Khet - Chapter 5

It took four more trips to finish carrying the rest of the laundry to the top of the plateau. There were still a few hours of daylight, and I hoped they'd finish drying before night fell or I'd have to bring them in and hang them around the remains of the bonfire.

With the last load laid out flat on the warm rocks, I padded down the narrow steps leading away from the plateau, and stretched my arms high above my head to ease the pressure in my back. Usually it didn't bother me to sit hunched over for long hours at a time; I did plenty of that when I was painting. Maybe I was simply tired from the hike up the mountain.

I ran a hand back through the gentle waves of my hair, pulling it away from my face, and strode towards the main stairs of the Hall.

"Khet." Hafya's voice called out from atop the steps of the hall.  I glanced up at her, pausing in my advance.

"Hafya." I bowed my head slightly at her greeting.

"You finished the laundry." It was a simple statement, and I stared at her for a moment. She stood relaxed, leaning against one of the carved pillars of the open archway, her arms crossed at her breasts.

"I did." I replied, and started up the stairs. She turned as I stepped onto the floor of the main foyer, and twined a long ebony arm into the crook of mine.

"That's a two day job." She smiled as she said it, tugging me towards the right-hand corridor. "Did you have help?"

I frowned at her. "No." I gently tugged my arm out of her embrace.

"Have you eaten?"

Her strange, overly friendly attitude made me want to pull back from her and head in the other direction.

"Hafya," I started, pausing at the entrance to the right corridor. I turned to her. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm tired and irritated with life in general at the moment. You know I haven't eaten since I've been here – because there have been enough people staring at me today to know how many times I've taken a breath. Is there something you want?"

Her smile faded. "Come eat with us." She offered, motioning towards the room where the Ox had been butchered earlier in the day. "Some of us have something we'd like to ask."

I studied her for a moment. There was an odd hopeful look to her face and an eagerness I hadn't recognized a few minutes before.

"All right."

She grinned, and tucked her arm back into mine, tugging me towards the dining hall. I sighed, and followed her lead. I was hungry, and it seemed spiteful to argue.

The dining hall was filled with attendants – they spanned from the bonfire to the very corners of the room. My eyes went a little wide at the sight of them. The children sat closest to the bonfire, seated on the floor, with the teenagers and younger attendants on the far side, up against the wall. The room was abuzz with the sound of laughter and gossip. Hardly anyone was paying attention to the door as we entered.

Hafya leaned in close to my shoulder to speak so that I would hear her over the din. "The attendants on shift at this hour eat earlier in the day, but the rest of us like to gather mid-afternoon." She smiled and tugged on my arm, leading me into the room. I had to fight not to scowl. I instantly regretted accepting her invitation.

The roar of the room mellowed out when we entered as the attendants turned their attention towards us. Many of them openly stared with curious faces. I had to bite my tongue to keep from cursing.

"Khet!" Sadia's clear voice rang out above the room, and many of the attendants turned to watch her barrel through the crowd in a flash of blonde hair. I grinned as she rushed into my arms, and I swung her high into the air. I'd be damned if these people were going to keep me from hugging my little sister.

"Sadi." I smiled and hugged her close, kissing her velvet cheek. She gave a bright smile. "Look at all that beautiful blonde hair." I kissed her forehead as well and hefted her onto my hip.

"Do you like it?" she asked in a small, unsure voice.

"I do. You look very pretty." I half-laughed the statement, giving her a wide smile.

Mahir with his lanky form picked his away across the room with a smile on his face. I caught his smile and held out an arm to him. He wasn't a truly a child anymore, but my family had never been one to withhold affection. The fact that he was willing to show it here, among his peers and complete strangers, made me proud that he was my little brother.

"Mahir." I grinned and pulled him close into a hug as well, ruffling his short blonde hair.

"Your hair-" he started.

"Mahir, when have you ever known me to conform?" I asked with a sly smile.

He gave me a strange look, and spoke quietly.  "I heard them say Father wouldn't let you change it."

The smile faded from my lips a little. I gave a short nod. "He asked me to keep it as it is."

"I like it better this way." Mahir nodded.

I mussed his hair. "That's my little brother – ever the charmer."

He grinned. "C'mon, we saved you a spot by the fire."

I flinched at the thought. I didn't want to be anywhere near the center of the room. Hafya must have seen my expression because she nudged me forward with a knock of her shoulder.

"Go on. I'll grab you something to eat. The children wanted to ask you something." She reminded me, speaking close to my ear.

I glanced at her over my shoulder as Mahir tugged my arm towards the center of the room. Hafya shrugged in response, and turned to circle around the group to the other side. Resigned, I followed after Mahir, Sadia perched on my hip.

We stepped gingerly through the crowd of watching attendants. There were so many of them stuffed into the small room that they seemed to lounge in great piles. I hadn't realized that Leander had this many people living in the great Hall. The people of my village had thought he'd kept only a handful – now I saw that we really had no idea what Leander was like when he wasn't visiting the valley. I'd certainly never have imagined this.

