A Game to Remember

     ***

      A week ago, while Jazan was on an outing with Nabile. He stopped by the marketplace to grab two bottles of water and a small meal for the Queen and him. Upon opening the tethered canvas of the tent, he first lay eyes on Tehuti. She resembled a younger Amira in a way which haunted him.

     “I wasn’t expecting to see a King.” Tehuti giggled, batting her eyelashes.

      King Jazan cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows quizzically. He felt dumb founded gazing upon Tehuti. The fresh scent of Chamomile and Peppermint ensnared his nostrils.

     “It smells otherworldly in here,” Jazan remarked, looking around the caravan.

     Queen Nabile was only a few feet away, tending to their mode of transportation, a Blue Uni. Meanwhile, Jazan ordered two bottles of water and some Geopeppers with a Fried Suwek for Nabile. Fried Suwek was her favourite.

     “Coming right up.” Tehuti said, tallying up the King's order on a bill she scrawled on papyrus.

     “How much do I owe you?” King Jazan demanded digging through his pockets to find the right amount of golden coins to pay for all of this.

     “Your total will be fifteen thousand Neopoints, please” Tehuti exclaimed. She was almost certain she could pull a fast one on him. Even if he didn’t believe her, did he really want to draw the attention of Queen Nabile? No!

     “Fifteen thousand Neopoints and keep the change.” He agreed to it, gritting his teeth as he handed the gold coins over to her.

     After he received the food, the two newlywed Royals sat under the shade of a palm tree.

     ***

     “So if there was one thing you could tell me I don’t know, what would that be?” Queen Nabile asked midway through lunch between a bite of her Geopeppers.

     “You see that Uni over there, I’d do anything for him”, King Jazan declared, pointing to his quiet Blue friend. It was true he had been friends with the Uni since he was a boy, and his father, Razul, ruled. What Nabile didn’t know about was the curse that had been set on the Uni. The curse was a horrid one, and it wasn’t something King Jazan felt comfortable discussing yet.

     “Well, it’s good you two care about each other. Unconditional love is something you can hardly find nowadays.” Nabile told him. She held out her hoof for him to hold. He held onto it firmly like he was afraid to let it go.

     ***

      The next day, Tehuti arrived at the Royal palace's doorstep. She was holding a scarab amulet in her pocket. Yesterday, Jazan had accidentally tipped her a little too much. He unintentionally gave her what seemed to be one of his most prized possessions. Tehuti thought it would only be courteous of her to return it to him.

      “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?” King Jazan asked, brushing the silky grey mane of the Blue Uni. In return, the Uni nuzzled his paw with its nose.

     “I came here to give back what you accidentally gave me yesterday.” Tehuti dangled the Scarab Amulet in front of Jazan.

     “You could’ve kept it. I have hundreds of those, but thank you,” Jazan chortled, admiring her honest approach.

     “Maybe so.. but if I had kept it, it would’ve only been added to the Pyramid prizes and never seen the light of day again. I figured it would be best if I returned it.” She informed him,

     “Well, thank you, kind stranger, may I ask for your name?” Jazan asked graciously.

     “Tehuti”, the Desert Aisha told him. He held out his hand for her to shake. Their eyes met each other with a soft kindness.

     “I’m certain you already know mine. So this game you called Pyramids must have a nice prize pool. I wonder if it has the capability of granting someone what they truly desire?” King Jazan prodded, not thinking it was possible, but why not ask the game host himself?

     Tehuti smiled, intrigued by the idea of it. She knew her scrolls held some of Neopia’s oldest and greatest magic. Whether Pyramids was a plausible card game to beat was a different story.

     “Yes, why not stop by and see for yourself.” Tehuti invited him to play Pyramids, and the two discussed a night in the week that would work best for them.

     ***

     Coming back to his conscious state from a lucid one, Jazan approached the tent on the outskirts of Coltzan's Shrine. He donned all black attire that covered his figure. The only light anyone could see was the silhouette of the moon and flames of the Nightsteed’s hooves. Granted, at this hour of the night, most Neopians had already been sound asleep.

     “I never thought you’d get here,” Tehuti remarked, astonished. She ushered him into a seat in front of the stand and laid out a set of downward-facing cards.

     “Do you know how to play, or should I explain the rules?” Tehuti asked, sitting behind the other side of the stand. Jazan nodded; he was sure he could get the gist of it and clear the entire pyramid.

     “I will figure it out”, He informed Tehuti confidently. Either way, he was sure by the end of this round of cards, he’d leave with a powerful scroll in his arm.

     Jazan sat down thinking of the best moves he could make to get his cards cleared or facing upwards to the top.

     Ace, Two, Three, Two, Ace, he began. Not that hard of a game, he thought to himself. He didn’t account for the fact that in many consecutive plays, he had upset the order of the remaining cards.

     On one of his last rows, he had an Eight and drew a Three from his pile. He shook his paws, irritated if his calculations were correct, he couldn’t win. There were two available cards to pull from. While on his board were two cards facing upwards, and the top of the pyramid.

     “I prefer Solitaire,” He grumbled, drawing an Ace.

      Tehuti just stared at the King with the same expression she gave to every card player that was frustrated by the results of her game.

     “Has anyone ever cleared the whole pyramid?” He asked, unsure if that was even a possibility.

     Tehuti nodded. Some had indeed cleared an entire pyramid; it usually took one in a couple of hundred tries. Clearing the pyramid was doable, but with the odds stacked against every player. Tehuti expected the King to lose.

      Tehuti knew King Jazan wouldn’t be patient enough to play multiple rounds of Pyramids til he won. So there wasn’t any loss in inviting the overly confident King to play. She hoped that if anything came out of the experience, he had learned a lesson. Instead, Jazan huffed, exiting the tent on his Nightsteed, prizeless, and swearing to never play Pyramids again.

     The End.