Chapter #7: Amiss
Mara walked back to her home after concluding her day with Bastet and Ptah. She reached into her pocket as the afternoon light droned on and grasped her crystal. She mulled over who she was going to contact as she made her way to the doorway of her home. She leaned against the stone door jam and pressed down the center of the crystal link disc, making a connection with the link crystal’s partner. The disc vibrated in her hand until a holographic window popped up showing the face of Iliana on it, “Can I call you back later, this isn’t a good time.”
“Are you heading to the Ennead family dinner?” Mara questioned in response.
“How did you know about that?” Iliana blinked, perplexed by the question.
“Well, I mean Thoth and Bastet were with Horus for a while before they all split their separate ways,” Mara mentioned in response.
“That’s true,” Iliana nodded, “However, I will be going with Anubis. I can’t have you hanging on my arm there at the moment. Do you want to bring Tiye with you?”
“Of course,” Mara nodded in response, “If Tiye is back, I will ask him if he wants to go.”
“Okay, I will meet you at your house, be ready in like ten minutes,” Iliana replied then cuff off the link, the holographic display faded.
Mara smiled and opened the door to the house. The inside was dark on the main floor. She willed the lights on and could see there was no one in the upstairs. She glanced out one of the windows and saw the spectrum reflected the light that felt like early afternoon, it’s getting late for me. I wonder if it isn’t quite that way for Tiye? She walked down the stairs to the downstairs area. The sitting room was empty, the bedroom was dark and the Crystalarium chamber was empty. However, she did notice a new feature. A new bedroom that she hadn’t seen before, what the hell? She thought. Iliana had been over a few times, it was enough for the land to change itself to give her home another bedroom, the nearest she could reason. However, that bedroom was also empty, it seemed like there was no one was home.
Mara sauntered back upstairs to see two people standing in her doorway. She blinked as they changed forms to match the kind of human form Mara preferred. She recognized them as Iliana and Kebechet. Mara raced the distanced and embraced Iliana in a hug, “Anput! My love!” She smiled as she embraced her tightly.
“You can use Atropia around me, Mara,” Kebechet smiled as she saw happiness fill Mara’s face and make her cheeks flush, “I know her Maldeveckian name.”
Iliana nodded, “Atropia and Iliana are often used around the house and with friends of mine.” She mentioned, “It’s okay until we get to Isis’s house.”
Mara released Iliana and smiled, “I might just call you ‘my love’ like I always did back on Earth.”
“So, is Tiye here?” Kebechet questioned in response.
Mara shook her head, “No. He must still be at the academy.”
“Too bad, we can’t wait too long to get there,” Kebechet mentioned then pulled a crystal disc out of her pocket, “Oh I was there when you contacted Atropia. We can link our link discs together.”
The crystal disc was slightly different than Mara’s. It still had a black obsidian disc and the same quartz crystals as hers, except Kebechet’s had crystal balls that seemed to be glued onto the disc. Kebechet held her hand out and waved her hand over the center of the small disc. Six of the seven crystals shot up into the air and started orbiting around Kebechet’s shoulders, “Okay, activate your link disc and place it within the orbit of my link crystals.”
Mara gave Kebechet a confused look as she took out her link crystal and swiped over it. The crystals grew from their plate to the hexagonal crystals she was familiar with. She placed it in the orbit of Kebechet’s. A moment later one of the quartz spheres flying around the Exarch collided with one of Mara’s crystals. It rolled over to the matching crystal and started to glow. Another one hit it and did the same thing. The central crystal on both started to glow with each successive collision until all seven lit up. The crystal orbs returned to the disc and Mara’s crystals receded into their spots in her obsidian disc. Kebechet smiled, “Cool, we can contact each other now!”
Mara nodded with a smile then blinked in shock, “Wait, how come you are back from the academy, Atropia, and not stuck there?”
“I’m either in Expert or advanced level classes, for the most part. Tiye may not be in any expert classes, especially since he wasn’t tied to magic as much as we are. I don’t think when he was known as V during our last run on Earth that she, back then, used any magic aside from some psionic powers.”
“You’re right,” Mara nodded in response, “She used telepathic and empathic powers, but not much more.”
“Imagine what you two could have accomplished if you managed to teach her our magic more in your incarnations together,” Iliana mentioned in response.
“Imagine what he will be able to teach me now,” Mara mentioned.
