The dry dusty sand was cold in the pre-dawn light that shivered under the edges of the tent as Quatre Raberba Winner sat silently perusing an ancient Egyptian scroll. The name of a Pharaoh who had never existed was scrawled all over it and he frowned in concentration, drinking the tea his young assistant had brought him only moments before. There was a faintly bitter taste to it but that was nothing unusual in this land of sun and sand and so he drank it down before the sounds outside intensified and brought him from his revery.

"Sir?" called a slightly nasal voice. "Everything's ready to go. Rashid has opened up the tomb."

Step lagging only slightly with his sixty-four years, Quatre rose and ruffled a hand through white-streaked still-blond hair. "I'm coming," he replied, quickly grabbing a battered fedora. The sun peeked over the edge of the Valley of the Kings as he moved through a swirling wind that was seemingly brought on by that rising of the sun. Cameras flashed in all directions and he spoke sharply to his assistant. "Heero, I thought I told you to keep the papers out."

The younger man shrugged. "Sorry, Lord Winner. Word leaked out some time in the night." He followed the older man nonchalantly to the open door of the tomb.

"Sir," Rashid's voice rumbled. "I wouldn't go in there. It's dangerous... I can feel it. This one's different."

Quatre gently patted Rashid's shoulder. He'd said the same thing for almost thirty years now. His sons and grandsons did the work of removing the door to the tomb and doing the excavating now but no one could say those words like Rashid. "It's all right, Rashid. I'll be right back."

With those words, he stepped into darkness that was broken shortly by the light of Heero's electric torch. They moved slowly, carefully, the workers behind them. Each moment brought a new stop, a careful exploration to be sure nothing was being damaged even though Quatre knew some damage couldn't be helped and finally, finally, they were there, at the tomb. The air seemed thin and it was hard for Quatre to catch his breath, his thoughts, as he gently checked the seal to the inner tomb. "Rashid," he called softly, "bring me my tools."

They were laid out before him and he carefully, oh, so exquisitely carefully, worked his way past the flaking gold on that sealed door, getting a crevice open. "Pull it away," he whispered. "Gently. Someone brought a canvas, I'm sure." His crew was always prepared.

Everything was done as he said and then they were in, he and Heero, because Rashid and his family refused to enter. "It's him," Quatre whispered, reading the inscriptions on the sarcophagus. "It's the legendary lost Pharaoh."

"Yes," Heero's voice whispered. "It is."

They pushed the top away, baring the mummy held inside. Flickering firelight caught his skin and Quatre could swear he heard a rustling. "Heero," he murmured suddenly as he realized that he did not feel well. "I feel faint."

"Well you should," the other man replied. That nasal tone was cold. "I slipped enough poison in your tea to kill two old men. I should've had this dig on my own and you insisted on coming and now I WILL have it because you'll be dead and there'll be nothing left but for them to hand it over to me."

"Wufei," Quatre whispered. A flickering thought of his adopted child ran through his mind even as he fell to the sand-covered floor and he shuddered with the oncoming chill. "Wufei..."

Rustling was all that filled his ears as his eyes closed the final time.

With satisfaction, Heero glanced down at his now-dead benefactor and leaned over to whisper close to the mummy's head, "Now you're mine." Taking a deep breath, he called out, "RASHID! RASHID, LORD WINNER'S HAD AN ATTACK!"

"Well," Duo said, "I guess it's nice of Yuy to let you display the stuff in your home before it goes to the Museum since the Board gave him the dig after..."

"Yes," Wufei interrupted him, frowning and moving forward as someone bumped the box surrounding the sarcophagus of the new-found mummy against the lintel on their way into the sun-filled drawing room. "Be careful with that!"

"It's really not wise to put that old thing in such a sunny place," Duo's father said quietly. "It would be better if it were placed in the library."

Dark eyes turned to meet Trowa's gaze. "I know, but the drawing room is the only one Lloyd's would insure.... and it was Poppa's favorite room, you know. It just seems appropriate. He was so happy about all of this..."

Duo shook his head a little. "He loved mummies. But I'm glad this one is well embalmed, because otherwise, this room would cook him!"

"Help me take the cover off. I don't trust the idiots who brought it in," Wufei muttered under his breath. They moved together to the straw-filled box cradling part of it. Wufei grunted as his fingers pulled at it. "Heavy. You'd think a mummy would weigh less... even with the....." He pulled again.

Duo's eyes widened as he looked upon the body. It certainly didn't look dead! "Wow... no I see why your father respected these people and their skills so much! He looks better than most people do before they're buried nowadays!"

Glasses lifted to cover faded green eyes and Trowa looked down his nose at it. "Son, that thing looks remarkably large for a mummy. It's a good foot taller than most of the people of the time and it doesn't seem half as desiccated as it should. Are you sure...?"

Wufei looked at his fiance's father and shrugged. "No. Look at the wrappings. Here and here. The cross-weave is appropriate for the period. They can't really do that anymore... not even if they're faking it." He sighed. "All of the false mummies coming out of Egypt. Everyone has to have one. Stupid, just stupid."

Duo smiled at Wufei. "You checking him out, Wu?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Wufei began, flustered even as Trowa chuckled softly.

"He IS his father's son," the older man said with a little smile, almost sad. "It wouldn't surprise me at all." A glance at his pocket-watch and he sighed. "I have an appointment to attend. I suppose I shall leave you lovebirds here, hm?"

"Yes, please do!" Duo smirked. "See you later, father." He watched Trowa depart slowly, and shook his head a little. "He's right, you know, Wu -- you like mummies as much as your father!"

A slight smile crossed Wufei's lips. "I don't think that was quite what he meant but you're right. I do," he said calmly, settling the mummy's case carefully. "It's almost tea-time. Let's clear away the straw and things and have tea, Duo."

"In here?" he asked. "This guy gives me the creeps..."

Wufei sighed. "If the big mummy threatens you, we'll have tea in the library, Duo. So long as you promise no seduction tactics. I'd hate to have to call Howard again," he said, teasing slightly. They both knew the ancient butler constantly attempted to help Duo's occasional attempts at getting Wufei to loosen up further along.

"All right -- tea in the library, no groping. I'll keep to my word as long as Howard doesn't get near me again." There was a smile in his words, and he grabbed Wufei's hand, winking once.

Shaking his head in rueful amusement, Wufei hurried after him, ignoring the rustling behind that seemed to make him so strangely uncomfortable.

Wufei's glasses were perched on his nose as he read the last letter his father had sent him, a recorded waltz tinkling through the drawing room. It was hard, so hard, to see those words, but...

He sighed and took them off, rubbing his eyes. Well, last night had been just as it would have been if Father had been alive. Everything had gone off perfectly and the fascination with the latest mummy to come up from Egypt had fulfilled all of Father's wishes. Even that damned rustling that had driven him almost insane for the past couple of days had seemed to settle down.

Wufei glanced at it, sunlight spilling over the bandages. Gods, it looked almost alive!

And it was.

Utterly aware of his situation, and drifting in and out of consciousness, the mummy stirred once more. Bits of the new language drifted through his mind, but he'd been unable to see what was being referred to, and had no one to tell him what it meant in any tongue he spoke, so speaking to them was out of the question. The sunlight was warming to his body, and felt almost as if strength was returning to his limbs again. So strange, but he *knew* why...

That music in the background was soothing also, and he wondered if he'd been brought to that place by heirs of the lineage -- he'd wanted to hear music again, after so long, even if the stylings were so unfamiliar.

Straining, he twitched the fingers of one hand, shifting it a little more towards the delicious sunlight that soaked through a crack in his wrappings.

Tea tray in hand, Wufei walked back into the drawing room. He sat it down, poured a cup and moved to stand beside the windows, thinking. The relationship with Duo... it had only been to satisfy his father, in the beginning. True, he was terribly fond of Duo. He was sweet... but he was such a typical aristocrat in so many ways. It simply wasn't what he wanted -- not really. Still, there wasn't anyone else he wanted to be with. No such thing as true love and besides... not many people understood the strange machinations involved with who and what Wufei really was, much less the fact that he was believed to be a female and perforce expected to behave (and marry) as one. Even he hated it, had hated it all his life, but Father had said it was a necessity.... he'd never understood quite why but he thought it had something to do with Lord Barton and the fact that his family needed the money that Wufei's family had. The marriage had been planned practically since his birth and subsequent adoption. Yes. He was certain that was the reason why but... He sighed. True love would have been so much nicer.

The sunlight was blocked by Wufei's pacings, and frustrated, the mummy managed a struggled groan, the sound soft. His lungs felt as if filled with dirt, or worse, silt, and that sound caused pain in his chest.

A startled gasp broke from Wufei as he turned, eyes wide. "Wh... who's there?" he asked, mouth trembling with sudden fright. Gods above, it had sounded as if... as if....

Still bound within the wrappings, unable to see, only to hear and twitch a little, the mummy managed another painful sound from his chest, twitching that hand that had come unbound in rough transportation.

Wufei stepped forward uncertainly, fingers going to touch the wrappings. What... what on earth could have happened? Last night, there had been something, a desiccated (if large) something inside those wrappings, the pattern still recognized to his eyes but now...! Now, it looked as if someone live was almost bursting from beneath them as the frayed strands pulled even further apart. "Oh my God," he moaned. "What's going on?"

Those words struck him as concerned, which he was becoming himself -- he wasn't in the care of the dynasty! They would have unwrapped him long before now. Was something not working? How much longer would he be trapped in that half-life... Another soft, pained moan echoed from his dry lungs, and that hand moved again, joints aching.

Trembling hands began to unwind the remains of those cloth strips, careful but quick. "Why would someone do this?" Wufei muttered to himself. "What's going on, what's going on!" He wished Howard were here, that Sally was in the kitchen, but this morning was the morning for the trip to the market and so he was alone. Well, he knew how to defend himself, if it came down to it, but his stomach jumped with nervousness as he pulled away stinking strips,shuddering. "Oh, God. Oh, God!"

The tightness around his body was starting to recede -- had they at last noticed that he was revived to a far degree? They'd have to be punished when he was fully himself, if only for their sheer stupidity. Oh, it ached, to be drawing in struggled breaths of air that hurt and were old, breathing through those wrappings.

All of the strips came away at last and a black gaze stared in dazed wonderment at what lay beneath them. "Oh, fuck," Wufei said indelicately, blinking. Beneath all of those wrappings lay ginger-gold hair, a face to die for, and what seemed, as he kicked away all of the frayed and smelly cloth, a body to die for as well. Flushed and trying very hard not to look or notice, he stared and stared, shocked. Why on earth would anyone do such a thing? WHEN had they done it!? It seemed impossible... unless they'd slipped in while he was making tea and taken one to replace it with the other.... but even that would take time...

Arms that had been tightly bound in a crossed position over the lean, broad chest fell weakly to the man's sides, the flail and scepter fell from those hands -- but the finger's didn't uncurl from their clutching position for long moments, until one hand twitched a little. About the man's hips was what would have once been a finely died cloth, linen, but now it was badly deteriorated, just like the wrappings that had covered him.

A shuddering breath of clean air was sucked into his lungs, and it was a comfort.

The sunlight spilled directly on him and Wufei shook as bright blue eyes opened slowly in those brilliant sunbeams. He clutched tightly at the lapels of his dressing gown, as if that would somehow make him less visible to the strange man who could, he supposed, well be some sort of murderer. /Oh God oh God oh God.../ was a constant refrain in his mind as he stepped back and whispered, "Who are you?"

A few more breaths of that clean air, the sheer pureness of it stinging his lungs. "[Your ruler,]," he replied, in the common tongue of the streets -- any servant would understand it. Strange, how the lineage had become through time. "[Are... you one of mine?]" Not enough strength for much speaking, yet.

His trembling intensified with those words, a language gone unspoken save for scholars for centuries now. "[Not one of yours,]" he managed to stutter in that language before whimpering. "Not one of yours!" Now he was truly frightened. Something awful.... oh, it had to be something awful....

The returning words were badly mispronounced, which bothered him for a moment, but he continued to look at the servant standing before him with casual eyes. Beautiful, really, in a strange way, but trembling with fear -- as was only expected. "[Water.]" It was almost a command, as he closed his eyes again, sagging into the embrace of the box. In a few more hours of that sunlight, he'd be able to move from that box.

Shaken, Wufei looked around, reaching for and finding the teapot he'd brought in with him and pouring a cup. He brought it to the man -- /sun-god/, his mind insisted -- holding it up. "Tea?" he asked, realizing that was almost ridiculous. He was afraid to leave the room... afraid not to leave the room, almost afraid to move, but fascinated all the same. A man who spoke the language of the ancient Egyptians! A man so demanding, so... /absolutely bloody beautiful,/ his mind supplied... so much a ruler that it seemed almost as if he WAS the Pharaoh who'd been packed away for centuries, the supposedly immortal Khush!

His joints still ached to move, so he opened his eyes, meeting the young man's dark orbs -- 'tea?' What was that? "[Yes,]" came the raw, painful voice, though resonating with confidence. Those eyes slitted closed, and he parted his lips a little, waiting for the servant to pour the 'tea' into his mouth.

