I spent unmeasured amounts of time in the Cove with the animals and the books, reading the hours away. When I did leave because I noticed I was tired or I was hungry, days had passed in between. I decided to take up on Ahnesh's proposal for the festivals each month, it couldn't do any harm and it got me a break between all of the reading I was doing. So far I had gone through a number of tomes and scrolls in the Cove, and so far Isis had not yet shown up to teach me healing, but I wasn't complaining, I had been doing plenty of learning in the meantime so I wasn't disappointed.

The day of the first festival Ahnesh sent two priestesses to my little house early in the morning with buckets of steaming water and I had the kind of bath I hadn't had since I came of age and I was no longer confined to the Archives by my father. Once I was clean and smelling of the roses that had been in the water the two helped me dress in my mother's jewelry and clean clothing that had been made for me. They brushed my hair, braided little string braids with golden ribbon and left the rest of my hair loose and hanging down my back past my hips.

When they were all done they led me out of my little house and up to the temple main as the sun rose over and lit everything up in that slow way that made me feel quiet and at peace for the first time in a great while. Despite the early hour, the temple was buzzing with life. Every torch was lit even though the sun had come up, and there were long tables with food and flowers in piles on platters with candles lit. There were people talking, and in looking down the river I could see boats coming, some with colors and marking high born people, others shabby and plain. I remembered that festivals were for everyone, and it made me smile that it was that way still after so many centuries.

I had no idea what in the world I was supposed to do here, but it seemed that saying hello might be a good start, and as I passed people they said hello, to which I returned and hoped they enjoyed the festival. Some people bowed, seeming to know who I was, and I smiled, remembering that bowing back wasn't what I myself was supposed to do, only to those of higher rank. And while I was not the high priestess, I was apparently still considered of a higher rank than Ahnesh was.

It was a long but enjoyable day, music and food and dance and drink. It seemed the people were happy to have something to celebrate, and while I didn't join in with the dancing, I wasn't sure I yet had the strength, I watched, I enjoyed the music, I even managed to eat a little, and only fresh breads and fruits, as I still could not look at meat without becoming sick to my stomach.

As the day wore on, I greeted anyone and everyone who stopped to see me, the temple received offerings in my honor, some people gave me gifts, unable to refuse them without being rude. By the time the sun had set and the bonfires were lit up I had that feeling of being watched again, as if someone I knew were nearby keeping an eye on me.

Things were beginning to wind down, the fires burning, but half of the crowds had dispersed and I did not think that I would be missed so I headed toward my little house, tired of socializing and longing for my bed. I heard something behind me and turned to see a rather drunken festival goer who was following me, and I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I was instantly on my guard as the rather unsteady male made his way towards me, obviously intent on catching up to me. I caught sight of the knife at his hip, but he didn't seem intent on using it. I called out, asking if he needed help, and my stomach churned when he answered that I most certainly could help him. It was the tone he used, that made it quite obvious what he meant, that made me sick to my stomach. I had no desire to lay with a drunken stranger just because he wanted to. I had no desire to share my bed with anyone after Rome.

I told him I was sorry, but I could not help him in such a way and he had better go back to the festival and perhaps he could find someone willing to spend the night with him there. I turned around and took a few steps toward my house when the male caught my wrist and pulled me around. He stank of drink and sweat, and from his expression he was not happy with my rejection. I got tense as he asked if I thought I was too good, being chosen of the Gods, to sleep with him. His words were slurred, and accusing. I told him no, that I simply had no desire to and that he had better unhand me.

'You're just some high born woman who needs a lesson in respect for men.' My eyes narrowed and I yanked my hand out of his grasp, throwing politeness to the wind.

'Take your drunken self back to the festival. I want nothing to do with you.'

I should have remembered the knife, but I didn't, and I turned to leave him behind a second time, only to feel the bite of the blade a short moment later, a slurred remark from the male about seeing just how chosen I was by the Gods now. I whipped around, which wrenched the knife out of his hand, and before he knew it my own hand was around his throat while I snarled at him through the blood in my mouth.

I debated on whether to bring him forcibly back to the festival to have Ahnesh send him packing, not having a desire to kill as the male had tried to do to me. The male looked positively frightened, and his dirty hands were trying to pry away my grip around his throat. I narrowed my eyes and half dragged him back towards the burning fires where there was singing and laughter while he fought me, kicking at me and tugging at my arm the entire walk. The knife was still in my side, and as I walked I pulled it out carefully while I walked, my strength apparently having returned because the male weighed near nothing to me. I spat blood on the ground before I came into the circle of fire, people looking at me and noticing the knife in my hand and the blood running down the back of my clothes. Someone ran to get Ahnesh as I threw the male onto the ground as she came hurrying up and demanding to know what happened.

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I showed her mentally and without words, throwing the knife with my own blood coating it into the ground beside the male who had attacked me. My chest was heaving with pain, the wound still bleeding from just above my right hip. Ahnesh motioned and two male servants of some highborn festival goer came forward and picked up the male, and the high priestess told them to secure the male for his crime and attack and that she would be accompanying them when they left in the morning to deliver the male to the city guard on the mainland. Ahnesh looked at me with apology in her expression as the male was dragged away, and two of the priestesses came forward to help me into the temple so that I might have my wound tended.

