Dahlia knew what her friend was doing, but allowed herself to be pulled along anyway, even as she described her dream in detail, along with the scents and feelings that made it seem more like a memory than a dream.
Nefertari was not a shy woman, despite her young years, but she paced the marble floor of her room that morning, wringing her fingers together as she went. Each gesture caused the golden bangles on her slender wrists to jingle slightly just as each time she turned the ornate beading on her delicate gown swayed a little. It was the day of her wedding, to a man she had yet to even meet. Already the headstrong young noble was sick of people telling her what a fortunate set of circumstance it was that the great King Rameses II had accepted her father’s offer of a union between their two houses. Time and time again she had been warned not to upset the Pharaoh in any way and to be the ever docile and obedient queen, the only thing their Pharaoh needed in a time of peace. Nefertari heard the knock at the door, signalling that her handmaidens were here to take her to her fate.
It seemed all of Egypt had come to Thebes to celebrate the marriage of their Pharaoh to his young bride, a beauty of the Nile, by all accounts. Her father was a leader of one of the Upper kingdoms Nome districts, a rather wealthy one with a strong army that had won the previous Pharaohs many victories over the years. The soon to be Queen had a twin brother, a well built man with an impressive military record. Unfortunately he would not be at the wedding, as another nation had recently taken him as a prisoner, something their father hoped to remedy by this marriage. He believed his daughter could eventually persuade the Pharaoh to send a unit of men to free his other child. He did not count on the boy falling in love with one of their female Shaman. She was a golden haired beauty of a woman, nothing like the women he had seen in Egypt, no one could blame the boy for forsaking his own people for one more moment with her.
Nefertari would finally meet her husband as they both stood before the priest. For a moment she could barely breathe, be it the heat of the desert sun, or the realisation that her future husband was indeed as handsome as the stories suggested. By Egyptian standards she herself was rather strange, pale skin and light green eyes that suggested her mother was not who the records claimed. The young woman offered her Pharaoh a timid smile, not to know that he would be just as taken with her as she was him. A entire day of celebration continued well into the next, even for the slaves of Egypt. Their Pharaoh seemed happy, and his Queen could only make him more so. Though she seemed young and inexperienced, she was well read and though rare at the time for a woman, she could both read and write as well as speak several languages which would eventually make her a rather cunning diplomat to aid her husband.
