The Goddess Provides

Hapu took a deep breath. The room was quiet and dark; just what he needed. He needed time to think, to get his head straight, to sort-out a suitable course of action.

Why was it always like this? Most of his friends enjoyed courting young ladies and looked forward to their dates. They boasted of the girl’s wit or looks – more often the looks – and what an impressive dowry they would receive should they agree to marry them. But then, most of his friends did not have parents powerful Nebet clan.

“No, it is wrong to blame Mother and Father,” he says to himself in a low voice. I am to blame, not them. They only want me to be happy and to find a suitable girl who can carry on the noble Nebet line. It is me who can’t cope with the courting and the girls that they find for me.”

He thinks he hears a noise and looks up and around. But there is no one there; this room is empty, some sort of household shrine room to Isis. There’s nothing in it; just the altar to the goddess, quotes from scripture on the walls and a vase on a shelf. Or at least, it looks like a vase, though in this light one cannot tell. The flickering shadow before the holy statue doesn’t illuminate much. He is safe. He turns to the goddess whose sanctuary this is and implores her to help him:

“Holy Isis, what should I do? What is up with me? With some men it is because they do not find girls attractive; they prefer a young boy to share their bed. But I am not like that; I do find them attractive. Well, most of them. That one father arranged for me to court two weeks ago was pretty awful, but most of them are sexy; they inflame my loins and I do confess to thinking of them when I am in bed at night with my manhood in my hand. This one especially. Her name is Heni – you know that of course, I am sorry for being so silly – but, she is really sexy. She has an amazing figure, a lovely bum and her face is nice, beautiful dark eyes that I feel I could dive right into. But even so, even though in one way I’d love to kiss her and learn to do the sex thing with her, on the other hand… aargh! She is too much; they are all too much, but she is especially so. All of these girls, they like the sound of their own voice; it is like they want to control me. I have only met this Heni today and she is already throwing herself at me. She tells me that she thinks I’m cute and puts her hand in mine and speaks of love, but how can we be in love? I mean, come on, we have only just met and I know that she’s lying because I’m not half as good looking as most of the lads in school, nor as charming or charismatic or whatever it is that girls like. I am just boring old me and I know that she is all enthusiastic because she knows that if we marry she will enter the nobility and bear children with an ancient name, not to mention come into great wealth. She is doing her duty I suppose, as am I, but I don’t want duty, I want love, someone who wants me for who I am, rather than my name and fortune. And I want a girl who does not try to control all the conversation, who is not so in-your-face all the time. Heni is nice I daresay, she is probably lovely, but she is too much, way too much for me. With her I’d have no freedom in life! Oh, I will have to tell them that, but how? It is so hard; I don’t want to hurt her feelings, or that of her parents and then what about Mother and Father. Father said to me that his patience is running out and that if I don’t choose a bride soon, then he will choose one for me and not give me an option. And what if he chooses an absolutely dragon who’s even bossier than Heni but ugly to boot? Oh, Holy Isis, what should I do? Guide me onto the right path and please, do it quick, because I told them I’d popped out to the toilet and if I don’t return to the main chamber soon, they’ll wonder what has happened to me and might even come looking! Help me, sacred goddess, I implore you!”

And as he finished his monologue and silence began to take over, from behind him a female voice said softly, “Don’t be so hard on Heni; she’s bossy it’s true, but she has a good heart. And don’t be so hard on yourself too; you really are quite cute even if you don’t believe it yourself.”

It was a girl. A girl around his age with jet black braided hair cut into a stylish bob, captivating dark eyes and a beautiful smile. On her head she wore a hooded cobra golden circlet signifying nobility whilst below her head… well, below her head she was not there. Or at least, she couldn’t be seen. Instead, there was only an ornate ceramic vase. She was a potgirl.

“What? You… I’m… err, I… didn’t realise… I thought I was alone… I disturbed you miss, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s not problem at all. I was actually bored out of my mind just standing here in the dark. This is meant to be my contemplation and prayer hour, but I often just drift off. I’ve never been much good at praying I suppose, which is a bit of a bummer considering my future career. You coming in here and having a chat with our goddess rather made my day! By the way, Senisonbe Ankhkhaf at your service. I’d shake your hand but obviously I can’t.”

“I, err, I said things that were meant to be private; oh, I didn’t mean to and… and Senisonbe Ankhkhaf did you say? If your name is Ankhkhaf then you must be…”

“…Heni’s little sister? Yep, that’s me! Much littler than her in fact. Well, these days I am. And you, I assume, are Hapuneseb Nebet?”

