Daughter of Isis by Lilian Nirupa (book recommendations .TXT) 📕

added pensively.
Mikos felt a little remorseful, but that made him defensive. “Well, in my country we care for our women and their honor...” he started.
“Ready to kill for it like your brother Diogenes?” Lizla felt a bit defiant now. “What honor is it to commit murder? You said the girl was defiant. How do you know they were not just playing love games and he then...? Because Assyrians are not mild people. Neither are we so “mental” as you often are.”
Lizla was surprised at her own irritable reaction. She was tired and overwhelmed with all the powerful experiences. She made an effort to soften up and continued with her habitual comforting tone. “I did not mean to put your people down. I admire your bright minds and clever speaking qualities, but sometimes I notice you tend to live in your thoughts a lot. That makes sudden judgments, good and bad, black and white.” Lizla sighed and started playing with the strands of her jet black long hair. Mikos could not help smiling at the way that the chirping streams of the fountain, with its multiple colors, were reflecting on her hair and diamond necklace, creating a splendid effect.
“We also have an eye for beauty,” Mikos ventured timidly as he admired her once more.
In the twilight, Lizla hoped her blushing would not show much, as she felt her cheeks suddenly burning.
“Speaking of the Assyrians,” she continued, “Aunt Lillie’s reaction to getting her lover killed would tell you something about how much we care for our women’s honor, too. Particularly, we honor guests we host in our homes.”
Mikos reflected aloud, “Yes, and Diogenes told me about it this afternoon. It could bring political problems for her. The Assyrians have strong connections in the palace and especially further south in the Thebes temples. But don’t worry. Of what I heard from Diogenes’s friends, they would not appreciate the misconduct of one of them in the royal court of the Pharaoh’s sister. They might have killed him themselves, but you are right, now she must be careful, as we all ought to be.”
It was Lizla’s turn to share her own experiences and concerns about the political situation. “What do you know about the Hittites and the Sea people?”
“Well, how do you know about this?”
Lizla related the conversations she had overheard by that very fountain, when she came to refresh after the afternoon meditation. Mikos conceded he had shared dinner with his brother Diogenes that same evening and heard confirmed that the same issues were concerning many people in the palace.
“Well, I don’t know much about the Hittites except that by both our standard and yours, you would not call them truly civilized,” Mikos added with a sudden surge of pride.
“How come?” Lizla wanted to know, but Mikos refused to describe to her the wild stories he had heard about their religion or their cruelty in battle and with prisoners.
“I don’t think a lady of your stature should be hearing these things. Believe me, if you ever have a Hittite invasion, make sure that you and your ladies are hidden underground safely. You also do not want your children to fall in their hands. They make human sacrifices with children, I am sorry to say.”
Mikos did not want to scare his delicate friend with these gross tales, but he felt he needed to protect her somehow.
“Well, you do tend to protect women,” Lizla thought as she smiled shyly. She stopped herself in the middle of her own thought as she realized she had said “your women.” Averting his admiring gaze again, she insisted, “What about the Sea people?”
“Oh, those are nomads floating on water.” Mikos laughed at his own improvised definition. “They are very good sailors and I understand that in sea battle they are formidable warriors. However, they do not have a developed civilization like yours. They envy your granaries and your riches. So they act often like pirates. They only land to steal and replenish their boats. The most ambitious talk about landing and conquering, but they have not been able to prevail on your mighty armies.”
“What about women and children?” asked Lizla with a tone of anxiety.
Mikos smiled and decided to tease her about it. “They are mainly after supplies, but if they see a very beautiful woman, well, they are men.”
This time, Lizla truly blushed and announced she was a bit tired and wished him goodnight.
Lizla went back to her room and felt a bit dizzy. So many things had happened in a few days. She was afraid of going to sleep for fear of having a bad dream, but the moment she reclined in her bed she fell deeply asleep.
She dreamt that Ra-Ta was turning in his bed with anxiety – which puzzled her. Ra-Ta had always been such an example of composure and almost hermetic equipoise. But now she heard him crying out, “No, no, who are you?”
She also saw that the stranger who was hiding behind the curtains of his bed came out of the shadows and said menacingly, “You have to go to Thebes. The high priests are dealing with the Assyrians. We know you have influence on the Palace. Leave right now. We have a palanquin waiting for you.”
Ra-Ta fixed his eyes on the stranger, which made the young man hesitate, and with a quick maneuver, Ra-Ta took the trembling youth’s dagger. This time, Ra-Ta threatened the youth to speak: “I said who are you? How did you get in here? Who sent you?”
“I am Narum, of Nubian ancestry. My mother is Egyptian and works at the palace. My father was killed by the priests of Amon-Ra in Thebes. I swore to avenge his death, but my mother warned me against it. She said that RA protects his children. But I can see now that you are a holy man and I was brought up to revere your kind. Still, I need to avenge my father.”
