Sasaki’s friends had eventually made their way back to Takmet’s room and didn’t even notice that Takmet had fallen asleep against the wall. When Sasaki woke up the next morning, she felt surprisingly better, even going so far as to literally jump out of bed. She confronted Takmet about meeting the pharaoh, but she was scolded for being up and about.

“You are not supposed to be out of bed,” Takmet told Sasaki for what seemed like the hundredth time.

And for the hundredth time she replied, “I’m fine.”

Not seeing any sign of pain, or struggle to control pain in her actions or eyes, he suggested that the physician from the day before take a look at her back before she decided to go gallivanting around the palace. The physician kicked everyone out of Takmet’s room and went inside with Sasaki alone.

“Take off your shirt,” the physician ordered.

Sasaki hesitated a moment, modesty being pushed to the foremost part of her thoughts as a nervous blush appeared on her cheeks. She complied. He was a doctor, after all. Sasaki held her arms above her head as the medicine worker slowly removed her bandages, rolling them up into an easily disposable ball. In examining her back, he found a most extraordinary thing. So extraordinary that he actually let out a gasp.

“I’m telling you, I’m fine,” Sasaki said, looking over her shoulder at the elderly man, holding her shirt in front of her.

“Stay there a moment,” the physician said. Sasaki blinked, wondering what he was doing. He walked out of the room to where Sasaki’s friends and Takmet were waiting for that quick check to be over. He took Takmet aside and explained to him his observation.

“What!?” Takmet exclaimed. “That’s not possible. I saw it yesterday and it was horrible.” He cringed at the memory of Sasaki’s scabs and inflamed skin.

The physician took Takmet by the arm. “You are the one responsible for her, and you should be shown her condition, whether you believe it or not,” he explained, roughly dragging the reluctant Takmet in to see for himself.

Sasaki stood in the middle of the room, turning when the physician walked in. She saw Takmet, frozen for a second, then immediately turned back toward the opposite side of the room, the faint blush on her cheeks growing a couple shades darker. Takmet’s reaction was also one of slight embarrassment. He stood stiffly as the medical elder approached Sasaki and pushed her backwards in Takmet’s direction.

“Look,” the old man ordered.

He had been looking, just not at what the physician pointed out. When he heeded the old man’s command, Takmet’s surprise overcame his embarrassment of somehow compromising Sasaki’s privacy. “That’s incredible.” Her back was totally clear of any bloody or bruised mark, though there were a couple of very faint scars in some places. “Just yesterday....” Takmet trailed off, wondering how it happened.

“I can’t explain it either,” the physician shook his head, baffled. “There are scars, so I can assume that they were healed, not simply whisked away. But how they were healed is a mystery to me.”

Sasaki turned her head, overhearing everything. “Can I put my shirt back on?” she asked somewhat impatiently.

Takmet’s face heated up a couple of degrees, not knowing what to say until the physician broke the tension. “Go ahead. You’re completely healed, though I can’t say by what means this occurred.” The old man left the room thinking to himself about the medical mystery, leaving Takmet with Sasaki.

Sasaki began to put her shirt back on and Takmet turned the other way automatically. He may have been nineteen, practically and adult, but he still felt quite awkward in situations such as these. “I am glad you are feeling better,” he said over his shoulder. “I guess you get your wish,” he commented as Sasaki turned to him, finished redressing.

“Hmm?” She tilted her head, questioning his statement.

“Wanting to see the pharaoh,” Takmet replied, only now turning to face her.

“Oh, that. Well, that’s it. Let’s go now,” Sasaki insisted, heading towards the door as she spoke.

“We can’t see him now. He has other matters to attend to early in the day. But I believe I can safely guarantee that you’ll see him before the sun sets today.”

Sasaki thought a moment, wondering whether or not to insist further. “That’s fine,” she smiled. “How about a proper tour, then?” she asked hopefully.

Takmet smiled. “Of course.”

Outside the room she joined her friends, who all asked her how she was and what had been wrong. She gave them the same answer as before: that nothing was wrong but told them that it was over, so they didn’t need to worry about it.

“This time we get a full tour,” Sasaki said as she grabbed her friends’ hands. “Let’s see how my Egyptian is holding up.”

Mandi and Chloe looked at each other and shrugged. It seemed that whatever had been wrong was no longer a problem. So all of them followed Takmet on a full-scale exploration of the palace from the kitchen to the gardens.

By the time the sky began to darken they had completed the abridged version of the full tour. Afterwards, Takmet led the four girls down the long, high-ceilinged corridors of the palace, Hotep joining them on the way.

“What’s all this?” Hotep asked as he walked in front with Takmet.

“I’m taking them to meet Seti,” Takmet said, not believing what he was doing.

“To meet Seti? Already?” Hotep looked at his friend in disbelief. “Did he ask for them?”

“No, Sasaki just continually insisted to see him,” Takmet sighed. “She is one persistent girl.”

“Jeez, if he does let them in, it will be a palace record for getting in to see him.” He scratched his head with one hand, holding his weapon in the other. “ The fastest was...I think it was five days,” Hotep concluded, still keeping pace with his friend while Sasaki and the others examined the walls and tried to memorize the blueprints to the palace.

“No kidding.” Takmet glanced back at Sasaki and her friends, realizing he didn’t know their names. “Sasaki. I just realized that I have not been introduced to your friends.”