“You know my name?”

“I’ve heard of little else these past few days. My sister and parents felt very honoured that a Nebet would consider courting an Ankhkhaf. They’re desperate for you to agree to marry her.”

“They are? Oh dear, I mean, she’s lovely and everything but… oh, this is terrible! You heard everything and now… please Senisonbe, forgive me and…”

“Shh! Don’t you worry, I won’t breathe a word to anyone.”

“Thank you, thank you so much, Senisonbe!”

“Nonsense, friends confide in each other! And I’d like to think we could be friends. And by the way, why so formal, Noble Mister Hapuneseb Nebet? I’m Seni to my friends.”

Hapu looked at this smiling, bubbly potgirl. Just seeing her face made him feel better. Could he be friends with her? He would like nothing more! This was the first girl that he’d ever met whom he’d been able to have a conversation with where he didn’t feel ashamed, awkward or terribly embarrassed. Why, he was actually enjoying her company! “I’d like that too… Seni, I’d like that very much!”

“Excellent! Now, as I said already, we’d normally shake on something like that, but, as you can see, well… so instead, would you mind kissing me to seal our new friendship?”

“Kissing you?! But that would be…!”

“Not on the lips, silly, on the forehead. I’d come over to you, but…”

“No, no! I quite understand. I’ll come over to you.” He got up, walked over to her and stood next to her, his face level with hers due to the height of the shelf that her pot was resting on. As he did, he took in the vase that she was encased within: the creamy colour of the clay, the ceramic neckpiece around the top, the elegant handles on either side. Then he moved his eyes upwards to confront the head that emerged from the top, the seal between the two so tight that he doubted he could get a fingertip in there. Although only a head, it was one of the most beautiful that he had ever set his eyes upon, from those lively brown eyes, to the smooth cheeks, perfect rosebud lips and elegant neck emerging from the vase that imprisoned it. He leaned forward and planted a light peck on her forehead. As he did, he breathed in and smelt the seductive aroma of her perfume, his body tingling with a hitherto unknown feeling as he did so. He withdrew, looking at her eyes and smiled but when she glanced back at him, he felt embarrassed and turned aside.

“Not so quick! We have only half-sealed the bargain,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“I have to kiss your forehead now. Bend down please; I can’t do this myself.”

“Oh, I… err… yes, of course.”

And so Hapu bent his head before her own, taking in her feminine aroma once more and then, whilst staring at her pot, felt a pair of lips lightly kiss his forehead. Although the touch was light, never before in all his twenty-years in this life, had he felt so happy and so excited to be with another human being. He withdrew and looked at her, drinking in her captivating smile and enchanting eyes once again.

“I do hope that our friendship will be a long and close one,” she said. “I get so lonely here sometimes and it would mean a great deal to me if you could come round and see me from time to time. You’re a lovely young man, you know. However, I want you out of my room this very instant!”

“Why?” asked Hapu, shocked at Seni’s sudden change of tone.

“Because you have some courting to get back to and you have tarried too long in here. If you don’t leave now, not only will you get in trouble, but I’ll probably get a telling off as well and I don’t want that, particularly if it meant we were stopped from seeing one another.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. That would be awful, but I do want to see you again soon, I really do. I hope we meet again. Bye Seni!”

And so he left, pausing at the door to drink in a last look at those eyes and that joyful smile before turning on his heels and making his way back to his potential bride-to-be.

Hapu knocked on the large and ornately decorated wooden door of the Ankhkhaf residence. A servant answered. “I’ve come to see Miss Ankhkhaf,” he announced.

“Step inside please, Noble Mr.Nebet,” the servant replied.

Despite his earlier assertions to the goddess, Hapu had not returned to the sitting room and announced that he would not be visiting Miss Heni any further. Instead, he went back, his face aglow and indulged in another hour of conversation, giggling and the embarrassing antics of the elder Ankhkhaf sister who continually sidled up close to him, leaned over so he could catch a good view of her half-exposed breasts peeping out of her tight, white gown, and other such supposedly seductive moves. Indeed, now Hapu even enjoyed it a little. Perversely, her sister’s soothing words and smile setting him at ease in the company of one young female, seemed to have translated to this other, less subtle one too.

And at the end, he announced that he would be honoured to spend more time with Miss Ankhkhaf as he found her delightful and would love to get to know her better.

And that evening, he said exactly the same to his parents, who smiled like they had not smiled at him in a very long time.