I could hear people talking behind me as I walked away, my jaw clenched and my spine rigid. People wondered what had happened and why the male had attacked me, and talking about how drinking to excess, even on special occasions, was in bad taste. I didn't look back as I went into the still open temple, I couldn't breathe very well, and I could feel that I was still bleeding. I was led into a small side chamber and sat in a chair with my back accessible. Someone else brought in a bowl of steaming water and linens.

I was helped to peel the top of my dress down off my shoulders and pulled down low on my hips, and I winced as it was peeled away from the stab wound. My innards were painful, and felt like they were moving around somehow, like snakes, and I coughed up more blood. The priestess undressing me looked at me with obvious concern.

'You are bleeding internally Lady..' I knew she thought I was dying. Any human would have been dying, so I didn't fault her in her assessment. I probably was bleeding internally, and probably badly. But again, I could feel my innards moving around, and I think that it was one of those instances where the fatal part of things was healing itself quickly. I wasn't allowed to die after all, I had that job to do still.

'Just patch me up please. I will be fine.' I spoke quietly, and she obviously didn't believe me, but she nodded her head all the same and bent over me to clean the still bleeding wound. The cloth was abrasive to me, though it was just linen, my flesh was on fire, and it felt like the only thing that helped was the water. I was tense as could be, with the water being so hot, and the linen that felt like sand on my skin. The priestess cleaned me up, and then proceeded to wrap my wound with strips of clean, dry linen to stem the bleeding. I sat still the entire time, not moving, not speaking.

'That is all that I can do for you, I'm sorry..' She obviously still was convinced that I was dying. My innards were still quivering like a pit of snakes, and I knew I must be quite pale, but I stood up, turned and gave the concerned priestess a small smile.

'I have survived much worse than this, I will be fine.' I didn't go into detail, but I reassured the slightly shorter female. She was still seemingly unconvinced, but she nodded before helping me get my dress back up where it belonged. I gave her one last smile and headed back out.

By now the bonfires were burning down, and most people had either left or fallen asleep where they sat as I went by. I once again felt that I was being watched, and I never got used to it, but I was too exhausted and now that I had been patched up and my attacker hauled away, now that the danger was over, I felt weak from the blood loss and the pain. I headed once more towards my little house, thinking of the barrel of cool water that I could drink.

As I walked, that feeling of eyes in the back of my head stayed with me, and I turned around quickly, thinking perhaps again there was someone following me, but no one was there, like all the other times before. Spinning around had been a bad idea though with as much blood as I had lost, because a second after I did, my head rushed, and the sky spun the wrong way and the ground came out from under me as my sight went black.

I thought I heard footsteps, and a quiet, soft male voice that sounded oddly amused, scolding me. It felt like I was being lifted, and my head rushed again, my sight dark and blurred. My body wouldn't obey me, but stayed limp, I kept my eyes closed through the dizziness, but an oddly comforting, very familiar smell came to me from the stranger who seemed to know where I lived, because he didn't ask me, and yet a short time later I was surrounded by the familiar scent of my little house and I was being set down gently on what seemed to be my bed.

The footsteps retreated a way, but the presence was still in my home, and I rolled onto my side. It was the side I had been stabbed in however, and pain shot through my body as I rolled and took my breath away. I fell back onto my back, gasping for breath as the footsteps returned. The pain, and the fact I had caused myself more bleeding in my weakened stupidity, caused me to once more black out.

I vaguely remember the same male pulling me out of my bloodied clothes, and I was oddly not alarmed by it, and I felt the new bandages being taken off of me, and I thought perhaps I had bled through them. I groaned as I felt myself rolled onto my stomach, gently as it was, and this time the linen was cold, and the water was cold, and it soothed.

The stranger told me to hold still, and a feeling of trepidation came over me. He held me down, and I didn't have the strength then to fight him as my head swam, and suddenly there was a horrid, unbearable burning, stabbing pain burst through my back and abdomen, causing my body to convulse violently while I had no breath to even scream. I don't know what he did, but a few minutes later the pain vanished completely, and my innards had stopped their painful dance, and my body went limp once more.

As I gasped for breath, the stranger sat me up, put my arms around his neck and told me to hold on. Something was so familiar I think I asked him who he was, that I knew him, but he didn't answer me. He just rewrapped my wound that didn't even hurt anymore, and put fresh clothes on me. I worried for a short moment that he might steal my mother's jewelry, but I heard the items being put in their box and the lid closing. My sight had cleared by the time I opened my eyes again, and I did not recognize the male, though I was still certain that I knew him somehow.

He brought me a clay mug of the water I had been thinking about, and I accepted it gratefully, feeling my strength beginning to come back to me. I asked him what he did, but he didn't answer me, instead he simply looked at me a moment, indigo eyes seeming to be deep into thought, as if he were debating something, but then he simply left the room, and left my house before his presence just disappeared altogether.

I had never in my life before that point wished for someone to stay with me like I did then, but I knew that the stranger was gone, like a wisp of smoke from the fires at the temple. I realized too, that this stranger had been the source of the feeling I had had of being watched. Had it been him every time? To what purpose? How in the world did I know this man?

As I thought, I got a powerful itching feeling where I had been stabbed for just a few seconds before it vanished as the stranger had. I stood up, pulled the top of my dress down and unwound the new, clean bandages and twisted painlessly to look. There wasn't a mark on me, no trace that I had ever been stabbed in the first place. I pulled up my dress again, more thoughts racing through my mind as I sat on my bed. The sky was beginning to lighten a little bit now, and I realized I was exhausted. I lied down, mind full, and fell asleep quicker than I had been able to since leaving Rome.