A/N: Hi! ~~~ It's been quite a while, hasn't it?? I apologize for the wait, and hope that you all enjoy this chapter!

Whenever Daesung stopped to think about it, it would hit him that he was living alongside ancient Egyptians. Not only was he living with them, he was speaking with them, eating with them, and just generally spending time with them. He’s pretty certain that if he gave himself the time to really think about the situation, he’d be so overcome with giddiness that he wouldn’t be able to really enjoy the time he was spending with these great people.

And they were truly great.

The big festival is tomorrow, and Daesung is sitting in one of the larger rooms at the back of the temple, watching while Jiyong and Youngbae prepare themselves for the ceremony that they needed to perform that night. It was fascinating in its simplicity, really, Daesung thought, as he watched the two men set up all of the necessities for the ritual throughout the room. After only a few more days of dedicated practice with Dara and Bom, Daesung had been deemed fit for normal communication by Jiyong.

This proclamation had led to him following Youngbae around as he got ready, because apparently his job was a lot less sensitive than Jiyong’s. He’d found himself asking a lot of the questions that had built up while he couldn’t communicate with them, and Youngbae had been very forthcoming with him, something that he couldn’t help but to appreciate.

“Daesung!” Jiyong snaps, his face mere inches from Daesung’s. Daesung’s eyes refocus quickly, the only thing that shows his surprise; he’s gotten really good at not jumping when things like this happen. “Good, you’re listening.” Jiyong says, his tired face breaking into a mischievous smirk that Daesung still can’t quite read.

“Yes, sorry, I was just thinking…” He mutters, feeling bad for not paying more attention when they were always so patient with him.

Jiyong waves the apology away. “It’s okay, I need you to practice saying this.” He says, holding up a piece of parchment before pushing it into Daesung’s hands. “You can practice with Seunghyun because he’s apparently learned the value of a good day of hard work and is in here looking for something to do.” It’s said nonchalantly, as if it were normal for a temple attendant to speak of, and to, a son of the pharaoh in such a way.

Daesung looks up and around at that, and realizes that Seunghyun is standing just off to the left and behind Jiyong: exactly where he’d been staring before Jiyong had interrupted his thoughts. He nods mutely to Jiyong, and hopes that his cheeks haven’t colored noticeably, but he’s certain that they probably have because Jiyong looks smug about something. Jiyong shoos him off the bench he’s sitting on and toward Seunghyun with a wink and turns back toward Youngbae who was watching them with his lip between his teeth. Daesung doesn’t linger on that for very long, as he has to go and talk to Seunghyun.

In the past few days, he and Seunghyun had come to a sort of accord, and Daesung wasn’t near as unhappy being around the older man as he had been previously. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Seunghyun from being exceptionally intimidating to be around, so Daesung couldn’t say that he is thrilled to spend time embarrassing himself in front of the man today.

“Jiyong told me to practice saying this.” He says when Seunghyun raises an eyebrow at him as he approaches. He holds out the paper and Seunghyun takes it, scanning what it says before nodding and gesturing for him to lead the way to a bench on the other side of the room. He lets out a gust of air and walks over to the seating, waiting for Seunghyun to sit first before he does.

The social rules were still really hard for Daesung to figure out, so he spent a lot of his time obediently waiting for others to tell him what to do in different situations. It works for him, but he really wishes that he wasn’t always with people of a much higher rank than him so that he could really more fully understand what was going on.

~~

Seunghyun really enjoyed watching Daesung, and it was so much more entertaining now that Daesung had rather miraculously figured out the language and was able to speak with everyone. He tries really hard to not let Jiyong or Youngbae see that he watches Daesung, but he’s certain Jiyong is very aware of it. It wouldn’t be a problem, except that Jiyong is still withholding something from him and he’s pretty sure that it has to do with the object of his rather persistent attentions.

When Daesung tells him that Jiyong gave him something to practice for the ritual that evening, Seunghyun fights the urge to raise his eyebrows in surprise, and instead takes the papyrus scroll that the younger man holds up toward him. He reads over it quickly while gesturing for Daesung to head to a bench nearby.

