Defying Nature (narrative)
Kemet was still young. Aset, too, was really still young, but she felt so very old. She'd loved and lost and found that love again only to lose him to another realm. She'd raised children and watched as one by one they no longer needed her. She knew they would always need her, but not in the same way they used to. She'd gained insights and wisdom, yet had also learned how to scheme and lie when it suited her. Looking back on her life, there were times she really wasn't sure which way the scales of happiness tipped for her, and today was to be another unhappy day in the young Queen's life.
There was another the scales would soon be weighing in on, but they were a far different set of scales. These would be the final scales her beloved head of household would face, her Ib, her heart, against the Feather. Aset had no worries in that area, but it seemed the dying woman did.
"I'm scared, Aset." Those were words the Queen could not have fathomed would ever be uttered by Fatima. She was a rock, a pillar, a force few could stand against. She ran Aset's household like a general in an army. Along with her strength she carried honesty, humor, and no small amount of love for Aset and her family.
Sitting next to the prone, frail woman, Aset reached for her hand. "You have nothing to be frightened of. I will be there, as you know, and the Trials in the Duat hold nothing for you to worry about. Your akh will reside forever in the Field of Reeds."
"Bah!" The weakening woman seemed to find her old fire for a moment. "What use will I have in Aaru? Whose house will I run there? Or will I sit back, idle, while my ushabtis do my work?" A snort conveyed exactly what Fatima thought of the idea. "And it is not myself that I fear for, my mistress, but you. What will you do without me? You need me here."
Silence hung between them for a moment. It was a thought the Queen had had many times as she began to understand that Fatima's khat was failing.
Fatima had begun her adulthood as a priestess to Aset, but she was suited for far more than dancing or serving wine. Aset noticed her early on, and brought her into her temple where she could serve her more directly. It didn't take long for Fatima to show her usefulness, and her own particular style of management. It took far less time than it did for most for her to gain her current position as the head of the household staff. Yet she never fell into the role as so many others did, directing and ordering above most else. She did her fair share of that, as was her place, but she continued to perform the duties those beneath her were more than capable of. It was just not her way to sit back and let others work in her stead.
Over time, she became as much a member of Aset's odd little family as the rest of them. Without her, things would certainly be quieter, and far more unsettled. The Queen had already begun to feel the affects of her departure into the Duat; one more loss of a cherished one in her life.
"You can fix this."
Aset looked up sharply as her thoughts were interrupted. What was she suggesting?
"I know you can. I know about that boy, and if you could do that for him, who you barely knew, am I not also worthy of such magic?"
"I don't know what you mean." Stalling. It seemed the old saying was true... the maids knew everything. It was true that Aset had once attempted to make a boy immortal, but the boy's mother, a queen in her mortal land, had come in at a most inopportune moment and she had been forced to withdraw from her efforts.
"Yes you do. Aset, you need me, and what other place is there for me beyond these walls? Aaru holds no joys for me as it does others, and no one else could ever replace me here."
"You think highly of yourself." A bit of amusement entered Aset's tone, but her face remained impassive. She did not miss that Fatima addressed her by her name, something highly inappropriate in a servant, and far too intimate if that was truly all Fatima was to her.
Another snort. "No more than you do. Admit it, child, I am needed here." Aset would have laughed at the idea of Fatima referring to her as a child if not for the seriousness of the moment.
"It will not be without pain."
"Think you that I am not suffering now?"
"You must understand. I cannot prevent you from ever dying. I can end your aging, even reverse it somewhat, and you will never succumb to human disease or a wearing down of the body. But such injuries as can end any other human's life can still end yours. Even I am not beyond a permanent end to this existence. You may delay it for years beyond imagining, but the day will still come when you will face those Scales as all humans in our world must."
"Will...anything else change?" Her voice was cracking, becoming so quiet the Queen had to strain to hear her.
Aset only puzzled for a moment before she understood. "No. You will be as before. Immortal, but not divine. That is beyond me." Only one human had ever been granted godhood, and that had involved more politics among the Elders than she could have imagined.
"Good." Aset realized she wasn't really surprised by the response. It wasn't Fatima's style, and she already had more than enough power in this temple, as was evident by the fact that Aset was even considering it. More than considering it, for honestly, the decision had already been made.
"Are you certain?"
Fatima lifted her head enough to nod once before her had fell back again, her eyes closing. "Hurry."
For perhaps the first time, Life did exactly as a mortal instructed her to. She hurried.