Down in the Sands of Egypt.

A maidservant quietly tiptoed into the servant quarters, her painted nails touching the doors as she peeped in for one body. She quietly asked the few stirring servants as to where Sered was. Several of the elder servants stopped their dressing and stared at her, asking if she meant the one that went against Pharaoh. The maidservant's request was finally filled out by one of the older males in the room. She thanked them and hurried down the white brick layout, pushing against the dead wood of the door. The leather hinges caused the door to slack as she slid it from the opening. She watched a few of the servants as they moved around in the early light of the sun. They were a grumbling bunch, moving to the water to the rough linen they dressed in. Her nails touched her forearm as she called for their attention.

"I am Kanika, I am looking for the one called Sered." She said, her small body offering a strong voice in a way that caused several of the men to stare at her. Kanika wasn't too known in the household but she was defiantly talked about. She was not Egyptian with skin as dark as pitch. The life story that followed her around was that she was adopted by Egyptian parents--servants. Kanika was raised with them, put to work in the higher orders of the Royal Household. Many servants wondered if the Princesses or the Queen Mother could stand to have their clothes touched by such an outsider. Those rumors went around many people who were not Egyptian and they were most certainly going to circle around Sered. A sheep in wolves clothing, that is what they are called.

-

Osahar woke in his warm bed as the servants filtered in with their duties. He watched as they stirred the dead fire, asking him if he wanted it re-lit. The Pharaoh rose and dressed quickly, it wasn't anything to flare like before. Gold bracelets were attached to his wrists, anklets and necklaces were shined and placed in the respected places.

"I ask you, servant, where is the Hebrew?" He asked, grabbing the shoulder of a male servant. The man bowed his shaved head to his Pharaoh.

"The maidservant, Kanika is fetching him." He said and Osahar released him with a wave of his hand.

"How appropriate." He mumbled to himself, They were two people brought into places that they didn't belong. It was rather fitting that Kanika would be the one sent to gather up Sered.

Sered turned when another servant called to him across the room, and his eyes almost immediately went to the woman who had entered. Not only was she far from fitting in with the Egyptians, but she also appeared quite different than his fellow Hebrews. She was easy to see even though she was quite small. With how she was dressed he could tell that she was most likely here in order to take him to wherever the Pharaoh wanted him. He wasn’t sure what to expect in this change of lifestyle, or even if it would last. Perhaps today the Pharaoh would change his mind all together. He realized that he could not figure out Osahar.

He walked silently across the room now as the others were watching him carefully in curiosity as well as worry, but he really didn’t look at them very much. He had grown up with so many of these people, and they had formed a sort of family within the Palace that did not exist for many outside. Leaving them would be difficult which was why he did not look at many of them with their questioning glances. He couldn’t answer their questions anyways. Sered could hardly answer his own.

“I’m Sered.” He said softly and bowed his head a little to her in respect, but said nothing else. Sered had figured that it was most likely smarter to keep his words to a minimal seeing as how his mouth was really what got him in trouble. If only he had been born mute, or stupid…If he had been stupid then he most likely would have obeyed without thought, but then where would he be? He’d still be a regular servant, but where would he be in the eyes of his God? Again, he did not know the answer to that question.

Kanika looked at the strong man that stood before her and something pulled at the back of her mind. He shouldn't be offered up to the teeth of the Egyptians like this, like she was. As a child, Kanika was told many times that she wasn't pretty because of her skin color, because she was different and now he was going to suffer through the as well. Kanika nodded and turned around to lead the way away from the quarters. "You will not need to bring anything with you, everything shall be provided for you." Kanika said, keeping her black eyes to the ground. "When we enter the Palace, you will be given new clothes. The Pharaoh will not be served in garb such as yours." Kanika bit her lip as something stabbed her in her heart, she shouldn't said that. "I mean, you are being promoted! You shouldn't be wearing your old clothes." She stumbled over to say, offering a smile over her shoulder to save herself. Hopefully, he didn't take her for a fool.

