Author notes

All chapters are getting updated!

I do not own red river because if I did I would be a much better writer. I also don't own little men. Amazing writer who also wrote little women! Go read both if you can!

Please be kind, this is my first ever published fanfic

I hate to say this but I make no promises about updates because my typing will be limited by what my baby will allow. As in if he doesn't want to stop crying every time I am at my computer then I can't type. But I will try to work on this as much as possible.

Please read and review. If I have any errors please let me know. I want to fix any mistakes I make as quick as I can.

Thank you

1bibliophile for being my very first follower!

Special shout out to - Chasing the Night - For being so awesomely helpful in catching the mistakes in spelling grammar and punctuation in my story. Also for taking the time to explain to me how to fix it so in the future. HOPEFULLY I can have a lot fewer mistakes.

Birthday Wishes

Rayne was visiting her mother. She loved her mother but she tended to be overly hard on her and always had been. She sat quietly as her mother told her what was wrong with her and how she needed to improve her life. Rayne knew her mother meant well but it still hurt that she never seemed to think Rayne was good enough unlike her brothers. She was very thankful that it was just going to be a short visit.

Rayne's brothers arrived and her mother told her to go set the table. Quietly she obeyed. Her brothers ignored her work and just enjoyed their time and making her job harder by teasing her. They were not trying to be mean but they did not know how to treat her nicely. Once the table was set she sat at her seat and didn't look up from her book. She was again reading the book titled "Little Men". It was a wonderful book about a family of people who actually cared about each other past blood relations or lack thereof.

She was reading in part to avoid her siblings and getting in the conversation. As much as she loved her family she hated being around them. Even though they loved her, they were very critical of her or treated her as an invalid because of what had happened when she was... NO! She was not going to think about it. She was going to read her book!

Once the food was served she ate quietly saying little when asked or talked too directly and avoiding conversation as much as possible. Once it was over her mother brought out a cake and ice cream for her. It was her birthday after all. Looking at the cake she wished 'please let me find someone who loves me for me and doesn't want to change me' and blew out the candles. It was present time as everyone enjoyed cake.

Her mother started by giving her a present that was obviously books. Opening it, she saw an Anatomy and Physiology book with medical info for common things from colds to childbirth to broken arms and a home remedies book. It was nice but she was not overly interested in the medical field and as much as her mother wanted her to, she was not going to be a doctor.

Her oldest brother gave her a present that also felt like books. His was a book on Advanced Calculus and a book on Egyptian history, culture and religion. He knew she was fascinated with Egypt at this time and she always loved math.

Her second oldest brother gave her a portable solar charger with multiple adapters and plugs so she could charge anything on the go with just the sun.

Lastly her youngest brother gave her an art pad and tin pack of fancy water color pencils and a 36 pack of permanent markers knowing how much she loved artistic things.

All in all her brothers had actually been quite caring in the gifts they had gotten her. It was a nice surprise, but there was a further surprise. They handed her a kindle, the newest one on the market. Her oldest brother told her, "We know how quickly you eat through books and how hard it is for you to have enough books with you on long trips, so we pooled together to get this for you."

Her second oldest brother told her, "We got all of your favorite authors on there with as many of their books as we could find as well as any reference books we thought you would be interested in."

Her youngest brother followed up with, "And I made sure they added lots of art and cook books so that you can try everything from ancient art forms to current, and cook for any culture." Looking at her earnestly he added, "We really hope you love it."

Rayne hugged her brothers and assured them that she loved all the gifts and was so happy to have the kindle. As she looked through it she was so amazed at how many of her favorite authors they had actually managed to get. They also had gotten every language learning book they could find and her little brother had found every art book he could for it as well as hundreds of cooking book. It was official; her kindle was her favorite gift ever.

Ex-Tawananna Nakia sat watching the scene. She saw the perfect sacrifice. The girl she saw was quiet, week, fearful and easily commanded, from everything Nakia saw when spying on her. Now all she had to do was wait for the girl to set foot into water to snag her. Even with her son Juda watching her, she was still able to have flowers brought to her, which offered her a little water. When put together it offered her enough to snag the girl when the timing was right.

