Another interesting Sobek tidbit from a book I’m currently reading: ‘Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods’ by Dimitri Meeks.
“Sobek, the crocodile, surprised a band of enemies and massacred them. A victim of his natural inclinations, he unhesitatingly devoured them all; but he carried their heads back home with him as proof of his exploit. The gods rushed toward him, shouting, “Prevent him from eating them (the heads), give him bread!” One can imagine the expression on poor Sobek’s face. This god was not particularly successful at keeping his predilection for meaty dishes under control and was sometimes overwhelmed by sudden cravings.
When the dismembered Osiris was cast into the Nile, Sobek yeilded to temptation and gulped down part of his body. He was subsequently punished for his lapse, due to his boundless voracity more than to a desire to do harm to the body of his fellow god: he had his tongue cut out. That, so the story goes, is why crocodiles do not have tongues.“
“…perhaps…”, Relena admitted, her gaze falling to the side, of course she had, after all a while back she was quite certain that they would meet on the battlefield someday.
“But you can’t learn anything by just looking.”, the queen replied. “Just staring at the stars is not going to give me the names of the constellations, when they were first discovered. Just looking at them will only tell me that there are shiny things in the sky.”, she countered, her hand pointing towards the night sky. Relena’s shoulders dropped slightly, as her head turned towards Viserys, looking at him with narrowed eyebrows. “You do realize that lying to a queen is treason.” Did he truly think she was stupid enough to believe something like that, for she highly doubted that the stars cared about kings and queens. “No she didn’t, because she only told me true stories.”, the young stag said, rolling her eyes before turning her head back towards the window.
For a moment the black haired woman remained standing by the window, before she turned around and walked towards her own chambers. In the morning she was still quite tired, for she hadn’t got any sleep before Viserys had come into her room and even after she had returned she still had to call upon a maid to help her out of her dress and corset, which forced her to remain awake even longer. Therefore, Relena was not in the best of moods when she met with her family to eat and her mood only got worse when her dear mother complained about the company they were to expect once again, dismissing her words with a roll of her eyes. “Good morning.”, she mumbled, trying her best to sound friendly.
Viserys ate with the family, in almost complete silence, finishing his meal just as Cersei excused herself, Joffrey following suit giving the Dragon king-to-be a sneer as he left. Myrcella and Tommen stayed, making small conversation with Viserys before being ushered off to study with their Septas. His violet eyes glanced over to Relena before he cleared his throat. “So, what’s on your agenda today?” He asked, trying to start small conversation before his eyes found the wine on the table, unsure of what to really say.
“I ah, believe Lord Stark wanted me to talk with him about some matters, trivial for you really, enough for the council to take care of but as a way for me to get my ‘feet wet’ so to speak in politics in Westeros.” He informed Relena. “So, I believe today this might be one of our only few times to see one another.” He went on.
“Well, I just never want you to think anything else.” She begins, tugging his hand over her barely budding belly. “ Besides, There’s no need to wait longer for that.”
His hand is placed on her belly and he smiles, pure joy coming from his face, radiating. “Have you thought of names?” He asked as he bent down to kiss her belly.
Relena could not help but roll her eyes. “First of all, it is very romantic that you have apparently thought about my death so much… but I was just joking. I am fully aware of my duties.”, she declared. “And I am also aware that one of them is brining at least one legitimate heir into the world… or die trying…”, she said, mumbling the last part under her breath.
A light frown appeared upon the young queen’s forehead, as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, upon hearing Viserys’ words. “Of course from books, how else are you supposed to learn something?”, she questioned, clearly irritated. “Just looking at the starts is not going to tell me anything about them.”, she pointed out, one of her hands waving towards the window. “Hard to believe…”, Relena mumbled, following him towards the window. “I am sure there is some Maester in the Citadel who has already named it.”, she added, stopping next to the silver haired man, her eyes roaming through the night sky. For a brief moment the Baratheon lowered her gaze, when she heard his name suggestion.
Once Relena looked up again, she tilted her head slightly, a few strands of black her falling over her shoulder as she did so, trying to find the new constellation. “Are you really sure there is a new one?”, she asked after a moment, unable to find something she hadn’t seen in a book yet.
The queen’s gaze still focused on the night sky, her eyebrows slightly narrowed, trying to see what he had been talking about, only when Relena felt him kiss her forehead, her eyes let go of the night sky and surprised expression replaced the frustrated one. “Good night…”, she mumbled, perhaps a bit too late, for she had still been surprised by the time these words had left his mouth.