“It’s not very long, I don’t think it will take you long to memorize it.” He says after a couple of seconds, and Daesung nods, taking the paper back.

They practice for a few minutes, the words falling from Daesung’s mouth in a way that shows how unfamiliar the sounds are to him. Daesung sets the paper down and lets out a long sigh that Seunghyun can’t seem to help but pay attention to.

“I can’t get these words right; they feel wrong.” He mutters, and Seunghyun narrows his eyes at him for a second while he thinks. “Maybe if I knew why I was saying it?” He says, peeking up at Seunghyun through the hair that always fell into his eyes when he looked down.

Seunghyun in a breath, aware that he was staring and hoping that Daesung didn’t take it as such. “Ah, well, the sacrifice tonight is important as it signifies the beginning of the ceremonies.” He starts, looking away from Daesung’s eager face and up toward the altar that Youngbae was helping a servant lay wreaths on. “If the sacrifice is accepted, then Jiyong is given the ability to speak as the oracle during the proceedings tomorrow. He will also be able to answer the questions I must ask the Oracle this evening.” He looks down at the parchment between them for a second as Daesung nods along with his explanation. “The two things you have to memorize are for different parts of the ceremony.”

Daesung colors at that. The words were a lot harder and vaguer than what he really knew, so the memorization was a lot harder than he’d anticipated. If he’d understood the meaning of the two separate paragraphs, he might have understood that they were different…but he didn’t and now he felt just a little stupid. “I didn’t know…” He starts, but Seunghyun cuts him off with a smile that stops his breathing for a moment.

“Jiyong rarely explains anything.” He says, and it’s a lot kinder sounding than Daesung is used to Seunghyun sounding. “But you should know what they are for. The first part is for the main ritual…I think that Jiyong has determined that you need to participate in it, and he has given you one of the passages that Youngbae normally recites.”

Daesung rears back at that and his eyes go wide. Seunghyun thinks it’s a rather comical, if not adorable, look. “I can’t possibly take part of Youngbae’s job!” He whispers frantically, distress written plainly across his face.

Seunghyun chuckles and shakes his head. “No worries, there are plenty of things for Youngbae to do still. This is only a small part, and Youngbae is probably glad to be rid of it.” Daesung nods and Seunghyun looks back out over the hall. Jiyong is standing in the center of the room, his hands on his hips and his eyes rather obviously trained on the servant working with Youngbae. Seunghyun fights down a laugh and takes a deep breath. “The second part is for when Jiyong goes in to speak with the oracle. Youngbae will probably give you more direct instructions as to when to say it…” He trails off as he reaches the end of his explanation, unsure what else to say.

~~

Youngbae bites his lip as he steps back from the altar and surveys it with a critical eye. He needed it to be perfect, partly because it had to be, but mostly because Jiyong deserved for it to be perfect after such a long absence. He motions for the servant helping him to move one of the wreaths over to the left a little.

“How do you think Daesung will do tonight?” Jiyong asks from somewhere over his right shoulder, and Youngbae has to take in a calming breath before answering.

“I think that he will do perfectly; he’s a great listener.” He says, and he feels the puff of air that Jiyong expels hit him in the back of the head, and he wonders how close Jiyong is, along with why the man feels the need to be that close in the first place.

“You’re right.” Jiyong says shortly, and Youngbae is amazed at the quick agreement. It usually took much longer than that to get Jiyong to agree with him on anything that came to Daesung and how to deal with him. “But only if you’re the one telling him what to do.” Youngbae can hear the pout in the words but ignores him for a second as he tells the servant to add more reeds to the right side.

“That’s not true.” Youngbae says, turning slightly so that he can see Jiyong while they speak. Jiyong rolls his eyes before telling the servant to collect more white linen to drape across the altar.

“He does everything you tell him to.” Jiyong says, and Youngbae can now clearly see the pout gracing his features.