Uncertainly, Wufei lifted the cup, pressing it to those lips, almost amazed to watch the man swallow, throat moving each time until it was gone. He stepped back, out of the way of the sun, and that vague rustling continued, ginger locks almost singing and dancing in the sun's warmth. It made Wufei shudder, fearful, and his fingers shook so badly he dropped the cup to the carpet. "What are you?" he asked, knowing the other man wouldn't understand. "[What are you?]" he said again, mangling the language, he knew, but there was nothing else for it.

"[Your Pharaoh, insolent little one,]" he said, that liquid having soothed his raw throat a little. His eyes opened again, slowly, locking onto the rays of sunlight pouring down through the window. Beautiful. After so long in darkness, he never wanted to leave the sun again.

"Insolent!?" Wufei sputtered. "I'm not INSOLENT!" Not that the insistence did much good, he supposed wryly, leaning down and picking up the cup to pour more tea. "Insolent. I give you tea and you call me insolent and..." The realization of what the man had said struck him to the core and he paled, turning with the pot and the cup in his hands. "Pharaoh?" he whispered. "...it's not possible... it isn't...."

"[Do not babble wordlessly around me,]" he said, following the servant's movements with his eyes. "[More tee-ah.]"

"[It is not wordless,]" Wufei explained more than a bit fearfully. "[It is the language of the country where you are.]" Without even thinking, he obeyed the order, lifting the cup once again to the sun-god's mouth, fascinated.

He drank deeply of the soothing warm brew, noticing this time that it had a bit of taste to it. Almost like boiled plants. An herbal brew? /How refreshing./ "[And where are we?]"

"England," Wufei whispered. "[We're in England.]"

"[I have never heard of 'Inglund',]" he said, as that cup was drawn away from his lips. Once more, he stretched the fingers of his left hand, breathing in deeply that clean air.

"[It is very far away from Egypt,]" Wufei murmured. "Very far away."

A faint nod, and that hand twitched again. "[How many others are here?]"

There was an audible pause before Wufei answered honestly, "[Only me.]"

That bothered the man deeply, but he wasn't about to let it show. "[What is your name and family, boy?]"

"Wufei. Wufei Winner."

"[I do not recognize your family.]" Speaking was tiring on him, but he wished to know more. "[Why have I been brought back?]"

"[Then you are the Pharaoh Khush,]" Wufei gasped, the tea cup and pot both dropping. "You are, aren't you!"

Those stable blue eyes followed the gesture of shock calmly. "[Who else could I have been?]"

The blood seemed to have all drained from his head and he swayed dizzily with the mere suggestion. "I think," Wufei managed to say, mostly to himself, "that I am going to faint!" And with that, he did, crumpling to the floor slowly in a sprawl of limbs with the shock of the morning's strange occurrences.

Again those guttural sounding words, then the servant crumbled to the floor!

The once mummy closed his eyes slowly. The boy would awaken. Until then, he would gain more energy, more life.

The sunlight continued to stream down, silent and golden with the morning's shimmer.

"Wufei! Wufei!" The hand shaking him finally brought his eyes open and he jerked up to look into the worried dusky eyes of Duo, Howard and Sally standing behind the young man. "Are you all right?"

The urge to tell them that he was rather obviously not all right was cut short by the realization that he was laying upon the divan in the morning room and he was gently pushed back down by Duo's hand. Looking around, he realized that it must be nigh on to evening and he shuddered slightly. Where on earth could the mummy, that walking talking creature that should not have been, be?

"You had me worried!" Duo exclaimed. "Passed out cold!"

"I was..." Wufei fought off the urge to babble. "I was in the drawing room and having tea and...." He rose without a word and moved past surprised eyes into the hallway and across to the drawing room.

The mummy's sarcophagus was tightly closed and he shook his head as he realized that the tea set was no longer in the room. Perhaps... perhaps he had imagined it... Yes. He must have. "I was very tired afterwards. So tired that I don't even remember putting away the tea set."

Duo followed Wufei, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Wu... why don't you go up to bed? Or do something to relax? I'll finish your work for the day, all right?" There was concern in his voice, to say the least, and his eyes looked over the same places Wufei's did, but could find nothing.

"All right," Wufei agreed, looking around slightly in confusion. "Sally? Could I have something to drink... something besides tea... in the library, please? And maybe a sandwich?"

"Of course, child," the older woman agreed, watching him with a frown. Wufei was almost her own baby, she'd been with the Winners so long, and her eyes darted to Howard. "Come help me." They moved quickly out of the room.

Wufei frowned at Duo. "I can't believe this. This is ridiculous!"

"Can't believe what, Wufei?" Duo asked.

"This morning, that's all. Why, it's almost tea time, Duo! I've slept since... since..."

"Since we left?" came the quiet question. /His father's death has been hard on him.../ "Just go rest, and I'll take care of things, all right?"

"All right," he agreed mechanically. "I'll just be in the library." Turning, he moved from the drawing room and back across the hall into the room next to the morning room, pushing open the heavy doors. The smell of pages and leather was thick upon the air, a smell he welcomed and had enjoyed all his life. He couldn't help but smile as he almost shut the door behind him and moved forward before the quick rustling of pages captured his attention.

"[There are others here that you did not tell me about,]" came a familiar voice, the owner of that voice sitting in a large leather chair, wearing a towel wrapped around his waist, fashioned in the same way as the linen of before had been. In his hands was a book, a political book. Wufei almost shrieked before his hands came to cover his mouth, a whimper escaping him instead. /Oh my God... Ohhh, my GOD!/ This morning.... this morning had been REAL and not a demented dream!

"[These... scrolls are strange -- servant, how much time has passed?]" he spoke smoothly, but his head tilted a little to the side as he closed the book, rising to his feet.

A hasty step back moved Wufei almost against the door. "[I... I am not a servant,]" Wufei managed to say hoarsely. "[I own this house. Those in it are my betrothed and my servants. You will not...]" He paused. "[Will not harm them?]" That was the thought most on his mind, the other question could be answered in a moment.

"[They are members of your household, Servant? I have no reason to cause them harm,]" Another book was chosen from the rows of books, this one written in Latin. A smile creased his handsome, golden face. "[This tongue I recognize.]"

Wufei chewed at his lower lip, watching the man. Good Lord, he was utterly fascinating! "It's Latin," he said, stepping forward again.

"[I knew it long before you were born, and I knew its name then, Servant,]" he murmured easily, turning the page without looking up at Wufei.

"[I am NOT a servant!]" Wufei repeated loudly, frowning.

"[If you are not one of my lineage, then why did you revive me?]" The book was set aside, and he lowered sharp sapphire eyes to look at Wufei's face.

"[I... I.... didn't... do not... know what you are,]" Wufei whispered fearfully, backing up until the door was shut behind him to keep the distance between himself and the other man the same. "[What are you?]"

"[A creature cursed to live, no matter how much I've wanted to stop living -- in the tomb I found peace, and yet I've been taken from that peace -- and have no plans to return to the darkness again.]" A slight movement toward Wufei. "[How many years have passed?]"

The answer squeaked out from between dry lips. "[It is 1917 in the way we calculate time here.... almost certainly much more than two thousand years since you were buried. What is the last thing you remember?]" The realization that they had switched to Latin, a language that came more easily to Wufei, had almost been missed by him.

He switched back into the tongue that came more naturally to him, if only from years and years of using it. "[Mirialdo's death.]"

Wufei paled slightly. Mirialdo, the infamous leader of Egypt who'd consorted with Caesar and kissed an asp with the death of his lover, Lucrezia. "[Then one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven years have passed, so far as I can know.]"

The man paled himself for a moment, then nodded, almost blandly. So long since that betrayal, and yet... it still hurt. Funny, in a way. "[Then I have missed much.]"

"[Much of the world speaks in my language now,]" Wufei murmured hesitantly in Latin. "[I....]" A knock came upon the door and his eyes widened with surprise and no little fear. How on EARTH was he going to explain a mostly naked man in his library!?

Those sharp eyes looked up to the door. "[One of your household?]"

"[Yes,]" Wufei answered, swallowing. "[It's best if they do not know of your presence yet,]" he hinted.

"[And why would that be? I have no reason to hide.]" These were statements, rather than questions, and those eyes moved to Wufei's eyes and didn't waver.

Swallowing, he tried to explain. "[Yes, but your mode of dress is inappropriate to this time.]" Hell, Wufei's dressing gown was inappropriate but he'd been in the house alone this morning and... and Khush didn't need to know that! "[It would be difficult to explain!]"

"[That you disturbed my rest? I've no plans on leaving.]"

"[Just... PLEASE!]" Wufei whispered as the knock came again and the door handle turned even as he twisted the lock.

The man looked around the library slowly. "[Where do you wish me to go, servant?]"

"[In... in the chair, by the window. It is turned away. No one will see you and I will... go get you more appropriate clothing. And I am NOT a servant!]" he repeated again.

"[So you say,]" came the quietly dark murmur, as the man moved to sit in the chair by the window. It wasn't so bad, he mused to himself, as he closed his eyes. The sun was coming in through that window.

A quick twist of the lock and the door flew open, revealing Duo. "Sorry," Wufei explained sheepishly. "When you knocked, I thought perhaps the door was locked and then I locked it thinking... Oh, you know. Duo? Come upstairs with me? I need to get dressed," he sighed.

Duo smiled, stepping back for Wufei, to give him space to leave the library. "Sure -- can I watch?"

"No, you can't watch! But you can talk to me while I dress." Wufei eyed his fiance. "You are SUCH a pervert sometimes," he sighed as they walked to the stairs.

"Mm-hmm, I am, but Wu, you've got such a wonderful body to watch!" Duo smiled, musing that he'd have to try double hard to keep Wufei's spirits up, since his father had died so shortly ago! But Wufei would make a fine wife for him, a beautiful and willing wife...

Wufei's nose wrinkled. "You're insane, Duo Barton. Just.. insane." That didn't stop the flush that spread over his face. "And bad," he continued as they stepped into his bedroom and he opened the closet. Where on earth was he going to find something large enough to FIT the man downstairs? Well.... He'd have to visit his father's room. Father had been almost as large...

"You know, I could just tell Howard and Sally to keep themselves occupied tonight, then you could walk about the house nude and no one would bat an eye!" He nearly flung himself back onto the bed, hands folding behind his head as he stretched out.

"I'd die first," Wufei replied, choosing clothing and slipping behind the dressing screen. "It would be horribly inappropriate, Duo! And surely Sally and Howard wouldn't leave me alone with you naked."

"They'll have to when we're married," Duo smirked, sitting up, and peering at the dressing screen, as if he could see through it.

Wufei's head popped around the screen, face flushed. "Yes, but that's a while away. And I don't want to do that. I don't WANT to put on a dress and get married in a church. I'm not a woman! It's ridiculous!"

"Hey, you've got to do it," Duo reminded. "And... I think you'd look pretty in that dress!" Sally had already had it made, and frankly... Wufei looked very hot in it.

Frills and all.

"You just want to get under my skirts," Wufei muttered as he tucked in his shirt. He stepped out from behind the screen. "I'll be right back. There's something I need to get in... in Father's room."

Duo nodded a little solemnly. He wasn't going to follow Wufei there, or flirt with him on the way there... just... leave him alone. "I'll still be here."

With relief, Wufei slipped down the hall and into his father's room, only pausing momentarily to look around, the sadness overwhelming. He hadn't really been in here since... but that didn't matter. He gathered the clothing from his father's closet and hurried downstairs as quietly as he could, slipping into the library. "[Hello?]" he asked tentatively as he shut the door.

"[I am here,]" the risen Pharaoh answered calmly. "[Rid yourself of that one?]"

"[Only momentarily,]" Wufei replied. "[And he's my betrothed. I'll have to go get him as soon as you're decent.]"

"[Get him?]" he asked, rising to his feet, still standing in that life-giving, warming sun. "[And what about me could be indecent, servant?]"

"[You are standing almost naked in my library, a thing which is not done and is therefore considered indecent. And I am NOT a servant!]" Wufei sighed, bundling the clothes into the chair and handing the Pharaoh a pair of his father's underwear. "[Put these on. And... do you have a name?]"

For a moment, the man looked at the underwear strangely, as if unaware what to do with it, then he removed his loin cloth, sliding them on.The hung a little loosely on those lean hips, but... would serve for covering. "[I have many names. Which sort would you prefer? Something you would not mangle?]"

Wufei tried not to look as the man dressed but it was impossible not to sneak a glance, one that left him flushed and almost breathless. /Oh, MY!/ "Y...yes, please."

The pants next, of a strange, soft yet rough blue dyed material. They, too, hung loosely. "[What did you say?]"

"[Yes, please,]" Wufei repeated in Latin.

"[Then call me 'Treize' -- a mangled Gallic word, but it serves well,]" he replied back in Latin, slipping on the shirt with sleeves that didn't come down to his wrists, so he took it off, knowing that robes, no matter how short, should not fit so illy.

