Thoth raised his eyebrows sceptically at the little girl next to Danny.
“Morveren is omnivorous, and her natural diet consists solely of seafood,” he lectured, not noticing her discomfort. “Her diet should consist primarily of seaweed and other sea plants, supplemented by small fish several times a week. However, she generally rejects this in favour of…” he hesitated, glancing at his familiar, and spelled out the word instead. “S – U – G – A – R.”
‘Sugar’ was one of the few words Morv recognised consistently, and it made her as giddy as the substance itself. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to know how to spell. He’d managed to grab her and pull her back from Solarius; now she was chewing his arm contentedly. Considering the vast quantities of baked goods she stole and ate pretty much every day, it was amazing she managed to stay so sleek and slender. Thoth supposed she burnt it all off chasing the cook’s cat and stealing heavy rugs from around the castle. She didn’t react at all when Solarius spoke.
“Reading ancient texts,” he repeated with a grumble to Danny, without elaborating on which texts or which language. Either he wasn’t feeling very sociable, or he resented being interrupted when he was reading. “You better come in I guess.”
Morv protested and wriggled when he turned to lead the way into the cottage. Thoth let her snake up his torso towards his shoulders, on which she used to perch and watch the world. These days she was too big to do that, so she rested her front paws and head on his shoulder instead and challenged Dalai to a staring contest with wide, mischievous green eyes.
They didn’t go far into the house; Thoth pushed at the door on the second left and went in, holding it behind him for Danny to take. Khasekhemwy was inside, seated on a low divan and surrounded by papers. One particular paper – an old, fragile papyrus laid out carefully on the coffee table – had his complete attention. He was bent so low over it that his nose almost touched it, and he was silently mouthing the words in a foreign language and drawing symbols in the air with his finger. Thoth kicked the door – creating a loud thud noise – in order to get his attention. The Palestinian deity started.
“Thoth, you have to look at this one,” he exclaimed joyfully, glancing up. “There’s a reference to – ” he jumped again as he spotted Danny and Rhea walking through the door, and shrunk back nervously at the sight of the latter. An unfamiliar person in his house? “Um. Hello.”
khasekhemwy
patron deity of palestine
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