Kebechet turned to head to the local portal, “From what I have heard, you not only passed my evaluation, but you also passed Bastet’s evaluation. You only need someone to evaluate your time magic and you will be ready for the academy.”
“That’s pretty good,” Iliana nodded as she followed Kebechet with Mara in tow, “Outside my Arcane powers, I had to learn how to sense things with Nwyfre based magic before I could enter. I caught on quickly after that, however.”
“Probably skipped a few grades in the process,” Mara chuckled.
“Maybe,” Iliana smirked in response.
They passed through the portal and arrived at another part of the Arcadia Gardens. The ground was clear except for sharply colored red grass on the ground and a few cultivated black trees with orange leaves hanging from them. The air here was drier and warmer, but the scent of lotus flowers hung in the air. In the distance was a large castle. It didn’t look like a mastaba like her own place and the house Bastet lived in. It seemed majestic looking, and the shining pyramid of white had stairs leading up to the top of the first tier where a large stone door was present.
The trio ascended the stairs to the top of the first tier and Kebechet reached out to open the door, “Who’s place is this?” Mara questioned as they strode in and faced a long stone hallway with beads of shining light interposed enough to give it a comfortable luminance.
“This is Osiris’s castle,” Iliana mentioned.
“The place changed around their needs,” Kebechet mentioned, “I have been here many times and saw a few changes including a courtyard and some pools. Osiris and Isis don’t like to leave very much so the place grew according to their needs.”
“To explain why so many of us have only a cozy place,” Mara mentioned in response.
“Soon it will start to grow into something else to suit your needs if it hasn’t already started,” Iliana mentioned, “If that is what you are worried about.”
“I don’t even know what my needs are yet,” Mara smirked as they descended to the main level of the castle. She paused as she realized something about what Iliana said, that new bedroom. I will have to talk to the Archon family to see how this all works.
They hit the main level and Mara’s nostrils were suddenly filled with the aroma of various foods, some of them she couldn’t identify. However, the smell of freshly cooked meats and vegetables were clearly present in the pleasant odor. She would find out what the unknown quantity she detected would be soon.
There was a long table heavily populated with Exarchs behind a wall with a wide-open sliding door. Mara recognized a few at the table already, Anubis was there, so was Wepwawet the Pathfinder, Horus was on the other side of Isis and Osiris with Nephthys next to him. There were several other Exarchs there, some she recognized from her short time in the Ma’at.
Mara followed Kebechet and Iliana into the room. Right away Anubis rose and embraced her in a hug, “I missed you.” He replied, “We were about to start without you.” He glanced over to Mara and gave a nod and a smile, “It is good to see you again, Mara. Where do you want to sit?”
Mara’s kneejerk reaction was to say she wanted to sit on the other side of Iliana. However, it looked like everyone had brought their children or primary partners with them. She quickly ruled that out as she didn’t want to make things more awkward than they were. She could also sense that it was tradition for the two younger Exarchs sitting next to Horus sitting there. While she was Horus’s daughter before the two younger Exarchs sitting next to him, she felt it would also cause friction. She glanced to Kebechet, “I will sit next to you, Kebechet.”
Kebechet practically grinned from ear to ear as she led them to Anubis’s side of the table. They sat in order from the top end being Isis and Osiris, then on the left side was Anubis and Iliana followed by Kebechet and Mara. Next to Mara was Wepwawet who seemed also to be grateful that Mara was there. On the other side of the table was Horus who had a disgruntled look on his face, Nephthys who was keeping a passive mask of emotionless tone on her face, but Mara could see trouble behind her brilliant eyes.
Most of the Exarchs there had assumed a human form. All except four Exarchs there which sat in their true forms: the four suns of Horus. Mara could feel recognition from Imsety as well as anger flowing from him. Hapy seemed less angry and more indifferent, but she could sense annoyance from him, Duamutef and Qebehsenuef followed the lead of their older brothers but seemed genuinely confused as to why their elder brothers were upset.
Mara glanced at the display of food available to her. Most of it was familiar to her despite the colors being different. There was corn that was decidedly orange as opposed to the faded golden yellow she was used to, Green beans that were red, Peas that were purple, Quinoa that was green, salad of many different colors, as well as meats from fish and poultry which were normal colors. There was a substance of amber looking jelly that she didn’t recognize.
