“Hide your hands behind your back when she comes to bid you farewell. Better yet, take it off and tuck it into your travel chest, but once you’re away from here, put it on and never take it off until we’re together again. I want you to have it, to look at it every day, and to remember me.”
“I don’t need a bracelet to help me do that!” Bit-Bit threw herself into my arms and clung to me until Father came to announce that it was time for my family to leave me.
Bit-Bit needn’t have worried about Aunt Tiye spying her gift going to Akhmin instead of Thebes. The queen didn’t bother to say goodbye to her brother. Instead she sent that tall, toadying servant of hers with a message saying that she was busy with preparations for her own departure from Abydos and wishing Father a safe voyage home.
I had to say my goodbyes at the gateway of the temple complex where we’d been staying. Henenu and Berett stood beside me as I watched the sedan chairs carry my parents and my little sister away. I didn’t move from the spot until they were completely gone from sight, and even then I didn’t cry. I didn’t know if the gods would listen to a prayer that was half smothered by sobs, and I wanted to be sure that my words were heard.
“Blessed Isis, protect my father, my mother, my sister. Generous Hapy, give them a safe voyage home on your sacred river. Sweet Hathor, grant that we will meet again soon, in joy and peace. I don’t care if I meet them as a princess or a beggar, only as myself. Great Sekhmet, give me your strength to stand firm against anyone—anyone!—who tries to change who I am into someone they think I ought to be.” I stretched out my hands in the proper gesture for ending a prayer and wished I could still touch the loved ones who’d been taken from me.
A little later that morning, I found myself seated beside my aunt on the deck of her magnificent ship, watching the sailors unfurl a painted canopy to shield us from the sun. I’d given Berett into Henenu’s care again and asked my friend the scribe to explain to her why she couldn’t travel with me. I wanted to keep her out of my aunt’s sight for as long as possible. Aunt Tiye knew I had a slave girl, but I didn’t want her to know anything else about Berett. If she knew how deeply I cared about the child’s welfare, she’d turn it into a tool or worse: a weapon.
My aunt is giving me my first lesson in court intrigue and she doesn’t even know she’s doing it. The thought pleased me. Once we reach Thebes, I’ll ask Henenu to help me give Berett her freedom. It has to be done the right way. I can’t give her back her sister’s life, but at least she’ll have her own.
I looked ahead to where Henenu and Berett were standing at the prow of the ship, mingling with the few servants important enough to sail in the royal vessel. The rest of Aunt Tiye’s attendants were making the voyage to Thebes in smaller, much less luxurious boats. Thebes lay upriver from Abydos, so we had the advantage of the prevailing winds. Our sail bellied out, and though the current of the sacred river ran against us, the power of the wind was stronger. Aunt Tiye also insisted that the sailors man the oars. She was in a great rush to bring me to Thebes. She demanded that the men row day and night, though that meant they had to put a small boat made of bound papyrus reeds over the side at sundown, to light the water ahead with a lantern. When the sailors tired, she had her servants take their places. No one grumbled. No one dared.
I don’t know how long it would have taken if we’d relied only on the wind, but by dawn of the third day, we’d reached our destination. I stood by the right-hand side of the ship and saw tawny cliffs and many buildings rising in the distance. I knew that rippling wall of stone was where the sun-god’s Boat of Eternity sheltered the carefully concealed tombs of many kings. Their queens were also buried on that side of the river, as were all the nobles who could afford to build their tombs deep in the rock. The buildings I saw were temples, built to receive offerings for the royal spirits who thronged those eternal cities of the dead. I thrilled to imagine the astounding wealth that lay hidden in the depths of those cliffs, but my heart beat even faster at the thought of all the histories of life after life and age after age, preserved in words carved into the temple walls. Through them, the dead could live and speak again. They were the true treasures. I turned my back on the western bank and crossed to the left-hand side of the boat. From there, the view was even more impressive. We sailed in the midst of many ships, large and small, glorious and humble, all gliding past the glorious temples, palaces, and gardens of Thebes. The shore teemed with life. All sorts of people were scampering back and forth on unknown errands, though some of the more richly dressed didn’t seem to be in any hurry at all. Towering date palms cast their shadows onto the river. An old man poled a narrow papyrus raft through the shallows, singing lustily. Some women waded knee-deep in the water, filling pots. Others were hard at work, washing clothes and spreading them to dry on low-growing shrubs. Still others walked tall and straight, with baskets on their heads piled high with fruits, bread, and vegetables.
When our ship reached its berth at the dock, I was surprised to see that there were no sedan chairs waiting to carry us away. Instead, a troop of servants carrying sunshades and long-handled fans made from dyed ostrich plumes swarmed forward to greet the queen. Aunt Tiye beamed with satisfaction as they all raised their voices and welcomed her with every sign of delight. As soon as her foot touched the dock, her attendants surrounded her. “Well, my dear?” she called back to me. “What are you waiting for?”
I looked around for Berett and Henenu. There was no trace of them anywhere I could see on board our ship. Then I heard my friend’s familiar voice hail me. He’d already disembarked and was waving to me from the shore. Berett stood as close to him as his shadow, her thin arms wrapped around her harp. Relieved, I left the royal ship and made my way to the queen’s side.