The Heart's Truth

.

...

for ML Staff Appreciation Week: Day Four

...

.

Chapter One

She was used to the biting heat of the sun blazing down on her head and shoulders when she stood still, and the sand that found its way into every minute crevice of exposed skin when she moved. Such was the life of a common-born Egyptian girl who worked the fields with her poor parents along the banks of the Nile. As a young girl, she had pulled weeds from between the crops she had helped seed the ground with, and come the end of the seasons, she trailed behind after her father's shadow, holding baskets for him to fill with the harvest. The sun was unrelenting: it seared down, and burned her skin with its scorching heat; sometimes her throat became so parched that she couldn't speak without a rasp in her normally high, bright voice. The only reprieve from the sun was dipping into the Nile river's cool, blue-green banks, bordered with tall, wild reeds and grasses.

Stepping into the river was like stepping into another world: its murky waters were filled with all sorts of peculiar creatures, and the reeds were just tall enough to block out the view of the fields of crops. The air was more moist than out among the crops and sand, the mud cool and slick against her toes. She used to spend as much of her afternoons splashing along the riverbanks as possible, always bringing beetles and frogs to her parents to ask about them. What did they do? Why were they there, hiding in the shallow parts of the Nile? Were they going to eat the crops and ruin the harvest? Her parents told her what they could about them, and when they had no answers, they instead recounted stories of Gods and Goddesses who were associated with the creatures. Fish: Hatmehyt, Goddess of shimmering scales and wispy fins. Cobra: Wadjet, Goddess of quick strikes and ink-stained papyrus. Scarab: Khepri, God of fluttering wings and setting suns. All of life was possible because of the Nile: Anuket, Goddess of gentle waves and flooded fields.

When Marineith complained that she thought the Nile was greater than the blazing heat she dealt with daily, her parents admonished her. The Goddess of flaming noontime, Sekhmet, was a fickle Goddess, and insulting her might bring bad luck. This did nothing to sway Marineith's opinions; when she danced in the muddy banks of Anuket's river, she prayed that Sekhmet's power would wane, so that when she went into the fields, she wouldn't dry up like yellowed grass, flimsy and pale and burnt by Anuket's hot sunlight.

Growing up, her only way of escaping the unrelenting heat was a few brief moments to wash away the golden sand caking her feet and limbs from going back and forth in the fields of crops. (Not that washing it away really mattered in the long run, anyway; it would all come creeping back the next day, just like the sun would once more crawl back along the clear, blue skies to shine overbearingly from high above.)

Marineith thought, with no little amount of envy, how terrifically lucky the Egyptian nobility were to have tall, solid roofs above their heads to block out the sun's unwavering heat on hot, summer afternoons, and fine, sturdy sandals meant to keep the sharp, hot sand from catching in between their toes.

The cotton cloth of her palace training garbs and the added weight of expensive jewelry against her skin only further confirmed her thoughts: palace life was infinitely better than simple farm life. Marineith's parents still tended to the fields of her childhood home along the Nile, but they grew older and more frail by the day, less able to work as hard for as long beneath the blaring sun. She was determined to take care of them; they were two good, kind people who deserved far better than what their lot was in life. Marineith was almost comically terrible at tending to crops and livestock. But she was also surprisingly intelligent; she learned to make poultices from the local herbalists in the area, had been taught to read and write by a palace scribe who was impressed by her desire to learn more about medicinal herbs.

It was through this scribe that she had eventually become apprenticed to the royal physician three years ago, when she had just turned eleven. Merit Ptah was one of the most accomplished physicians in all of Egypt.

And she was going to be very angry if Marineith arrived late to her afternoon lesson today. She hurried her steps, sandals clacking loudly against the stone floors of the palace. The sound echoed around the large halls and tall roofs just slightly, but it was enough to bother Marineith. The tack, tack, tack that sandals made against polished stones still sounded unfamiliar to her ears, even after years of spending time within the Pharaoh's palace grounds. She did her best to tune it out, though, focusing instead on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as she possibly could.

Today, Marineith would finally treat a patient with Merit Ptah evaluating rather than instructing her, and Marineith was thrilled. She was absolutely ready to prove herself to her master. Merit Ptah would watch while Marineith treated the patient, and only when Marineith deemed she was done with the patient would her master step in to fill in any blanks left by her pupil. (Marineith had exactly zero intentions of letting Merit Ptah say anything afterwards besides, "Good job, Marineith, I think you're finally ready to travel the world as a fully-trained physician without me worrying you'll make us both look bad by accidentally killing someone.") She had worked tirelessly for years for the opportunity being offered to her today.

