Ancient Love

Chapter 2: A New Start

The next day, I was woken up by Anuktata like usual. After being undressed, cleaned up, and then dressed for the day, I took a moment to take one last look around my what will be my old room. I admired the paintings on the walls one last time. "Everything alright your highness?" Anuktata asked me as I looked at my now nearly empty room. "What? Yes. Everything is... Everything is fine" I replied to her as I spaced out while walking around. I attended to the morning meetings and morning prayers like usual and after our morning duties were finished, we went on our daily outing like usual for the last time. When we went into town, I got to bid farewell to the people I knew and cared for. After bidding the people farewell one last time, we left and headed back for the palace. After getting back to the palace, I heard a familiar voice yelling. "Let me go right now! If you don't let me go right now you will be severely punished!" I heard the voice yell. I walked over to where the commotion was coming from and I saw my longtime friend Sharifa kicking and yelling at the guards. "Sharifa? What are you doing here?" I asked her as the guards let her go and she gave me a big hug. "Markata invited me here. He told me that the pharaoh requested my presence and now here I am!" She said as she straightened up her outfit. She and I were escorted inside the palace and to the table for my last meal with my family before going off to get married. We sat down to a feast of fruits, vegetables, meats and fine desserts. "So..." Sharifa said as she was stuffing her face full of fine chocolates and chugging down her drink. She wiped her mouth to speak. "What's with the feast?" She said as she begun to stuff her face full of food again. "I am getting married" I told her in a calm voice as I took a bite of the food on my plate. "You are what?!" She exclaimed loudly with a mouth full of food. She swallowed what was left in her mouth, took another drink and wiped her mouth. I put my hand over her hand to prevent her from shoving more food into her mouth. "I am getting married to the prince of the South. I leave later this afternoon" I took my hand off of hers and watched her sit back in her seat. "You are getting married?" she asked me again. Before I could speak, she slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "You are getting married!" She exclaimed excitedly. I took a sip out of my glass as I nodded at her. She jumped out of her seat and then began to pace back and forth talking nonsense to herself. "The preparations have already been made Sharifa. There is nothing to worry about. Now sit back down. This may be the last time you will be able to see Irissia again" My father told her as she stopped dead in her tracks to come sit back down with us at the table. After finishing our meal, I was whisked away to my room to get washed up and dressed. "Wait for me!" I heard Sharifa yell down the hall as she ran after me. When I was finally finished being cleaned up, I was taken to my dressing quarters where Anuktata and the other servants were straightening my tunic and jewelry for the final touches so that I would look my best. "May I have a moment alone please?" I asked the servants as I dismissed them. "Now that they are gone, what do you want to talk about?" Sharifa asked me as she sat down on my bed. "We will talk later Sharifa. I promise. I just wish to be alone right now" I told her as I walked out onto my balcony one last time to take in the view of the city. When she left the room, I decided to write one last letter before getting married. I sat down at my desk, took out my journal and a writing utensil and began to write.

"My dearest love. It pains me to write this to you for I would love to be able to run away with you and leave everything behind so we could be together. However, something has come up and I can't reveal what it is. I really wish I could tell you everything but all I can tell you is that I have found out that my father arranged for me to marry someone I have never met just for his benefit." I began to write. "No man could ever take your place in my heart. I will never forget you and I will always deeply care for you, for you will always have my heart no matter what"

I put down my writing utensil as I could feel the tears starting to form in my eyes. Just before I could wipe my tears away, Anuktata walked into the room with my newly polished headpiece. I wiped away my tears and closed my journal as fast as I could as Anuktata walked over to me and began to style my hair one last time before making the journey to the kingdom if the South. "The preparations have been made your highness. I got everything all set up for tomorrow night" Anuktata told me as she made the final touches on my hair before putting on my headpiece. "And before you ask your highness, the bottle is gone and I saw the man that took it. He was very kind and told me that someone asked him to retrieve the bottle for him" She placed my golden headpiece onto my head and adjusted it and my hair to make me look 'presentable'. "Thank you so very much Anuktata. What would I do without you" I stood up to see my guards standing in my doorway. "Ready your highness?" Hartatef asked me as he and Rahkorta waited for me to leave the room so that they may follow me to escort me to the chariot waiting outside. After saying goodbye to my brothers and their guards and servants, it was time for me to start my journey to my new life. We left the palace gate and I waved goodbye to the beloved people I came to know.