– Chione –
While I followed Lady Tabia, I expected her to be a little bit more talkative. Like I said before, I had heard many times that she was a loud and silly woman despite her mature looks.
But she wasn't talking.
In fact, she hadn't said a single word to me since we left the stable.
I was suddenly becoming even more nervous. Had I done something wrong? Was that why they decided I needed 'training?'
But then I realized something. I had also heard that she was, at some point, engaged to Arius... was she not comfortable with the fact that he had a female personal maid?
Was she going to do something to me?
As I bit my lip in nervousness while pondering about what she could possibly want with me, she suddenly turned around and threw her hands onto her hips.
When I looked up at her, I saw her looking at me with a strange frown. It was strange mostly because she didn't actually look upset though she was frowning.
I waited for her to speak, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she just stared at me, watching me intently.
"Is there... something I can help you with?" I asked, cautiously.
She stared at me for another moment and then surprised me by bursting out into laughter.
If I wasn't already confused by what was going on, I definitely was now.
"Look at you, all scared and nervous," she laughed. "I'm not going to bite!"
I hesitated.
"Why do you look so scared? What do the other maids say about me?" She leaned forward slightly, making it obvious that her question as serious.
"Um... I..."
"It can't be bad stuff!" She scoffed. "I'm one of the nicest nobles that exist!"
"Oh... no, they don't say anything that is bad!"
She watched me for another moment before letting out a sigh. "Well, never mind that. We have important things to do."
When she started to walk again, I began to follow her.
"You see, the Prince has never had a personal maid before so it only makes sense that we make his first experience the best, right?"
I simply nodded my head, though I didn't really understand why she wanted that for him. It would make more sense if someone like Aziza, who is in charge of the maids, wanted the Prince to be happy... but why this woman?
"Let me start by saying that I'm Lady Tabia," She grinned at me as she slowed down to walk next to me. "I've heard much about you, Chione."
"You have?"
She nodded. "You saved the Prince's life. Then you saved Queen. Then you ran into the middle of the throne room and won the Prince's attention. And now you're his personal maid," she grinned. "I have heard a lot."
I wondered if this was a good thing or bad thing.
"Now, Arius is not only my beloved cousin, but also the Pharaoh, so I want to make sure that you know exactly what you're doing as a personal maid."
Before I could nod, she grabbed my arm and was pulling me into a room.
I literally gasped when we entered the massive room, staring at the sight with wide eyes.
This room was definitely the most colorful room I had ever seen in my entire life. Every color that I knew of was present in this room. Green plants, blue curtains, red and orange bed sheets, purple wall hangings, pink rugs, brown chests... and much more.
It was wondrous! It almost looked magical! I knew for a fact that if I had the riches than I would want a room exactly like this. The second I stepped in, I felt like I was in a whole different world. It felt amazing.
Even the air in the room was different as it was filled with the smell of whatever perfume Lady Tabia was wearing.
I couldn't help but smile.
"Welcome to my kingdom," she said with a grin. "My room is a reflection of my personality. Colorful and beautiful."
I laughed at that.
"Now, I'll let you gawk in amazement for a bit while I go look for that spare uniform I had here..." she walked off as she spoke but her words had caught my attention.
Uniform?
She opened one of the many chests in her room and started rummaging through it. After a moment, she smiled and pulled out a dress.
A beautiful, orangish-reddish dress.
"Here it is," she stood up as she pulled it out and walked over to me. Without wasting a moment, she held it against my body. "I'm going to have to make a few adjustments..."
I gasped. "I... I can't wear this!"
She looked at me. "And why ever not?"
"It's... so beautiful!"
She let out a laugh. "That's exactly why you have to wear it!" She then turned around. "Hmm, Imi?" She suddenly called. "Where is that girl..."
To my surprise, a young girl came running out of the room which I assumed was Lady Tabia's washroom. "Yes, my Lady!" She bowed as soon as she was visible to us.
This girl was rather short, but looked to be about my age. She had very long black hair that was braided back, as well as a very friendly smile.
"I was preparing your bath, my Lady!" Her voice was very high and she spoke rather loudly.
"Wonderful," she said as Lady Tabia walked over to her. She then tugged at her dress, which was identical to the one she was going to give me. "This is Imi, one of my personal maids. You see, nothing to worry about. She wears this dress too."
She was also wearing some kohl around her eyes and a reddish colour on her lips. And of course, I could not ignore the lovely earrings in her earholes.