"[Treize! Put the shirt on!]" Wufei insisted. "[It will be all right. The jacket goes over it.]"

One look at the jacket brought the same reaction. "[It will fit as poorly as the other.]" His words held a connotation of Wufei having strong nerve to ask him to wear that.

Wufei sighed. "[We'll go shopping for your own clothing soon. It is only a few inches. Please?]"

"[Do not try this treatment often, Servant,]" he muttered, putting the shirt back on. A half moment's pause, and he turned the sleeves up a few times, until the length didn't bother him anymore. Then the jacket was ignored, and the vest that was there was slid on over the shirt.

"[How many times do I have to tell you I am NOT a servant!?]" Wufei demanded, beginning to get angry. Really! What a perfectly obnoxious.... well, he was a Pharaoh.... Wufei sighed again. "[I have to go and fetch my betrothed.]"

"[I will wait,]" was the only reply, as a book was picked up once more.

Glancing out of the library, Wufei moved almost silently up the stairs again and into his father's bedroom, coming back with Quatre's pocket-watch, the one that had been sent home from Egypt. He slipped into his own room and smiled slightly at Duo on the bed. "Sorry," he said. "That took longer than I thought it would."

Duo thinned his lips a little, but nodded. Wufei had probably had a good cry while in there, and taken enough time to pause and hide the fact. "It's okay."

"Let's go downstairs," he said. "Sally's probably got lemonade and sandwiches ready by now."

Duo rose, nodding. "All right, Wufei -- let's go."

Wufei took his hand, a comfort, really, after being with the imposing man downstairs, and tugged slightly. "I'm starving," he explained.

"Starving, hmn? Well you slept all day, so I can see how that worked up an appetite!" Duo smiled, following Wufei gladly.

"Mmmhm. And I'll bet Sally's got something wonderful downstairs...." The thought that the Pharaoh, /Treize,/ he reminded himself, was probably hungry as well crossed his mind. "Hm..."

"Hm?" Duo echoed, looking at Wufei's expression. far, far away...

"Just thinking," he replied, and pulled the other boy into the kitchen where Howard and Sally seemed to almost be plotting something as they leaned over the counter together.

"I still think," Howard said, "that it's best for him."

"But it's against all conceivable proprieties! Lord Winner's not been gone a month and a half! Do you know the way people will talk if they wed now?" Sally insisted.

"Not if it's kept quiet!" Howard returned.

Wufei looked at Duo uncertainly. "....."

Duo smiled a little uneasily. "Uh... It's not my fault?!"

The other two stood straight, both flustered with the realization that they'd been overheard. "Oh, dear," Sally said. "You're looking for the food I promised to bring, aren't you?"

"Well, yes," Wufei nodded. He paused in thought for a moment before saying, "I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready to be married. I don't..." /...want to be married,/ he finished in his mind, the thought of the stranger in the library rising unbidden as he frowned.

Duo tightened his grip on Wufei's hand for a moment. "Easy, Wufei -- just calm down -- no pressure, hmn?" Something, something was deeply agitating Wufei.

"And Sally is right. Father hasn't been d..dea..dead long enough for it to happen!" he said, almost panicked. "I can't just... not yet. Just not yet."

Howard sighed. "Not even a private ceremony?"

Pleading eyes turned to Duo.

"It would make everything smoother, Wu," Duo murmured. "But... if you don't want to, you don't have to."

The realization that Duo's family was probably still suffering without the financial resources their marriage would provide made him put his head down. "I know," Wufei whispered. "Soon, all right? But not now..."

At last, Treize had tired of waiting -- waiting for a servant! No matter how intelligent that servant was -- and left the room he'd been in most of that afternoon, walking slowly through the halls. The architecture was fascinating, truly fascinating, and he'd have to ask the young man about it when he found him at last... And there he was, standing with three others -- the girl with the long hair was the servant's mate? What was that one's name again... Wufei. He stepped closer to the three. "[Wufei, are these the rest of this household?]" He spoke in the tongue he would have used were he in Egypt.

Dark eyes became huge as everyone turned to look at the man standing in the doorway. "He..." Wufei squeaked. "He's an Egyptologist! I meant to say he'd come but then I forgot because of the faint, the sleep, the, I mean.... well, fuck!"

"WUFEI!" Sally declared, shocked. "Don't you EVER say that word again!" The man smiled slightly, to hear that woman yelling at the boy -- he'd probably overstepped his bounds. "[Tell me what they say,]" he nearly commanded, speaking directly to Wufei, as if the other's weren't worthy of his attention.

Duo's eyes were wide, as he looked at the man, saying nothing.

"[She told me not to use the word I used again! It wasn't nice. Now, what are you doing!? I told you no one knew of your presence yet!]" Wufei returned sharply in that same Egyptian language. God save him, Duo KNEW Latin. He couldn't speak in the language he knew better or he'd end up giving something away, he just knew it!

Howard cleared his throat. "I wasn't at the door when he arrived," he said.

"No," Wufei managed to explain, trying to resist glaring at the other man. "It was this morning. I forgot, in my.. my..."

Sapphire eyes narrowed. "[Do not use that tone with me, Servant... Wufei.]"

Duo managed to blink at last. "Does he speak English? I don't know a word he's saying." /But he looks dangerous, and WHY is he here?/

"Well, not exactly," Wufei managed sheepishly. "I think he's learning English but I don't think he's quite got a grasp on it yet and it would embarrass him to speak imperfectly until he does, don't you think?"

Sally's disapproval was obvious. "Well, I suppose I shall feed HIM, too," she said.

"So, why's he here, and how long is he here for?" Duo asked, looking at the man and smiling. A dark glare was the only reply he got.

"[Tell me what they say, Servant Wufei,]" he half demanded.

"[They wanted to know who you were and my betrothed would like to know when you will leave,]" Wufei replied. "[And I am NOT a SERVANT!]"

"[Then tell them the truth... *Wufei*,]" came the dark insistence.

Frowning, Duo waited for a reply from Wufei -- the two men looked and sounded as if they were arguing with each other, and he wasn't going to allow that...

"[I can't tell them you're an immortal Pharaoh!]" Wufei insisted angrily. "[They'd think us both insane, me from the death of my father and you as an obviously dangerous man!]"

Howard cleared his throat. "Sir, I could toss him out..." The threat was clearly ridiculous as Howard was a good four or five inches and fifteen pounds lighter than the other man.

"[I am a dangerous man,]" Treize reminded, almost lightly, for a split second, then his eyes darkened.

"Wufei," Duo murmured, breaking in. "How long is he going to be here and just *what* is he doing here?"

"H...he's just here to catalogue the things Father collected. That's all. I'm sure he won't be here more than a week," Wufei replied to Duo, moving closer to his violet-eyed fiance. "[You're frightening me and worrying my betrothed. It isn't well done of you.]"

"[Then, my apologies,]" he muttered darkly. "[But you've taken me from my sleep, shoved me into this strange clothing, then have the sheer audacity to speak to me as you have -- I should have you whipped.]"

Once again, his eyes were huge and everyone in the kitchen began to talk at once.

"I don't like him!" Sally muttered.

"Shall I call someone and have him thrown out, Wufei?" Howard asked.

"You want me to get him out of here?" Duo offered, worried by the man, very obviously so.

As every moment passed, Treize's mood grew darker and darker. He looked out over them, and spoke sharply "[Stop babbling!!]", before turning to Wufei. "[Tell me what they say.]"

"[They want to know if I want you thrown out of my home,]" Wufei said. "[Because you're frightening them and they're accustomed to protecting me. I don't leave it often,]" he explained.

Treize fell silent for a moment. "[Then tell them that I say I'm sorry, but this is a strange and confusing situation for me.]" It was still almost an order, and didn't seem apologetic.

Duo's eyes widened. "He better be some sort of friend of yours, Wufei, or I *am* throwing him out of here..."

"He says he's very sorry," Wufei repeated to Duo and the others. "And he doesn't mean to frighten you but he's unaccustomed to England or our ways and is a bit confused. He's been reading off and on all afternoon in the..." No, not in the library... "...in Father's study. I let him in before I fell asleep and forgot about him. Really, that's all there is to it."

Sally slowly withdrew her hand from the rolling pin she'd reached for, still frowning. "Well.... I suppose...." Howard's expression was no less grim.

"I promise," he told Duo, "that everything is all right."

Duo frowned. "A week? That's all? Well, then I guess I can stand him."

"[You will have to teach me this tongue, s... Wufei,]" Treize commented at length. "[Is there food to be had about? I fear what it is I may get in this time, however...]"

A relieved sigh broke loose. "[Yes, there's food. Just a moment, and I'll have something made for us and meanwhile we'll begin studying English.]" With that, he turned to Sally. "Could we have dinner within the half hour, Sally? In the dining room, please? I think I can stand it that long and our guest is hungry." He glanced at Duo and then glanced away, back at the sapphire-eyed man.

Continuing to look serious, Sally nodded reluctantly. "All right," she said,"but I can't guarantee it'll be at the half hour. Go off and settle the man in, Wufei, and I'll get dinner ready."

"He's already settled in by now, I'm sure," Wufei lied blithely. "We'll just go back to the library and I'll start helping him with his English."

Duo stayed close to Wufei. "Eh, I really don't want to leave you alone with him," he murmured.

Cold eyes travelled over Duo. "[Your woman is pretty, but clingy.]"

Black eyes blinked momentarily before a smile that had to be hidden almost took over Wufei's face. "It's all right. You can come, Duo. I think he might speak Latin as well." His response to Treize was slightly amused. "[My betrothed isn't a woman... and he doesn't want to leave me alone with you. He speaks Latin, if you should like to speak in a language that is easier for me and for him to understand. Perhaps you could try to be polite and not refer to us as servants, however? I fear he won't understand.]"

"[Why would I wish to associate with him?]" came the question, truly curious. "[And he still looks like a woman -- you're betrothed to another man? How amusing.]"

Wufei shrugged. "[If you don't wish to speak with him, obviously I cannot force you to do so. The fact is that my situation is a bit odd. The world thinks me a woman, sickly, the last of the great family of Winners. My father has recently died, putting off the wedding that should culminate a betrothal that has lasted most of my life. The situation is not amusing, thank you very much.]" He glanced at Duo. "And then again, maybe he doesn't speak Latin. The language he speaks is difficult for me to grasp, sometimes."

Duo raised his eyebrows. "Sounds... weird. I don't have any idea what it is!"

"[Why is it not amusing? I find it so.]" He started back toward the library, waiting for them to follow him. If he could find his way back there without getting lost in such unfamiliar ground.

One black brow raised as Wufei followed the man. "It's Egyptian, of a sort. You know," he said with amusement, "he thinks you're a woman."

Duo blinked. "Me?! A woman?!! Haha~! Chh, that's funny!" Absently, he smoothed down his braid. "Stupid, that's what he is."

"[Does he always laugh so annoyingly, Wufei?]" came the uttered words, as he paused by a door, touching the molding up by the ceiling. "[What is this made of? It's like nothing I've ever seen... perfect replications the entire way down.]"

The two-sided conversation was enough to give a saint a headache. "[It's molding,]" Wufei replied. "[The pattern was made by artists and then replicated when it was made for the room so that each would be perfect. And he isn't annoying. I shall wed him and he's perfectly fine the way he is.]" The intimation made his chin rise and his eyes narrow. "[You're terribly demanding.]" He shook his head at Duo. "He's certainly an odd sort of fellow. I suppose it all depends on what you see." Wufei shrugged. "After all, the few times we go out, I tend to look the part of a woman and no one ever thinks differently. And here, I was met first and look like a man so, with your braid, he assumed you the woman. Quite odd, but true."

The sound of a knock at the door came and Wufei glanced back as Howard hurried down the hall to answer the door. It opened, revealing Duo's father. "Lord Barton! Oh, good! You're here! That might make this a bit easier," the dark haired man said.

Doffing his hat, overcoat and gloves and leaving his cane with Howard, Trowa moved forward smoothly, only the slightest sign of a limp obvious from an accident in his earlier years. "Good evening, Wufei. I see you have company."

Duo smiled widely at his father. "Hello!" he greeted cheerily.

"[Dare I ask who this one is, Ser... Wufei?]" Treize questioned, looking at the older man with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, my. Ancient Egyptian! How charming!" Trowa said, lightly touching Duo's shoulder. "Good evening, son."

Wufei's eyes became huge as Trowa spoke to the man with much more precise grammar than he himself had been able to do so. "[The father of this young chap here and the future father-in-law of our dear Wufei. And you are?]"

That brought on a fit of panic. /Oh, dear sweet gods, what will the man say?/ Wufei thought, glancing back and forth between all of them.

"[Very pleased to meet someone else who can understand what I say,]" Treize smiled, bowing only *fractionally* to the man as a way of showing his respect.

Duo sighed, realized it was going to be 'one of those nights'.

Looking at Duo, Wufei shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, love. I told you that you should've taken Egyptian instead of German. You know how our fathers' obsessions run... ran."