“Isn’t that better than him being totally disobedient?” Youngbae asks, moving around Jiyong to a table that he noticed wasn’t straight. “He listens to you, also. It’s not like I’m the only person who can tell him what to do.” He says, purposefully ignoring the fact that sometimes Daesung would look to Youngbae for clarification about Jiyong’s directions, which is probably something that upsets Jiyong.

Jiyong rolls his eyes and straightens out the instruments on the table Youngbae had just adjusted. “You’ve got to be careful when you move the tables around.” He says with a bit of a scowl, and Youngbae wonders what he’s said to ruin Jiyong’s mood, but brushes it aside.

“I know, Ji.” He says, and then grabs Jiyong’s hand to stop him from fidgeting with the stuff on the table. “I’ve already purified this, don’t touch it anymore.” He says softly, Jiyong’s hand resting his as he speaks. Jiyong has his eyes glued to their joined hands and Youngbae gives them a shake to redirect Jiyong’s gaze to his face. “You need to go rest. You’re becoming agitated, and that is never a good thing for you to be before a ritual.” He gives Jiyong a warm smile, his eyes crinkling up as he does so. “Go! I’ll finish in here.”

Jiyong purses his lips together, his eyes searching Youngbae’s face before returning to their joined hands. A sigh of defeat escapes his lips and he brings his free hand up to wipe at his eyes. “Alright, but you have to make sure that Daesung has practiced his part thoroughly.” He says, catching Youngbae’s eyes.

“Of course. And I will make sure he knows when he’s supposed to say them, as well.” He says, a small amount of laughter bubbling up into his voice. Jiyong rolls his eyes and pulls his hand away from Youngbae’s.

“I trust that you will do a good job of it, then.” He says, before casting his eyes around the room one more time. “It’s going to be an interesting festival, Youngbae.” He says softly, before shaking his head and striding out of the room.

~~

Jiyong feels the familiar hum of irritation flowing through him as he talks about Daesung with Youngbae. He’s not sure why the topic bothers him so much; he truly enjoys Daesung’s presence. As he nods to Seunghyun on his way out of the altar room, he allows himself to admit that it was probably because he didn’t like how much Daesung seemed to enjoy being around Youngbae.

There were many reasons for this, of course, and the only acceptable reason is that Daesung is meant to help Seunghyun and he won’t be able to do so if he’s in love with Youngbae… which he isn’t, and Jiyong knows that. He just can’t help it but to believe that the man must like Youngbae in a capacity that was more than just friendly. He feels his face heat at the thought and decides to think about something else.

Something like the fact that they were so close to getting more answers from the Oracle about Daesung’s role in their lives and he couldn’t be any happier about that if he tried. The reasons for Daesung being here were hazy in his mind, and he knew that Seunghyun would use one of his chances to ask the oracle about Daesung’s presence. This was both a good thing and a potentially disastrous thing, but Jiyong had to focus on the positives if he was going to get through the next few days.

It was hard to receive the Oracle. It was hard work and it was so many feelings that Jiyong couldn’t describe no matter how hard he tried; and he had tried, so many times. He was secretly relieved that Youngbae had sent him off when he had, because he felt almost dead on his feet and he would need to be more alert at sundown when the rituals began if he wanted to have a clear connection with the Oracle for the beginning of the festivities. Tonight was important, as it set the tone for the rest of the festival.

If tonight was successful, then the people who came to speak to the Oracle over the next few days would not cause Jiyong too much undue pain. He shakes his head again as he passes out of the temple. He spies a servant walking toward him and stops him.

“Have a plate of food sent to my tent.” He says, and the servant nods before scurrying off. Jiyong lets out a huff of breath and moves on toward the tent he shared with Youngbae, and more recently Daesung. He smiles as he passes the small cot that Daesung slept on across from his desk, before passing into his room and laying in his bed. A short nap was precisely what he needed, followed by a simple meal.

He would be more than ready for the evening after this.