Daughter of the Gods (Gilgamesh x Reader)

23: Two-man Parade

"Is that her?"

"Who's that?"

"Oh my, what a lovely lady!"

"Her hair's shining! Are those... gold?"

"I have never seen someone so beautiful in all of my life."

"Sh-should we approach her?"

Left and right you heard whispers upon whispers of people talking to each other as they watch you pass by. You felt a little awkward and a bit embarrassed but you pushed through, anyway. You felt all eyes looking on you and for a moment, you felt exposed.

All the people have gathered around the street you passed on. They all stood at the sides, leaving a big path for you to walk on in the middle. It feels like you're walking in a parade but the only difference is that it's only you and Enkidu.

You were hesitant and you were mentally debating whether you should look back at the people and smile, maybe wave, or keep your face ahead since you couldn't accommodate a number of people that large at the moment. You decided to go with the latter one, only looking at them through your peripheral vision. You kept a soft expression despite not looking over at them so you wouldn't appear rude.

"This way, your highness," Enkidu said as he hovers his hand over your back to direct you towards an alley, away from the eyes of the people. As you entered the alley, the rest of the people stayed behind. Only a few people who looked out from their houses located in the alley watched you walk by.

"Is this really where his house is?" You asked. "Or you just directed me here to keep me from the people?" Enkidu shook his head. "Ticus lives here, your highness." Enkidu walked a little faster so he'd be walking ahead of you, leading the direction.

Meanwhile, back in the streets, a very familiar woman walks by the path created for you. "What's the commotion here, everyone?" She asks. A random boy answered, "This was a path made for the queen not long ago."

A bit flustered, the girl placed a hand over her mouth and chuckled. "My, my!" She said. "No need for such extravagance but because of your efforts, I shall walk down this path you made for me."

She walked down the middle, confident in her looks and her appeal. Only a few people managed to notice for the rest were murmuring to themselves about you. Noticing the lack of attention, the woman was about to gather the attention herself when another person called her.

"Shinaku!" She turned in the direction of the voice. There, she found her friends, the fellow women of Gilgamesh. "Come here!" Shinaku quickly made her way towards them. "What's up?" She asked.

"Earlier, there was this girl walking down that path and everyone just seemed to admire her. Who was she? I haven't met her before."

"She was even accompanied by Enkidu!"

"Yea, and she wore fancy clothes and she came from the ziggurat!" The girls talked at the same time, bombarding Shinaku with questions. "Wait, calm down!" She said annoyed. "One at a time!"

"Okay, there was this girl, she was accompanied by Enkidu and she was wearing noble clothes, and she came from the ziggurat," one of the girls summarized. "We haven't seen her before, who is she?"

Shinaku looks at her friends, confused. "What are you talking about?" She asked. "Wasn't this path made for me?"

The girls dodged the latter question but answered the first. "You are Gilgamesh's favorite and you were in the ziggurat often these days. Haven't you seen someone new in there?"

Shinaku waved a hand. "Oh, come on!" She answered. "What would I care about the servants there? I only have my eyes on King Gilgamesh."

"Yea, yea, but that's not the point. Have you seen anyone with (h/c) hair that has peculiar gold strands?"

Shinaku crinkles her forehead in thought, her fingers rubbing her chin. "A girl..." she said. "(h/c) hair... gold strands..." The moment she recalled meeting you, her eyes widened and she gasped.

"What is it?" The girls asked in unison as they moved closer to Shinaku, almost pushing her against the wall.

"I do recall running into someone but I don't know if they're new here or not. As I said, it's not like I care about the servants in the ziggurat," Shinaku answered. "But I did come across a girl with (h/c) hair."

"Tell us about your encounter!"

"Well, I was headed towards the pool when I came across her. I didn't notice any odd colors on her hair maybe because it was wet. I'm more annoyed at the fact that someone has used the pool before me!"

As they continued to talk about you, wondering who you were, you have finally arrived at Ticus's house. The curtains that hung by their doorway were closed and the house emitted a lonely aura. You reached your hand out to touch the curtain but stopped midway. You wondered if it would be rude and if it would seem like an insult rather than respect that you came here.

Enkidu was about to ask you what's wrong when two young boys came running towards you. "Hello!" One of them greeted. "H-hi there!" You stuttered for a moment.

"W-we saw you walking down the street and... and... y-you were very pretty and we ran as fast as we could to catch up to you," the other boy said in between ragged breaths. This one seemed smaller and younger than the one who greeted not long ago.

"Oh, dear sweethearts," you said as you kneeled down on the ground to be in level with them. One of your hands gently held the smaller boy's arm and the other wiped off the sweat on his forehead. "You didn't have to run after me. You could've just called me and I would've stopped in my tracks to wait for you."

"B-but we don't know your name and we were shy," he said, looking down; a small pout forming on his lips. You smiled at the little boy and said, "My name's (y/n). How about you?" His eyes lit up at the mention of your name. "I'm Amad!" He cheerfully said. "And I'm Aloy!" The other one stated as he stood behind the smaller boy.

"Well it's very nice meeting you, little boys," you said as you were about to stand up. Enkidu held his hand out to you to help you. You gladly took his hand and let him pull you back to your feet. You dusted yourself off before turning back to them.

"Where were you two originally headed?" You asked. "We were already heading home since it's almost time for lunch but then we saw you and we just had to follow you," Aloy answered.

You, clueless about where these boys live. turned to Enkidu and said, "Let's take these boys home first." Enkidu smiled and shook his head. "There will be no need for that, my queen," he said. Before you could even ask why, the curtains to Ticus's house were swept open, revealing a woman. "Where are those— oh!" She exclaimed upon seeing you. Not knowing what to do as both the panic and fear crept up within her, she knelt on the ground and said, "G-good day, my queen!"

"Oh no," You said as you quickly bent down to hold her and help her up. "Please stand." The woman stood there in a mixture of shame and fear, looking down at the ground, unable to face you. "If anything, it should be me who's knee—"

"Mom!" The two boys said in unison as they popped out from behind you. "Oh, Amad! Aloy!" She said. The boys run towards the and embraced her. She knelt down to meet her boys. "Are you two okay? Did something wrong happen?" She asked in fear of what you may have done to her children.

"Why are you so worried, mama?" Amad asked. "This girl is really nice! She even wiped off my sweat." He cheerfully pointed a finger towards his now dry forehead. His mom hesitated to look into you but thanked you nevertheless. "T-thank you, my queen. Y-you didn't have to," she said.

Once again, you knelt down on the ground so you were on a level with them. The woman gasped. "M-my queen!" She said in surprise at your sudden gestures. "Please remain calm," you said. "I am here to apologize for the king's behavior and to compensate for what he has done."

Before you could continue, you heard a man speaking from inside the house. "Elia?" He said. "What's going on there?" As the man walked closer, you two recognized each other. Your eyes lit up at the sight of Ticus.

"Y-your highness?!"