he detected a lie he didn't sense any malice. He was too young, and too prone to seeing things in black and white, to have experiance with white lies, besides it was quite possible that this was the first time anyone had ever dared to utter one in his presence.
EnsTren: The eyes softened and he shrugged, "I guess you're right."
Edmondia: He breathed a nearly inaudible sigh of relief. "Give him time, my prince, and give him your attention - and stop sneaking him sweets."
EnsTren: "Why not? They only give him icky broth and he likes the sweets."
Edmondia: How could so many people consider this angel a demon? "I know he does, but the broth is better for him."
EnsTren: "I guess... I'll bring him less sweets," he looked up at him, already a diplomat in the arts of negotiation, even if his skills were still rather crude.
Edmondia: He smiled for real this time. "I think that would be good."
EnsTren: Atemu smiled back.
Edmondia: The fate of this blessed land is in the hands of children, he thought irrationally, and pushed an unruly golden bang away from his eyes.
Edmondia: "What do you see in your future, my prince?"
EnsTren: "I had a dream once where you were dressed in purple."
EnsTren: "But Seth was too... but you were more purple and had a bigger hat."
Edmondia: He chuckled. "Purple? And a bigger hat? Who would waste such expensive fabric on a priest?"
EnsTren: "It was shiny," he said with a nod, "At least some of it."
Edmondia: "Shiny purple fabric?" he questioned, raising a brow inquisitively, "My prince, were you eating sweets before bed again?"
EnsTren: "Not all of it was fabric," he insisted, "And just a little."
EnsTren: "...I also saw someone who looked like me, only paler, and someone who looked like Seth only paler."
Edmondia: "Really? Were they dressed in purple too?" he teased gently.
EnsTren: "No, the other me wore silver and a lot of leather and... a chain around his neck with... a golden pyramid upside down..."
Edmondia: "...like the one your father wears?" he questioned, suddenly uneasy.
EnsTren: "...Yes, exactly!"
EnsTren: "And..." he wiggled in his arms slightly, "And there were monsters! But they were in color and not on the tablets... they were on," he blinked, "Very fine papyrus, or that vellum stuff from up north, but it was stiff and thin."
Edmondia: He blinked down at him, puzzled. "You have very strange dreams, my prince."
EnsTren: "Not always," he pouted.
EnsTren: "And it smelled like an oasis, but sometimes it smelled like a burning oasis. And the other Seth had many fine swishy cloak things."
Edmondia: "Fine swishy... cloak things?"
EnsTren: "Yes, they were like cloaks but you could put your arms though and two of them had points at the shoulders... But there was an ugly white one that wasn't swishy and looked really awful."
EnsTren: "And there was this... person I guess, with looong purple hair that was looking at him funny."
Edmondia: He gave him a bemused look. "Really? Funny how?"
EnsTren: "Like he was hungry."
Edmondia: He coughed awkwardly, suddenly wanting to steer away from something his prince was far too young to know about. "I see. What about this other you? Did he wear strange cloaks as well?"
EnsTren: "A short blue and white one. But the other Seth wore one like that too."
Edmondia: "Now why would your other you and the other Seth wear the same clothing?" he wondered aloud.
EnsTren: "I think it was a uniform, but not to an army, too impractical."
Edmondia: "How odd." And it was.
Edmondia: Could his prince's dreams foretell the future? Aishizu had never said anything like this before...
EnsTren: "I felt like I knew the other me, like he was a part of me."
Edmondia: He blinked down at him, even more puzzled than before. "A part of you?"
EnsTren: "The other me wasn't me, but part of me, I'm sure."
Edmondia: He frowned. Another mystery wrapped around their precious princeling? "Tell me about him."
EnsTren: "He was... nice."
EnsTren: "And warm and bright and happy and trusting and and... Not like anyone or anything I've seen."
Edmondia: It certainly didn't sound like anyone he'd ever met before. "Did you like him?"
EnsTren: "Yes!"
EnsTren: "His soul... was bright."
Edmondia: Had he found a friend in his dream? It was an odd thought - and an even odder phrase. "Bright?" he repeated, "What do you mean?"
EnsTren: "Like Ra."
Edmondia: It took a lot of effort to keep his jaw from dropping. "...no human's soul could be that pure," he whispered numbly.
Edmondia: And for Atemu to say it... it had to be the truth.
EnsTren: "Just like no human's soul could be like mine?"
Edmondia: And he didn't know how to answer him.
Edmondia: After a moment, he found his tongue, but still only more questions came. "If... you say you think he is a part of you... what... what is he to you?"
EnsTren: "My Ra. My light."
Edmondia: Is it blasphemy when the words come from the child of the gods? "...your?"
EnsTren: He hugged himself and smiled blissfully, "All mine."
Edmondia: It was only his massive-self control that kept him from shaking him, kept him from screaming at the child for answers, kept him from demanding who the creature was that had seduced the tiny boy and filled his head with nonsense.
EnsTren: "All the me that I'm not. All mine."
Edmondia: And when Atemu spoke like that, he felt a twinge of fear that had no name. "It was a dream, my prince," he managed thickly, uneasy with the look in his eyes, "A dream."
Edmondia: But the dread curling in his stomach said otherwise.
EnsTren: He was too wrapped up in his dream to sense the lie, "I liked that dream," he admitted, "Perhaps I shall make an offering at the temple to ask for the dream again."
Edmondia: He didn't like the fervent brightness in his eyes.
EnsTren: He blinked and considered, "It was a good dream, perhaps I shall also ask for Seth to have that dream too. The other Seth was like Ra, but not as bright as the other me, and... fractured inside."
Edmondia: Another worry to add to the list - if the other Seth were as damanged as the one the healers cared for now...
EnsTren: "He should have been brighter but he wasn't."
Edmondia: "...I see."
EnsTren: He stretched and wiggled, "Would you carry me to see Seth, Mahaado?"
Edmondia: "...of course, my prince," he murmured, and scooped him into his arms.
EnsTren: He hugged him and was hopeful that if Seth saw him being carried by Mahaado he wouldn't be upset when people picked him up.
Edmondia: Mahaado was nice.
EnsTren: He giggled and hugged him.
Edmondia: Mahaado smiled uneasily back at him and squeezed him a little bit tighter.
EnsTren: He was happy and hoped his cousin would be too soon.
Edmondia: He'd make him feel better.
EnsTren: And then he wouldn't be sick when Papa picked them up to tuck them in.
Edmondia: And maybe he'd let Mahaado hold him.
EnsTren: Magaado could make anyone feel better.
Edmondia: And he would tell him about his dream and make him happy.
EnsTren: And they would hug and then they would go hide together and make people look for them. That would cheer him up.
Edmondia: And they would steal sweets from the kitchen and Mahaado would never tell that he knew it was them.
EnsTren: Because Mahaado was good like that.
Edmondia: Mahaado would take care of them.
EnsTren: And everything would be good again.
Edmondia: Yes.
Edmondia: Everything would be good.
EnsTren: Then Seth would be happy again and not be sick like he is.
Edmondia: Yes. He would make it better.