As we came to the center of the room, Sadia slid of my hip and tugged me to a small patch of empty floor space. I folded my loin cloth under my legs and sat cross-legged on the floor. The fire was warm on my face. Sadia climbed into my lap, happy to sit with me, and Mahir sat on the floor next to me, though most of his age group were on the far side of the room.

Small hands grasped onto my arm, and I turned towards my left to look down at a small dark-skinned boy. He wasn't much older than Sadia, perhaps six summers. I arched a brow at him.

"Khet-" he said my name in a soft, clear voice. The roar of the crowd had died down, and I could hear him easily over the crackle of the fire.

"Yes?"

He took a deep breath and talked in a great rush of words. "Can you talk like the dogs again?"

I blinked down at him. "Talk like the dogs?"

He nodded quickly.  There was a murmur around the room, and I looked up to see eager adult faces. They nodded, and the few attendants who had still been talking, now grew silent.

I turned towards Sadia, a questioning look on my face. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Sadia nodded. "The song about summer." She replied. "They don't know about music. They thought you were howling pretty words."

I blinked down at her for a moment. Hafya stepped around the fire; a large leaf filled with shredded meat in her hand, and knelt in front of me.

"We've never heard anyone make those sounds before. Will you show us?" she offered me the leaf, and I took it from her, cradling it against my knee.

My face grew flush. "I don't-" I started.

"Sing." It was Leander's voice that spoke behind us from the doorway. I turned, glancing at him from around Sadia. The attendants in the room all bowed their heads like a small wave in a sea of bodies. Even Sadia and Mahir scrambled to the floor to bow before the lion god.

Oh, please don't make me do this.

I stared at him as he stood leaning against the archway, his muscled arms crossed over his broad chest. My cheeks felt hot.

"I didn't realize anyone had heard me."

"We heard." He commented, still waiting.

I felt a slight tug on the cloth at my waist, and I looked down to find Sadia's small brown hand tucked into the cascade of scarlet.

"Please, Khet."

I sighed. I really wish I'd refused the meal. My body complained as I moved the food off my lap, setting it on the stone floor and pushed myself up to stand. I glanced at Leander. I couldn't very well refuse his request.

"I can't sing from the floor."

He nodded.

I blew out a breath and turned towards the fire. I couldn't sing if I had to look at their faces. Only the occasional pop of the fire broke the silence in the room. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and began. I let the room fade from my thoughts. I was atop the plateau again with only the wind to hear me. It made it easier, and my voice was clear and strong as I began.

My voice filled the vaulted room, echoing off the stone walls, and reverberated to become the hauntingly sad melody of the song. I sang of summer as it faded from green to gold, of the young growing old, and the earth falling into slumber as summer died her slow death. I sang of lions, their sad roars mourning the death of life, heralding the world to sleep. The harbinger of winter would come; bringing with it empty cold, but the sleep would not last. The song ended on a somber, lilting melody – a promise of summer's return.

The room was quiet as my voice faded. I opened my eyes, took a shaky breath, and turned to face Leander.

There was a pained expression on his face, a kind of deep sadness. "Where did you learn Summer's Lament?" he asked.

"My grandmother used to sing me to sleep by it." I replied. "Her grandmother sang it to her, and her grandmother did the same before that."

"Did your grandmother sing it to all your siblings?"

I shook my head slowly. "No."

"Why?"

"It used to make them cry."

"But not you." He said the words in a soft, low tone.

I shook my head. "Not me."

The lion god seemed to study me for a moment, and then he began to turn away.

"How did you know what it was called?" I called after him.

He stopped, but didn't turn back to the room.

"That was not the first I've heard it." He answered, and then he was gone.

I stared after him for a moment. I wanted to ask where he'd heard it – why it made him sad. It didn't occur to me immediately that I'd already broken one of Leander's rules. You never ask.

I turned back to the room and sat down. I didn't feel like eating.

"That was beautiful." One of the young women attendants spoke from across the room, breaking the silence. There was a low murmur of agreement from the crowd, but there was a heavy silence not far behind it.

"Excuse me." I blurted out suddenly in the quiet of the room, stood, and turned towards the door. At first I walked, but soon I was running as I left the room and headed down the corridor and out into the main foyer.

The golden bands at my ankles jingled as I ran, and my loin cloth flew behind me like a brilliant red flag. The look on Leander's face was burned into my mind.

The foyer was empty of attendants. Sun beat down heavily through the hole at the center of the room. Dust motes swirled and danced through the summer air. Leander stood at the far end of the foyer, his back turned to me,walking slowly into the left-hand corridor.

My feet fell in soft pats along the floor as I jogged across the room. My small hand reached out and I nearly grabbed his arm before I stopped, and finally stood still behind him in the dim corridor. He paused in his step.

