Lu: This is my shot at an Ancient Egyptian fic. Anyone who likes YamixTea and JoeyxMai and my fics, you've gotta tell me whether you think I am as good at AtemuxTeana and JonoxMaia. Please, please, please read and review.

Yami Lu: At least it's not as bad as that other one you did.

Lu: Must you keep bringing that up? I've chucked it and deleted it from the Recycle Bin. It's gone. Behind me. A little footnote on my epic ass. That was a quote from the School of Rock. Who else loves that movie? The name of the fic is a line from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, that I thought fitted for a title. So here it is - Feelings for the Pharaoh, chapter one of In Adoration of Ra.

Chapter 1 - Feelings for the Pharaoh

The girl's eyes shot open.

She sat up. She was panting heavily, her heart pounding heavily. She had had a nightmare, something about the Pharaoh. She brushed the mass of brown hair out of her eyes, wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead. She lay back down on the hard cold slab of stone that she called a bed. There were small amounts of hay padding the structure, and a woven blanket covered her.

She stared up at the cracked and crumbling ceiling. She shut her eyes, but her mind kept racing over the details of the dream. She remembered seeing the Pharaoh, his mouth set in a hard, straight line. His tri-colour hair was limp, and his violet eyes were unseeing. He didn't seem to be breathing. There was also a dark shadow overhanging the surrounding barren landscape.

Her tanned face was troubled as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She couldn't get to sleep, not with those images in her mind. She exited the room, although she knew that if she was caught by anyone, she would be severely punished. Especially if she was caught by her master.

She padded lightly down the hallway, bare feet making little noise against the dusty ground. Moving out of the mud brick building, she sat down by a small fountain in a courtyard. She was servant to Priestess Isis, who was a kind master, but the laws of Egypt stated that you must not wander in the middle of the night.

She began to analyse her dream. She had had tis dream several times before, but had never had time to think about it. Why would she be dreaming about the Pharaoh? She had never even met him. She had occasionally been in his prescence while she was serving Isis, but he had never even taken a second glance at her. She didn't even know his name, because everyone referred to him as Pharaoh. Another question struck her. Why was he dead in her dream, and what was the shadow that she saw?

A rustling in the nearby bushes disturbed her train of thought. A girl with dark brown hair, dressed in pale browns and tans, emerged from the bushes. She spotted our subject and her eyes lit up with excitement and joy.

"Teana!" she exclaimed, beaming. Her voice was bubbly and cheerful. Teana smiled back, and shuffled across so the newcomer would sit next to her on the brim of the fountain. The girl took the seat gladly.

"Hello Mana. What are you doing up at this hour of the night? Does Mahado know you are here?" asked Teana. Mana was the apprentice of the Priest Mahado, and was higher ranked in Egypt than Teana. She had to be very respectful towards Mana, although the chance of Mana telling Priestess Isis that she was out of bed at this hour was slim to none, especially since it was unlikely that Priest Mahado knew that Mana was out of bed.

"No, Mahado thinks that I'm in bed. I was bored and couldn't get to sleep, so I got up. I snuck past Mahado, who was studying the scriptures, and then I explored for a while. I found Priest Seto's secret chamber!" replied Mana, barely even stopping to take a breath.

"Mana! You know that Priest Seto would kill you if he found out!" gasped Teana. Then her curious side overtook. "What was in there?"

"Well, there were some scriptures which I couldn't read, and a few basic scriptures which everyone knows. I would have seen more, but then Seto turned up."

"Oh sweet Isis, Mana, how did you get away?"

"Well, he came in, shuffled through some of the papyrus sheets, and took a couple of them. I was concealed in some of the folds of fabric at one corner of the room. Anyway, then someone came in. I don't know who it was, but they said something about Seto having to see the Pharaoh. Seto followed them out of the room. I came out at that point and got out of there as soon as I could."

"Wow, the Pharaoh wants to see Priest Seto at this time of the night? It must be pretty important!"

"That's exactly right," confirmed Mana. "Which is why we're going to go and find out what's going on." Teana gasped again.

"We're going to spy on the Pharaoh? But we can't do that! We'll be executed if we are caught! And what if the Pharaoh finds out? He'll never even look at us again!"

"And why would that matter? It's not as if you've even met him. I have heard of servants who got off when only the Pharaoh saw them. He doesn't tend to tell anyone if he notices people eavesdropping, I've talked to loads of servants who got spotted and didn't even get in trouble. Trust me, Teana, we won't get caught,"assured Mana. Teana was still uncomfortable. She really didn't want to get caught by the Pharaoh.

"OK..." she agreed cautiously. Mana grinned mischievously. She rose and tugged on Teana's arm.

"Let's go," she whispered, and disappeared into the darkness. Teana sighed and followed.

They weaved through bushes, gloomy alleyways and fields. Mana was in the lead, and she moved very quickly. Teana had to be on her toes to be able to follow. They finally reached the royal palace. A guard was standing outside, watching attentively. Mana prepared to sneak past him, but Teana held him back.