Osiris reached out and grabbed a tray of fish fillet’s pulling one onto his plate before passing it to his left and to his wife. Soon after people started grabbing the dishes of food in front of them and passing it clockwise. Mara realized that she was in front of the jelly like substance. Kebechet gave Mara a curious glance and said, “Do you not like Ambrosia?”
Mara gave her a bewildered look and shrugged, “I was wondering what it was. I never had it before.”
“You should try it,” Iliana mentioned, “You will like it. It tastes different for everyone.”
Mara shrugged and dished a couple of spoonful’s worth of Ambrosia on her plate before passing it to Kebechet. Iliana winked as Mara dished some of the red, green beans on her plate, “Ambrosia does have an effect.” She cautioned.
“I didn’t know that Anput,” Mara answered taking care to use Iliana’s Exarch name. She was sure they could get away with using one of the other two names if it were no one other than Anubis, Kebechet, and the two of them.
Passing it along she took small samples of nearly everything including a chicken breast and some of the fish on the plates as they passed her way. She considered herself fortunate that one of the younger sons of Horus was passing her the food. If she were in front of one of the older two, she was sure they would have continually put the food just out of her reach and make her get up to get the serving plates before passing it on.
Once all the dishes had made a circuit around the table once, Osiris dug into his food. Mara took a fork and tasted her helping of the oddly colored vegetables. They all tasted as she would have expected if they were their normal colors. It made her wonder if the food only tasted that way because that was what she was expecting or if somehow Avalon had made the food taste familiar to her.
Conversations intermediately broke out during the meal, mostly it was Osiris and his children conversing with each other, occasionally either Horus or Anubis would make mention of something that encouraged conversation with their children. Mara stayed silent while she ate her food, saving the ambrosia on her plate for last. Something was mentioned and Kebechet mentioned Mara’s name once. She wasn’t exactly paying attention, but Mara was sure it had something to do with their day together.
Mara ate slowly, trying to match her pace with the others at the table. Still afraid to try the Ambrosia, mainly because of myths she had heard about when normal humans ate the substance. She didn’t know if it would affect her Exarch construct, but she assumed that since she didn’t have any of them as a little kid, there was some sort of effect. She didn’t want to risk it as she still had a personal mission to carry out.
Kebechet glanced over and asked, “Are you going to eat your Ambrosia or is it there for decoration?”
Mara gave Kebechet a sidelong glance, “I don’t know how it will affect me.”
She shrugged, “Well you aren’t human, so it isn’t going to be a healing food for you. I’m trying to think of a human analogue you might recognize.”
“Does it have a narcotic effect?” Mara questioned in response.
Kebechet shrugged, “You will have to try some to find out. you have enough there that you looked like you dished it like a pro.”
“Again, never had it, didn’t want to waste it,” Mara mentioned in response.
“You don’t have to worry about wasting food, we will just put it back in the ground. Also, food here doesn’t go bad,” Kebechet mentioned in response, “It’s only that Ambrosia doesn’t grow. It has to be made using our skills as Exarchs.”
“Oh, this is magic food,” Mara chuckled.
“Sort of,” Kebechet shrugged, “There are a few that know how to make it.” She took a taste of her own Ambrosia, “This was made by Renenutet.”
“So, locally grown,” Mara mentioned. She took up a spoonful and looked at it.
Kebechet laughed, “Go on, that will be enough for a mild effect.”
Mara slid the spoonful of ambrosia in her mouth. The substance was sweet, chocolaty, and sort of meaty. It was hard for her to wrap her senses around the complicated flavor which as she chewed produced different notes of citrus and coconut. It was an odd flavor, but one she enjoyed.
She glanced over and noticed Kebechet staring intently at her, “how was it?”
Mara nodded and took the second scoopful that she had on her plate, “It’s very good. Very odd.”
Kebechet smiled, “You might want to wait five minutes or so. You will get a decent feeling if you eat the other half of what you scooped onto her plate.”
“But it’s just about the only thing I have left on my plate,” Mara sat her spoon down on the plate.
“You must have grown up on a world that had rules about finishing your plate,” Kebechet smirked, “Since it’s your first time with the ambrosia, let the first bite settle in.”
Mara nodded and that was when she noticed the first hints of something different. Even though she stopped shaking her head it still felt like she was nodding. She grasped the table, “Whoa!” She sighed as her eyes widened.
