"Deviance runs in your veins, but must you act like a fish porter?" Father groaned, his eyes glued to the falcon that drifted through the blearing mid-afternoon sky, its wings held aloft on a passing sigh of the wind and its eyes scanning the procession of horses below.

"But abba, Idal insulted me!" I cried out.

"That doesn't mean you have to respond so rudely," father responded. "There are more civil ways to handle conflicts." 

Whistling in the lowest pitch, he extended his left arm towards the sun. The falcon twisted in his flight, her eyes narrowing as she edged her sharp talons firmly in the leather cuff bound from father's wrist up to his elbow.

"Like how you responded to Ur-Zababa's distrust by civilly cutting his head off?"

The falcon's yellow-ringed eyes shifted curiously when my father stared daggers in my direction. "Hold your tongue, young lady! You know not of what you speak."

"I know very well of what I speak, father." It was no lie. I had heard the story of how my father went from a mere cupbearer to a king countless times, from myriad mouths. Each one told it more fantastical than the last, as if it was a competition for who could make themselves the most unbelievable. Because how could this man that I call father, this man that stood tall and proud like a mountain, be the bastard child of a priestess? And there was no way a newborn abandoned in the Euphrates river could survive the rough waters. It was merely an impossible tale made up.

But who created it? Did father fabricate it himself? 

His crown shifted from side to side. "why does my only daughter take delight in vexing me?"

The purring bird seemed so content as father padded his head, that it would make a child almost jealous of these ministrations. Too bad I was no longer a child. "You mistake my intentions. Vexing you is the last thing I would ever think of, let alone take delight in. It is a level of equal respect I wish to receive."

"Then, let me tell you that respect is something you must earn."

His words only added insult to injury. "And how am I to earn it? I have no army that fights for me, nor any combat skills to defend my person or my honor. All I have is my words."

"That is all you will ever need." And with those final words, the white stallion picked up his pace and rode ahead.

As we rounded the final sand dune, a walled fortress of a city build from tan sandstone and grey mortar appeared upon the horizon. Its vaulted turrets capped in spirals of gold, reflecting the rays of the sun.

"The King of Akkad approaches!" a city guard cried out as our procession neared the gilded gate, which swung open with barely a moment to spare. Servants and laborers scrambled out of our path as father's stallion barreled past with Idal hot on his heels. Leaving mother and me wobbling behind them, too tired, and far too sore to keep up.

The governor of Kish, Lawium, was already bowing like a pigeon, gathering invisible breadcrumbs at father's feet by the time we caught up.
"Welcome, oh greatest of kings. I have prepared the most exquisite of chambers for you and your family as soon as your message arrived. Allow me to escort you to them." 

"Thank you, old friend. But my daughter and I must first make our way to the temple of Inanna. It has been too long since I visited my define goddess at her earthly seat." Father replied with a smile the governor did not return.

Without another word, father guided me through the streets of Kish, moving as swiftly as a snake in the sand.

I was so tired my eyes couldn't seem to focus on that which was right in front of me. Stones melted into a massive tan mass, forcing me to close my eyes for a moment. The darkness was soothing until it brought me into a collision with someone who smelled of jasmine tea and honey. It was such a warm, comforting scent I wanted to lay my bed there.

"Are you alright, gorgeous? Want to spend an evening with me in paradise?" A sugary voice asked.

"No, thank you, madame. The girl is with me." Father yanked me out of the woman's arms, keeping me close beside him.

"Can't we first rest? We have been riding since sunrise. I am exhausted."

He squeezed my hand a little tighter. "Hold on a little longer, my child. There is something I want to show you."

"And what is that?"

"The place where I killed Ur-Zababa."

When we reached the massive stairs leading to the temple sitting high atop the city, I realized my heart was racing at twice its normal speed. Our steps tapped with a distended echo, and I focused on the golden statue at the end, ignoring all else around me.

This was Inanna, in all her glory, standing magnificently draped in the most exquisite fabrics one had ever seen. Overlooking all in the city below her, what her all-seeing eyes must have seen. The beginning of a new life, a blossoming love, or the brutal theft of one's life.

"I had to do it here. Inanna alone could witness my betrayal." Father mumbled, as if he heard my thoughts.

"Did she forgive you for killing the man who raised you?"

"Ur-Zababa did not raise me. Inanna brought me to Kish, and this city raised me into boyhood." Father turned us around to look out over the slums below. "That used to be my home, mixed with the beggars and the whores. In my dreams, I still roam those alleys."

The meandering streets seem to topple over one another, fighting to break free from that cluster of misery. If even the streets could not break from the slums, how did father do it?

"Then how did you come into the service of Ur-Zababa when you were born in the slums?"

"I was not born in Kish. I don't know where I was born." He turned to glance at the sweet face of Inanna, "my mother was a high priestess, much like you will be soon, my father I knew not. I was conceived in secret and set in a basket of rushes, cast into the river."

His words echoed the tales I had heard before, but something in his voice made it sound so real. "Then you were brought here? Who took you in?"

"Akki, a lady with a heart as large as Inanna, raised me into boyhood. She was too kind for this cruel world, which took her away far too young. From then on, I was raised on the streets. I learned to trust no one, to fight with my fists and my words. To do what I needed to in order to survive. But I didn't want to merely survive, I wanted to leave my mark." His tears threatened to blaze a tell-tale trail down his cheeks. Unwittingly, I reached my fingertips out to his hand, wanting to comfort that frightened little boy that suddenly stood beside me. 

"It wasn't until Inanna granted me her love that my luck turned around when a nobleman appointed me as his gardener. There I learned that secrets are worth more than gold. Between the desert roses, I heard the whispers, and repeating them to the right ears made me cupbearer to Ur-Zababa, the King of Kish." 

The way his voice trembled made me fearful that one wrong word could break down this mountain of a man, but my curiosity got the better of me. "So, why did you kill him?"

The silence that followed my question was deafening.

"It was either me or him," Sargon started. "Ur-Zababa saw the favor of Inanna shifting towards me in a vision, he me told so himself. 'You are nothing, and I'll make sure you will return to nothing before I let that happen,' he threatened. Before sending me to the king of Uruk with a clay tablet bearing the order to kill its carrier."

"Why didn't he kill you himself?"

"Because he didn't want to upset Inanna, especially in her own city. So I was sent to escort the queen of Uruk back to her husband, along with the priceless gifts Ur-Zababa had bestowed upon her. A hundred soldiers had to accompany us to Uruk in order to carry it all. But I carried the most valuable gift of all."

"What was it?"

"The knowledge that Ur-Zababa had seduced the queen of Uruk, and she was carrying his child. That secret saved my life, and before the end of the year I exercised kingship in Kish."

My eyes glided over the city, hoping to take it all in at once. Those walls had seen so much of my father. So much I would never get to see. They had seen him grow from boy to man, from a beggar to a king. "You achieved your goal. Now, you are the well-respected and revered king of all the lands. All will remember Sargon of Akkad."

Father chuckled dryly. "Will they? Even after twenty years of kingship, the land is still thorn, and uprisings are never-ending. The nobility kisses the sand underneath my sandals when I face them, but call me King of Beggars behind my back. I sometimes wonder if Inanna choose wisely? How much longer do I have until my luck runs out, and my enemies destroy all I hold dear."

"You're not alone. Rimush and Manishtushu are men now, they will help you. Mother supports you, and so do I. I will help you achieve unity from Ur."

"I know you will. I see so much of myself in you, my sweet rose. But let me tell you what I wish I'd known when I was your age; you must always listen to the words they speak behind your back, for they are often more truthful than the words they speak to your face."