The Sands of Time

Nour slowly opened the door to let Ammon in; her makeup had run down her face, and her eyes were red. She nodded in response to his question, and took a seat in the corner of the room amongst a pile of pillows. Nour poured herself a glass of wine, and downed it before pouring another glass as she she wiped away some tears. She offered Ammon some wine, but she neither looked at him, nor spoke to him.

Ammon had been about to say something to her, but something stopped him. It was almost as though something, or someone, was telling him just to listen, to sense. Silently, he took the glass of wine from her with a gentle hand and sat down near her, though he granted her space. He looked down into the liquid and took a small sip before he looked back at her and spoke in the gentlest tone. "When you're ready to speak to me, Nour," he began quietly, closing his eyes to rest for a moment so he could sense the air around her. "I'm right here and I will not leave your side unless you request me to."

Nour sipped at her wine, staring into the cup when it wasn't against her lips. At least it seemed like she had calmed down a bit. Nour poured herself another drink at least three times before she finally spoke, but she still did not look at him.
"The gods have cursed me" Nour said sadly as she stared into her glass of wine before taking a sip. "I shall bare no fruit until our enemies are dead." Nour finished her drink, and tossed the empty glass out of anger. "They believe a child will affect my duties as guardian. I was never with child." Nour wiped away the tears that threatened to fall, and took another sip of her wine. "How do I tell Seth? He was so happy at the possibility of a child."

Ammon remained silent at the news. Never with child? That didn't seem possible... He tipped his head down for a moment before he looked up at her and gave a small smile. "If it is requested of my mentor," he said slowly. "I will be the one to speak with Seth about this."

Nour hung her head, and let out a sad sigh. It was sweet of Ammon to offer his help, but she couldn't do that to him.
"It's sweet of you to offer, Ammon, but I cannot ask you to do this" Nour said sadly. She shifted her weight as her knees were starting to get a bit sore, at least that's what it looked like.

"But will you yourself be fit enough to tell him?" Ammon questioned gently, a soft frown crossing his face. "If it will help ease your mind, I'll tell him."

Nour looked up at Ammon and burst out crying yet again. They had hoped to be a family for quite some time, and their chances were gone. Nour would bare nobody's children, no matter how much she wanted to.
"I can't do it, Ammon..." She sobbed for a while before finally managing to say something else. "Why would a God remain at the side of a barren bitch, let alone love her?"

Ammon gently touched Nour's shoulder to comfort her. "Why would Seth abandon you simply because you cannot bear him a child?" He countered right back at her. "I've seen the way he looks at you. He loves you, Nour. No matter if you can bear him a child or not, I believe he will always love you."

Nour placed her hand on Ammon's, and took a deep and shaky breath. She looked up at him with a small smile before hanging her head.
"Still... he longs for a child, something I can't yet give him. Not until I have broken this curse." Nour took a few more breaths to calm herself before closing her eyes for a moment. "It is all I can do for now."

"Seth will understand, then," Ammon reassured, giving her another smile. "You and him are bonded. Nothing can break that. Not even something like this." Where did he get this wisdom from? He was still young.

Nour looked up at Ammon with a small smile as she wiped away tears. He spoke with wisdom beyond his years, and she hoped he was right.
"I suppose you're right, Ammon. I will speak with Seth in the morning" Nour said quietly before making her way over to a pile of pillows, curled up amongst them, and pulled a thin blanket over herself. "Thank you, Ammon."

Ammon rose to his feet and offered a smile as he made his way to the door. "You're welcome, Nour," he said simply as he opened the door and stepped out to go towards his own pile of comfortable pillows.

There was a loud commotion in the temple the next morning. Sand had filled the better part of the main chamber, and Seth was throwing things around in a fit of unbridled rage. Nour stood in the centre of all this chaos, watching him as she smoked a pipe. She would occasionally wipe some sand off of herself, but she didn't seem to react to Seth's outburst.
"Neket iadets" Seth roared before continuing to shout in the old tongue. Nour calmly took another drag from the pipe as she watched him throw a tantrum. She figured it would be best for him to work through his anger by himself, but if he became too violent, she would step in to calm him.

