Current mood:	ecstatic
Current music:	Bloodsucker 2000

The Wisdom of a Fortune Cookie
Amanda, Jared, Richie and I were having dinner at China Buffet. The requisite fortune cookies were passed around and Jared got the most unusual fortune I've ever seen.

Behind an able man. Stands many more able men.

Somehow I don't think the writer meant what we all thought he meant. But it give us one hell of a laugh.

At the moment I am drowning in The Middle Kingdom 12th Dynasty Abydos, Egypt. Finished the 1st chapter of the Legends novel. Had a fling with Alexander and sidetracked into the Greek States. Not to mention the jaunt to Rome pre-Imperial. This is all after a trip to the library and having to make two trips from car to house to bring in all 20 books I'd gotten for research. And I'm not done yet. I need to head back tomorrow to get more on Rome. And Athens. And Macedonia.

Khasekhemwy has been filling my head with his story, and it's hard to keep up, but I'm managing. Dio and Nikolai have been adding their two cents as well. Sometimes it feels like my head is so full of information, I'll never get it all down on paper. Hrmmmm.

The Story of Khasekhemwy

In the sacred inner chamber where Osiris rested, Khasekhemwy sat beside his goddess, listening to her. Although the meal in front of them was sumptuous, Isis had touched none of it. Instead she let Khasekhemwy feast on the fowl, turnips and dates that had been set before them.

“Who taught you to see those who wander without the Book of Dead to guide them, Khasekhemwy?”

“My mother.”

Musingly, Isis stared at the goblet of wine in her hand. “I believe we were once as them, but I am uncertain.”

“Many times I have led a spirit towards the land of the dead, but I have never seen one as you. Most times the oldest ones would attack me once they realized I could see them. If you are no more than a spirit, you would be like them. My mother explained that those who had wandered too long among the living became more like the crocodiles of the Nile.” He had noticed some spirits didn’t seem to recognize him as being similar to them. Their oddly vacant, slack expressions would change in a heartbeat, and they would try to harm him even though they couldn’t.

“We once sat on the throne , Khasekhemwy.” A dreamy, distant expression made her seem far away from him. “But jealousy created everything on these walls.”

He studied the murals depicting the story of Osiris and his murder at the hands of his brother, Seth. He knew the tale of how Seth tricked Osiris into a coffin and threw it into the Nile. Isis eventually found the coffin and freed her husband. When Seth found out, he attacked Osiris again and cut his body in fourteen parts then scattered them along the Nile valley. Isis found all the pieces, buried each and build temples over them. Khasekhemwy now knew the last part was a lie. Glancing towards the body of Osiris he could detect no signs of life. Yet no decay marred the unlined skin of Osiris face. He appeared a youthfully handsome man with golden hair.