Rayne was glad for the celebration. It was nice but even with that she was glad to be going home. She had only brought a little clothes for a three day stay and was eager to head home. Her backpack was much heavier but it was a nice heavy. Rayne was glad everything fit. She was a little sad that her mother didn't want the cool duct tape wallet she was making for her but; she had expected that since her mother did not approve greatly of her artistic tendencies.

As she was leaving she hugged everyone and walked out into the rain. 'It's a good thing i have all my electronics in a waterproof bag' she thought as she eyed a large puddle in the street. Once she saw the front door to her mother's house close, she ran straight for the puddle. 'I may be 19 and going to college,' she thought, 'but that doesn't mean I can't act like a kid!' And with that, she jumped in. As soon as her feet touched the water, she felt manicured long nails bite into her ankle and drag her down.

She kicked as hard as she could as she heard a voice command, "Do not fight girl. You are to be my sacrifice and you will never escape that destiny."

Ex-Tawananna Nakia was angered as she realized this girl was determined to fight her. She held on harder only to have the girl kick and twist at the same time ripping her ankle out of Nakia's grip even at the cost of tearing her own flesh. Spewing curses at the girl, Nakia set to watch where the girl had gone but something kept her from seeing the child.

Frustrated Nakia decided to go to the temple of Upelluri the God of dreaming. Even as ex-Tawananna, she was still known as a great priestess. She entered the temple under her guard and told the main priest that she had been sent a vision by Upelluri to find a tablet in the great library to make up for her transgressions against the holy Ishtar. When she was asked what tablet it was she told him she did not know but would know it when she saw it. It was common of the gods to give a priest or priestess such a task, so they lead her to the library under one guard to search for her tablet.

Meanwhile near the Nile

Ramses had been sent to replace the embassy at the Hittite Empire by his Pharaoh. He knew it was an attempt to keep him out of the way and was not happy about it. The birthday of Het-Hert or Hathor as most called her was being used as an excuse to send him sooner rather than later.

He had come to a less traveled part of the Nile for a walk to cool his anger. Knowing the risk of crocodiles he kept his eyes peeled. Looking thoughtfully at the banks of the Nile, he noticed something in the water and motioned for his men to stop. Watching carefully with his sword ready, he saw inky blue black hair floating on the water a minute before a girl surfaced.

Rayne had no idea how she had managed to break free or even how she had wound up sucked into a puddle but now she was surfacing in strange water at the edge of a river. She carefully swam to the bank and crawled up just enough to stop and catch her breath. Staying on all fours, she knelt, breathing hard and trying to get her body back under control. She was a good swimmer, but even she would be winded by how long she was underwater. It had been a battle for her life.

Ramses stared as the girl crawled out of the water. She had on jeans that were bright pink and a deep blue shirt with a cute cow family on it. Her hair was a deep inky blue that was almost iridescent blue in the bright sunlight and very long, and she was carrying a shoulder bag and a pack on her back. He watched her struggle to breath and heard her making noises as she slowed her breaths.

Rayne got up and looked around, only to see a man with a golden and brown eye. She didn't remember what it was called but knew it was a genetic anomaly to have different colored eyes. He was chiseled and in the skirt type clothing that Egyptians wore. He had a mess of blond hair and was quite bronzed. She wondered if under his jewelry he was as bronzed but let the thought pass as she realized that he and his guards all had their swords drawn.

Rayne put her hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture and told them, "I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't want to hurt anyone." She added under her breath, "I don't think I could even if I wanted to." She calmly stared at the men, though she was freaking out internally, before her hoping they wouldn't run her through with their swords.

Ramses stared at her as she spoke a strange language. He felt no threat from her and she seemed harmless enough even though she was strange. He put his sword away and made to approach her only to have her jump back quickly and half land in the river. He wanted to grab her before she had a chance to meet with a crocodile, but, seeing how alarmed she seemed just by him trying to approach, he thought she may just jump completely into the Nile if he got any closer.

Rayne noticed him putting away his sword and calmed down until he tried to get close to her. She had no idea what he wanted to do, but, just to be safe, she jumped back quickly and half-landed in the river. After scrambling out a second time she pulled her messenger bag and backpack off and set them on the ground, hoping that the waterproof case she had put her electronics in had kept them from getting fried by all the water, especially her brand new kindle. Just as she was about to check, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Spinning around, she stared into the river, knowing there was a threat there but not sure what.