"She's a... maid?"
Lady Tabia nodded as she opened a small box on one of her shelves. In it was a needle, which she pulled out. She then sat on a chair and began sewing. "You see," she started, "as a personal maid, your job is to keep the noble that you work for happy. And in my years I have come to realize that you can only keep us happy when you're happy. Being happy includes being well dressed and clean."
For some reason, I thought it was very kind of her to feel that way.
"Imi, you'd say you're happy, right?" She asked as she continued to sew.
"Very happy!" Imi grinned and nodded as she said it.
"And so I am happy," Tabia smiled at her before looking at me. "See?"
I smiled.
"Now, the bonus is that if you dress in this lovely outfit, you'd be easy on the eyes too. Not that you're not beautiful already. All women are beautiful... but cleaning up a little wouldn't hurt," She was more so talking to herself now as she adjusted the dress. "And some eyeliner... Chione your green eyes will look gorgeous with a little bit of eyeliner..."
She kept mumbling away for some time as she sewed the dress. Imi had returned to preparing Tabia's bath while I just stood there awkwardly, waiting for her to finish.
Once she was done, she stood up and walked over to me. "Try it on."
She watched as I switched into the dress right in front of her and I was quite impressed to see that she made it fit perfectly in one try.
The orange, sleeveless dress fit me very nicely and fell to just above my ankles. It was made of very thin fabric which meant that I wouldn't need to worry about getting to hot. Over my chest and shoulders was a cloth collar which was the part of the dress that made me feel like this was not something a maid would wear.
Usually, maids would wear a simple white dress with a simple neckline. Collars were not part of our usual outfits.
But when Lady Tabia stepped back and looked at me with a happy grin, I couldn't help myself from being excited.
Did I look good?
Surely I did if Tabia looked happy.
"Arius is going to choke when he sees you," she started laughing.
Before I could ask her what she meant by that, she grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the chair she was sitting on before. She sat me down and then picked up some of her eyeliner before returning to me.
"Close your eyes," she said, and when I did, she went straight to painting the black line around my eyes.
When she was done, she grabbed a mirror and held it in front of me. "Beautiful." She said. "I knew the eyeliner would look wonderful on you."
I felt myself smile.
She then handed me a small container and a brush. "This is for you. I will get you a second dress as soon as I can but for now it is your job to wash it every night before you go to bed. This will be how you dress when you serve the Pharaoh, understood?"
I hesitated by nodded.
"Now, let's talk about how you will serve us," She said. "Like I said before, your job is to make us happy. The simple part is preparing our baths, helping us get dressed, cleaning our rooms, and so on and so forth... but it's tending to the little things that makes a personal maid a good one."
"The little things?"
"Well, I usually have long, exhausting days and my favorites thing to do after a long and exhausting day is to get a massage," she said. "I am quite sure that Arius would be extremely grateful to get a massage after a long day."
I hesitated. "I don't know how to do that." Well, I did. I knew how to give massages... but only to pregnant women whose legs were aching due to the extra weight of another living being growing inside them.
Not to a Prince.
"Well, you're in luck! Imi is excellent at giving massages... Imi!"
Imi once again came running out of the washroom when she heard Lady Tabia call her. "Yes, my Lady?"
"Give me a massage, will you?"
"Of course, my Lady!"
Almost instantly, Lady Tabia started to remove her clothes.
I caught my breath in shock, not because she was removing her clothes, but because of how beautiful Lady Tabia was, even underneath her robes. She had lovely, shining fair skin that looked soft to the touch. He shoulders were slim and she seemed to look like she had not a single hair on her arms and legs.
I wondered if all noblewomen looked like that.
I knew that my rough servants skin paled in comparison to her beautiful noblewoman skin.
"Imi here will teach you the tricks of the trade," Lady Tabia said, obviously not noticing my stare. "She's wondrous. I've sent her to Arius multiple times before and he's been ever so grateful."
"The Pharaoh loves massages," Imi added quickly. "You see, he works very, very hard all the time and so he is always very tense."
"Oh," I found myself saying, not able to ignore the tinge of jealousy I felt.
When Lady Tabia was lying down on her bed, Imi immediately began rubbing her body with the most lovely scented oils.
She taught me what she could and I was not surprised when Lady Tabia burst out laughing when it was my turn. But after some time, I think I started to get the hang of it.
Soon, out of nowhere, Lady Tabia started to chuckle as Imi took charge of the massage again.
