A WHOLE chapter of
and XV
“I like the way you look at me.”
Appropriate. “I like the way you look.”
The pharaoh laughed, hugging his knees to his chest, happiness sparkling in his eyes. “Thank you.” His hand curled over his shin as he exhaled lightly, studying Xio Voe with open admiration. “You’re one of the most beautifully made human beings I’ve ever seen. The gods take exquisite care with everyone, but you were constructed to be pleasing to divine eyes, and it shows in every inch.”
An unparalleled compliment. Especially considering the source. “I thank you for your generous words.”
“You’re welcome, and they’re true words.” The pharaoh leaned back on his hands, and as his legs straightened somewhat, his foot rested close enough to Xio Voe for his powerful vibrations to be felt. Xio Voe held still, neither inviting nor rejecting, allowing the soft buzz to hum through his hand. “Will you permit me to touch upon, briefly, our last topic before moving forward with our lesson?”
“Of course.” He was interested, he was learning, in anything that the pharaoh had to say. And he was growing accustomed to the pharaoh’s eccentricities. There were many.
“I view the world differently from you.”
Not a surprise.
The pharaoh chuckled as if in recognition of the inanity of his comment, then continued on. “I am a human, you are a human. We live in a world made up of continents made up of countries made up of cities made up of neighborhoods made up of homes where people live. We’re all people. I may live in one town, you in the next. I may live across a fence or a border or an ocean from you. But we’re both just people, with hopes and dreams and failures and thoughts and fears and lives to live. We eat, we urinate, we sleep. Well,” he gestured vaguely, “I don’t have to do those things, but you grasp my point.”
“Human beings share many common traits, and therefore we are one in humanity, and we share a brotherhood. Yes, it is a theme on which the royal diplomat has touched often. Do you sleep?”
The pharaoh looked mildly surprised by the question. “Sometimes. More often than I urinate, less often than I eat.” He smiled. “I like to eat.”
“Why?”
He blinked. “Why do I like to eat? I like the sensual nature of it. I like engaging in behavior that connects me with my humanity, with other people, with the mortal being I once was and someday again will be. I like the tastes and flavors and textures and aromas and little rituals of it. And I like sharing a meal with someone. It’s very satisfying, emotionally, to eat with someone. We spend most of our lives sitting down at a table to share a meal, and I think that it’s an important cultural ritual. Also, if I don’t sleep, only a few people know or care or keep track of that behavior. If I don’t eat, it distances me from other people, it’s a noticeable difference, and that makes people, Anorians and otherwise, uncomfortable.”