After a few seconds of staring, she saw the ripple and realized that it was around eyes just barely visible in the water. 'Crap! Alligator... no, if this is Egypt, then it's a Nile crocodile!' she thought. Rayne quickly grabbed the messenger bag and reached in it, blindly searching for what she needed. Backing away somewhat quickly so she could get some distance between her and the water, she kept her eyes trained on the croc but still stayed aware of the men's presences and made sure to steer clear of them. As the croc completely left the water, she noticed that it was roughly 10 feet long. Thankfully, it was not a full grown one. Rayne remembered from shows she had watched that they could grow more than 20 feet and the standard size was 16 or 17 feet; she wasn't sure, but she knew this one wasn't as big as it could be.

Finally, her hand wrapped around the object she needed, and she pulled it out and threw the bag to the side quickly. The crocodile lunged at her and she jumped to the side. As it was turning, she mustered all her force, sprung, and brought her heel down on the crocodile's face as hard as she possibly could right between its eyes. Thanks to her big boots, she managed to clip both eyes and stun the crocodile. Rayne immediately jumped on its back and pushed on its snout with her elbow as she grabbed the end of the electrical tape she had gotten out of her purse, thanking the universe that she always left a tab at the end. She quickly wrapped the crocodile's snout five times with the tape before biting off the end and tabbing it again.

By the time she was done, she realized that the crocodile was trying to get back into the water, so she elbowed it hard in both eyes in quick succession to stop it. Then she got off, and, half gasping and half speaking into her hands, she says, "Do what you" -gasp- "want with the" -gasp- "croc" -gasp. As she said "croc," Rayne felt a wind pass by her. It was strange and it didn't feel like a normal wind, but she wasn't sure what it meant.

Ramses was so confused by this girl and her actions that he did not notice the crocodile until it was too late to help. Stunned, he watched her fight it, noting that it was a good 5 pole long. Before he could fully draw his sword a second time, he saw her hit the crocodile in the face with her heel. Impressed with her knowledge and fighting capabilities, he was further surprised when she took something black and wrapped it around its snout many times.

Seeing it starting to try and go back to the Nile, he rushed forward to help her, only to have her elbow the thing hard in the eyes. He watched her get up, slightly stunned as she said something in her strange language and indicated the crocodile and then him and his men. Worried about her gasping and breathing, he barely noticed the strange wind that passed between them as he said and tried to gesture, "Leave it. My men will take it from here. Are you all right? Do you have any injuries?"

Rayne's head snapped up from her examination of herself for injuries when she heard the man speak her language. "Holy crap! I can understand you!" she exclaimed. She then muttered to herself, "What could've caused that? He didn't know my language before, so it had to be recent. Let's see...could it have been the croc fight? When was it that he last talked? I guess I can figure that out later. I have more important things now."

She again looked at the man. "Hello, my name is Rayne, and I'm not sure where or why I'm here. I can guess that it is Egypt by the clothing I see as well as features, but beyond that I have no idea. Can I know your name and maybe have your help getting back home?"

Looking her over again, he noticed her in more detail. She was not as short as Yuri was, but she was rather short; he guessed she was only about 5'2". There were also strange hematite stone bracelets decorating her arms. She also wore a necklace with a chunk of turquoise carved into a strange symbol.

All her decorations were small; they didn't seem to be a show of non-existent wealth nor did they amplify her beauty, but somehow they seemed to suit her. After taking in her full appearance, he stated in a clear voice, "I am General User Ramses. I don't know how to fully assist you, but I will take you with me in my travels to see if it is possible to aid you. To start with, we need to find a priest or priestess. Follow me." He knew from Yuri that this girls circumstances were similar and thought Yuri may be able to help.

As Ramses turned to walk away, three of his men went to deal with the crocodile while the other two fell into step behind him. Cautiously, Rayne picked up her bags and followed Ramses, walking with him but a shoulder length apart. She had never been particularly comfortable with men since the incident, and, with him, she was even more so uneasy because of his physique. 'He would be a tough fight if I ever had to. Wait...General Ramses... it seems familiar. I know there is a pharaoh named Ramses. Maybe Ramses is a common name or something?' Lost in her own thoughts, she caught the tail end of what he was saying.

"Injuries?"

Looking at him, she said, "I don't believe I am injured - just wet, dirty and lost. Thank you for caring."