"You were a midwife back at home, weren't you?"
"Yes," I said. "Sort of."
She chuckled again. "You spent all your time serving women... Huh?" She started. "Well, I guess teaching you how to serve a man is going to take longer than expected."
– Arius –
I chose to eat dinner in my room today. Not for any particular reason aside from the fact that my Royal Court continued to bother me about what I thought I was doing with this maid who I not only threw pounds of gold at... but now had made my personal servant.
I didn't see why it was such a big deal. It wasn't wrong to have a personal servant.
Tabia had five, or something like that.
I pouted before eating some more of my food and reading a letter sent to the court as an update on what was going on in the south.
That was more important.
Overall, the letter seemed to suggest that things were going smoothly. They were still in the process of fighting off the rebels, but it looked quite clear that our soldiers were going to win this fight. Quite easily, for that matter.
But, I didn't just receive good news.
Of course, the nobles disapproval was heard by my uncle. He sent me a clearly angry letter that commanded the return of all the soldiers to their respective noble households.
I glared at my uncles' letter before tossing it aside.
That wasn't going to happen.
The soldiers could come back when everything was sorted out in the south.
When I picked up the next letter, I stuffed a piece of meat into my mouth and began reading.
And then I heard the door open.
I rolled my eyes, knowing that the only person who would dare to enter my room without knocking first was Tabia.
"Eyyyyyy, Air-y!" She shouted loudly, disturbing my silence.
"What?" I asked as I turned around with my mouth full of food.
To my surprise, Chione was with her.
But it wasn't the usual Chione who was here.
She looked different. Unbelievably different.
So different that I nearly choked on my food.
I stood up, coughing as Tabia burst out laughing. "I told you he'd choke!" She laughed.
When I cleared my throat, I looked at Tabia with a frown before looking back at Chione.
For a moment, it was hard for me to take my eyes off of her.
She looked quite... beautiful. The dress was lovely, matching that of all of Tabia's own maids, and the black kohl that was used to line her eyes made her already lovely green eyes look even better.
But when I realized I was staring, I looked away. "What do you want?" I asked Tabia.
"Nothing," she said. "Just came to deliver your personal maid back to you, is all."
"Alright then," I started. "Goodbye."
Tabia scoffed before rolling her eyes. "If you don't thank me later for the training I'm giving her, you'll regret it."
"Right, Tabia. Bye."
She scoffed yet again before marching out, shutting the door behind her.
"How much did she torture you?" I asked.
Chione let out a short chuckle. "Not at all. She was very nice."
"I'm not so sure about that," I said, more to myself than to her. But then I looked at her. "You don't have to do this, you know. You can just–"
"No," she suddenly said rather sharply. "I want to do this job properly."
I was rather surprised by her response.
"I want to do a good job. It's the least I could do–"
"Stop thinking that you owe me, Chione," I said. "You don't. But if you want to do this then that is fine with me."
I mean, it wasn't particularly a bad thing. I'd be happy to see her a little more.
She smiled at that and then immediately walked off. "I'll clean your room for you," she started. "And then I'll get your bath prepared."
I hesitated.
My room was already relatively clean, but I guess she could do that if she wanted. There wasn't much to do so I didn't have to worry about her working too hard.
"You can get back to eating," she said. "Just pretend I'm not even here."
I nodded and sat down. But as she got to work, it was rather hard to pretend that she wasn't here in the room with me. It wasn't because she was being noisy or anything like that. In fact, she was being extremely quite. It was just because... well... I don't know.
But nonetheless, I finished eating and continued on with reading my letters.
"Is this important?" I suddenly heard Chione ask.
When I turned around, I saw her holding the letter, which I forgot I tossed aside. She was looking down at it, probably trying to examine its contents.
"You shouldn't read that," I said.
She looked up, suddenly looking embarrassed.
When I saw the embarrassment on her face, I went on to clarify. "It's a letter from my uncle and it's filled with harsh words. Not the kind of words that a young girl should be seeing."
"You're not that much older than me," she countered, still looking embarrassed. "And besides, I can't read so you have nothing to fear."
My eyebrows rose when I realized that that was the reason why she looked embarrassed. "Oh,"
She handed me the letter.
"Well, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," I said. "I'll teach you, if you'd like."
She smiled at me before making her way to the washroom. "It's fine," she started. "I don't need to know how to read to be a maid."