"I've been informed that you will be serving the Pharaoh as a personal servant. That is what I do but I serve the Princesses." Kanika said, squeezing her hands together as they left the long hallway dimly lit with torches. Her voice grew low as she stopped at the final door, the one that would lead Sered into his new life. "The Royal Family chooses sheep in wolves skin to serve them. Do you know why, Sered? They do it so they can promote their beauty. So they can saying they are much prettier than those that serve them." Kanika had also been informed of how Sered had obtained this new job but she still thought that Pharaoh chose him to make himself feel better. Kanika turned to the door and pulled it open with a tug, "I will pray to Isis for you." She whispered finally as they stepped into the white brick of the palace.

"I will help you with your first day, I will tell you what you need to do." Kanika said, smiling at him to try and lighten the sudden dark mood she pulled over them. "The Pharaoh likes things done to a specific point, I don't think he will let it slide just because you're new." Kanika grew silent then, her eyes watching the floor. "Now then, this way." She said reaching out a letting her black fingers trace over the arm of his olive skin. So different they were. "I hope Isis will protect you." She said they stopped at the curtains of the Pharaoh's room.

Kanika nodded his head to Sered, silently telling him to enter.

Sered almost replied to her that he didn't really own anything to bring along, but that wasn't really important. He could hear the slight nervousness in her voice, "I knew that I would have to dress differently." he said with a small smile. He looked up at the large door they stopped in front of and then glanced towards Kanika at her statement about their beauty. Sered couldn't tell if she was bitter about that fact or not. He was always taught to find beauty in everything, because God created everything. It was hard to hear his own appearance to be likened to that of a wolf, though.

He was glad that she was going to help him, because he had to admit he was very nervous now that he was at this door. He followed her, looked at the curtains, then back at Kanika, "Thank you." he said softly, nodded, then slowly made his way through the curtains. He looked, and felt out of sorts as the expensive fabric brushed past him. Sered was almost worried that he'd somehow get the curtains dirty just from brushing against them. He glanced around the room a little and sort of floundered as he wasn't sure where he should go now.

His words were kind, words that Kanika found only far and wide around the halls of the palace. She slowly nodded as he stepped through the still bolts of cloth hanging from the high ceilings. She kept her footing as he moved into the Pharaoh's room. She hadn't been called into the chamber, she was not allowed to come in to help him. Her instructions will take place during the morning of tomorrow. Kanika bowed to the white fabric and turned softly to attend the business that needed her attention. As she walked away, she looked behind her shoulder and quietly whispered a small prayer to Isis, clutching the charm on her bracelet that Sered would be safe.


Inside the decorated room, Osahar stood at the steps that would lead down to the Nile. He stood with his hands behind his back and his feet apart, staring down at the beauty that was the Nile in the morning. He was mildly decorated, not enough to flash but enough to ensure that he wasn't an ordinary man. He stood like the enormous statues of the God planted in the sand. He gave away that he was still mortal as he heard the footsteps of someone entering his chambers.
The Pharaoh looked over his shoulder and saw the slave standing there like a lost child. Osahar did nothing but take a deep breath. His dark eyes closed slowly and he released the stale air, dropping his hands and turning his head to face Sered. His face was calm, the face that Osahar was normally seen with. The words of a kind-faced Pharaoh was never far from the workers lips and the anger expressed was rarely seen.
"Over here, I want to show you something." He said softly.

Sered had worked in the palace most of his life, but had never once been inside one of the royal chambers. Everything was so exquisite looking. He had seen the rest of the wealth within the Palace, but this...well, all of this was for comfort and it still looked so expensive and pristine. He had then spotted the Pharaoh, and he stopped immediately and bowed his head. Apparently he was back in his former habit of actually showing complete servitude as he was instructed. He was also more eager to please today especially since the Pharaoh did not seem as angry as he had been before. Sered did not want to change that so early in the morning.

Upon hearing the Pharaoh's command he looked up again with a very small amount of confusion showing in his dark eyes, but then walked the rest of the distance towards the Pharaoh. Sered looked very curious, and then looked out at the Nile. He'd never seen the great river from such a viewpoint. It really was beautiful. Sered was just used to seeing it from a servant's point of view which was used for washing clothes and other jobs within the palace. He lowered his gaze once again as he waited for more instruction from Osahar.