To none of them though, did he mention which Ankhkhaf sister it was that he wished to spend more time with and would like to get to know better.

That night though, he lay awake in his bed, thinking about her, recalling every detail of her perfect face, from that winning smile to those sparkling eyes. As he did, his member grew hard and his hand strayed down towards it. As it did though, he wondered; could a potgirl even do… that. I mean, one required certain body parts and she did not have a body. On the other hand though, presumably potgirls needed to make wastes like the rest of us and he had noticed a small aperture in Seni’s pot towards the bottom, that had been modestly covered with a tiny curtain of white silk. Did that mean then that she could?

Thinking about it, for some inexplicable reason, excited him further. As he lay there on his bed, he imagined a life whereby what he was doing that minute would not be possible; indeed, nothing would be possible. A life where all you could do was stand there on a shelf, only able to move your head, and not much at that! You could remember what it was like to have a body and move about, but that was no longer possible. You would be totally reliant on servants for everything, from feeding you to wiping your bottom, from moving about to simply having a wash. It was beyond terrible to imagine and yet, at the same time, it weirdly excited him, giving his ministrations an intensity to them which he had never before experienced in his life until, recalling Seni’s perfume and her soft kiss on his forehead, he exploded with an orgasm so intense that he was left a panting wreck at the end.

Yes, he needed to see that girl again.

---

And so the very next morning, he went round to the Ankhkhaf residence immediately after breakfast.

Heni, when she joined him in the sitting room, was wearing a far less stylish and revealing dress than the previous afternoon. She was also wearing far less makeup and jewellery. Most noticeable of all though, was the fact that she was continually massaging her arms and rolling her shoulders as if something were up with them.

“Hapu, darling, I never expected to see you so soon!” she said, kissing him on the forehead after he had done the same to her.

“I enjoyed yesterday so much, I couldn’t wait to return,” he replied, truthfully.

“As did I, but you’ve caught me off guard. If you’d have given me advance warning I could have prettified myself for you.”

“You are more than pretty enough as it is,” he replied.

“Oh, you say the sweetest things!” she exclaimed, brushing his thigh with her olive-skinned hand before abruptly withdrawing it as a twinge of pain shot across her face.

“Are you alright? You seem in pain! If I have inconvenienced you then I can withdraw and return on a more suitable occasion.”

“Oh no, not at all. It is just that I have posture training in the mornings and my arms have only just been released and so they are still achy and full of twinges. In half an hour or so they will be back to normal and I’ll be able to tickle you to your heart’s content.”

She smiled wickedly and he grimaced inwardly. The thought of being tickled by Hentmereb Ankhkhaf was both exciting and terrifying at the same time. He needed to change the subject.

“What do you mean by posture training?”

“I can tell that you don’t have a sister! All of us ladies of standing undergo it. We have our arms laced behind us, palm-to-palm, elbow-to-elbow, in a single leather sleeve. Even our fingers have their own separate pouches so that we can’t even bend them. Most ladies commit a couple hours but I spend four hours every morning like that.”

The thought, like her sister Seni’s immobility within her vase, excited Hapu and he felt his member stiffen beneath his cloak. “But why?” he asked.

“Two reasons: one for posture. It forces our shoulders back and chest out so that we naturally walk, stand and sit with a more elegant and ladylike pose. Such things please you men I suppose. And then it is seen as preparation for potisation as it gets you used to being in a helpless and dependent state.”

“Potisation?!”

“Not for me, silly, how can I marry you if I am potted? But families like ours always send one daughter to the temple as a potgirl to look after our spiritual well-being or something. To be honest, I’ve told Mamma and Papa that I shouldn’t have to undergo posture training anymore since my posture is flawless as it is, and my sister is the one in our family who was chosen to be the Ankhkhaf temple potgirl. And since she was potted several months ago, then what’s the point in me still enduring such a silly regime?”

“Your sister was potted?”

“Yeah, like I said, a few months back.”

“Why did they choose her and not you?”

“Well, I’m not exactly what you’d call the pious sort, if you know what I mean, whereas she was always a good little girl.” At these words, Heni gave a naughty wink. “Plus, I guess that I was always the pretty one, so it makes sense to leave me unpotted, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Well, you are very pretty so… maybe.”

Excited beyond measure at this conversation, his rod like iron beneath his cloak, Hapu stood up and said, “Excuse me, I need to use the toilet. I have slight bug I am afraid; I’ve been going… uhm… continually. So, why don’t I go know and give… given your arms time to recover from their… training…?”

