Heretic of El Amarna

Chapter 1: Nefertiti

Amenhotep stood in front of Nefertiti, feeling slightly foolish. His muscular upper body glistened in the sharp sunshine.

“Nefertiti? I came after you, but I did not want to… to be seen. I followed you because I knew this was where you were headed. Every time my mother or your father tells you not to do something, you do it!” He sighed as soon as he caught his breath. “Nefertiti, why must you insist on doing this? Why must you be so strong headed and disobedient? Surely you realize that my mother will not be disobeyed easily?”

“I know that, Amenhotep. However, I must show that I am my own person! Your mother thinks she can just order me around like a commoner or a…a slave! Well, I am not a slave, nor am I a commoner. Father… Well, I trust him. However, I just felt like… well… I always feel like a child when I’m around him! He will not acknowledge that I am fourteen, a woman now, not a little girl!” I stamped my foot on the cobblestoned ground, folding my arms and glaring at him.

“Nefertiti, you are not a child, but the way that you act in times such as this is why he treats you the way he does! You must consider his point of view too. Please, Nefertiti, come back with me, before you get into danger that you cannot escape! Or will you not be satisfied until you have been beaten, robbed, and almost dead due to it? What will it take for you to realize that my mother and your father both know what they speak of when they tell you not to do something?”

“Oh fine!” I snapped at him. “I’ll come back! Just… just stop, alright!”

His dark brown eyes showed he was hurt. His shoulder length black hair glistened in the sun and his olive skin glittered with the oil he had rubbed into it. Unlike most other teenage boys his age, Amenhotep refused to have his hair shaved and wear a wig instead. I liked that about him. Somehow, he seemed better that.

“Stop what, Nefertiti? Stop telling the truth? Ma’at would be angry with me, and you know it.” He leaned back against a dingy brick wall, staring at me with his intense, dark eyes that made me melt inside.

“I do not ask that you tell lies, but I also do not ask for you to tell me the truth. Stop acting like somehow, in some remote way, you can claim to be better than me, Amenhotep!” I did not know where my rage sprang from; I only knew that I was hurting my cousin and I felt bad about it.

He was my friend. What right had I to injure him for trying to protect me? That’s just it! He’s always trying to protect me! I can protect myself! I’m not a weakling! If I was a boy, they never think of me the way they do! These bitter thoughts swirled in my mind, even as my conscience told me the opposite. You know that Amenhotep only means to help. He is your friend, and you know you love him as a brother, maybe more. 

I also know that I'm to be wed to his brother, Thutmose! So whatever my feelings are, I cannot indulge them. She argued with herself.

Why must you insist on making this miserable for both of you? You know that deep down; it only makes you unhappy to see him unhappy! My ba told me, taking on a sharp tone.

Fine! I'll apologize! I conceded, tired of being cruel and fighting against my ba. Anyway, my ba was part of me, so fighting back against it was like fighting myself. In fact, it was fighting myself - a section of me, at any rate.

“I am sorry, Amenhotep. I did not mean to be petulant or testy. It is just… It is stemming from the feeling that I am ensnared here, unable to do anything without being followed everywhere. Father is here only for a short time before leaving to tend to the Pharaoh’s business elsewhere in the Black Land. I feel somewhat stifled what with him leaving soon and knowing that after he leaves I’ll be in your mother’s power until he comes back. Or, at least, mostly in her power.”