Asenath (6 page)

After that, I learned to appreciate what I had. Life as a temple orphan might not have been the ideal one. But I was comfortable, stable and secure.

Additionally, we were treated well. It truly was a pleasant environment. I had even heard that there were some servants like Irikara who, although granted freedom, chose to remain because they liked it there.

I also relished the simple joys that brightened my days. There were my friends, especially Menah. There were trips around Heliopolis on our days off. There were the lessons with Pentephres. There was the beauty of the temple garden—the pool with its water lilies and the flowers of many colours.

I assumed that I would be granted freedom when I grew older. By then I would be able to decide if I truly wanted to return to the fishing village or not.

But for now, I decided to abandon all thoughts of the future. It was best to let it take care of itself.

A week after I had turned eleven, Irikara approached Menah and I while we had our noses buried in scrolls.

"Get ready for tomorrow," she said. "It will be a big day."

"What do we have to do?" I asked.

"Nothing actually. Just go to bed earlier than usual tonight. You will need a lot of energy tomorrow. Also, I will be waking you up ahead of everyone else."

"But why?"

She darted away.

I turned to see Menah grinning.

"Menah, what's going on? Do you know something I don't?"

He shrugged. "You'll see."

"How come you know about this and I don't?"

He smiled and simply turned back to his lessons.

"Menah?"

"Hush now, Kiya. I am trying to concentrate."

"No you're not. You just don't want to tell me what's happening."

"Kiya, shhh."

"Menah, please tell me."

"I have to study now."

I prodded a bit more, but it was all in vain.

The following morning, Irikara woke me up. I saw everyone else was still snoring soundly in their mats.

"Go have a bath and some breakfast," she whispered. "Then come back here."

I returned just as my roommates were filing out. Irikara was now seated beside my mat. She gestured to me.

I approached and saw she had lain out all sorts of strange and fascinating things on it—tiny jars and bottles, small sticks tipped with tufts of hair and some weird pointed things.

I gaped in puzzlement. "What's all this?"

"Things to make you look pretty." She smiled.

"What for?"

"Come." She patted the spot beside her.

I sat down.

"Well, Kiya, you are going to have a very important meeting with Lord Pentephres today. It will be a formal affair, so I will have to dress you up. This will take the whole morning. But you will be very beautiful in the end."

"What's the meeting about?"

"You'll find out soon enough. But we must begin now. We can't waste time."

First, she shaved me, then rubbed me with oil the scent of waterlilies. Afterward, she trimmed, smoothed and polished my nails. It was a delicate process.

I was nervous at first. But she was very gentle and careful, like a compassionate doctor. I eventually relaxed.

She combed my hair and to my greatest shock began to cut it. I let out a cry of astonishment.

She quickly said, "You will be wearing a fancy wig. Your hair is too long to tuck inside it."

"But I don't wear wigs that often."

"You will now."

"Why?"

"Hush now, Kiya. You'll see why later."

I slumped.

She rapped my back. "Straighten up."

She cut my hair to the length of my shoulders. Then she moved in front of me.

"All right. Close your eyes and be very, very still. I am going to make your face very beautiful."

I complied. I felt her rubbing all sorts of substances onto my face. Some were moist and cool. Others were powdery. A few were sticky.

Once in a while, she asked me to pucker and pout. When she was finished, my face felt like it was being pulled down by a heavy weight.

She told me I could open my eyes again. I saw her reaching for a tiny bottle shaped like a hippo. She opened it and dabbed a generous amount of perfume on my skin.

I looked down at my gangly brown arms and gasped. "What is this? It looks like there are stars on my skin."

"A special kind of perfume to make your skin glitter like the gods."

I smiled. "This
is
rather exciting. Won't you even give me a hint on what's going to happen?"

"No. You'll find out soon enough. But first..." She retrieved a large box from behind her and opened it. She drew out a large cloth and held it up for me to see. It was an elegant linen dress with a skirt that flared out prettily. "This is for you," she said.