“Oh. This is Ami, that’s Chloe, and this is Mandi,” she pointed to each of her friends as she said their names, smiling.

Takmet nodded. “Nice to have some names to go with those faces I woke up to yesterday,” Takmet joked. He faced forward again. Hotep elbowed him.

“She’s a real cute one isn’t she??” Hotep raised his eyebrows as he whispered the question.

“Sasaki?”

“Yeah. Don’t see many girls built the way these are around here,” he smirked, continuing his pace.

“Hm,” Takmet replied shortly, eyes moving into the distance.

Hotep watched him, seeing his friend’s walking go in to automatic mode, staring off into space. He can’t be getting into that already. He just met the girl for goodness’ sake. Hotep thought. “Hey, Takmet....Takmet?” Hotep touched his friend’s shoulder.

“Oh... what?” Takmet turned to him.

Hotep sighed, “Hey, you never zone out on me like that. We were talking about the foreigner and you left me there for a second.”

Takmet caught the implication. “What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing, just picking up the string of conversation.” Hotep held his hands up defensively. “You never answered me.”

“I didn’t think it was a question.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“What makes you say that?” Takmet wondered.

“The way you look at her,” Hotep said simply. “You used to look at Kehsat that way--,” he stopped abruptly, biting his lip, forgetting his friend’s sensitivity on the subject.

Takmet faced straight ahead. “That was a long time ago...”

They walked in silence the rest of the way to the throne room.

* * *

They came to a set of great heavy doors, two guards on either side. Takmet stopped in front of them, waiting for Sasaki and her friends. Hotep had broken off of the path several minutes earlier, arguing that the throne room wasn’t his part of the palace to be in. Takmet told the guards to let him pass, that he had foreign visitors for the pharaoh. The four men looked at each other, surprised that there were visitors to see him so soon after they arrived in the palace. They opened the doors, which they really hated doing since they were so heavy.

The narrow corridor opened into a magnificent room of decorated pillars and metallic stone, a few people lingering on either side of an invisible pathway that was left open all the way to the mysterious figure on the throne. Takmet led the girls into the vast chamber, ignoring the looks of members of the royal court that told him that they were disturbed by this interruption of their leisure time in the throne room. None dared object out loud of course, first because of Takmet’s rumored power, and second because of his close relationship with the pharaoh.

Many of the rumors that circulated in the palace about this man the pharaoh trusted were totally false, emphasizing a silent cruelty and magical origins. They had no evidence that set the truth on the floor, for the young Egyptian everyone called Takmet rarely spoke in front of the court and always had a troubled but almost indifferent look on his face in their presence. If anyone whispered, he heard it and turned, each time locating the offender without fail. The petrified citizen would take his distracted glance as a glare, and so spread more rumors.

Sasaki noticed a change in Takmet’s mood and whole appearance in the face of all these people, and even she saw his glances around the room as a type of glare. But, being a palace guest, she had not had the chance to speak with any other occupants of the place besides Hotep, and if she had, and the subject of that solitary young man came up, she would not have believed the impression of Takmet that they would have given.

The figure on the throne leaned forward a bit, recognizing his childhood friend in a second. He waved his hand and without a word the obedient members of the court and the women that surrounded his high seat, clad in various treasures, filed out of the large hall. As soon as the doors were closed after the whispering members of the court Takmet relaxed a bit, throwing off the change in attitude Sasaki had sensed and reverting back to the man she had first been introduced to. Sasaki felt the tension leave with the court, wondering anew about her recent acquaintance.

Chloe, Mandi, and Ami, knowing that they were in the presence of a man who ruled the entire country and who allowed them to stay in the palace, stayed quiet for once, examining their surroundings. Takmet breathed a comfortable sigh, stepping forward to the throne, the four girls from the future following him. Just then a face Takmet knew too well, one he had despised and distrusted all his life, appeared in a whirl of a silk cape from behind the various curtains that fluttered behind the throne. Takmet stopped abruptly, agitation rising, but then he continued walking, exercising a moderate effort not to show his extreme distrust of this man.

Takmet stopped just before the floor rose as steps to the throne, bowed slightly, keeping his eyes on the familiar figure of the pharaoh’s advisor who smirked at Takmet’s distrustful gaze.

“Excuse the intrusion, majesty,” Takmet began, a trace of sarcasm in his greeting, focusing on his monarch’s face, “but this is the girl I returned with a couple days ago, who I took under my care. Her name is Sasaki.” Takmet watched the advisor’s face, then looked over his shoulder at Sasaki, cueing her to come forward to stand in front of him.

She did so. At this point, Sasaki could study the pharaoh without seeming rude. He was only a few years older than she, having a commanding presence for such a young man. Dark hair was revealed as he took off his gilded headdress and soulful dark brown eyes typical in Egypt gazed at her. He was well built, probably taller than Takmet, though it was hard for her to judge while she stood several steps below him.

Her gaze fell on the pharaoh’s advisor. Sasaki fell back several feet, her eyes wide with recognition and a dislike for this man. In the same instant, the advisor stared at her in surprise and then in contempt. Sasaki backed right into Takmet, which only blew her forward again, thrown violently into the steps as electricity crackled over her tense body, her right hand covering the symbol that flared on her arm. Takmet was hurled into her friends who caught him in surprise and absorbed the scene of both he and Sasaki, sizzling with electric forces.