Trowa brightened and smiled at the man. "[Quite obviously. You speak the language beautifully. It's rare to meet someone who can do so anymore! Tell me, do you speak English at all? How many of the rare languages do you speak?]"

"[Engliush is... evading me. I've not been hearing it for long -- I speak Greek and Latin.]" He almost, almost wanted to add that he *hoped* he spoke it beautifully, given his rank and status, but... he refrained, realizing this man was bright, brighter than Wufei, and most definitely could be helpful to him.

Nodding, Wufei said, "[We were going to work on his English just now.]" He hoped he spoke the words clearly and sighed once more. Well, it didn't really matter if the man thought him incapable of speaking because Duo's father was here now and he spoke the language MUCH better than Wufei did, even he had to admit. Another weak smile was cast at Duo. "I think we're redundant now. Perhaps Sally will have dinner ready soon."

"[Marvelous! You speak Latin! We all speak Latin here!]" Trowa declared,changing languages on poor Treize. "[Even my son!]"

Obstinately, Treize remained speaking the tongue he had been. "[Or your daughter, as I mistook him. But I am grateful to find another I can communicate with easily.]"

Wufei sighed. "Or perhaps not," he said, shaking his head. "He's a bit rude, sir. I'm sorry, Duo."

"No, no. Understandable. It seems to be the language he's comfortable in though he must be from a very out of the way community to still speak it," Trowa murmured, fascinated. "[From where do you come?]" he asked the other man curiously as they wandered closer to the library, continuing to talk and leaving Wufei and Duo standing in the hallway. It felt almost like abandonment for some strange reason and Wufei frowned deeply.

"[The capitol -- Alexandria. Unless that is no longer the capital of the united kingdom of north and south Nile,]" Treize murmured.

Trowa blinked. "[But the current capitol of Egypt is Cairo,]" he said with some slight confusion. "[Alexandria hasn't been the capitol in quite some time.]"

Treize gave a nonchalant shrug, noting the man's expression. "[That may very well be true -- I do not know. I've been gone from this world for some time.]"

Confusion increasing, Trowa called, "Wufei. Were you aware that your guest is insane? He thinks he's been gone from this world...."

Wufei paled. "I'm sure he just means out of Egypt. His village is... is very far away and maybe they just..."

Duo chuckled. "No, I'm sure he's nuts."

There was a lengthy pause, and Treize looked from Trowa, to Wufei, and back. "[Ser-- Wufei, for the final and *last* time, tell me what is being said!]"

Swallowing nervously, Wufei glanced at Trowa apologetically. "[I..... they were debating whether you were quite aware of current world conditions...]"

Trowa's smile was almost oblivious. "[Yes, yes,]" Trowa agreed. "[Something remarkably like that!]"

Treize's eyes narrowed for a moment, then returned to their calm iciness. "[As you say, then.]" They began to walk once more, and he looked over to Trowa again. "[What is your name?}"

"Trowa Barton!" the man replied. "[And the young man with the braid is my son, Duo.]"

"[I will remember that, then,]" he said, as they paused in front of the library doors, and without question, entered first.

Wufei sighed. This was getting better and better.

As Treize entered, he paused in front of the window, longingly noting that the sun was going down. One palm rose to press against the glass as if to catch those fading rays. "[The sun does not stay out long here, does it, Ser-- Wufei?]" he asked at length, as he heard the library door shut. "[I will stop having to correct your name soon enough, Wufei.]"

Duo was feeling very left out, listening to them all 'talk' back and forth at each other like that, and sighed, sitting heavily in one of the library chairs.

"[It's barely more than the beginning of spring. The sun will start to stay out longer soon,]" Wufei explained softly. He took Duo's hand carefully. "[And it will be nice if you do that.]"

There was a certain undertone in that conversation which caused Trowa's brows to rise. "Interesting," he murmured in English.

"[What does that word mean?]" Treize asked, turning away from the fading sun, not wanting to see it set.

"[The same as 'fascinating',]" Wufei replied. "[Here... wait...]" Some rummaging eventually turned up several old textbooks of his and he brought them over with satisfaction. "[See? There are pictures next to the English words. This,]" he pointed. "[This is a] cat. [And this is a] dog. [And so on and so forth. I can translate this into Latin, perhaps by tomorrow. I'll begin once we eat...?]"

"[No need, no need, my boy. I'll sit up with him for at least a time and help him learn. It's fascinating, to find someone who's been so far gone from the world,]" Trowa chuckled, humoring Treize's previous notion.

"[My thanks, Torowa,]" Treize murmured, looking over the book. A child's book of the present time, he was sure -- for he could tell so if only from the bright colors on the pages, to catch young attention spans. "[And I am not 'so far gone from this world'.]" A few pages were turned, and he continued to quickly read through it. Almost like a degenerated version of Latin, mixed with the more Gallic tongues. How funny that they survived, while... The greater cultures failed to do so. "[Gallic and Latin, badly degenerated -- how did Rome, Greece and Egypt fall so badly to have the world dominated by... by *this*.]" A gesture to the book, then the room around him.

"Remarkable!" Trowa murmured. "[Just remarkable! What interesting philosophical principals you have, sir! You know, though....]" He fumbled amongst the books on the shelves momentarily before returning. "[This might help you more.]" Even now, Trowa had known the exact location of Quatre's Egyptian-English dictionaries, the Latin-English one atop it. "[Don't you think these would be better, Wufei?]"

Flushing with something akin to embarrassment, Wufei muttered, "[I thought the pictures would help...]"

Treize gave a slight, brief smile at Wufei, patronizingly. "[I may not comprehend your language, but do not rank me as an imbecile.]" He leafed briefly through the Egyptian-English dictionary, and set it aside with a bit of disgust. "[Phonetics does me little good]" The Latin-English book was raised next, and he thinned his lips, skimming briefly through it. The verbs were so confusing, even to him! Perhaps he was trying too hard... "[I do not think that I will have any luck today with this,]" he murmured, looking up at Trowa. "[You did not answer my question from before, Torowa -- I wish to know how this degenerate culture overthrew even the glory of Rome.]"

Wufei's discomfort increased as he sat next to Duo. Why was it the damned man made him feel like such a child? It made him sullen and prickly until he felt Duo's hand at the small of his back, touching lightly.

"[Rome itself,]" Trowa murmured dramatically. "[The Caesars became imbeciles through constant inbreeding, making mad decision after mad decision until the Great Empire fell beneath the weight of all the cultures it encompassed.]" The old man paused. "Your guest is certainly strange, Wufei."

"I know," Wufei answered quietly, the nervousness of the day, the evening, beginning to wear upon him as he pulled Quatre's pocket-watch from his trousers and looked at it. The lid popped open easily, revealing the picture inside of Quatre and Dorothy, his adopted parents, and he sighed.

Frowning and unable to understand little of what was going on, Duo sighed a little, glad that Wufei was at least allowing him that small touch. "Seriously -- how long is this guy going to stay here?"

"[I will have to learn this guttural tongue if only to comprehend all of you,]" Treize murmured absently, sitting down in that same chair as he had before. The sun was gone, and the darkness beyond was almost frightening. "[And how did Egypt fall? Or was it through the same sort of machinations?]" A quiet, rueful laugh. "[My apologies, I've missed much over so many years.]"

Trowa's discomfort increased, becoming obvious. "Duo, I think you should stay here with Wufei. I'm not quite sure this man is entirely sane."

"No!" Wufei answered, snapping the watch shut. "It's all right! He's harmless, I..." The realization that the man was not harmless struck him and he looked at Duo helplessly. "And your mother is supposed to be coming in from Paris tomorrow," he finished mechanically.

Duo blinked, once. "Wufei, are you all right?"

"[Would *someone* tell me what is being said?]" Treize asked, not moving from where he had seated himself.

"[I merely suggested that perhaps it would be best if my son stayed the night with his betr... with Wufei.]" Trowa frowned, wondering if the man understood Wufei's situation and then continuing. "[After all, we know nothing about you and Wufei is...]"

"[And Wufei,]" said person spoke up, "[will be quite fine on his own.] I'm fine, Duo." Wufei sighed. "I'm just very tired. I miss Father."

The man seated in the chair gave a slight sigh, nodding a little. "[Glad to see that you have a spine buried somewhere, Wufei, and that you can use it when appropriate.]" He rose slowly from the chair. "[You did not answer my prior question, Torowa -- I wish to know what has happened to Egypt since I was last alive.]"

A certain amount of fury began to bubble in Wufei's veins. Gods damn it all! The man was glad to see he had a SPINE!? Caramel cheeks flushed with heat and he stood, gritting his teeth. "[I've got more than a spine, you... you....]" The only word that seemed appropriate was a curse that his father's assistant had said once and of which Wufei, with a little work, had managed to learn the meaning. "KISAMA!"

"Oh, my," Trowa murmured. "Oh, my. Wufei, where...?" But he knew where and he sighed. Heero. After hearing that curse, Treize's question escaped him entirely.

Turning slowly, Treize leveled a dark gaze on Wufei. "[I have no idea what you just called me, but you do not DARE to use that tone when speaking to me!!]" The words were sharply growled at Wufei, and Wufei alone. "[The Great Khush never has, and will not *ever* allow such impudence!]"

Ignoring the looks being passed between his betrothed and his future father in-law, Wufei stalked up the the "Great" Pharaoh and put a finger directly in the middle of his chest. "[You are impudent, not nice and all around....]" Wufei paused and repeated the word again. "KISAMA! [That would be YOU!]"

"Good HEAVENS!" Trowa moaned. "Wufei, you can't just SAY words like that! You...!"

That hand pressing against his chest was grasped tightly into a steel hard grasp, then pulled upward, until Wufei was standing on his tiptoes to not be pulling on his arm. "[*No* *one* touches me without permission. 'Not nice' does not and never has concerned me -- I've tried to be sociable with you, with him, and with your girl-man. I can't understand half of what is being said around me; I'm confused; and I am *NOT* accustomed to being treated in this manner!]"

Duo rose quickly, face concerned. "Father, I'm going to get... Howard and Sally."

"[Stop this NOW!]" Wufei whispered, the joint pulling as he glared with equal heat at the man and tried to remove his hand from that grip.

"I'll fetch the police," Trowa said, stepping towards the phone.

"STOP!" Wufei cried. "[STOP!] All of you! Stop it!"

Breathing deeply from his extreme anger, Treize managed to force himself to lower Wufei a little. Then he let go of that hand, stepping back. "[My sincerest apologies -- I am not accustomed to the proper protocols of *this* time -- I only know those I experienced.]"

Duo... blinked, once. "Wufei?"

"Go home, Duo. Lord Barton. Please. It will be all right. I'll take care of this problem." Wufei paused, one hand rubbing the other. "[I've told them to go home. You and I will speak after they leave.]"

"I don't think it's at all appropriate," Trowa began.

"[Yes, we have to speak,]" Treize murmured, turning back to the window.

Despite Wufei's words, Duo was angry. "Mister, you do not hurt my fiance!"

Unable to tell what Duo was saying as he encroached upon Treize's space, the imposing man drew a slow breath. "[Calm the annoying girl-man down before I lose my temper once more, Wufei. I can tell Torowa already thinks that I am insane.]" Slowly, he turned to look at Torowa, eyes older, far older than they should have been. "[And just what do you do for a living, to know my tongue?]"

Trowa frowned. "[Yes, I do think you're mad! I'm a historian, of sorts. My friend... Wufei's father, was an Egyptologist. Someone who excavates the tombs of Egypt, as you ought to know if you're from there. And I don't think it's safe to leave the child in the same home alone with you!]"

Meanwhile, Wufei was gently pushing Duo back. "Duo. It's all right. I can take care of myself, as you well know. It will be fine. He'll do his job and then he'll leave and that will be that. Howard and Sally are here and I'll lock the bedroom doors, slide the dresser before one and the bed before the other, if it suits you."

Duo stepped back as urged, frowning deeply as he did so. "Why can't I just call the police?"

"[A historian... of sorts?]" A short laugh, and he turned back to the window. "[I could tell you so much about Rome and my land that you would be frightened, then -- how much do you know of the power behind the great Mirialdo?]" His voice ached simply saying that name, but he managed to do so. "[Never mind. Probably nothing at all, if so much time has passed.]"

"[Please say no more, Treize,]" Wufei pleaded, a hand going to his temple. Great stars, his head was beginning to pound with the strain. "Duo, please. It will be all right. It's fine. I promise. Please, Duo."

Beginning to anger, Trowa frowned. "Wufei, this is inappropriate. You are thought to be a woman. Having a strange man in your house during the mourning period..."

"[Why not say more, Wufei?]" he asked now, fluidly switching into Latin, with sharp, clear pronunciations of his words. "[*You* woke me up, *you* disturbed my rest...]"

"Strange and dangerous!" Duo insisted, catching only, perhaps, every other word of what the man was saying.

The tears were rising despite a desperate battle to hold them off and Wufei clutched at his father's watch tightly. "Stop it. All of you just STOP it! Stop it, stop it, stop it! I can't bear it!" They came all the same, hot and dripping, and he hid his face in mortification.