I gawked. She had to be mistaken. This was a dress worn by princesses and noblewomen. It was not the dress for
me
.

"Well, put it on," she said. "It's not for you to look at."

She assisted me into it. She tied a silver tasselled sash around my waist, giving me an almost womanly figure.

She clipped and strung jewellery on me—a multi-stranded necklace with dangling lotus amulets, long earrings that looked like twisted vines and arm cuffs inlaid with turquoise scarab stones. She told me to add the lapis lazuli lotus from Mama.

I happily obliged. I strung it over the fancy necklace she had placed on me.

She opened the second box, revealing the wig I was to wear. It had dainty faience beads dangling at the tips. As she fitted the wig on my head, the beads clicked against each other.

"Put out your feet Kiya. This is already the last step," she said.

She slipped white-gold sandals with braided straps onto my brown feet. These were the first sandals I had ever worn.

She took a step back and gazed at me, smiling. "Look at yourself in the mirror, Kiya."

I was eager to see how the morning's lengthy ritual turned out. When I saw what she had done, I was
shocked
.

The girl before me was not Kiya.

This girl―this
woman
―was a noble lady who glistened in the finery of Pharaoh's Great House.

This noble lady with paint-lengthened eyes and a beautiful dress was someone who commanded awe and respect. Someone people bowed down to.

This noble lady was not me.

I was still gawking at the lovely lady in the mirror when Irikara came up beside me.

"I nearly forgot." She draped a shimmering gossamer shawl around my shoulders. "There. Perfect. You look more impressive than I imagined."

"Irikara?"

"Let us go now, Kiya. The high priest awaits."

As Irikara hurried me by, many people stopped to stare at me. I grew embarrassed from all the attention. Though I loved how I looked, I wasn't used to it. For a while, I wished I hadn't been dressed so extravagantly.

I slowed down a bit.

Irikara nagged me as always. "Hurry, Kiya! We don't want to be late. Come on, hurry,"

To my greatest astonishment, she led me across the courtyard and to the marble steps that led into the temple itself.

I was stunned.

I had never been inside the temple before. I never had any reason to. Only priests, priestesses and the royal family were permitted. But now Irikara told me to ascend the steps.

I looked at her uncertainly.

"Don't keep the priests waiting," she hissed.

I climbed the steps. I felt as if I was sleepwalking.

At the top I met a few of the senior priests and priestesses. They were flanked by
khery-heb
, lector priests who presided over temple rituals.

The friendly priest who I had met on my first day approached me. "
Iwi em hotep
, Kiya. In peace."

I bowed. "In peace, Holiness."

"You look lovely." He smiled. "If you would follow me, please."

The group parted as he led me into the hypostyle hall, the entrance to the temple. As I descended into the sacred dimness, I looked up. The ceiling was painted with stars. Shafts of daylight streamed in through the forest of columns that filled the hall.

We approached a great golden door. Above it was a lintel carved with the image of a winged disc. The incense was nearly overpowering.

The priest opened the door. He led me into a windowless chamber. In the orange-red glow of the torches, I saw tables of food and flowers.

"Offerings to Atum-Re," the priest murmured.

The walls of the chamber had an enormous mural of Pharaoh kneeling before the sun-god's many forms—the man Atum-Re, with his tall crown. The hawk Re-Horakhty, with its magnificent outstretched wings. The scarab Khepri.

The priest led me out of the room and through a tiny dark passageway. It opened up into another chamber which was exactly like the previous one but smaller.

We passed through this maze of shadowy chambers and corridors, each room smaller than the last. At the end, we arrived before a second golden door.

The priest paused. "We have reached the Hall of Atum-Re, which is before the innermost sanctum."

He opened the door. "You must enter alone."

I looked at him uncertainly.

He nodded and smiled encouragingly. "Enter, Kiya."

I took a deep breath and went inside.

The Hall was surprisingly vast, though its ceiling was low. Standing at the centre were Lord Pentephres and Lady Satsepdu. Their faces broke into smiles.

