"Save you?" Thea asked in a breathless squeak. 

Ankh leaned back, ever smiling. Appearing relaxed, his eyes took on the tone of fondness. "Remember when I said I believed there was an attempt on my life?"

"Yes."

Ankh got up and, instead of sitting at his place at the head of the table, took his plate of food and small hand washing bowl and brought it so they were sitting next to one another. As he did so, Thea moved to drink from the wine. Gently Ankh put his hand over the mouth of it. She looked at him, confused.

"Wait just a bit longer, yes?"

Thea put it down. Ankh made himself comfortable and then picked up a bit of meat and began to eat. Thea likewise, began to eat. She found it strange and a bit uncomfortable to eat with her hands, but she followed Ankh's lead and dipped her fingers into her own small bowl of water frequently. 

"I find it no coincident," Ankh continued, "that I receive an ominous letter, then a handful of days later a mysterious woman appears out of seemingly thin air."

Thea remained silent, taking small nibbles.

"I also owe you an apologize, methinks, Thea."

Thea rose her eyebrow.

"I...apologize that I was suspicious of your presence, initially."

"It's okay," Thea replied, "honestly, given the circumstances, I would be apprehensive, too."

"My Pharaoh," the man who had sipped from Ankh's goblet spoke, stepping forward and giving a bow. "I am fine." Thea then watched the man quickly leave the chamber. 

Ankh picked up his wine glass and rose his eyebrows. Quickly Thea grabbed her own, raising it. 

"To everlasting friendship. May the Gods and Pharaohs of past smile upon our binding."

Thea blinked as they clinked their glasses together. Ankh drank deeply before pouring himself some. Thea hesitated, taking a small sip. "That was beautiful, Ankh."

Ankh set down his glass and clapped twice. The musicians stopped their song and the dancers stopped dancing. All at once, everyone quickly exited the room. Thea couldn't help but jump a little at the loud sound of the door being shut behind them.

"Once again, a common blessing, yet you seem surprised by it. Dearest Thea, I ask you once more--where are you from?"

Thea was at a loss for words. Seeing this, Ankh rested his hand on top her own. Thea glanced at it and then back at his face. He looked so sincere. "You said I would not believe it. Please--tell me, as fantastical as it may sound."

"I'm dreaming."

He smiled kindly. "No you're not."

"No," Thea said, removing her hand from beneath his. "I didn't mean it as vibrato. I mean, I'm dreaming. This is all a dream."

Ankh looked intrigued. Thea got to her feet and began to pace. "I go to sleep at night, and for the past handful of nights--since I met you--I've been dreaming of here."

Ankh got to his feet and went to her. "That's not possible. This is no dream--I am real. You are real. I touch you, I smell you--"

"As do I," Thea replied quickly. "This is the most vivid dream I've ever had. And I've never had a recurring dream before, either."

"Please tell me what makes you think you are dreaming. Perhaps you're just--confused." 

Thea laughed somewhat bitterly and shook her head. "There's no confusion here, Ankh. You see, I--"

She stopped herself short, fearing his reaction. This did all seem so real. It was not a simple dream--it couldn't be. This train of thought made her fearful what would happen to her waking body should something...unfortunate, happen to her body here.

Ankh closed the steps between them, running his hands up and down her arms. Thea stared up into his open face. She desperately wanted to be truthful with him. He was so nice. She could tell it was genuine, too. The people of this time were certainly blessed to have such a Pharaoh. 

"Please tell me."

"I...comes from the future. The distant future."

Ankh seemed to mule this over in his head. Curiously he tilted his head slightly. "How distant?"

It took Thea a couple tries to get the words out. "Thousands of years."

He broke out into a grin. "Prove it."

Thea sighed and rolled her eyes, no longer feeling any sort of fear. "Well see, Ankh, that's the problem--I can't."

"Try to."

"Every time I go to sleep and come here, my regular clothes are gone. I usually wear glasses, but they're gone."

"People wear cups in the future?"

Thea laughed. "Oh, no, a different thing. Glasses are pieces of, well, glass, convexly shaped and put in frames that rest on the bridge of the nose to help people with bad eyesight."

The Pharaoh still didn't look quite convinced, though he was jovial about it. "Your eyesight doesn't seem bad to me, Thea. Do you have trouble seeing me right now?"

"Admittedly no."

Ankh leaned his cheek against his palm. 

"I also don't quite understand how I'm speaking to you right now."

"You know what I think?"

"What do you think?"

"I think it's divine intervention."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Ankh said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "I think instead of you being my assassin, you're my savior."

Thea rose her eyebrows, taking up a small bunch of grapes. "You really believe that?"

"Well you seem to believe you come from a distant future, so how is this any different?"

Thea hated to admit it, but he did have a point. She popped a grape into her mouth.

"You're clearly not from here, and if what you say is true, then...how else would you explain how you arrived here in the past?"

~

Thea opened her eyes and moaned. Quickly she rolled over, grabbing her phone from off the nightstand. Shutting off the alarm, she attempted to go back to sleep. Thea accomplished little more than tossing and turning for several minutes on end. Finally with a disgruntled grunt, Thea kicked the blankets off her. 

Something from her bed made a soft thud as it hit the carpet. Confused, she didn't know what it could have been. Her phone was on the nightstand. Thinking that perhaps it had accidentally gotten into bed with her, she double checked. Her phone sat where it always did, next to the bedside lamp and her glass of water. 

Thea rustled her bedding, trying to see what had made the noise and if there was anything else in bed with her. There wasn't. With a yawn, Thea looked about herself, confused as to what caused the sound.

However, as Thea kicked her feet off the side of the bed to put on her slippers, she froze. Eyes wide, staring at the ground, she could not believe what she saw. The curator blinked, and blinked again. When the image was still there, she rubbed her eyes so hard she saw spots. Still the image remained.

With a trembling hand, Thea reached out for what had made the noise as it had fallen out of bed. From the floor, she picked up the small bunch of grapes she had been eating with Ankh.