Trowa softened. "Oh, Wufei..."

One eyebrow rose slowly, and he half turned, noting that Wufei had broken down into crying, and that the girl-man called 'Duo' was comforting him. Strange. That sight made his heart twinge also. "[Why is he crying?]" he asked Trowa, almost absently.

"[My friend... his father... died only a little more than a month ago. Many of the artifacts in the house, the mummy in the drawing room, all of the Egyptian pieces there, are on loan from the British Museum. He died at the dig and they thought it appropriate to gift the last of his line with a final showing,]" Trowa explained absently, gaze far away even as he watched the two together.

"[Then I regret to say that the mummy is no longer in the drawing room -- and that the mummy does not take well to being called 'the mummy'. Do you know what it does to disturb a tomb? Had I been properly embalmed and such, you would have destroyed my afterlife by doing what you've done. How many pharaohs has his father wrested from the glorious afterlife, without a second thought to the notion that he'd be damning their souls to the pits for eternity?]"

Utter shock filled mist-green eyes as he looked at the man. "[You jest! Surely you jest!]" he whispered shakily, a hand rising to clutch at his chest. "[You shouldn't make such statements!]" The overwhelming facts, the language the man spoke, his bearing, Wufei's strange behavior, it was all coming together and he felt his heart spasm. "D...Du...o...!"

At the sound of his father's voice, Duo tore away from his crying betrothed, and raced to his father, helping him to stand. "Easy, Father! Relax! Breath!" /Oh, heavens, his heartbeat got too fast again... it'll pass.../ Quickly, he guided his father to sit in a chair. "Water, something!"

Treize reminded silent, waiting to answer when the man seemed more coherent.

Wufei ran from the room, wiping tears as he went. Oh, it was beyond awful, all of it! Hurrying back with water and the bottle of pills they kept for Trowa, he slipped into the library. "Duo, his medicine!" He held the water glass tightly. "Should we call the doctor? I'll call the doctor!"

"N... n..." Trowa tried to protest but his lips were turning blue. A Pharaoh! A Pharaoh of Egypt! Dear Gods, an Immortal Man, here, in the library of the Winners!

Hands shaking, Duo pushed one of his father's nitroglycerin pills, then tipped the water into his mouth. "Easy, Father!" He exclaimed quietly as the man allowed the water to help the pill dissolve. A few moments, and he'd be fine once more...

The phone was only steps away and Wufei raised the connected ear-piece and mouth-piece. "Operator?" he said in a trembling almost alto. "Please connect me with Dr. Jensen. Yes. Yes. Thank you." There was a pause as the phone on the other end rang. "Doctor? Oh, thank heavens! Y.. yes. Yes, Wufei Winner. No, I'm fine, sir, but Lord Barton is having an attack. Please. It's an emergency! You must hurry!"

Trowa began to calm, slowly, and Duo sighed slightly, looking up at Treize darkly. "Whatever you said to my father, that started that, wasn't smart of you to do."

Treize, however was ignoring Duo, giving glances to Trowa to make sure that the intelligent man was still alive, as he approached the telephone, almost warily. "[What... is this contraption?]"

Unable to believe that the man could ask such a question when there was obviously a problem, Wufei babbled the answer. "[A telephone. It's a mechanical device that allows speech over long distances, like... like....]" Oh, he couldn't think of anything! "Duo, how is he?"

Relaxing, Trowa sighed, lips blue, entire frame trembling with the strain. "The face of a god," he said quietly, closing his eyes. "Oh, children. Wufei. What have we done. What have we all done..."

"Hush, Father," Wufei whispered, calling him that helplessly. "Hush. It will be fine."

Well, he could and *would* get a full answer later. Slowly, he approached the chair where Trowa was resting, and that Duo knelt beside, murmuring, "Please, Father, don't expend yourself! The doctor will be here shortly, just rest..."

The man was old! Well, perhaps not old for that time, but he was old to Treize's mind, for a simple mortal. "[Rest, elder.]"

Trowa laughed tiredly. "[Elder indeed,]" he sighed, patting Duo's hand. "It will be all right, son. It will be all right."

A team of horses had come with a carriage to take Trowa and his son to the hospital. Treize had watched from one of the windows, simply taking in the strangeness of the time. He would never, never blend in...

Or control any sort of power again.

When Wufei re-entered the house, he turned around, looking at the young man -- who, in a strange way, reminded him so much of Mirialdo, and yet, reminded him of the man so little. Both were pretty, and had a fire to them...

"I should show you a room," Wufei murmured tiredly. "It's late." The realization that he was speaking in English really didn't strike him, so worried and emotionally exhausted was he, eyes drooping slightly. Dinner had been ruined in their rush to get Lord Barton to the hospital and Sally was utterly overwrought, Howard patting her back in the kitchen. His stomach growled despite the fact that he ought to be too tired to think about food.

"[Repeat yourself, I cannot understand you,]" Treize managed to say, patiently, one hand quickly moving out to grasp Wufei by the shoulder, touch strangely gentle.

It didn't seem to bother Wufei as he looked up at those bright blue eyes. "[I should show you a room,]" he repeated. "[It's late and I'm very tired, so perhaps you are as well.]" That embarrassing rumble came again. "[Not to mention hungry,]" he continued blandly.

"[Hungry, yes, tired, no,]" Treize murmured at length. "[But if I am *expected* to sleep, I can take those books from the library and try to learn them.]"

Wufei blinked. "[You're welcome to remain in the library if you wish.]" Tentatively, he frowned. "[....Sally and Howard are probably in bed by now. We could see if there was something to eat in the kitchen.... beer and bread. Those were the staples of the Egyptians, weren't they?]

"[Bread, wine, fish, figs, and honey -- it all depends upon the social status.]" He removed his hand from Wufei's shoulder. "[But at the moment I care little.]"

Wufei nodded understanding and turned to head towards the kitchen. That hand didn't lift from his shoulder for several seconds and he looked at the other man with a sleepy frown. "[Yes?]"

There was almost a hesitation. Almost. "[Perhaps in the morning, you can inform me of the current world.]" Then a heavier pause. "[And where I would fit into it.]"

An almost smile slowly curved Wufei's mouth. "[I suspect that a man like you would fit in anywhere you wanted,]" he said quietly, unthinkingly. Yes, a man like this could even run Winner Incorporated with ease, unlike the men in whose hands Father had left the business.

"[Once I learn of the current world, yes.]" Those words were confident, but he blinked slightly as they entered the kitchen. So many strange things!

"[We'll learn a little tonight and then more tomorrow. I'm very tired,]" Wufei said apologetically, beginning to pull food from cabinets, checking the cool larder for milk and for the mead that he thought perhaps the man would like. /Well,/ he rationalized slightly, /the man IS a Pharaoh.../

Treize sat down in a chair, sure that it would not be strange in any way other than the way it looked. "[Torowa's body gives him pains,]" he commented, watching Wufei dig for food. "[And he is old -- why do you not let him pass on to the afterlife?]"

Pausing, Wufei looked up, black eyes blinking steadily as he frowned. "[He is not so old. It's the way of things, I suppose, to try and give the older members of our society an even longer life. We love him,]" he said simply. "[Father loved him, I think. Perhaps more than Mother. And with Father gone already....]" That sadness was back, well-deep.

"[You do not wish to lose another supportive figure in your life -- you are not quite self-sufficient, but your caring is admirable.]"

"[I'm not supposed to be self-sufficient,]" Wufei sighed. "[The circumstances surrounding who and what I am are terribly strange and, I fear, entirely machinated by my Father and the father of my betrothed. Women,]" he said with almost angry inflection, "[are not supposed to be self-sufficient but should require a man upon which to lean. The world thinks me a woman -- a sickly child adopted when barely a day old by the childless Quatre and Dorothy Raberba Winner.]" He shrugged, putting together sandwiches. "[It is simply the way of things. And you're right... I don't wish to lose Lord Barton. It would break Duo's heart,]" he finished.

Treize looked at what Wufei was doing, and was momentarily worried by it. "[So, you are a man, marrying a man? I can assume your girl-man knows what you are.]" It was a quiet musing, not really a question at all. "[Amusing indeed.]"

"[Yes,]" Wufei replied, the temptation to roll his eyes almost unbearable as he sat one of the sandwiches down before Treize along with the mead he'd bored before gathering milk for himself and sitting at the kitchen table. "[My girl man realizes precisely what I am. A man marrying a man. It does not please me entirely... but neither does it displease me, and Father wished it, so I will obey. It is not amusing,]" he corrected, lifting his sandwich and taking a bite.

The mead was not perfect, but it was not horrid, and he drank it easily, still thirsty, but not nearly as much as he'd been before. "[We had such ceremonies,]" Treize murmured, taking the top of the sandwich off, eating the bread with a strange grace for a man dissecting a sandwich. /And I was nearly in one myself, would have been, were it not for that damnable *woman*!/

Wufei watched him eat with curiosity before taking a bite out of the sandwich himself. "[These are eaten like so, Treize,]" he said after swallowing. "[Bite it whole.]" Thoughtfully, Wufei frowned. "[There is no historical documentation of such things...]" he almost asked, getting up to bring more mead. The man was obviously thirsty.

"[The great Mirialdo was nearly in such a ceremony,]" Treize murmured, mimicking the way Wufei was eating for three bites, before setting it back down and eating it as he had been. All the flavors mixed together when eating like that. /And it's amusing how, so long after, my mind is still filled with thoughts of him./

"[Oh,]" Wufei said with a frown. "[But I thought his lover was a woman. Lucrezia?]"

Treize thinned his lips for a moment. "[Yes... she was his *last* lover. But there were others.]" /Caesar. Me./

That thought turned over and over in his mind. "[Were you one of his advisors?]" Wufei asked. "[You said that the time of Mirialdo was the last thing you recalled.]"

"[I was entombed after his death. Think about what you say -- I am a Pharaoh.]" He was almost tired of explaining himself, as the boy must have also been. Wufei could put the facts together on his own.

"[Oh,]" Wufei said again, eyes dropping to his food as he placed it down carefully. "[I think I see.]" He poked at it momentarily and swallowed from his glass, remaining quiet and thoughtful.

"[And after watching all that disgrace from afar, I awaken to find myself here.]" /And he's been dead for so long... nothing more than ash, now./ "[When you do not go into hysterics, you are very bright.]"

The young man almost glared at him. "[I'm not prone to histrionics. Recent events have been stressful. My father's death was unexpected.]" That thought gave him pause. "[It must have been a shock, to awaken in such a strange place. I apologize for it, though I didn't realize....]"

"[That I would awaken, or that I would cause such an upheaval in your household?]" A pause, and he finished the food, chewing thoughtfully -- almost casually -- at the bottom slice of bread from that sandwich. "[If your father was the one who found my grave, then he was a very good hunter and destroyer of the pharaoh's afterlives.]"

Black brows knit. "[That's terribly unfair. Historical discovery is very important in our time. People wish to know of other cultures and other lives. It's much the way of the world and if it had not been my father, it would have been someone else, someone less careful.]" His lips compressed as he frowned darkly. "[Someone like the man who took over the dig. That obnoxious ba...]" A knock upon the door sounded and Wufei blinked. "[Who on earth... at this time of night? It's almost eleven....]"

Treize's full lips thinned once more, briefly. "[Then you shall have to answer it.]"

Another more insistent knock sounded. "Bloody hell," Wufei cursed in English, rising from the table and moving into the hallway, the large Pharaoh just behind him. That caused a raised eyebrow but the young man only shook his head and leaned up to peer out the window in the door. An audible squeak sounded as he dropped back down, eyes huge. "Oh, my!"

"[Who would it be?]" Treize asked, understanding the dismayed expression rather than the words.

"[It's Yuy!]" Wufei declared frantically. "[I'm not.. I can't... I'm not dressed right! He thinks I'm a woman!]" That frantic aura turned to a dark frown. "[And he wants to seduce me and wed me for Winner Incorporated, my father's shipping business.]"

That gained a slow nod from Treize, though it was a bit confusing. "[Then do not answer the door if you do not wish to se the man.]"

The almost violent framming beat upon the door again and Wufei winced. "Bloody hell," he cursed once more. Fingers quickly mussed his hair and a jacket was grabbed from a nearby closet to hide his flat chest. "[I can't believe this,]" he muttered to himself. "[This is so inappropriate of him!]"

"[I will stay here, then -- you awakened me, and thus I consider you of my household, whether you are or not -- you will come to no harm.]" And perhaps he would come to no harm because he'd been dealing so well with everything that had happened to him.

The door was flung open amidst the next round of pounding and Heero Yuy stood in the door, Prussian eyes cool. "It took you long enough," he declared in a nasal voice as he eyed Wufei. "You're dressed inappropriately." Those eyes shifted. "And there's a man in your home. That's unwise of you, don't you think?" He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him, taking it right out of Wufei's hands. "I just wanted to come and check on the collection."