All of the sudden she noticed a flower that looked somewhat familiar. Sadly, she didn't know the name of many flowers, but she knew she should've remembered this one. 'P something. What was it? Po...pop...? Poppy! That was the name. They're such pretty flowers, bright red with paper thin petals. They're amazing.' Looking up, Rayne realized she had been separated from Ramses by her distraction, so she jumped up and ran over to him.

Once she got near him again, she noticed him looking around a bit, and once Ramses saw her he spoke, "I thought we would have to go find you again. You need to stay with me so you don't get lost. We are going the back roads to my home to keep you from drawing too much attention with your strange clothes." Rayne moved just a bit closer to Ramses but still far enough to not be touching; she'd be able to jump away if she needed to and made sure to remind herself not to wander.

As they walked, she felt a dull pain in her ankle. Ignoring it, she thought, 'I didn't get bit, so it's probably just a bruise from a tumble.' As she walked, she asked, "So where are we going, and what are we doing?"

Ramses had been keeping one eye on her as they walked so he wouldn't lose her again and fully looked at her when she asked the question. "I am to go to be the embassy to the Hittite empire for Egypt. We are leaving today." He said matter-of-factly. Paying attention to her, Ramses noticed the slight favor she gave to her left foot. 'I will have to make sure it gets looked at,' he thought to himself. He turned one last time into the side gate of a huge house. As he was about to go in, he noticed she had stopped.

The two guards went in to finish packing and loading the boat they would be using; Ramses waited for the girl to stop staring at everything. She muttered something to herself in such a low voice that it was indecipherable to his ears.

Impatient to get everything done to be on his way, he reached for her wrist to pull her in, but, to his surprise, she, without even looking at him, turned her hand to grab his wrist and quickly flipped him. Kicking him in the back of the knees to make him go down, she held his arm pinned behind him and a stuck her foot on his back to hold him in place. Thankfully his guards had already left to their tasks so there was no one to witness this event. Angered, he pushed her off him and turned to fight her. He had not been expecting to be attacked by such a small thing. She seemed to snap out of whatever trance she had been in and jumped back and away from him.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to," stammered out Rayne as she realized what she had done. At his look of disbelief, she added, "I really didn't. It was an automatic reaction. I don't... I don't like being touched," she finished with her head hung.

Ramses heard the shame in that statement, both for what she had done and for some other reason. He would figure it out later, but for now, he would have to get her out of those strange clothes before someone noticed her. "I will not punish you for it this time but see to it that this never happens again!" he said before turning to the gate again and saying, "follow me."

Quickly jumping to follow him Rayne said "you might want to not touch me and have others not touch me if you do not want that reaction. Just warning you. It is something I can't control." he seemed like a decent enough guy but what they seem like and what they are truly are two very different things. She knew that all too well. He led her to a courtyard and stopped abruptly. She stopped a pace away and waited, watching everything as she did.

Ramses commanded some women to take Rayne for a bath, since she did not have quarters and would not receive them for the time being he told them to take her to any clean bath. Turning to her he told her to fallow the women and, to get clean and changed so she wouldn't stick out like a weed in a flower patch. She nodded and moved to follow saying right before disappearing behind a door "a weed is only a plant you don't want, it doesn't mean it is not a flower."

Ramses kept his composure but was shocked at how she had replied to his barb. She didn't get angry like his sisters or Yuri did but she effectively told him his assessment may be wrong, without trying to make him look the fool. She was definitely an interesting one and he would have to keep her around for a bit.

Rayne followed the woman as she led her to the bath and asked "may I have your name please?" looking at her strangely she simply said "Nebethapi" and kept walking. A little bothered by the way she replied Rayne just followed quietly and was glad when they soon made it to a bathing chamber. There were about 4 women in the room and she soon realized they were waiting to help her bathe.

Rayne told them "I will bathe myself. Please leave." and when they did not, she all but pushed them out, then set a chair in front of the entrance to block it as much as possible. Placing her backpack and messenger bag near the towel set out for her, she stripped her clothes off and folded them neatly before getting in the large bath. It was the most luxurious bath she had ever been in. after a few minutes she found the soap and oil's and picked ones smelling of almonds and cinnamon.

