Garden of the Lion and the Dove

Chapter 10

"Thank you Lady Hakuno, thank you so very much."

Hakuno blushed as the old man held her hands tightly in his. Tears were streaming down his face. Lying on the bed, next to them, was a young man, his son. She had just healed him from grave injuries caused by a rampaging bull.

"It was nothing," stammered Hakuno. "It was just perfect timing, that is all." She was just about to leave this azu house when the man was brought in. Any later, he would have died. Thankfully she still had enough strength left to perform the healing.

"Hakuno, we need to head back to the palace now if we are going to make it before the sun sets," Shub said.

Hakuno slowly pulled her hands out of the old man's grasp. "I am sorry but I need to get going now. I have an audience with the King at sunset."

"Oh, of course!" He released her hands. "Thank you again Lady Hakuno."

"I do not think I can ever get used to the 'Lady Hakuno'," she admitted as the girls made their way through the streets of Uruk. Their personal guards were following them a few feet back to give the girls a bit of privacy but not too far back that they could not react if something happened.

Shub giggled. "I think you are the only slave that went from being a free person to being a 'lady' in a short period of time. You even have your own personal guard!"

"I think you are more excited about it than I am," Hakuno laughed. It was true though. In all the texts she had read, she did not find anything about slaves rising to the status of a noble in a mere couple of months. Of course how many of those slaves had inhuman abilities in the first place?

People would stop on the street and greet Hakuno as she passed them. She waved back but did not slow her pace. If she did not make it back to the palace in time Gilgamesh was sure to be grumpy and passive-aggressive the whole time. It had already happened a few times and she did not want to have to deal with a repeat of that.

"Is there anything you want me to get done while you are in your audience with the King?"

"When you say that it is an audience with the King, you make it sound like it is incredibly important," Hakuno laughed. "We just play games and whatnot."

"Well for the rest of us it is," Shub pointed out. "The King is in a much better mood after spending time with you. He is not as harsh to the slaves and guards."

Did her playing games with him really mean that much? Thinking about it, he did seem to be in a better mode after they had played. That was interesting.

"Is there anything you want to get done?" Shub prompted again.

Oh right. "I have a finished papyrus translation on my table. Can you transfer the text over to a clay tablet?"

Shub nodded. "Got it." The slave was still learning to read but Hakuno found out that she was very good at copying. That cleared up a lot of time for her. Although she translated texts onto papyrus, the texts needed to be transferred to clay tablets in order to be preserved in the harsh desert climate.

"I really wish I could help you out with translating," sighed Shub.

"One thing at a time Shub," laughed Hakuno. She let out a small yelp in surprise as someone rammed into her shoulder.

The man looked down with a clear look of surprise on his face. It was like he was not expecting someone to be there. Despite it being a hot day in Uruk, the man was wearing a black cloak. His eyes caught hers. They were black, like a moonless night in the desert.

She sensed the guards bristling and moving forward to protect her.

"Sorry," mumbled the man before disappearing into the crowd.