"[Impudent bastard,]" Treize murmured, narrowing his eyes as he watched the man enter the house. Did he seem so brash and demanding? Perhaps so. And that voice... struck a bell in him... he'd have to remember why.

Those cold eyes turned to meet Treize's. "[You should be aware of your opponent's abilities before you insult them,]" he said without warmth, the inflections perfect.

"[And YOU should be aware of the proprieties involved in entering a lady's household at this time of night, Sir Yuy,]" Wufei chided in the soft voice he'd used on the phone, a frown creasing his brows. "[This is terribly inappropriate.]"

NOW the voice clicked. Treize worked his jaw for a moment, sounding out the words to himself before speaking them -- they'd rattled through his mind for long enough! "'I slipped enough poison in your tea to kill two old men. I should've had this dig on my own and you insisted on coming and now I WILL have it because you'll be dead and there'll be nothing left but for them to hand it over to me.' " Treize's mouth formed a smile, as he'd finished quoting the English he could only understand vaguely from tone, not by the words themselves. "[You?]"

Heero paled even as a soft keening came from Wufei. "[Are you insane, man?]" he asked rapidly. "[Everyone knows Lord Winner died of a heart attack in the midst of his last dig. Everyone!]"

"[I heard those words, in your own voice!]" Darkly accusatory, even though he did not know what they meant himself -- but to draw such a reaction from the man, they had to have meant something horrible!

Wufei's voice was shaky with horror, perhaps with tears. "[YOU!]" he accused, that soft voice replaced with husky pain. "[You killed Father! Didn't you!? Confess it! You killed him!]"

"No!" Heero shouted, backing towards the door, away from the menace of that man. "I didn't kill him... I... There was no one else in the tomb when he collapsed!" he snapped out in English.

Treize kept his eyes on Heero, gaze hot and dark, even though he knew not what he was saying. "[Leave this household and never come back.]"

A look was cast to Wufei, crumpled now, sitting in the center of the foyer floor, fists clenched angrily. "You can't mean to just let this man..."

"GET OUT!" Wufei shouted hoarsely, rising. "Get out or I'll put you out myself! Out of my house and out of your life, I'll help you! Damn you, get out! GET OUT!"

One strong hand closed over Heero's throat. "[Leave, or you will never speak again.]"

A struggle for breath ensued as Heero broke loose, his eyes snapping to Wufei. "There's a madman in your house, woman, and all you can do is shout at me?! Good evening!" The door slammed loudly behind him, leaving silence broken only by the occasional sharp shuddering sound behind it.

Unsure hands fumbled and worked at the locks until he'd heard a click. Then Treize turned to Wufei. "[What was it that I... that he'd said?]" More question, now, than demand, but still borderline in tone.

"Poppa," Wufei whispered, pressing his forehead to his knees. "Oh, Poppa. Poppa..."

The man, after a moment's thought, threw away his dignity, and sat beside the young man, and carefully put one arm over his shaking shoulders. But he remained silent, not sure what Wufei was uttering, as if a chant.

It was easy, so incredibly easy, to weep against the broad shoulder close to him, an arm crossing the other man's waist. It hurt, oh, it hurt so much. "[He poisoned my Poppa,]" Wufei sobbed finally, shuddering. "Oh, Poppa!"

Torn between congratulating the man for killing the desecrator of graves, and wanting to have truly crushed his throat back there... "[Hush... with family such as is in this house, I am sure he died at peace.]" Almost stiffly, his other arm came up to cradle Wufei's head.

The weeping halted slowly and Wufei apologized, if with a shaky sort of inflection. "[I'm not ordinarily a baby. I hardly ever cry. It's just....]

"[Even I have cried,]" came the soothing, liquid voice, with it's clear enunciations. /When Mirialdo killed himself over that woman, did you? Yes, you shed tears then./ "[Extenuating circumstances, these.]"

"[I'm very tired,]" the dark-haired man confessed, not lifting his head from that shoulder nor shifting out of those arms. "[I think I shall go to bed.]"

Easily, Treize rose, shifting his grasp only a little -- one hand slipped down, until that arm was behind Wufei's knees, and as he stood fully, he was holding Wufei in his arms. "[Then direct me to your room and feel blessed that the great Khush is carrying you to your chambers.]"

After such an insane day, Wufei couldn't help but laugh, even if it was strained. "Upstairs," he said, knowing no word in Egyptian that was the equivalent. He pointed to the stairs instead. "[Third room on the left.]" It didn't seem so strange and he laid his head sleepily on the larger man's shoulder. There was something so nice... so nice...

The directions were easily followed, and he used his shoulder to nudge that door open, walking into the dark room without waiting for his eyes to adjust. Carefully. almost gently, Wufei was set on the edge of his bed, and Treize stepped back.

"[Thank you,]" Wufei said softly, looking up, face pale with exhaustion. "[Thank you for being here this evening. I wouldn't have wanted to be alone with that...]" He shuddered.

"[Insolent bastard,]" the imposing man finished. A slight glance to the door. "[I... am almost sorry that I caused you such trouble this afternoon, but I am confused by this culture's protocols.]"

Shoes hit the floor with a thud and Wufei pulled off the jacket he'd donned, tucking his hair back behind his ears as he pulled the covers down and slid beneath them before shimmying off his pants and the shirt he wore and dropping them carelessly to the floor as well. He curled up in the center of that wide bed tiredly, blankets pulled to his chin. "[We'll learn them. You're very very intelligent. It won't be difficult for you,]" Wufei said softly, so softly, eyes closing. "[It won't be... hard at... all...]"

A slight smile crossed over Treize's aristocratic face as the young man drifted into sleep. Silently, he left to find the library once more, and those books -- but he'd stay in that room the night. To keep watch, of sorts, over Wufei.

Morning was a brilliant shimmering creature just outside his eyes, or so he thought, and Wufei yawned slightly, stretching. He'd sprawled all over the mattress, as he so often did, and kicked half the covers onto the floor by now, he was sure. He was the bane of Sally's existence and that thought brought a sleepy smile as he clutched his pillow more tightly to him, thinking lazy thoughts. How on earth he could be expected to share a bed with Duo was utterly beyond him. He could barely share the bed with himself, so much did he toss and turn. His father had always called him a determined cover thief and growing older hadn't changed that a bit!

"Good... morning," came a familiar, commanding voice, though the two words were halting. He was standing in front of the window, basking in the glory of the bright, bright morning.

Wufei's eyes popped open in automatic response and he gasped, reaching for the sheet. Dear sweet gods, he was sprawled across the bed as good as naked and there was...

He almost laughed at himself at that thought. A man in the room. It was virtually ridiculous. "Good morning," Wufei responded, pulling the sheet up to his chin and making an attempt at straightening out his covers. "I see you've made progress?"

"[Some. it's a frustrating tongue. The verbs make no sense.]" A short, rueful chuckle, as he pressed his palms lightly against the glass. "[Perhaps you had the right idea with the picture book.]"

"[Most of the verbs are irregular,]" Wufei answered, settling back amidst his pillows sleepily. "[Many people find it very difficult. You like the sun, don't you?]" he asked with curiosity, watching the ancient man.

"[Ra gives life. Gave me life -- we all owe much to the sun,]" he murmured, looking into it, but wispy clouds obscured the center.

Overwhelming curiosity struck. "[How did you become immortal, Treize?]" he asked, still somewhere in the dreamland between sleep and waking. Everything in the past day or so had been so very tiring....

"[I stole an elixir from a Gallic temple,]" he murmured after some time. "[Gained this name in the process, foolish brutes. But perhaps I was the foolish one, for they have all passed on, and yet, I...]"

"Live on," Wufei whispered, rising. "[You are utterly fascinating,]" he said solemnly. "[You almost glow in the sunlight. Everything around you almost rustles with life, whether it wants to do so or not.]"

"[It is a curse, not a gift,]" he spoke, mostly to himself. "[Some day, you will die, and be with your father, you mother, anyone you've lost, or will lose -- and yet I will not. Ever, I do not think.]" The words were self effacing, and tinged with sadness. "[Even in my time, something as that stood out -- I shall have to be re-entombed.]"

"[No,]" Wufei insisted softly. "[There's an entire world at your fingertips. The world.. it's...]" Clutching his sheet, he dragged it from the bed with him, walking barefoot to the dressing screen in search of his dressing gown. Once semi-decently clad, he came back and grabbed the other man's hand. "[Come with me!]" he almost ordered, tugging. "Come!"

One eyebrow rose in amusement as he followed. "[For the moment, lead on, little one.]"

He almost insisted that he wasn't little but that would have been ridiculous. Instead, he padded quickly down the stairs, ignoring Howard's censorious glance as he pulled Treize into the sun-filled drawing room. "Here!" he cried, finding the globe. "[Look! It's the world, the whole world! So many places to go, thousands of things to see! You'd never have to be entombed again!]"

Keeping his hand clasped over the other's, Treize thought a moment. "[Perhaps, but...]" His gaze drifted over the drawing room. His death-mask lay on the floor, in a corner of the room, and he pulled away from Wufei to pick it up, fingers almost lazily caressing the gold. "[But this is the world I loved, that I can never have back. I wish to go back to my dreams of my time, my people, my...]" /Pointlessly pathetic dreams of Mirialdo./

Wufei's heart clenched, a strange feeling as he watched Treize so helplessly. "[I'm so very sorry,]" he whispered helplessly. "[So very very sorry...]

"[It's all right -- I suppose it could have been worse, -- that man from last night -- and I know I would have been awakened some time -- but I rather had been hoping it to be sooner than later, given the tomb robbers.]" The death mask was set aside, on a table, that same, half smile, half frown, eyes old and sad, gracing his face.

A rattling at the doorway proved to be Sally with a tea-tray. "I was just on my way up to bring you something to help you wake and I find you here dressed like that," she chided him. Wufei had the grace it took to look sheepish. "Breakfast will be ready within the half hour," she finished grumpily, laying the tray down with a rattle that masked Wufei's sigh -- almost.

Treize's gaze traced the woman's movements. "[A servant of yours. Then you are of a high household in this time.]" A lengthy pause, and he seemed resolved. "[Then you could afford it -- I ask of you one thing -- have me re-buried. I will not longer be here to disrupt your household, little one.]"

His distress was obvious. "[But you've only just awakened!]" Something tugged at him, horribly. "[Surely you don't wish to go back into the darkness so soon! I...]"

"[You are not even of my dynasty, and have no obligation to do anything other than that. Undo what you did. What the sun gives, the dark can take away.]" His voice was softly insistent, as he sat down on the sofa, still wearing the clothes of the day before -- ill fitting as ever.

How could he argue against that? It hurt... the thought of it, it hurt awfully, horribly. He would never want to be damned to an eternity of dark existence. He swallowed thickly. "[We'll return to Egypt... and then, if you want to be entombed there... then...]"

"[I wish to return to my past, but I cannot. Those who were loyal to me are nothing more than silt in the Nile. Even those who were disloyal to me are nothing more, though they've gained places in your crude histories, while I did not leave even that behind.]" A heavy sigh. "[There is nothing for me anywhere.]"

"[There is the entire world,]" Wufei answered quietly, "[and the bright sun and so many things to learn and to love. Life is a miracle, eternal life as much a miracle as a curse. I can only imagine such a thing, would never dare to search for it as you did. So many things new to be experienced and all you can think of is returning to the darkness?]"

"[Scholarly learning brings only loneliness. Love... loved ones leave you; the passion of Love's flame can consume your soul, and when your companion, the flame, moves on to new wood, it leaves nothing more than a burnt out hollow inside you.]" He cast another slow glance at the death-mask, and he sighed softly. "[I apologize for speaking such drivel at you.]"

A stricken expression seemed to take over all of Wufei's face, even his body language as he sat and poured the morning's tea, drinking a cup thoughtfully before he commented or poured a second. "[Love doesn't exist,]" he finally answered. "[Certainly there is filial love, even the love one finds between friends... but no more than that. Love is a fairy-tale meant to disguise the guilt one feels for passion.]" He looked at Treize solemnly. "[I would desperately like to believe that love is a real thing. I would like to believe in eternity. I used to think that there was eternal love in the world, intense passion. I could almost feel it, taste it. In the end, though, there is only duty. And duty means Duo,]" he finished with a melancholy whisper. "[I will do my duty.]"

"[You are young yet -- Love truly does exist, and so you would find if you left the confines of these walls. But I do not think it to be worth finding -- for it can be a delicious and painful thing all in one.]" Mimicking Wufei's pouring of the tea, he poured some for himself.

Watching, Wufei shook his head. "No," he whispered, intense wistfulness in his words. "I'm not meant to leave." His eyes looked longingly at the globe. "Oh the things I would do if I had an infinite amount of time and no one to hold me back with the strings of obligation." He smiled slightly at the other man. "[Things aren't always what one wishes them to be. Love will not find me.]"

"[Perhaps love is not worth finding,]" he murmured in reply, sipping from that cup. The 'tee-ah' was good. "[And I am still held back, Wufei, bound to my past -- no one is without obligation.]"