It seemed unfitting for the temple's solemn air.

I bowed. "Life, health and prosperity to you, my lord and lady."

"Ah Kiya, you look lovely," Pentephres said. "You are probably wondering why you are here today. You are about to learn something that may surprise you. But do not be afraid, little one. Nothing bad will happen. In fact, we hope your life will become better from now on."

My stomach tightened at yet another drastic change in my life, just as I had settled into the temple.

"Kiya," Pentephres said. "Today, we wish to adopt you as our daughter."

I was struck dumb.

This
astonished
me to no bounds.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

"I know this is sudden and perhaps frightening," Pentephres said. "But do not be afraid, dear child. Please allow me to explain.

"My wife and I longed for a child for many years. Alas, we could not have any so we hoped to adopt. The day I saw you in your village, I heard the gods whispering to me that you were to be the one.

"As we got to know you more, we knew they had made no mistake. Your strength, goodness and beauty are unlike any we've ever seen. We spoke with our astrologers to determine the date of your adoption."

Pentephres paused. "We know you have been through a lot, Kiya. Now, we want to give you a good life. We promise to love and care for you as long as we live. Please, dear child. Do not be afraid."

I was moved. It was selfless of Pentephres and Satsepdu to be willing to make such a commitment. And in the time I had known them, I had discovered they were good people. They had shown great kindness to me and my friends.

It was a dramatic change, indeed. But there was nothing to fear.

"My lord and lady," I said. "I don't know what to say. But this is so kind of you. I would be happy to become your daughter. I am so grateful for everything you've done."

I sank to my knees, overwhelmed by it all.

Pentephres bent over and helped me up. He chuckled. "It was our pleasure, little one."

"We would also like you to move in with us tonight," Satsepdu spoke up. "You will have a very big room, a library, a pool and beautiful gardens. Would you be all right to do that, Kiya?"

"Yes. But will I still be able to see my friends?"

"Yes. Until the end of this week that is," Pentephres said. "You see, they too will be leaving the temple."

I stared at him in surprise. "Will they? Where are they going?"

"You can talk about it with them later," he said. "But now, we must present you to Atum-Re. You will be joined to us. You will also be bestowed with a new name, which was determined by our astrologers."

"Will I?" I felt sad at abandoning the name I'd had since birth.

"Yes, my child. It is to mark your new life. It is also the will of the god. Now, let us come before Atum-Re."

Pentephres and Satsepdu led me toward a door at the far end of the Hall. I expected to pass through another corridor.

We entered a tiny room. This was the innermost chamber, the holy of holies.

The walls were covered with precious stones. A large altar rose at the centre. Atop it was a small enclosed shrine.

Pentephres approached the altar, chanting softly. He opened the shrine's doors to reveal a golden idol of Atum-Re. The god's eyes, which were made of sapphires, flashed in the light.

Pentephres prostrated before the altar. He kissed the ground, stood gracefully and raised his arms.

"O Atum-Re, Shining One, Wind in the Souls, Renewer of Earth. Be awakened in peace. Hear the words of your servant Pentephres, your
hem-netjer-tepy
, your Chief Prophet, your Great Seer.

"Your Chief Prophet and
werest heneret
, Chief Concubine Satsepdu come before you today to present this beautiful child. We acknowledge she is a gift from you. Just as you are reborn each day, so may this child be reborn as our daughter and your Chief Daughter."

Pentephres turned to me. "Come forth. Kneel by my side."

He produced a small marble bowl and raised it above me. "This is water from the temple's sacred pool."

He dipped his thumb in the bowl, then touched my forehead. A tiny droplet ran down my powdered nose.

"From this day forth," he said, "you will be known as
Asenath
. You belong to Neith, the sun-god's mother, the warrior goddess. She shielded you with her sacred weapons and brought you to us. The name
Asenath
will give you power in days to come."

Pentephres laid his hand on my head. "May you always be under the protection of the Shining One's mother. May you always have luck, health and joy in life. May the divine family of the Sun shine upon you always."