“Oh Hapu darling, you are so considerate! I’ll be waiting for you when you return, waiting to tickle you!”

He ran.

Seni’s shrine room was bathed in light this time when he entered. She was standing on her shelf, a small TV monitor before her, playing some sort of religious programme. She looked up the moment that he stepped through the door and a look of both joy and shock passed across her face.

“Hapu! You’re back so soon! What a surprise!”

“I told you that I wanted us to become friends, so here I am.”

She frowned and looked a trifle embarrassed and, in an instant, Hapu saw why. The silk curtain maintaining her modesty had been removed displaying her intimate parts to the entire room. Worse still, beneath them stood a small brass dish half-full of an almost transparent liquid.

“You have caught me unawares,” she said, blushing. “This is highly embarrassing.”

“I… I…I am so sorry; I can go, I…”

“No! Don’t go! Please! It is embarrassing but I love your company. Besides, if you are to get to know a potgirl, then I suppose you must be warned that some things are a little embarrassing.”

“I suppose so, I mean, I did wonder about how… but then that’s not really appropriate to talk about and so…”

“Nonsense! If we are to become friends, why not get to know such things about one another? I just hadn’t anticipated things becoming this… intimate… so quickly. Actually, I hadn’t anticipated you actually returning to see me again. After all, why would anyone want to come and spend time with a boring old potgirl who can do nothing for herself?”

Seni’s face turned glum and Hapu felt sorry for her. “What do you mean, ‘boring old potgirl’? You’re not old and you’re definitely not boring; in fact, you’re the most exciting girl I’ve ever met in my life!”

She brightened up slightly. “Well, you’re just saying that.”

“No, not at all; you’re really cool, Seni. All the other girls I meet make me feel awkward and embarrassed but around you I can relax. Well, normally I can, aside from… you know…”

She laughed. “Oh Hapu, you’re such a gentleman! But thank you, what you’ve said means a lot, although you shouldn’t have said it at all.”

“Whyever not?”

“Because you’re meant to be marrying my sister; how would she feel if she heard you saying that I am the ‘most exciting’ girl you’ve ever met whilst she makes you feel awkward and embarrassed?”

“Well, she probably wouldn’t like it but, the thing is…” He leaned in towards her, so close that he could smell her delightful perfume again, and then whispered in her ear, “… it is true.”

“I can believe it is. She is a bit of a maneater who would make most guys feel awkward and embarrassed. She’s a tiger! Grrrr!”

With those words and the funny grimace on her face, both started laughing and laughing, until tears began to roll down Seni’s perfect cheeks.

When they calmed down, the potgirl said, “About down below, I’ll explain; I’ve just had my breakfast. As part of the potisation surgery, I’ve had half of my stomach and half of my bladder removed. I can’t keep stuff inside me for very long. It goes in and then, almost immediately, out again. My diet is largely liquid – I don’t need much these days to keep me going – and so, pretty soon it dribbles out and I can’t do much to control it anymore… side-effects, I guess. That’s why Teo always puts my little dish in front of me in the mornings, so it can tinkle out whilst I endure this frightfully boring series of programmes on the attributes of our beloved goddess.”

Hapu turned to the TV that was babbling on in the background. “Yes, it does sound rather dry.”

“All part of the preparation process for entering the temple, I’m afraid. I need to know all about the deity I’ll be serving.”

“When do you enter the temple?” Hapu asked, a worrying thought that he may not be able to visit this fantastic girl for much longer.

“Oh that depends,” Seni replied.

“On what?”

“On you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I’m the younger daughter you see, and you know our culture: the younger cannot marry before the elder has wed. Well, obviously, I won’t be marrying anyone in the normal sense of the word, but my entering the temple is viewed as a sort-of marriage, ‘a union for all eternity to Holy Isis’, or that’s what they parrot at me. But it can’t happen until Heni gets married, an event which, at the present moment in time, seems to depend on you more than anyone else.”

“Oh, I see. But when you are in the temple, then will we still be able to be friends?”

“I don’t know. Can a temple potgirl receive visitors from the laity? Maybe she can, maybe not. To be honest, I’ve never asked. I never believed that I would have someone actually interested in seeing me before.” A tear escaped, dribbled down her cheek, and this time it was not one of mirth. Instinctively, Hapu reached forward and wiped it off with his finger. Seni smiled. “You need to go now,” she whispered.

“I know,” he replied, “although I don’t want to. I want to spend all day with you.”

“Me too, but we can’t.”

“I’ll think of something.”

“You try.”