"Leander." I breathed out his name on a tired huff of air, trying to catch my breath. The lion god turned. He didn't look happy.

"Khet-"

I clamped a delicate hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence. We were both startled by the sudden action, and we stared at one another for a moment.

"I'm sorry." I said, but I wasn't talking about my hand.

He reached up a hand to pull mine away from his mouth but I shook my head and grabbed his hand with my other one.

"I'm sorry." I repeated. "I know you didn't ask me here, and I'm not very good at being obedient. I just-" I let out a small breath, my eyes focused on his. There was a moment of silence before I found the words I needed to say. "Someone needed to apologize for the look I just saw on your face. No one else here was going to do it – so, I'm sorry."

One heartbeat – two. Slowly, I let go of his hand and drew away from him. I didn't understand the look on his face, but the sorrow was gone. It was enough.  I took a step backwards and started to turn away when Leander's hand shout towards me, grasping my wrist. I glanced down at his hand, and then up at his face.

"Leand-" I didn't get to finish my sentence as Leander pulled me into his chest. My breath caught in my throat. His head slowly lowered, and his lips brushed lightly across my forehead in what was almost a caress. Then, without a word, he pulled back, letting go of my wrist. He turned, and walked away, sauntering off down the long corridor, and I was left to stare after him, wondering what had just happened.

Maybe, just maybe, we'd found some peace.

I turned away from the corridor, a slight furrow to my brow, and re-entered the foyer. At the far end, Mahir stood, the food I'd left in the dining hall tucked into his hands, still wrapped in its leaf. He stared at me from across the room, a startled look on his face.

"Mahir." I smiled as I crossed the foyer, but the startled look was still there when I stopped in front of him. He looked up at me then, and I realized he'd been staring at the left-hand corridor, watching Leander leave.

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. His face drew down into a puzzled frown.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head, and held out the leaf-wrapped package in his hands. "You didn't eat. I thought you might want this."

I smiled and accepted the package. "Thank you."

"Khet?" he finally said after a long pause, glancing back towards the corridor.

"Hm?"

He looked back to me, an odd, serious expression on his boyish features. "If you hadn't volunteered to come with us, I think he would have asked you to."

"Why do you say that?" I frowned.

"Isam petitioned Father to marry you the day before he came to get us."

"I'm not surprised. Everyone knew he was planning to." I pointed out.

Mahir shook his head, looking up at me. "Father refused him."

"Thank the Father for small miracles then." I laughed.

"Khet-" Mahir spoke sharply, and I stopped laughing. "Father came to the village the next morning. The first thing he did when he got there was to ask where you were."

I frowned at that. "I don't understand."

"He demanded to know where you were, and when he smelled you on Adala, he shoved her down." Mahir continued, his voice quieting in the stillness of the room.

I remembered Adala then – her hair mussed and dirty. She'd been separated from the rest of the tribe, and left sobbing on the ground. Had she been hurt?

"Don't trust him, Khet. I think he took Sadi and me because he knew you wouldn't fight if you could come with us."

"Mahir-"

"Just-" He glanced around. "Be careful." He whispered. "When Isam came back into the valley you didn't see him. He'd been attacked." He held up four fingers, curved like claws and ran them down the side of his face. "Four deep gashes."

He turned then, taking a step back towards the right-hand corridor. "He looks like a man, Khet; but he's still a lion."

I nodded once, and watched him return to the dining hall.  I frowned down at the food in my hands, and then turned to look over my shoulder at the left-hand corridor.

Had I forgotten that Leander was a beast? Maybe a little.

I turned away then and headed out the main entrance of the hall and down the wide steps. A gentle breeze swept over the small plateau at the base of the Hall, stirring up a few pieces of dry grass and a small brown piece of undergrowth that wasn't much more than a series of dead sticks sticking out between two small boulders.

I followed the left path back around the rock face. Just before the narrow steps that lead up to the laundry plateau, sat a large round bolder overlooking the valley. I set the leaf-wrapped package of meat atop the rock and pulled myself up onto the boulder to sit beside it.

I watched the valley below as I unpacked the food and began to pick my way through it. The meat was good. It tasted of the fire, and I nibbled my way through it slowly, enjoying the warm sun of the late afternoon.

I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I began to eat. It'd been a long set of days. What Mahir had said stuck in the back of my head as an unwelcome thought. Had Leander come to the village for me? Was I really here because he wanted me to be here and not because I'd chosen to come?

I didn't like the thought. I would have to be more careful. I suddenly didn't feel as safe here as I'd felt just an hour before.

Finished with my meal, I tossed the large leaf off the side of the boulder and watched the wind carry it down the hillside like a swooping bird caught on a low breeze. It struck the embankment far below me and tumbled, cartwheeling out of sight over the sharp edge of a small cliff.

I stood up, dusting off the back of my loin cloth, and hopped down off the boulder. I had some time to kill before the laundry would be dry. Surely I could find something to draw with around here.