Quickly she washed her body and hair and was coming up from rinsing her hair when she heard a scuff at the door. Hastily she said "I am almost done, please let me be and I will be out and get ready." She really did not want the women in with her. She was too uncomfortable with the lack of privacy.

Ramses raised an eyebrow at the statement and the fact this mere girl had managed to make all of the servants leave as she had. "'Almost done?' does that mean you have a chance of being fully clean?" He said. It seemed to quick a bath for even the most impatient women he knew. At his voice her head whipped around with a look of surprise and fear. 'Why the fear? I was hoping to rile her like I had many times with Yuri to get back at her for earlier. She seems so like that woman.' Ramses thought.

She quickly turned back around and balled herself up as she sunk up to her chin in the water. He walked around to see her only to find to his dismay she was silently crying with a look of utter terror on her face. Seeing him facing her she pulled herself in a tighter ball, her shoulder shaking. For some reason, that Ramses did not understand, it hurt him to see her so scared of him.

Looking at her one more time, he ran his hand through his hair and said as he walked back to the door "take your time finishing your bath but I want Nebethapi in here with you in case anything happens. I will tell her to leave you to take care of yourself and just keep watch." then he left the room and Rayne could hear the mummer of voices outside right before Nebethapi came back in.

Rayne fought to regain her composure as soon as Ramses left the room. She didn't know why she was so scared. It had been years and she was bigger and stronger now and could defend herself. Still the old fears came back to paralyze her and hold her hostage. Finally getting her tears to stop and dunking under the water again to wash away the evidence, she turned to face Nebethapi.

"I apologize if I, in any way got you in trouble. It was not my intention to do so." Rayne told her worried that the woman would get yelled at or worse for listening to her and leaving or more like being forced out. After a few more minutes to get her shaking under control Rayne rose from the water and ran her hands down her body to squeeze off most of the extra water, before stepping out and giving a small shake to get more water off.

Picking up the towel she wrapped it around herself then tucked the end in before, leaned slightly back and squeezing out all the water she could from her hair. She liked it long but hated how long it took to dry. Nebethapi came over, when Rayne went to dig for clothes from her backpack, and handed her a light cream colored dress. Rayne stopped rummaging and stepped toward her as Nebethapi helped her get it on. Then the girls came back in and helped her dry and comb her hair.

After they finished she quickly reached back and braided her hair ending it in a knot to hold it. One of the girls unknotted it and tied it with a leather throng as Nebethapi applied scented oils of almond to her. After Rayne was finished and while not looking exactly Egyptian she did not stand out quite so much. "Is there a light covering I can use to protect myself from sunburns?" she asked. Nebethapi turned to one of the girls and took the gauze like fabric from her. It was also a cream to match the dress.

Handing it to Rayne she said "Follow me please." Rayne grabbed her bags quickly preventing the servants from taking them and fallowed with a small smile at the shame bearing look Nebethapi gave her. After another short walk, she found herself again in the courtyard where Ramses was talking to some women who showed a lot more skin that Rayne was comfortable with.

Suddenly one of the females ran over to Rayne squealing and exclaiming over her. Rayne looked at her quickly before being engulfed in a hug. Ramses cringed mentally for what was to come, because he could not stop his sister. He was surprised to find that, though Rayne did not seem to like the hug, she did not forcibly remove Neferet like she had him. Walking over with the rest of the girls fallowing, he said "Rayne this is my oldest younger sister Neferet, Neferet this is Rayne."

"Oh my, you are so cute and petite, and your hair is a very nice shade but definitely foreign. My word, eyes are both blue and green, how strange."

Neferet would have continued on if Ramses would not have replied "sister we need to leave very soon. Please let my guest go so we may be on our way."

Neferet pouted but let Rayne go. As soon as she did, Rayne took a step away from Ramses and smiled at Neferet, giving a small head bow and saying "yes, my hair is even strange for where I come from. And my eyes can look like they shift colors; they are just like my grandmothers that way. It is nice to meet you and I thank you for your kind greeting but if Ramses says we must go, then I should get on the boat. Have a great day." then quickly turned and went to the boat.

Ramses was a little angered by the obvious attempt to get away from him, until he remembered her tears just a short while ago. He did not know why it affected her so badly but he would find a way to make amends. It would not do for her to spend the whole trip trying to stay away from him and his men.