It was just her luck that an Akuma had decided to attack right when Marineith had sat down for lunch. It burst into the room, upturned the table holding her lunch, and demanded that all of Egypt should fight against the invading Persians. Marineith followed others as they ran from the room, but she ducked into a servant's corridor and transformed. Cat Noir popped up just as she used her Lucky Charm, saving her the trouble of distracting the Akuma long enough to piece together how to use a fan of reeds to best an armor-clad, spear-wielding, chariot-riding Akuma. But all in all, she and Cat finished the job pretty quickly. But even so, it meant that now Marineith was scrambling to find her instructor on an empty stomach. Which she'd had to do before, of course, under similar circumstances.

But not on the most important day of her entire life.

She made her way quickly towards the northern end of Merit Ptah's palace, which connected to the adjacent General's palace. These walls, as all things Egyptian, belonged to the Pharaoh; the entire inner city was his, technically. But his subordinates and fellow nobles and courtesans also lived in close proximity to him, and were granted ownership of certain properties surrounding the Pharaoh's palace. Her master's grounds were one such example; they connected to the General's quarters as well, as they both hailed from the same family. Their lands were expansive, and if Marineith hadn't made it a point to become acquainted with all of the Pharaoh's amassed palace grounds, she might have stayed within Merit Ptah's and the General's palaces forever and never have wanted for anything else. It was only because she was chosen as Ladybug to protect the people of Egypt that she had done any exploring outside at all.

Merit Ptah's palace consisted of tall limestone walls and floors and simple decor inside. Merit Ptah was not one for lavish decorations; she had started her career as a young traveling physician, making her way all the way across the Ionian sea before returning with her increased medical knowledge (and a foreign lover, surprising her family greatly.) After impressing all of Egypt with her expertise, she finally settled down as one of the Pharaoh's own select physicians. Meanwhile, Merit Ptah's brother Ahmose had made a name for himself fighting valiantly against Persian invasions, and had been promoted to General of the Pharaoh's forces. Reflecting his love of flashy battles, perhaps, his palace was far less reserved than that of his sister: brightly-dyed tapestries and rugs brought color and life to his home, along with the abundance of children and servants running around all the time.

Marineith found herself relieved when she reached Ahmose's palace, alight with laughter and conversation. It drowned out the sounds of her sandals, and also meant she was closer to reaching today's patient: Ahmose's oldest son, about seven years old. Marineith did not know what he was sick with, but if she had to guess, it would probably be a stomachache. Last night, the General had thrown an extravagant party, and his son had been allowed to partake in the festivities. (Marineith had politely bowed out early to catch some extra sleep before her big day.) The boy was young and loved to eat rich foods, so Marineith had a feeling he had probably just indulged in a little too many portions of fine meats. Still, Merit Ptah had drilled it into her brain over and over to never diagnose a patient before actually seeing and observing them in person; so she hurried her steps, heading to the boy's room to the eastern wing of the palace.

She was halfway to the patient's quarters when she turned a corner too sharply and ran straight into someone. The impact sent her reeling, and she took a few steps back to steady herself again, eyes wide as she looked up at who she'd nearly barreled down in her rush.

Startlingly green eyes stared back into her own.

"Marineith! Just the girl I've been looking for."

Oh, Gods, not now. She couldn't deal with this. She had a patient to see to. Merit Ptah would not forgive her for being even a second late to a scheduled treatment like this one. Right now, she could not afford a blond-haired, green-eyed distraction of a man.

"Not now, Adrestus," she said in her most dismissive voice, tearing her gaze from his captivating ones and sidestepping him.

"No, wait, hang on," he replied hastily, easily keeping pace with her while she tried to walk away. She chanced a glance at him and found a wide grin on his face. Ugh. "You're going the wrong way."

She paused in her movement forward to fix him with a sharp glare. He put his hands up in a placating gesture.

"I know where the General's family quarters are," Marineith said with a huff. In the back of her mind, she registered that she probably (okay, scratch that, definitely) sounded like a whining child who hadn't gotten her afternoon snack (which wasn't wrong, exactly,) but she shoved the thought aside. "I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were," Adrestus said, smile falling away to be replaced by a frown. "Please listen to me, Marineith." His tone unnerved Marineith. Adrestus always had a smile on his face, even when she snapped at him for his snarky comments; if he wasn't wearing one, it was still audible in his lilting, baritone voice. She felt a creeping unease settle over her, and she couldn't shake the feeling that something was suddenly wrong.

"Why are you here?" she asked him, voice gentler.

Adrestus took a deep breath, like he was trying to stand firm after being rattled by something, and it confirmed to her that something was amiss, because very few things rattled Adrestus. By the time he spoke, her unease had turned into full-blown concern.

"My mother told me to come get you," he said. "She says there's a change of plans. She already treated the kid during the Akuma attack." Adrestus hesitated, and Marineith felt her own breathing constrict as he took another deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, they were somber. His voice was grave when he continued. "The queen's condition worsened this morning."

Hi. Happy Day Four of ML Staff Appreciation Week! I've been working on this for about a week now. Hopefully I'll have most of the story published by the end of the day, but I might not, since it's Thanksgiving... But anyways. Happy Turkey Day!

xoxoPigTails