Kebechet rubbed her shoulders and helped brace her, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Mara refrained from nodding as the vertigo was getting to her. However, she felt warm and content. She finally had a comparison to tell Kebechet as random connections started to form in her mind, “It just feels like I am stoned, that’s all.”
“Oh, a certain flowering plant on back on Earth,” Kebechet nodded, “I guess it is like that one. It will mellow out in a few.”
“She acts like she had half a plate of Ambrosia!” Imsety sneered.
“It’s her first time, how was your first time, cousin?” Kebechet hissed in response.
“It wouldn’t have been Imhoteptis’ first time if she had stayed with us and went to the academy like everyone else,” Imsety tersely replied.
“That’s rude!” Mara growled and leveled a blue-green eyed glare on Imsety, “How about I call you a canopic jar? I made it clear to the head of the Arcadia Gardens and current leader of the Exarchs that my name is Mara. I don’t know what I did to offend you, but I deserve enough respect to be called by the name I decreed.”
“Father gave you the name of Imhoteptis!” Imsety sneered, “You dishonor him by using your human name!”
“Ever occurred to you that Mara spent the large majority of her life as a human?” Kebechet hissed.
“Wouldn’t have happened if she didn’t join the human incarnation cycle!” He slammed a fist on the table.
“Hey!” Iliana shouted, her voice booming and silencing all conversation, “Mara has done nothing wrong! You will show her the same respect you would show an older sibling and respect the wisdom she had with living with the humans. As I recall, we now spend a life in a multiverse at the academy, so you have nothing to be upset at her about!”
“Wife!” Anubis grabbed Iliana’s shoulder gently, “Please don’t yell.”
“But Anput is right,” Horus said, “Mara has done nothing wrong and most people here at this table if they had lived for millions of years, thousands of incarnations, in the human reincarnation cycle, we would probably favor a human name as well.”
“Human names are for the Exarch-Exalted, like the one she took as consort,” Hapy protested.
“Son,” Horus glared, “Mara has done nothing wrong. Respect your older sibling.”
Imsety rose from the table and plowed his hand through the serving dish of Ambrosia, taking a handful with him and walking away. Hapy grabbed his glass of water and left. The other two brothers sat there looking confused. Horus rolled his eyes, “Hopefully he will be able to walk after all that ambrosia.”
“He can stay here if he can’t,” Isis smiled and gave a gentle squeeze on her oldest son’s shoulders.
Mara sat back, slowly, deliberately, and precisely as she fought the Euphoric and twisting feeling of the ambrosia. Isis glanced over and said, “Same offer for you, Mara. We have enough rooms here for the whole family.”
“Prodigal child returns,” Mara telepathically projected to Iliana who received a nod from the other woman. Aloud, she replied to Isis, “We will see how I am feeling, I will need to call Tiye if I do stay.”
“You might want to do that, Mara,” Kebechet mentioned.
“I am sure your healing water will help me with this,” Mara mentioned in response.
Kebechet laughed, “It might, but I want to see what inebriated you does first.”
Mara blushed, “Probably not a good thing tonight considering I have a brother eternally upset with me.” Mara focused the best she could as people started to rise to move their conversations to another room, “Iliana, help me with Isis,” Mara telepathically projected.
Iliana blinked, glancing quickly to Mara then to Isis, “Alone?”
Iliana glanced back just in time to see Mara nod, she walked over to Isis at that moment and said, “How about you and I help Mara out to the courtyard for some fresh air?”
Isis shut her eyes and held her arms out before her. Imsety was not in the courtyard but in a game room far away. Hapy was with him, listening and occasionally jumping into his tirade about Mara, both had split the share of ambrosia Imsety took with him. Isis let her hands fall to her side and nodded, “That sounds good.”
Kebechet hooked her arm under Mara’s shoulders and hoisted her to her feet, “Do you think you can make it on your own or do you need help?”
Mara took a hesitant step forward. While the room seemed to spin for her, she still felt like her footing and balance were solid enough to trust on her own, “I think I will be okay.”
Iliana smiled and nodded leading the three women to the courtyard. Mara followed along taking deliberate steps to make sure her feet really were landing on the ground. Her arms were outstretched to provide additional feedback from the wall as to where her body was in space and especially if it were significantly drifting from upright.