Ammon woke up to the commotion. He sat up in his pillows and rubbed his eyes while the rest of his body tried to find itself. Slowly, Anubis's chosen rose to his feet and stepped to Nour's side, watching Seth take his temper tantrum and gazing down at the sand at his feet. "I'm guessing he didn't take the news well," he stated calmly.

Nour watched Seth throw some more things around, and shielded her and Ammon from the occasional burst of sand. At some point, he almost hit them by accident.
"He didn'ttake it well at all" Nour said sadly as she wiped her eyes. She watched Seth for a moment before letting out a sigh, he was broken. Seth started tossing weapons about, so Nour had to do something. "Ammon, this is part of your training, calming a god." Nour set her pipe aside, and watched Seth closely. Once he was close enough, she leapt onto him, immediately wrapping an arm around his throat, trying to calm him somewhat. She grabbed his arms, and pulled them against his back, pulling his hands to his neck. Seth cried out in pain, still trying to fight back, to resist. Nour placed a hand against his head, and spoke to him in the old tongue causing Seth to finally start calming down.

Ammon's eyes grew wide in amazement. Nour definitely was a force to be reckoned with, that was for sure. He'd never seen anyone calm a god in this manner. Usually it was by sacrifice, but it seemed that this wasn't the case with Seth. Ammon leaned forward a little, soaking up all this information like a camel would water.

Once Seth had been subdued, Nour helped him outside to the sands and spoke to him briefly before he disappeared. She stood there for a moment, just staring out at the vast desert before returning to Ammon.
"Some gods are more difficult to deal with, but ultimately they can be reasoned with" Nour said with a sigh as she sat down before taking a final sip of her wine. "We'll be heading out in a week, we've been given a quest."

(Think you can link me to our other threads? I forgot their names like a dummy lol)

Ammon looked up at the prospect of a quest and almost seemed to brighten. "What kind of quest," he asked curiously, tilting his head to the side like a curious puppy.

Nour looked to Ammon with a somewhat sinister smile with a hint of anger, whatever quest they had been given, she was going to enjoy it.
"Some sick souls have been killing cats, and making counterfeit mummies. As you can imagine, Bastet is outraged. We are to find the man in charge, and make an imitation out of him, as well as kill off his underlings. It's also a chance for you to practice your embalming technique which will likely please Anubis."


(No problem :3 glad you're back ヾ(^ω^*)
https://acrpf.forumotion.com/t830p325-shattered-sanity


https://acrpf.forumotion.com/t815p600-the-best-of-the-worst-closed
)

(I'm glad to be back! GhostFaceKiller is also returning ^_^)

Ammon nodded in acceptance of her words and didn't look at all intimidated by the prospect of embalming someone. In fact, the look on his face suggested that he was interested in learning this process. "Who will be teaching the process," he asked, a curious tone backing his voice.

"Ma'alir, an embalmer from Ombos that lives in the slums of Alexandria" Nour answered. "He's a good man, he'll even offer you shelter should you need it, or dispose of a corpse or two." Nour began preparing a tea from small yellow flowers and needle-like leaves, carefully tending the pot.

Ammon nodded at this information, careful to not lose any of it to the back of his mind. Instead, he watched her carefully tending to her tea and took a breath of the aroma it was giving off. A small smile played on his lips before he asked her a question. "What kind of tea are you brewing," he asked.

Nour looked up from the pot with a small smile.
"A sleeping tea. Chamomile, and a strange plant brought here by a traveller from the very distant south." Nour chuckled slightly at the memory of the traveller. "It's funny, we barely understood each other, but we still learned from each other." Nour pointed to a mantis encased in amber, "That's his god, I'm trying to save him but nothing seems to work."

Ammon turned his attention to the amber that she was pointing at. A frown creased his brow, making it look like he was in thought, which he was. He continued to stare at it for a time before he reached out a hand to touch it.

The eyes of the tiny mantis focused on Ammon, before turning white as the entity shared a vision with him. Beautiful rolling planes stretched out before Ammon, various antelope grazing freely and a herd of zebras ran around happily. A young khoisan man attempted to steal an ostrich egg but failed miserably and was chased about rather comedically. The mantis's land was a land of peace, and he would play harmless pranks on his people. He focused on the image of a shaman smoking a pipe and communicating with a porcupine before releasing Ammon from the vision.