My name is ${name}, a young basket-weaving apprentice in the artisan city of Set Maat.
Though I was just a normal young man, this day marked the start of a strange, exciting, and at times, erotic adventure in my beautiful homeland of Egypt.
My morning started like any other. I got up, giving my prayers to the gods before readying myself for a day of work with my master, Nanni. Master Nanni was a harsh but fair man who had learned the art of basket weaving from his father. With no heirs of his own, he took me on as an apprentice to learn his trade.
My daily chores involved procuring reeds from the market and soaking them in the troughs behind the workshop; each trough filled with water drawn from the river and carried there by—you guessed it—me.
None of this was work that I detested. Indeed, Master Nanni was in no condition to do most of that work himself anymore so I happily did it. What made my morning chores a hassle were two things: the first was the other apprentices at the artisan's guild, the other was Seki.
The other apprentices didn't mean any harm, I'm sure. Dye makers, sculptors, engravers, and the like; they looked down on Master Nanni and myself for the impermanence of our work. Not as if they cared, but Master Nanni and I had both created mats and baskets used by Pharaoh himself! Or at least commissioned by his chamberlain.
Seki was another, somewhat related matter. She was neither noble nor apprentice. Though her family were free men, she lived alone in what had been her family's house. All but abandoned by her uncle who lived in Memphis after her parents had died, she was left to fend for herself. To make ends meet, she took on odd-jobs around town; an admirable undertaking—or it would have been if she took on honorable jobs. Most of the time, between carrying messages between the guild masters, the apprentices paid her to harass me.
Today was no different. As I walked back from the market with a thick bale of reeds under my arm, a familiar shape blocked my path. Taller than me by an inch or two, the rough looking girl's black hair was pulled back in a tight pony-tail. Her eyes were unfocused and she reeked of wine; something that she had picked up recently, at her ripe age of seventeen. Her form was more frail than lithe, though she always carried herself in an aggressive stance. Her moth-eaten clothes, rough hands, and bare feet caused that same feeling of anger and pity to well up inside me.
"A big strong man carries reeds under his arm," Seki sneered. "Is that right?"
"Yes," sighed, walking to the side of the street. "A big strong man who carries reeds paid for by his Master's coin."
She moved in front of me.
"If Nanni had not taken such a clumsy apprentice," she mused. "Perhaps the reeds would not have been ground into the mud."
Seki tried to strike them from my hand, but I pulled them away just in time. Her sloshy movements caused her to stumble as I took a step back.
"There, you have cost me time and insulted me," I said. "Now go and tell Tehko the deed is done."
Seki grumbled something under her breath before making another pass at my reeds.
"Seki!" I cried. "Why must you harass me? Go and eat bugs! It will surely be a better use of your time."
I half expected her to take a swing at me like she usually did, but instead her eyes went wide then seemed to relax. She seemed more focused than she had been a moment before. Then the strangest thing happened. I didn't know it, but this was the start of a very strange adventure for me.
I watched, dumbfounded as Seki got down on her hands and knees by the gutter and started picking up rocks. As she did, beetles and other insects began to scurry for cover, but found only her hands. With a look of satisfaction and glee, Seki began to shove the handfuls of bugs into her mouth and chew. I watched for a few moments before