Isis opened a wooden door to the courtyard. There were a few round tables with stone padded chairs. The courtyard didn’t have a roof, but the walls of several stories provided shade while still letting in enough light from the spectrum to give it that sunny feeling. The tone of the light Mara noticed as she followed them to a table in the distance was growing a dimmer red. It seemed it was getting late for her, if no one else. The sky seemed to darken with each step.
Mara pulled up a chair and sat down. At last, off her feet, she wondered how she was ablet o walk the distance without falling over. She glanced up to see a pensively curious gaze from Isis straight at her, brown eyes connecting with blue green, “So, what do you want to talk about, child?”
“This might come off more bluntly than I would have intended, I didn’t know the Ambrosia would do this to me,” Mara mentioned, “I have something I want to ask you, but it is a hard question, and you are totally free to turn it down.”
“I will do my best with it,” Isis mentioned, “What is it about?”
“I want to know what happened, that led Set to do what he did to Osiris,” Mara mentioned in response.
Isis sat back and crossed her arms, “How much of it do you know?” She asked as her complexion paled.
“I got Set’s side of the story already,” Mara answered.
“That’s what Thoth meant,” She nodded, “She said Bastet mentioned you followed the harder path of love. The forgiveness of a traitor.”
“I want to know how much of what he said was true,” Mara mentioned.
“I don’t recall the exact specifics of the deal between Osiris and Set. I know Set has always wanted a kid with his own magical DNA. That he didn’t get but we gave him a child to raise as his own. Considering Ra is our father, that is close enough,” Isis mentioned, “Also, my husband can be jealous of me. That is why we didn’t have any more children after he betrayed us.”
“Why Nephthys is also with Horus,” Mara nodded, “What do you know of the deal?”
“Like I said, I don’t know the specifics,” Isis answered.
“But what you were told, that is something you do know,” Mara mentioned in response.
Isis took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “From what I was told, was that we would give him a child in the event of twins.”
Mara cocked her head in response and gave a questioning glance to Iliana who was listening silently. Her eyes found a mismatched gold and green mirror in Iliana’s eyes. It didn’t seem to add up. Mara glanced back to Isis, “That is a mighty specific exception.”
Isis shrugged, “Nevertheless, Wepwawet was a twin, and he had the potential to have the same power as Set. He accepted at the time, but then decided that he would have me lay with him and Nephthys.”
“Osiris objected?” Iliana questioned in response.
“Yes,” Isis answered curtly.
Mara was studying Iliana’s expressions when she asked the question. Isis’s answer troubled Iliana. Her face showed that she was questioning the statement. Iliana’s questioning gaze was trying to coax out a question. A question she couldn’t ask. Mara decided to speak it for them, “How did he state his objection?” Mara questioned.
Isis didn’t answer for a long time. Instead, she held her gaze with Iliana, her face melting into a combination of reluctance and annoyance. She broke her gaze and looked down, “You’re right Mara. This is a hard conversation. I don’t think I have the strength in me to have it just now.”
Mara nodded, “That’s okay. This doesn’t have to happen now.” She mentioned. She rose to her feet, “I know you won’t want to leave now, but Kebechet can walk me back to my place.” Feeling the need to leave instead of overstaying what was left of the welcome she had.
“Let me have Wepwawet take you there,” Isis offered, “He can get you right to the door with his pathfinder magic.”
Mara shook her head, “No thanks. I would rather have Anput or Kebechet take me home.”
Isis nodded and clapped her hands. A door appeared and a human strode through. Mara noticed at that point that he didn’t have the same shimmer as Tiye and the Exarchs, that’s how my family was able to tell in the heaven they were at. This human is only Exalted. He hasn’t gone through Isis’s sarcophagus. Tiye did go through, so he has the same powers and presence as a full Exarch. She whispered something into the servant’s ear then the man rushed through the door and returned a moment later with Kebechet in tow. Mara missed the small vial of ambrosia she had in her hand, “Here she is, my lady.” He said before he disappeared through the door and the door vanished a moment later.
Isis smiled, “They are devotees. There is an Exarch-Exalted that leads them, sever in fact, but for most things the Exalted will due.”
Kebechet nodded, “I have more Exarch-Exalted—” She paused, “Oh, that wasn’t for me.”
“Kebechet, dear, will you help Mara get home,” Isis mentioned in a pleasant voice, hiding the neutral tone she wanted to use, “She wishes to go.”
Kebechet nodded, “Certainly.”