The intensity of sadness increased, becoming almost morose. "[Then I shall never be free so why should I bother to desire anything beyond this house... an entombment in and of itself?]" he asked, cup cradled in his hands. Oh, he wanted... wanted to leave, wanted to see the world, wanted to learn of passion and love, things that he would have with Duo, certainly, but... not to the extent which he wished to have him. He wanted grand passion. He wanted eternal love, even if he didn't really believe in it anymore. He wanted the adventures Father had experienced and had given him afterwards through words. He wanted... /too much, Wufei, you want too much, as you always have. Stupid selfish worthless child./

"[Perhaps. You are bound here by that... girl-man, correct? To marry. And yet, you seem to not wish to marry him. You are an adult -- why marry him if your parents are dead?]" Treize asked, closing his eyes as he rose to his feet to stand before the window once more. The bright sunlight was warming to both his body and his mind. "[Someday, you will die, and you will pass on, and you are lucky in that... I've already said that today. My mind is not entirely with me.]" His tone was acrimonious, though only toward himself. The image of that woman in the Gallic temple, laughing at him, so joyously when he'd stolen the Elixir... How foolish he'd been.

The notion of that had never actually struck him. Yes, Duo needed the money he had... but why couldn't he just give the other man the money? /Because he wants you and his pride won't accept it. You know that,/ his mind prompted somewhere at the back of his thoughts. That didn't seem to matter as he rose, eyes widening at the idea. "[Why.....]" Heart racing, he swallowed. /Why marry him?/ he thought. "[He isn't a girl-man,]" Wufei corrected absently, mind racing. /Why marry him? Why not take the first boat to Cairo, like I've always wanted to. Say it's something I have to do before we wed and then just disappear. Go away forever, learn new things, find passion, find what I want!/ "[Come with me!]" he burst out in his excitement. "[Come with me and neither of us will be entombed! We'll go to Cairo and from there wherever you want! There's a whole world, wide and open, to be explored. Don't desire re entombment. If I break free from my captivity.... will you consider giving up your own?]"

"[I believe there may be something wrong with your 'tee-ah', little one -- though, once more you surprise me with your backbone.]" There was a smile in those words, and he did not turn away from the window. "[You have an admirable sense of adventure, and it will serve you well once you leave this place -- I, too, was once that way. I taught Mirialdo how to rule -- everything that needed to be known to be powerful and leave his name behind. My adventure died when his turned those skills against his teacher.]" A rueful smile crossed briefly over those fulls lips. "[And what of your betrothed and his father? You would leave them behind? For what adventures? And why would you desire the company of one you've referred to as] kisama?"

It was almost enough to wilt that desire and the sudden sweep of almost freedom followed by words that locked the cage again hurt so badly. "[You're right, of course,]" Wufei said, sitting again with precision, face becoming still once again, composed despite the roiling turbulence inside of him. "[I apologize. In my rush, I thought for a moment things could be different, somehow. I fear that I'm little more than a weak child at heart, Pharaoh,]" he said softly. "[You are right. Although perhaps you are not a] kisama." That admission was almost rueful.

"[There is nothing wrong in desiring adventure, Wufei -- but what would you do? All that I know is that the world has changed drastically, and I have no place in it any longer. Which is why I desire to be re-entombed. You, however, are of this time -- and you said your father had a shipping company? Then you have something to do in this world.]" Once more, he pressed a palm against the window, looking out into the sunlit day. "[You say you do not leave this house often? Perhaps today you should. I wish to see how the world is today. This Englund.]"

The responding smile was sad. "[But to those outside of this house, I'm a woman. No matter how much I look like a man, they see what they want to see -- what Poppa told them to see. In this time, women are still creatures to be cossetted and protected, not allowed to run companies or have adventures in the wide wide world." He paused, poured the last of the tea, almost cool now. "[We could go out, I suppose, if you will not laugh at me. I'll show you things you never thought could be... and perhaps, just perhaps, you'll find something that makes you want to stay in the world. It's a beautiful place.]"

"[Women are valuable assets, and ever have been -- is it law that you cannot run your father's company, or is it simply social requirement?]" was the murmured response, as he kept his eyes up to the sun in silent oration. "[What reason do I have to laugh at you? If this world is such a beautiful place, then I wish to see it.]" A slight pause. "[How is the elder?]"

Slightly stunned, Wufei looked at him. By God, the man was right! It might very well be possible for him to run the company Poppa had halfway ignored for so long and he blinked. How very remarkable that it took a man from another time to show him the way. Hadn't he asked something, though? Oh. Yes. "[Because I'll be dressed strangely when we go out. I hate it,]" he scowled. "[I should call and check on Lord Barton. It's likely there will be good news,]" Wufei replied lightly. This language became easier and easier to use as he went along and that brightened the day a bit despite the topsy-turvy waves it had made thus far.

"[Dressed strangely? I doubt it could be any stranger than this,]" he said, making a disapproving gesture to the trousers he still wore as he turned away from that window. Used to a simple, if high-quality linen wrapped around his hips, or at worst, ceremonial robes, he found the clothing he wore terribly restricting. "[Yes, do call -- I wish to see how that strange device works.]"

Wufei almost smiled. Technology alone might be enough to keep the fascinating man from going into the darkness... and Wufei had to admit to himself, if no one else, that he *was* utterly fascinated. "[I'll call so that you can see it and then we'll go to P... Poppa's room and perhaps find something that will fit you better. I seem to recall he often complained about the very same outfit for similar reasons."

Turning, he moved down the hall to the library, certain the larger man was behind him. "[A telephone works with mechanics. Like when you put a glass to the wall and can hear what's going on in the next room? Except wires are what makes the sound come through from one place to the next. You tell the operator the number of the place you want -- each place is assigned a number -- and she makes it go there. Like so.]" He dialed and waited. "Yes. Regency Hospital, please. Thank you. [She knows the number there already,]" he explained. "[Sometimes they...] Yes, Duo, hello. Yes. How is your father? Oh, wonderful! Only an angina attack then? Yes. Yes, I..." Dark eyes widened as Treize's fingers lifted the base of the phone.

The connection was not cut, but Treize turned the base in his hands, brow furrowed as he studied it. Numbers going through that small piece of wire, and coming out somewhere else? Amazing! Part of it seemed to be made of metal, and there was wood, and there was something else... "[This is strange sorcery, indeed, Wufei,]" He murmured, setting the base back in place, watching how Wufei would speak into the receiver, then pause, and speak again. "[So you are speaking with another that is how far away?]"

"[Not sorcery, technology,]" Wufei explained, "[and about twelve] kilometers..." The realization that the form of measurement he'd named was probably unknown struck even as Duo spoke sharply on the other end of the line. "No, Duo, I'm sorry. Treize wanted to know how your father was, and how far away..." He paused, nodding at Treize. "His last name?" That was accompanied by a look of frantic thought. "He's Treize Khush... Khush...re.. nada! Treize Khushrenada. No, it's just a bit difficult to say it without the Egyptian inflections. Yes. Tonight? Duo... I don't think... Heero called you? Oh, gods... Well, he came... yes... yes. Yes. No, Treize threw him out because he said things that made me cry. Well... dammit, Duo!" Wufei flared. "I'm not a child! Just because...." He sighed. "Look, I'm going out this morning. Yes, with the dangerous Egyptian man. No. No, Duo. I'll be gone when you get here, Duo! Look, it's nothing, I just want to get out, I haven't been out since Father died and I want...." Another pause. "Duo, this conversation is inappropriate for the telephone. Goodbye." So saying, he hang the receiver gently in the cradle provided for the base and looked up to find brilliant blue eyes on him. "[What?]"

Those eyes blinked once, then remained steady. "[My name is Treize, or Khush, or any number of other names -- nothing more. No] renada [tacked onto the end. Do not lie to your loved ones.]" Another pause. "[How is the elder?]"

"[Duo would never believe you were Khush. He'd have me confined to my room for the week it would take to get a special license for marriage and would wed me and insist that I never see anything conceivably upsetting again,]" Wufei explained. "[A little lie to keep him happy is not such a bad thing. And you will have to become someone else for at least a time in this world. Treize Khushrenada is not such a bad name. As for the elder, he's weak but he'll be fine. HE,]" the slender young man explained, "[probably believes in who and what you are very deeply. His son inherited the mother's more practical nature.]"

"[The elder knows -- it took him a bit longer than it should have, but he's intelligent,]" Treize murmured at length. "[When would it be possible for us to leave this house?]" After being in such a small space, sleeping, for so long, he wanted to truly be out in the real air of the outside.

"[Give me half an hour to get dressed, Pharaoh, and we can leave,]" Wufei replied, thinking of Lord Barton. Oh, Poppa would have been so excited with his discovery, no matter that Treize didn't seem to think much of him. Still, Poppa was better than the true tomb-robbers and at least he could think of it that way. "[I think I know several places you will delight in seeing.]"

"[If you say so, then I've little reason to doubt you,]" Treize murmured, raising one eyebrow at the phone. Still, it fascinated him... "[When we return I'd like to take a candle and some tools and take that apart.]"

With a laugh, Wufei shook his head. The thing was very expensive but... well... why NOT? He could buy another one. "[All right! But I have something that will light it up much brighter than a candle could! I'll get dressed, Pharaoh, and then we'll go out!]"

Wufei's near consistent use of 'Pharaoh' served as a near comfort to Treize, feeling so displaced in that time. "[Then get dressed -- I have...]" He looked over to his sarcophagus. "[Things to retrieve.]" His signet ring, for one.

It took slightly more than half an hour for Wufei to dress, almost forty-five minutes, in fact, and he had no doubt that Treize would be impatient. Still, there were things he HAD to do if he was going -out- and that was all there was to the matter. When he came downstairs, he stepped down the hall quietly, looking for the other man. /If he laughs even once,/ Wufei thought, frowning down at his almost crimson dress, /I shall stuff him back in his damned box./

But Treize's only reaction was a raised eyebrow at Wufei's get up. "[Dare I ask why you are dressed like that? You look as if ready for a ceremony.]"

"[It's the nature of women's clothing,]" Wufei explained lightly, relieved that the man seemed to think nothing of it. "[Miserable stuff. Heavy and hot and binding. But it's the way of things. Shall we go?]" he asked, smiling. "And shall we attempt to speak in English?"

"To try," Treize replied, understanding bits of Wufei's phrase in English, and answering as best he could.

"To try," Wufei answered softly, taking his hand. "You must escort me. I am a woman and not well. [A sickly woman. You understand?]"

"[Consider yourself honored that I am escorting you,]" came the murmur, as that hand was shifted within his. But he had a slight smile on his face. "[A sickly woman -- you do not look like a sickly woman -- you look like a young man in too many clothes.]"

"I am honored," Wufei replied with a smile. "More than honored. And I should like to take these clothes off me. You are right. There are too many. [Am I confusing you?]"

"[A little. But I will learn that tongue eventually.]" He made no comment that he would like to take Wufei's clothes off also, since from what he'd seen, for a short flicker this morning, Wufei was a very handsome young man. In his time, that would have been unquestioned, in fact, the one he asked would have felt blessed. But this time... "[Are there any social obligations I should follow while acting as if you are a sickly woman?]"

Bright eyes peered up at him and Wufei smiled, almost coy, that smile. "[Only that you do not allow me to fall and help me up stairs and through doors,]" he teased, "[and allow me to flirt with you. It is much the way of women, you know.]" His nose wrinkled. "And not really my way at all."

"[So you do not wish to flirt with me? I shall remember to let at least one door close on you,]" he smiled faintly, meeting those dark eyes with his own eyes, sapphire blue and sad no matter what. "[Lead on.]"

Despite the slight flush on his cheeks, Wufei tugged gently at an arm and they were out the door before Howard could protest. "[I didn't say that precisely. Only I'm not a very good flirt and it seems a waste of time.] After all," he said. "There's Duo."

Treize followed, acting as if he were leading and sure of himself, but staying a perceptive half step behind Wufei. "[The same Duo you were speaking of leaving behind?]"

"[It's not that I don't love him. You must understand. But it's the same as one's brother.] Brother, not beloved. [There is a difference,]" Wufei said, his pace slow, slower than he should like. "[It's only a little way to the park and the zoo. I think you'll like that. It's different than where you're from.]" Thoughtfully, he continued, "[Duo is an obligation, sweet, but... if I could just give him what he needed without giving him me....] I'd like that better," Wufei confessed.

"[And why can you not give him what he needs without giving yourself?]" Treize asked, looking around. It was almost like being in the middle of a festival, yet the clothes were different, and the general demeanor was so much colder...

"Because..." Wufei slowed yet more, standing on the sidewalk as if slightly out of breath when in actuality, he was thinking. "[It would destroy his pride were I to simply give him money. His family has married for money for generations, now. Titles are expensive to keep and, unlike my ancestors, they didn't go into business.] So now, a different path is necessary."

"[So you choose to not destroy the pride of your brother-like betrothed, while choosing to destroy yourself. Strange, these times,]" he commented, looking down to the sidewalk where they stood. "[Stone streets.]"