I watched her as she walked off. "Oh... well, I guess that's true."
– Chione –
I didn't understand why I had gotten so embarrassed. I had never before been embarrassed about the fact that I couldn't read but for some reason, this time around it wasn't like that.
I felt very embarrassed.
After preparing Arius' bath, I left, knowing that there wasn't much else that I could do for him that evening. I decided to go straight to sleep since I would have to wake up very early again the next day.
But then, I ran into Namare.
I hadn't seen her in some time and to be honest, I had pretty much forgotten about the incidence during the party not too long ago.
However, when I saw her walking towards me that night, it all came back quite easily.
She didn't look that ill, in fact, she looked as beautiful as ever. But there was a look of distress on her face that I absolutely did not miss.
"Chione..." she said.
"Good evening," I smiled. "Why are you wandering about?"
She didn't answer my question. "I need your help."
I hesitated and was surprise when she grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me behind her.
She didn't say a single word as she practically dragged me all the way to the stables. She led me all the way into a dark shack and closed the door behind her.
I was suddenly nervous, as I had no idea why she brought me here and even when I asked she ignored me.
It was dark in the shack, though the moonlight that was coming through made it easy for me to see her face when she turned around to look at me. "I need to talk to you... to ask you something."
I sat down on a stool. "Okay..."
It took her a moment to gather her thoughts before she spoke. I felt like I was waiting for some time but I didn't really mind. I would be happy to help her. And to be honest, I really wanted to. After what had happened at the party... I knew something was wrong.
When she had finally gotten the courage to speak, she took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm pregnant."
I felt my eyes widen and a smile form on my face... but it did not last long at all.
"And I cannot have this baby... I do not want this baby."
My eyes stayed wide open, but not in happiness anymore.
Never in my life have I ever heard someone say something like that.
"Namare–"
"You must hear me out."
I let out a breath and then nodded slowly.
"I am pregnant," her hands were shaking as she spoke. "And I–"
"Who is the father?"
Her hands balled up into fists as she sat down on the floor in front of me. She placed her shaking hands on her lap before blinking away tears. "That isn't important. What is important is that it was... a nobleman."
I bit my lip, already seeing where this was going. I had heard rumors of situations like this... but I never thought it could actually happen.
"I cannot have this child. I will die if I do."
"Why would you think–"
"Aziza is cruel," Namare hissed. "When maids have babies after having an affair with a noble, she sends them home after making fools out of them. And she doesn't let them come back. The only solution is if the noble takes the maid as a mistress or a wife but that never happens. Maids are forbidden from having a relationship with nobles."
Suddenly my heart started to ache.
"Sometimes it doesn't matter for the mother's, especially if they have families back at home. But I don't. I'm an orphan. I have no one."
"Namare..."
"I can't have this baby," she said. "If I do... if Aziza finds out then I will be kicked out and I will die. You need to help me."
"How can I..." I started to understand more and more of what she was asking of me. "You want me to..."
"To kill the baby."
I placed a hand over my mouth and my breathing stopped. "Namare... I..."
"That is the only solution I have, Chione–"
"There must be another way!"
"If I am kicked out than I will not be able to survive on my own!" She said, her tears escaping. "I will die! The baby will die as well! At the very least, if you can get rid of it... then I will survive..."
"You can't honestly want this, Namare–"
"I have no other choice!" She cried.
"Have you tried talking to the father?"
"There's no use in that, trust me."
"Namare..."
"Will you help me or not, Chione?"
My heart was racing in a panic. I could feel her distress and I knew that she was serious... but I didn't know what to do. Not once in my time of helping pregnant women has a baby died in my care.
How could I go through with something like this? How could I let a baby die... not just die... but be killed?
I couldn't do that!
But as Namare cried in front of me, I also knew that she was right. If what she said was true than she was right. The baby would die no matter what...
"Please don't make such rash decisions so quickly–"
"This is not a quick decision! I've been trying to decide on what to do for a full month now! I can't hide it anymore, Chione! My belly is growing! If I wait any longer than Aziza will find out and–"
"I will help you... Namare," I started.
Her face lit up quickly, so I was quick to continue. "But, Namare... you need to give me some time to think of how I am going to help you."
The hope on her face started to fade. "How?"
"There must be another way–"
"There is no other way, Chione!" She cried as she stood up. Her hands were shaking again and they were balled up into fists at her sides. "If I knew how to do it myself than I would–"
"Don't do anything foolish!" I said as I stood up too. "If you do anything rash you could just kill yourself as well!"