"Wait, I know him. He'll let us past if I ask him," hissed Teana. Mana hesistated, eyeing the guard suspiciously. She then nodded. Teana walked confidently out onto the path in front of him. He jumped slightly at her sudden appearence, but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Teana, you scared me. I thought I actually had somethin' to worry about dere. Whatcha doin' up at dis time o' night?" he asked, curiously. He had a strong accent, but one that wasn't Egyptian. It was a foriegn accent, mingled with a slight Egyptian air.

"Hey Jono. Mana and I were going to spy on the Pharaoh. Will you let us in?"

"Wait, Teana!" yelled Mana as she sprang out of her hiding place. "Why are you telling him what we're doing. He's not even Egyptian, judging by his accent."

"No, I'm not Egyptian. I was sold as a slave ta de current Pharaoh's father, an' den when de current Pharaoh took de throne, he freed me. I'm now his official bodyguard," said Jono proudly. "Although I'm still not allowed ta listen in on de meetin's. But I'm still not allowed ta let ya in. Sorry Teana."

"Oh come on, it's not as if you haven't eavesdropped on the Pharaoh before," teased Teana. Jono held up his hands as a sign of peace.

"Hey, I neva said I hadn't, I just said I wasn't allowed ta let you in. But hey, just because I'm not allowed ta, doesn't mean I'm not gonna. Just don't expect me ta stand up fa you if ya get caught."

"Thank you Jono," squealed Teana, hugging Jono tightly. Jono hugged her back.

"Here ya go," grinned Jono. He showed Mana and Teana the back way through. "See ya later. Don't get caught. Good luck."

Mana and Teana crept silently along the narrow alleyway that led to the main meeting room. They approached the room cautiously. Several hushed voices could be heard from inside. They seemed to be all mens voices; deep and serious. There was one womans voice from within the chamber however. Teana recognised it as Priestess Isis.

"Mana, Isis is in there!" whispered Teana. "I can't stay here. If she catches me, I'm dead."

"Teana, she's more likely to catch you if you move, so just stay here and keep quiet," hissed Mana. She pulled Teana's arm so that she squatted next to her. Several hushed voices could be heard from within the chamber. Most of them were men's voices, but one was a woman's voice. Teana recognised it as Priestess Isis' voice.

"Mana, I can't stay here! What if Isis catches me? I can't risk it, I've got to go back!" Teana whispered desperately.

"Teana, you're more likely to get caught if you move now. Let's just listen. Stay here and keep quiet," commanded Mana, pulling Teana down next to her. Teana, terrified of the concequences of getting caught, squatted silently in fear, while Mana strained her ears to make sense of the muffled voices.

"My Pharaoh, the crops are beginning to fail. The Nile didn't flood enough this year, and I feel that troubled times may lie ahead for Egypt,"announced a voice that was easily recognised as Priest Seto's. Peeking over the window, Teana and Mana saw that he was shuffling through some pieces of Papyrus parchment. He stopped at one, which he then inconspicuously shoved into his robes.

'I wonder what that scripture was about," wondered Teana.

"That sheet wasn't in the pile of papers on his desk," said Mana under her breath. Teana pondered this for a second, but then a teen's voice spoke up.

"Priest Seto, do you think that our people will be able to survive through the winter?" it asked. Teana tried to locate the speaker. It was none of the priests, that was for sure. But there was no one else in there, apart from the Pharaoh.

"I'm sure they will," spoke up Isis. The Pharaoh nodded, half smiling.

"So, will it be neccessary for the palace to give up some food to keep the rest of the citizens alive?" asked the voice again. Teana was shocked to find that it was the Pharaoh speaking. She had always thought of him as an adult, but the shocking revalation for the night was that he was only a teenager. He seemed much older in appearance.

"Of course not," said one of the older priests.

"But I want to! If Egypt is suffering, then I want to help them. I don't want my people dying," complained the Pharaoh. Teana was touched. He was willing to give up his own food to the people to keep them alive. Then she realised who she was thinking of. The one who had been in her dreams for the last week. Could it mean that she was developing feelings for him? No, no, it couldn't be, not for the Pharaoh.

"Atemu..." started a voice. But the Pharaoh held up his hand to silence him. Teana thought on the word for a moment. What could it mean?

"You called the Pharaoh by name!" gasped Mana's mentor, Mahado. Teana nearly let out a gasp, but stopped herself in time. The Pharaoh's name! She now knew the Pharaoh's name! She could barely calm her wildly beating heart.

"Atemu... I will not forget that name," thought Teana, drumming the name into her mind so that she would remember it for eternity.

"It does not matter, Mahado. What matters here is the well-being of the people of Egypt. Halve the palaces intake of food and give that half to the people. There will still be plenty of food for us, and our people will not be suffering. Matter dismissed. Anything else?" asked Pharaoh Atemu.

"That was the only pressing matter. The rest can wait until next meeting," confirmed Seto.

"OK, council dismissed," said Atemu. The priests and priestess left the room, leaving Atemu alone. He glanced over to the window and smiled.

"It's OK, I know you're there," he said quietly. "Come out. I'm not going to report you." Teana's heart began pumping like there was no tomorrow.

They had been caught.

Lu: I found this bit in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, just in one of the appendixes. 'Tum or Atemu i.e. "the closer" was the great god of Annu, and the head of the great company of the gods of that place.' How cool is that? Atemu was one of the gods in Ancient Egyptian! Ignore me. Read and review! Let the cursor meet that little blue button.