"[Yes. Stone so that women will not dirty their dresses nor men their feet,]" came the reply. "[It would hurt him terribly to know I do not love him. It would hurt me to hurt him. And what else is there for me, after all?]" With a light tug, they continued along. "[I would like adventure.] To see places," Wufei murmured. "[But I'm not brave enough alone and Duo is very typically English in many ways.] Not like Poppa. [He's very sweet. He likes things as they are.]"

"[Then why do you not seek adventure? You should not marry if the right sort of love is not there.]" He continued to walk. "[You are aware of what passes between men, are you not, when they are involved in such a way? And being married to him would make it almost a necessity.]"

There was a hesitance in Wufei's reply. "[More or less. Poppa said he would explain it but then he d..died. Still. It's not so hard to guess, is it?]" Wufei's tongue darted out to touch his lower lip and they stopped beside the gate to the zoo. Several people passing by tipped their hats as the two spoke to one another. "[Although it's horribly embarrassing. Not a topic for conversation, I assure you. But,]" he almost beamed, "we aren't speaking English, so that's all right."

Treize gave a slight shrug. "[I almost pity you for going into such a marriage.]"

White teeth bit a trembling lip. "[You make it seem worse than it is. You make me afraid. You make me want more than that and I can't have it. It isn't mine to claim.]"

His tilted his head a little to one side, watching the crowds pass them by. "[Before you can maturely go into a marriage, you must face certain facts -- you and that person are going to be together for a long time. Will it last that long? I had the blessing and the curse to find it would not before the ceremony occurred.]"

"[But I'm not like you. I don't have eternity,]" Wufei whispered. "[If we do not suit, arrangements will be made. Lord Barton's wife, Duo's mother, lives in Paris and has since Duo's birth. It's the way of people.]" He paused. "I want more," he spoke strongly in English, not noticing the looks cast his way. "[I want more than that but I'm not brave enough! I'm a weak coward! Don't you understand?]"

"[You have challenged me, and insulted me. In my time, either would have constituted death. I do not think you a coward -- so I do not understand,]" Treize replied, leveling dark eyes on any who looked at them.

"[That's a very simple thing, I should think,]" Wufei said, frowning. "I think you will not hurt me. [Safe.] And if that's so, then why shouldn't I stand up to you?"

"[But I nearly did hurt you, did I not?]" he reminded. "[And I still do not understand why you don't tell you girl-man that you wish to have more.]"

"[I asked you to go with me because... because I thought, perhaps, with you, for a little while, I could be brave. You are very strong and very brave, it seems, except for your desire to hide in darkness. I loathe that and I loathe it in me as well,]" the dark-haired creature told him faintly, turning to drift in amongst the caged animals, sleek well-fed creatures kept for the amusement of the rich. "[I cannot hurt him. I cannot hurt his father. I love them... and so more is denied me. Why do you continue to wonder why I don't simply ask for more? Asking would not mean I would receive it.]"

"[Perhaps it would -- this world still has the gods.]" He slipped a hand into the cage where there were panthers, and held it out, palm down, until the animal came to him -- them he began to stroke it's fur, and the large cat purred. "[Ask and you shall receive -- though it may not always be the best thing to ask -- but your wish is a harmless one.]" The animal laid down against those bars, and continued to butt against Treize's hand, wanting him to pet it further.

There was fear and fascination in Wufei's face and he didn't answer, only watching, watching. "Not so harmless," he finally whispered hoarsely, "if it deprives someone of something they need."

"[Then make your wish and leave them the money anonymously,]" he said evenly, rubbing the big cat behind his ears. People walking by looked twice, and some lingered, watching and thinking that he was a handler.

"[And go where? With whom? Wonder the world alone? I don't even leave the house alone!]" Wufei tried to explain as people began to murmur around them. They were drawing a crowd. "[Why does the cat let you do that?]"

"[That is the adventure -- and the cat lets me do this to him because he respects me -- and I have no fear of him.]"

"Sir, please stop pettin' the cat afore 'e snaps off yer fingers!" cried a handler as he pushed his way through the crowd and towards the bars.

"No!" Wufei told him. "Wait!" But the man was pushing and the cat was angered by the interruption of its petting time, unpleasantly so.

That fanged mouth snapped on the edge of Treize's hand, but Treize kept his hand where it was, ignoring the handler. "[Calm down, beautiful one -- ignore the insipid one.]" Whether the animal understood his words, or the coolness of his tone, it released his hand and settled back against the bars again. Blood dripped onto the fur as he returned to petting the now calm animal.

"Good Gawd, sir!" the man cried even as Wufei stood, pale and moved between them.

"Stop it," Wufei whispered. "Just stop it! [Please, Treize. Please. Let's go. You're bleeding...]"

"Ye ain't supposed to TOUCH th'animals!" the keeper shouted.

"[I am aware that I'm bleeding,]" he murmured, nothing that the cat's ire was raising once more, as he stroked behind that ear once more. "[And get that fool to shut up. He's disturbing the beautiful one.]"

It was impossible to stop the man's insistence, impossible to look at that blood, impossible to do a great many things in that moment and Wufei's frustration rose and rose. He glanced back and forth at the two men, one proud and stubborn in the way of kings, the other stubborn in the way of a common man who is right. Finally, he did the only thing he could think to do -- a thing allowed him, strangely.

He swooned, settling into a heap of maroon material gracefully in the way of women of the period, gasping quietly for breath. He felt stupid, extraordinarily stupid, but what else was there to do?

Treize heard the sounds of Wufei's fall almost absently. "[My apologies for this, revered one -- perhaps I will return to un-cage you at a later date.]" As he drew his hand back, the animal licked the dripping blood. Treize felt a sting, but it didn't bother him, as he turned, to find a crowd, an irate handler, and Wufei on the ground. Kneeling beside Wufei, Treize murmured "[I know you are faking it -- rise.]"

Oh, gods, how utterly mortifying! He clenched his eyes shut tightly for a moment before whispering, "[It isn't done, shocking a woman who isn't well. Nor is petting the panthers.]"

"[They deserve more respect than they are given in this time -- now, rise,]" he commanded in a clear tone, one hand, the one not covered in and dripping blood, grasping Wufei's upper arm.

The tug almost toppled him over as Treize pulled him up and he gasped frantically, dress rising to his stockinged knees as he swayed with the sudden motion. Oh, gods! People looking at them both with curiosity and he flushed crimson with embarrassment. It was awful!

"Where now, Wufei?" he spoke in English, keeping his bleeding hand a bit away from his own clothing and Wufei's, almost as if half expecting a servant to rush to his side and wrap it. His other hand was still holding Wufei's arm, more gentle now.

"[Away,]" Wufei managed to murmur, hiding his face against the other man in that moment. "[In any direction, so long as it's away from here!]"

"[Then lead -- for I know not my way,]" he said, enjoying the feel of the other against him.

Wufei tugged at him, face shied away in his intense mortification, and they moved, some few of the crowd following them, murmurings of how inappropriate their behavior was following behind, hisses of 'it's these modern women, wouldn't have thought Winner's daughter..' echoing in his ears.

Treize turned his head to cast his steady, steel hard gaze back at those voices. "Find lessers yourself to speak."

It was all he could do not to groan. Trust Treize to recognize the tone, if not the words, and speak so. "Oh, DEAR," Wufei whispered fretfully, mouth twisting into a moue of sheer upset. "Oh, dear!"

"[Lead on,]" Treize urged, returning his attention to Wufei. "[I do not like the quality of Mob in this place.]"

They walked further quickly, too quickly for what Wufei was supposed to be but it didn't matter. "[Stop!]" Wufei finally said. "[I can't keep up! And your hand....]" His eyes drifted to where the bite should have been in Treize's hand... but was not. "Oh, God."

Treize stopped walking, looking where Wufei's eyes were. Rivulets of blood had dried on his hand, but there was no wound. "[I am aware -- now you see why I was unconcerned?]"

"I think I'm going to really faint again," Wufei announced, clenching his eyes shut. It was all too much to take in. It just was!

"[If you do that, I will have to carry you back to your house, and I do not think I could find my way back,]" the immortal man commented easily.

"I wanted to show you moving pictures," Wufei said, frowning. "I'm not sure we can today."

"[Why not? And what is a] moving picture?" he asked, raising his free hand, that should have been wounded, to touch the corner of Wufei's mouth. "[Do not frown -- it does not fit you well.]"

Black eyes blinked up at him in surprise and then a reluctant smile curved the corners of his lips. "That was very sweet," he said huskily. "A moving picture is like... it's a picture, a painting, in a way, that moves. They don't talk, not yet, but I think, soon... soon the moving pictures will talk. People... I think I'll have to show you," Wufei answered slowly.

For a moment, Treize fell silent, translating Wufei's words as best he could. "[Sugary? What? I am afraid you lost me from the start.]"

"[It was nice of you to say frowning doesn't suit me,]" Wufei explained. "That's sweet. [It's an expression. And] moving pictures [are pictures that have been recorded... that is, put down onto a material that allows them to move from frame to frame very quickly so that it appears as if they are moving when, in fact, each picture is only a very little different from the one before it... or after it. When someone uses a machine, they can make them go very fast and they seem to move.] Do you see?" he asked.

"[It will be something I will have to see first hand -- moving paintings,]" he murmured at length, hand dropping to his side at last. He looked up to the sun, and smiled a little. "[Now, why did you say we can not do that today?]"

The other man seemed hesitant. "Duo will be looking for me... but I think I'd rather go with you."

"[Then make your choice,]" Treize murmured at length.

Flinging caution to the wind, Wufei smiled brightly. "Moving pictures!" he declared quickly and took Treize's hand once more.

The man's hand clenched once over the smaller one, and he followed Wufei, though acting as if he were leading. The young man reminded him of Mirialdo, and yet was comfortably different.

"It's only a few blocks away," Wufei explained as they walked. "[Just a] kilometer [or so. You know the measurement?]"

One eyebrow arched. "[Do I seem to know it? No. Has the Roman measuring system of] feet [and] miles [survived]?"

"[Yes!]" Wufei cried, almost delighted. "It's a little less than a mile to the moving pictures!"

A nod, and then another slight, slow smile. "[Good. I do not mind walking about after so long confined.]"

"You'll be fascinated!" Wufei promised, tugging at him as they began to walk down the sidewalk. "I've only seen it once. It was... well... fascinating!"

"[If it is so fascinating, and you live so close to it, why have you only seen it once?]" he questioned, amused that the smaller man was tugging him down the street, garbed as the women around them were.

"[Because I'm not allowed out, much,]" Wufei answered, stopping to smile at him. "[They don't want anyone to figure out that I'm not a woman. I don't look much like one... do I?]" he asked a bit worriedly.

"[Not to me, you do not,]" he said, noting that worry. "[But you are a free man and should be able to go out when you wish.]"

The answering smile was relieved. "[But no one thinks that way about me but you.]"

"[I suppose not,]" came the quiet musing, as they continued to walk, at a more leisurely pace now. "[This is such a strange time. And it is cold here.]"

[Yes. It rains here much of the year and it is cold. It's hardly spring. Warm weather will come but certainly not as warm as that to which you are accustomed,]" Wufei said with a smile. "And things are very strange here, sometimes."

"[Was... is this 'Englund' the Brittania of my time?]"

"Yes," Wufei said with a nod. "This is Brittania. The British Isles, England, Ireland and Scotland..."

"[Large, important sounding names for a once backwoods pile of...]" He trailed off as a strange looking thing came down the street, and he turned his head to keep in with in his vision -- a carriage, with wheels, but no horse!

"That's a car," Wufei explained. "Another mechanical device." He paused. "[When Rome fell, much of her knowledge was scattered to the wind, though some was retained. The Roman influence was felt heavily in Brittania and Gaul, which became England and France... sort of. The Romans are as much of a mystery, in some ways, as the Egyptians, and we have studied both."

"[They were horribly decadent,]" he half muttered, watching that 'car' disappear from his sight, "[with their day long orgies, their drunken revelry, and their sacrifices.]" A slight smile. "[Much like were we. The play at Abydos that lasted for weeks...]"

A violent crimson flush started at Wufei's throat and moved up over his face and ears. Still, curiosity won out over good sense. "Play at Abydos?"

"[A religious play -- acting out the shaming of Osiris, when Isis hunted down his body and found all of the thirteen pieces, save one...]" A slow smile. "[And the feast that went with it. The celebrations.]" Memories of taking Mirialdo late at night while seated on the throne flitted through his mind...

"Oh," Wufei answered. He had a feeling that he hadn't ought to ask about those. "I see." And he did see, more or less, imagining the debauchery that must have gone on even as they walked down the street. It pulled a strange reluctant smile from him. "We don't have things like that here. Plays, but no celebrations. Not like those."

"[Hmn, a pity -- there is much to be learned at such a performance.]" He realized he was still holding Wufei's hand and allowed himself another slow smile.

Wide eyes turned upon him but no reply came until finally they reached the place Wufei had intended to go. "Here! This is where the moving pictures are! Come inside!"