Seer of Egypt by Pauline Gedge

Overseer of Royal Nurses. I presume he is in charge of Prince Amunhotep’s welfare. He wants you to See for him, and he will arrive during the third week of Thoth. That’s next month.” Letting the scroll roll up, she used it to tap her chin. “The Inundation will be upon us, but of course Mennofer is not far away. We may get all the palace gossip, and information about our Hawk-in-the-Nest.”
    “So you will still be here?”
    She looked startled. “For another four months, I think. Thothmes wants a marriage sometime during Peret. The season of spring will be auspicious for us, he says.”
    “He says.” Huy shrugged. “That will give me plenty of time to find another scribe. Go and get yourself clean, Ishat, then come back for dictation. I must reply to this Heqareshu.”
    The King is allowing this man, who must be on very intimate terms with the whole royal family, to consult me, Huy mused when Ishat had gone. Will he bring me something Pharaoh wants me to know? Why does the thought of our little Prince, surely nothing more than a baby as yet, make me uneasy?
    Tetiankh had entered and was bowing just inside the door. “Assistant Governor Thothmes has left the bathhouse, and I have heated fresh water for you, Master. Will you bathe now?” His eyes rested briefly on Huy’s shoulder before he politely glanced away. Huy patted himself and his fingers came away black with kohl. He followed his servant out of the room.
    Thothmes seemed reluctant to leave. When it became obvious that he was about to settle himself in the shade of the garden instead of on the deck of his barge, Huy gave the order allowing the townspeople to come in. While he and Ishat dealt with them, he was aware of his friend watching from beyond the pool, and when Anhur had ushered the last of them back through the gate and Amunmose emerged from the house with a jug of beer and two cups balanced ceremoniously on a tray, Thothmes left the grass and joined them. As usual after emptying himself before the needs of Hut-herib’s citizens, Huy was exhausted, wanting nothing more than an hour or two on his couch; but today, as Thothmes approached and Amunmose bent to offer him a drink, he admitted grimly to himself that he did not want to leave Thothmes and Ishat alone together. Please, Thothmes, just go away . You will have the rest of your life to spend with my Ishat. Can’t you see that I begrudge you these fleeting moments before you take her away from me forever?
    “Amunmose, go and get another cup,” he said wearily, his head beginning to pound as Thothmes lowered himself onto the stone of the little portico into whose shade Huy and Ishat had retreated. Amunmose set the tray on the ground and went back into the house. Ishat poured the beer, holding it out to Huy first with a deliberate solicitude that suddenly angered him. He drank thirstily. Amunmose returned with the cup, passed it to Thothmes, and filled it. Thothmes sat swirling the brown liquid slowly around, his eyes on its gentle motion. A constraint had fallen on all three of them that was not broken until Thothmes cleared his throat.
    “I suppose I ought to get onto my barge and go home,” he said, “but I wish I could stay here with both of you until the closeness that used to exist between us came back.”
    Neither Huy nor Ishat replied, and after a moment Thothmes drank, called for Ibi, and went into the house.
    He and Huy embraced at the watersteps where Seneb, his captain, waited to draw in the ramp. They held each other tightly, both struggling to break the dam that held their affection for each other in check. Huy was the first to pull away. “I shall want to see a copy of the marriage contract before I bring Ishat to you, and of course one must go to her parents, whether they can read it or not,” he said huskily. “Please keep writing to me, Thothmes, for the sake of our schooldays together.”
    Thothmes nodded, his eyes large with unshed tears. Turning to Ishat, he lifted