She let out a frustrated breath before turning around and rushing away.
"Wait!" I called, making her stop for a moment, her back still towards me. "I will help you, Namare... just give me some time."
She stood there for a moment and then continued off.
I stayed in that shack for some time, sitting back down and in deep thought.
What was I going to do?
----------------
Of course, I had no sleep that night. It didn't help that Namare shared a room with me. All I could do was watch her and make sure she didn't go off to do anything foolish.
When Ti woke me up the next day, I felt like I hadn't slept at all. But nonetheless, I got ready in the new dress that Lady Tabia got me, struggled with that eye makeup and then headed out quickly after Ti.
When I arrived at the Prince's bedroom, I felt like my eyes were burning. But I prepared his bath as usually, adding in the oils and everything else which Tabia told me to do.
Once that was all done, I yawned and walked back into the bedroom, the entire situation with Namare still in the back of my mind.
I had half expected that Arius would already be awake since he was the last time I did this for him.
But today, he was still fast asleep.
For a moment, I stood there in hesitation.
Tabia had told me that if he accidently slept in, which apparently happened a lot, it was my job to wake him up. But the idea of waking him up felt odd.
So I stood there for another while.
When it felt like quite some time had passed, I decided that he was going to be late if I didn't do something.
I walked closer to his bed.
He was sleeping on his front, his head on top of his arms. He wasn't even using his headrest, which was on the other side of the bed. And by the looks of it, he was deep in sleep.
I let out a sigh before I called his name. "Arius?"
No response.
"Arius?" I called a little louder.
Again, nothing.
This time, despite my instructions from the guards the morning before to not touch him, I reached out poked his face with my finger.
When that didn't work, I started to shake him. "Arius? You have to wake up."
He started to groan, clearly sounded annoyed as he turned his head to the other side.
I rolled my eyes.
For a man who acts so composed all the time, he sure acted like a child when he slept.
"Arius!" I shook him some more.
He took a deep breath before lifting himself up and looking at me with squinted eyes. "Kiya?" His voice was deep with sleep and suddenly my heart skipped a beat.
He called me Kiya.
That was a nickname reserved for the people closest to me. Like my father... or Saia.
I never imagined the Prince of Egypt would call me that.
But it was after a moment of me staring at him in surprise that he probably actually finally completely woke up.
He sat up quickly. "Chione!" He said in surprise.
I saw the embarrassment on his face as he rubbed his eyes and got up off the bed. "What time... am I late? How long–"
"Your bath is ready," I said, interrupting his dazed panic. "I'll make your bed."
He looked at me and then nodded before leaving the room as fast as he could.
When he was gone, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself... for a moment, even forgetting the horrible thing that Namare had asked me to do.
In the end, Arius was not late to his prayers... or at least, that's what he told me when I saw him again that evening.
I was helping Dr. Tumini when a maid from the kitchen came and asked me to deliver Arius' meal to him. Apparently he was eating in his room again and Tabia gave her the instructions to give it to me.
So I left Dr. Tumini, who didn't mind at all, and headed off to Arius' room.
When I saw him, he looked more tired than usual, but he was sitting at his desk, reading through more letters. And since he had a brush in his hand, I assumed he was responding to some of them too.
I waited for him to finish his meal, knowing that I would have to take his plate back to the kitchen maids. He talked to me here and there but for the most part, we were both silent.
My silence came mostly from the fact that I was still deep in thought about the whole Namare situation.
What was I going to do to help her?
I had heard of a couple potions that apparently work to kill a baby while it was in the mother's belly... but I had no idea how to make any of them. And more than that... I didn't ever want to find out.
But I had to help her somehow.
I couldn't just let her get killed.
I let out a silent sigh, feeling my head start to ache.
"Chione," Arius suddenly called.
I jumped when I heard my name, but when I looked over at him, I saw him wave his hand, motioning for me to come towards him.
When I walked over to him, he used his brush to paint a couple symbols onto a new papyrus piece. "Do you know what this says?"
I felt myself blush. "No... I told you I can't read."
"Chione," he said with a warm smile. "Daughter of the Nile."
I hesitated. "That's my name?"
He nodded and held the brush out for me. "Try."
I felt nervous, suddenly, but took the brush from him. Holding the papyrus down with one hand, I copied down the symbols he had painted.