Viserys chuckled. “Well, what can I say? I’m a romantic deep down. Seven knows that you’ve no doubt dreamed of my demise during and before this.” He pointed out.
Oh, Relena. Viserys thought as he shook his head. “By looking, living and doing. Not just by reading.” He watched her as she tried to find the star set that didn’t exist. “Oh yes, I’m sure. There’s a new constellation for each great king, or queen that rules. Rhaegar was said to have had one should he have ruled but passed on to the heir of the king who brought peace.” He fibed, spinning his tale as if he’d heard it many a time. “So, that would be you, not my brother…Least this is just what i’ve heard from my mother.” He tried not to smile, giving away the lie. “Didn’t your Septa tell you this story?”
Viserys hadn’t heard her words, having been a bit too far away to hear her voice. The dragon found his bed and slept soundly in it, curled up and cocooned in his cover and furs. Viserys groaned as the combination of sun and noises rousing him, having gotten possibly only four hours of sleep, maybe five at the most. He was dressed and exited his room joining the royal family for breakfast, putting on a smile as he faced the Queen’s mother. The three royal siblings seemed happy enough today. Joffrey didn’t seem as off putting today and this unnerved the dragon. “Good morning. Your Grace,” Viserys gave a small nod at Relena before he took his place at the table and greeted Cersei and the other children. He was still getting used to being allowed to sit at the table with the family and was getting more and more confident with each passing day, which he could only assume irked Cersei.
“So you want me to believe that all you know about this… matter by hearsay?”, Relena questioned, her eyes fixing on Viserys as she raised her eyebrows, completely dismissing the point he had obviously tried to make, for her priority was somewhere different entirely. “Well, then there is an easy solution to all of this.”, she said with a shrug. “I simply don’t have children at all, and we are just going to pray that I outlive Joffrey, I mean he is just a year younger than me, chances are good that it will work out.” Of course the young queen was aware that this was not an option out all, after all one of the reasons why this union was proposed was to produce an heir with both Baratheon and Targaryen blood to sit the Iron Throne after her, but the thought of not having to full fill this duty was quite the pleasant one if she was honest.
“You are still talking about my little brother.”, Relena reminded him. It was one thing if she called Joffrey a monster, but it was something different entirely when someone else did it. She tilted her head, giving Viserys a disapproving look. “Myrcella is still between Joffrey and Tommen, she would be the next in line after him.” Since Relena had taken the throne over her brother, it would only make sense if Myrcella would have to take the throne over Tommen as well. And while it displeased her that the silver haired man had forgotten about her little sister, she could understand why he had though of the next possible male heir first, but the words had left her lips before she could think this far.
“My Septa would now say that moments like these are inappropriate.”, the young queen replied in a lowered voice, a little smile upon her lips as she lowered her gaze, though the smile faded as soon as she heard the words ‘quite pissed’. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Relena was quite aware of the fact that her Septa had sheltered her a lot, which lead to her disliking any foul speech but now it was a bit too late to change this way of thinking. “I do.”, at least from the books, for her Septa had never allowed for her to stay up this long and once she was queen she had better things to do than to stay up all night looking at stars. “But I still believe that it would be best if we were to retire, there isn’t much left of the night.”
He frowned at her, his eyebrows knitted together at her words about not having a child. Viserys hadn’t thought much about being a father but he was starting to get used to the idea now that he was about to be married and to hear here say it could easily be avoided…”Or you could die of some sickness and leave the kingdom with no heir and Joffrey gods forbid he’s not well behavior wise…” Viserys was getting irritated now. He understood that she was fearful of childbirth but leaving the kingdom to her younger brother should something happen to her? It was almost criminal.
Visery’s excitement had faded as he heard Relena’s words, his shoulders fell and he pouted, keep his face from her eyes until he had an idea. “But from books…They don’t have all of the constellations, in fact…” He began as he turned to face her, a hand pointed out to the window near them. “There’s supposedly a new constellation. No one’s named it yet.” He explained. “It’s a beautiful and rare sight, it needs a name that fits it. Some suggested the Lord of light or some words in Valariyan but I’ve been thinking of one and I wanted your opinion, but I want you to see it first…” He went on as he walked to the window, hoping she’d follow him at least to the window. “Relena. That is what I would name it.” Of course, there wasn’t a new constellation but it was a chance to have her close by him, the sunrise already starting, very slowly rising.
Before Viserys left Relena’s side he kissed the top of her head, “Goodnight, Your Grace” Viserys called as he left her with a smile on his lips and back to his room to sleep what he could before being woken up to ‘start’ the day.
Goldnwulf 