Ra-Ta felt compassion for the young man and decided to help him out. “Your name is Narum. That is not an Egyptian name. Were you named after your father?”
The young man’s wild eyes had calmed down a bit by now. “Yes, he was a general in the Nubian army, but he told me that the Egyptians and the Nubians had a peace treaty dating from the great Pharaoh.”
Ra-Ta was pensive. “That is true. For close to five generations there has been peace between the two lands. “You said your father was assassinated by an Egyptian priest. Who told you that?”
The young Nubian was afraid to speak. “If I tell you, my mother may be in danger. You can kill me, but I won’t speak.”
Ra-Ta put a reassuring arm on the distressed youth’s shoulder. “I am a priest dedicated to honor the father of life, Ra, the Sun. I do not kill.” The young man was sobbing now.
Lizla was turning in her bed, agitated by the dream, and suddenly a light woke her up.
“My lady, are you all right?” It was one of the young priestesses who attended Lizla as she heard her cry in her sleep.
“I am all right, thank you. I had a bad dream. Maybe the eclipse is still working on my nerves.” Lizla was trying to sound reassuring at the same time that she was trying to compose herself.
She sat in her bed and wondered about her dream. Ra-Ta being attacked? And the priests in Thebes organizing crimes against foreigners? “It was similar to Mikos’ story about the Hittites,” she thought. She was sure he was just trying to scare her. He had been looking at her funny, like if he wanted to approach her romantically but didn’t dare, she thought. Maybe he was trying to impress her with those strange stories about foreigners.
She remembered her father Ramses IX having talked about the Hittites as being defeated by his grandfather in the famous battle of Kadesh. And following that battle, there was a treaty of peace. Maybe that is what was interwoven in her dream. Mikos’ stories about foreigners attacking children and women and the other vision she had about a dark horseman who was bringing ominous news...
Something was going on and she was being warned. She had learnt to interpret dreams as oracles. They were part of her magic classes. Ra-Ta was her teacher and mentor. He was attacked by a foreigner seeking revenge for the death of his father? What was she supposed to do about it?
Lizla could not make any sense out of it. She decided that she might try to talk to the Oracle herself. It was hard to get an appointment with her, since she was consulted by most royalty and noble classes mainly in urgent cases.
“But she may make some time for a royal princess.”
Lizla mused on this as she drank the cup of chamomile tea that her young priestess assistant had brought her to calm her nerves. The soothing tea and the deep silence of the desert night had their effect because she was soon asleep.

Chapter 9 – Lizla Meets Her Cousin
Lizla arose early since she had to follow the morning exercises that preceded her Temple of Beauty class. That was part of the regime that Ishtar-la had prescribed for her before their first meeting. Lizla was a bit intimidated by Ishtar-la. She was the daughter of a high Egyptian official who was half administrator and half warrior. That was a common career path to success in the Egyptian ruling classes. This man, Arart, had been successful abroad and married an exotic beauty who was the second daughter of the king of Babylon. Ishtar-la was very young when her powerful husband brought her to Memphis. In their palace, she had brought from Babylon and kept a complete entourage of beauticians, masseuses, and dietitians that assured her famous beauty would be for her husband to enjoy for a lifetime. But her fame had spread and the Queen herself became enchanted with her. When Arart was killed in battle, Ishtar-la had been devastated. The Queen herself assured a place for Ishtar-la in the Temple of Love at Memphis, where nobles and powerful people were aided by the famous priestesses of the Isis temple, mainly for healing and recovering from trauma.
Ishtar-la, under the auspices of the Queen herself and the high priestesses of the Isis temple not only recovered, but felt so touched by the loving and supportive atmosphere of the Temple of Love that she decided to dedicate her life to it. She founded the School of Beauty and was allowed to bring in her entourage. Her father in Babylon was proud of his daughter’s achievement and also at the possibility of sharing some of the special gifts of the Babylonian culture with the more practical and austere Egyptians.
Lizla knew the whole story, but her own training so far was rather monastic in nature. She was destined to live in the world so she had promised Isis and it was due to the Goddess’s suggestion that Lizla had acceded to take Ishtar-la’s courses in the Temple of Love. She was hoping to get married to a very special king who would understand her strange destiny, and she absolutely adored children.
But Lizla still was afraid of facing Ishtar-la. She had had a Babylonian friend called Mizzia and although they had played together often, Lizla felt like the Babylonian girl was a bit amused by Lizla’s more solemn manners.
So Lizla took the instructions given to her very seriously. Half an hour of walking in the morning, no honey cakes or sweetened figs for two weeks, and especially no beer. She did not drink that much beer, but she hated diet restrictions. Ra-Ta often had teased her on her