When I was done, I looked down at it and frowned. My handwriting looked horrendous compared to his.
Arius chuckled. "Not bad," he lied.
But I did appreciate the lie. "What about your name?"
He took the brush back and wrote it quite quickly.
"It says Arius?"
"No," he said. "It says Atumankhkare."
I nodded. "Why do you call yourself Arius?"
He shrugged. "When I was a child I couldn't say my own name. So I made up a nickname for myself."
"But why Arius? Why not Atum? Or Re?"
"My father's most favourite statue of all was this snake... the Uraeus right there," he pointed at the large statue of a cobra that sat next to his bed. "My father adored that statue, it was hand crafted by one of his greatest friends who died of an illness before I was even born. I loved whatever my father loved and so I admired the statue too. So when I created this name for myself, I named myself after that statue, except I changed the beginning sound to make it sound more unique."
"I see..."
"And then I marched around demanding that everyone call me Arius. At first people thought it was silly, but eventually it stuck."
I chuckled.
He smiled back at me and put down his brush. "Glad to see you smiling again," he said. "So... what has been bothering you all evening?"
I was surprised by the question. "What do you mean?"
"You've been looking rather distressed since you got here... it wasn't that hard to tell."
I was a little embarrassed by the fact that he was able to tell.
"So? What is it?"
"It's nothing," I said, knowing that it would be a bad idea to share this with him. I didn't want Namare to get into any more trouble than she was already in.
"It doesn't look like nothing," he said, still looking at me.
But then again... maybe he could help?
He was... in a sense... a nobleman, right? Noblemen talk to each other... maybe he knows another nobleman who got a maid pregnant.
Maybe he could tell me what they did?
Or maybe he could find a book a medicine for me... and read me how to make a potion or a medicine to get rid of the baby?
I didn't need to tell him who it was... how would he ever know?
"Well?" He pushed.
I sighed. "I... I need help... again."
Arius chuckled now. "What kind of help?"
I looked at him, a frown on my face... and I think my frown made the smile on his face fade. "What's wrong?"
"I know... a maid... who's been impregnated by a nobleman."
Arius' eyes narrowed slightly.
"She... is really scared and she... asked me to... help her get rid of the baby..." I let out a breath. "And I don't know what to do."
His eyebrows rose in shock and he looked away, glaring at nothing. "Do you know who the nobleman is?"
I shook my head.
"And I'm assuming you're not going to tell me who the maid is."
I nodded.
He nodded too. "So what do you need help with?"
"I need a way to do it... maybe you can find me a book or something... with ingredients..."
"You've decided that you're going to do it?"
"No," I said, sadly. "I don't want to do it. But she's making it seem like she has no other choice. Aziza–"
"Aziza does not take this kind of issue lightly."
"You know?"
"All noblemen know Aziza's rules when it comes to her maids. It doesn't stop some of them though, clearly."
I sighed.
"But," he started. "Nonetheless... you can't do it."
I hesitated. "What?"
"I'm not going to let you do it."
My eyes widened. "But–"
"Your hands are gifted with the ability to bring life into this world... to save lives," he said. "I will not let you taint such a gift by killing an unborn baby."
I felt my cheeks warm up and my heart skip a beat. However, that didn't make me feel much better. "But... she's my friend."
"And so we will find another way," he said, looking at me. "If your friend is serious about doing this then that is her decision. It is her life. But I will not let you do it. We can find someone else to do it. Someone who knows what they are doing and someone who doesn't mind doing it."
I looked at Arius for a moment. His expression was serious but warm, and suddenly I felt calm.
After letting out a sigh, he smiled and held out that piece of papyrus that he wrote our names on. "I will find someone. In the mean time, you stop worrying about it and go practice how to write your name. By tomorrow night you should know how to write it on your own, understood?"
I smiled back at him and then chuckled before taking the papyrus from him. "Understood."
-----------
At the end of the day, I found myself lying in my bed, staring at the papyrus with our names, which I held up in front of me.
After some time, I placed it over my chest and looked at my hands.
He thought my hands were a gift. A gift that brings lives into this world and saves lives... and he didn't want me taint that goodness. For some reason, him thinking that suddenly meant so much to me. A little too much.
I thought for some time before hugging the piece of papyrus that was over my chest, feeling my cheeks warm up and my heart race.
And I think... though I knew it was wrong... I think I was starting to feel something I knew I was not allowed to feel.
But he was wonderful.
He was absolutely wonderful.