As Khmunhotep and Ankhu listened to Chombyses rapidly firing off instructions about what to do, where to go, and who to assassinate if things went too wrong, (frequently saying happily, "Brilliant plan isn't it? I thought it up all by myself. Tells you something about lions doesn't it?") Henutsen brought Farida water to cool off from a hot, dry Egyptian day.
Farida seemed restless today. Even before Henutsen gave her the water, she began to make conversation.
"Do you know that yet another Greek trade ship has sunk? It left port just - oh yes, just after the Opening of Mouth of your father's- and swiftly expired in the Great Green Sea. Tells you something about Greeks nowadays. Call themselves Sea People and can't even steer a ship properly. What do you think, Henutsen?"
Henutsen almost dropped the water she was carrying. Greek ship? Just after the Opening of Mouth? What about Sutaijha, or Khmunhotep, or Ankhu? Were they ... DEAD? She stood there, eyes wide open, her heart sinking horribly.
"Are you alright Henutsen?" Farida asked concernedly. Then, suddenly, she had a very strange look on her face, and looked as if she was about to ask something, but didn't. Her eyes darted over Henutsen's face very swiftly, as if she was trying to read Henutsen's expression.
Henutsen quickly regained her composure. She feigned a smile, and gave the water to Farida. "It's perfectly fine. I just had a spell of dizziness. Must be the heat."
"Oh, alright then," Farida said, but she didn't look very convinced. Casting one last suspicious glance at Henutsen, she told her out of the room.
The rest of the day passed terribly. Throughout the day Henutsen was attacked by pangs of worry and fear, and she could not do anything properly - indeed, her vision swam with every step she took.
When Henutsen got leave for the afternoon, she went to the docks and checked the ships leaving the docks during that fateful night, and, sure enough, there was only one ship that night, which meant that the three escaped Egyptians were on the doomed, the sunken ship.
As soon as Henutsen knew that, she began running for Redsenet's apothecary. Redsenet will make it alright, she told herself. Redsenet will tell her the fates of the three Egyptians. Redsenet will save them. Redsenet is a seer, a prophet, a wise woman. Redsenet will keep cool, keep logical, and she would know what to do.
Suddenly, as her legs carried swiftly along that road - that road to the apothecary which she knew so well - the road on which she, Khmunhotep, Sutaijha, Ankhu, Maatkare, and Redsenet played when they were small, the road where she and Maatkare first fell in love, the road with so many joyful - and painful - memories, Henutsen felt her body quiver. She began to cry, and tears wetted the path where once all of them made footfall in a time without tears, without pain, only with compassion and happiness.
[This message has been edited by JW (edited 08-11-2000).]