He stood up to leave. “Bye!” he said.

“Wait!” she replied.

“What?”

“A goodbye kiss… as friends…?”

“Of course.”

He leaned over to kiss her on the forehead but then, on an impulse, moved his face lower and planted one on her cheek where, moments before, the tear had lingered. Seni gasped. “Let me return the favour,” she whispered. Hapu turned his cheek to her mouth and felt her lips touch it and linger for a full second longer than is usual between friends.

Back in the sitting room with Heni, all Hapu could think about was her potted sister alone in the shrine room, so close and yet sequestered. Heni had changed into a far more revealing dress, and her arms seemed to have recovered from their bondage now, for she was using them to touch him as if by accident and play casually with her hair or stroke her legs so as to bring attention to what she saw as her assets. Finding her conversation a little dull, but not wanting to leave the Ankhkhaf residence, he suggested that they do something.

“We could go for a walk in the grounds?” she suggested.

Hapu had a mental image of Heni grabbing him, leading him behind a bush and subjecting him to tickling or something worse. “No,” he replied, “it is too hot out at present. Why don’t we play a game or something? What about chess or sheshbesh?”

“I’m rubbish at chess and not much better at sheshbesh. Why not just snuggle up here and…”

“No, it would not be seemly. If your mother were to enter, it could cause you to get told off and I wouldn’t want that. Why not Monopoly? Everyone can play that!”

“Monopoly would be more fun I suppose, but it’s no good; Monopoly is best when you have three or four people but there is only the two of us.”

“Can’t you get someone else? A servant perhaps?”

“I wouldn’t dream of playing with a servant! What a silly idea, Hapu! No, there’s no one else. Let’s just…”

“Didn’t you say you had a sister? Why not let her play with us?”

“Seni? But she’s a potgirl! How can a potgirl play Monopoly?”

“Quite easily if we throw the dice and move the pieces for her. It’s not like cards where you have to keep your hand hidden and potgirls have minds just as good as anyone else’s.”

“You wouldn’t like Seni; she’s really intellectual and dull. It would be better if…”

“No, no, if she is your sister, Heni, then we should include her! And I am sure I would like her very much. Besides, if I am to enter this family, it makes sense that I get to know some of the other members as well. After all, if we did end up together, she would be my sister too.”

Faced with such an argument, Heni could not help but agree, so she reluctantly rang for a maid to bring her sister.

It was a rather surprised but glad Senisonbe Ankhkhaf who was carried into the sitting room several minutes later by her maid. Hapu noticed with a smile that she now had her private parts modestly covered up again and her make-up and hair had been touched up. He pretended not to recognise her at all and Seni, to her credit, played her part equally well.

“Hapu, this is my little sister Senisonbe,” announced Heni.

“An honour to make your acquaintance, Miss Senisonbe,” replied Hapu with a bow.

“Please, sir, call me Seni.”

“And Seni, this is Hapu, the guy I was telling you all about.”

“And he is everything you said, Heni, and more. Why, if I still had arms and legs, I’d walk right over there this minute and try and grab him off you.”

“Well, no danger of that happening, is there? Hapu here wants to play Monopoly and I thought you’d like to join us.”

“That would be marvellous. You must have told him how much I enjoy playing games. Can I be the serpent?”

“If you like.”

“And I will shake the dice for you, Seni.”

“That is most kind of you, Hapu,” she replied with her heart-melting smile.

The hour that followed was one of the most enjoyable in Hapu’s entire life. It was obvious that, despite their shortness with one another, there was a deep and genuine affection between the two sisters, though he could not help but reflect on the fact that, time and time again, when comparing the two, Seni always came out on top. She was kinder, cleverer, funnier and prettier. The only thing that Heni could trump her on was sexier, but then that is easy when your competition doesn’t even have a body.

One thing that was also clear is that the two, like so many siblings, were also intensely competitive. Although she threw better, Heni made several bad choices with regards to buying property – who throws away a chance at the greens yet she landed on Ramses II Street and did not buy it! – and so, after a good hour and a half, it was a stalemate, as neither could finish off the other. Hapu, on the other hand, who had thrown terribly all game, was well behind and could never hope to win and so, after yet another ill-fated move, he throw his hands up and declared, “I’m outta here! It’s between you two ladies now!”

“But what about your properties?” asked Heni.

“You may buy them when you land on them.”

“Well, I’m on Seti I Avenue, so I’ll have that right away,” interjected Seni.

“You can’t do that! You were on it already and…”

“Yes she can, I’m the banker. That’s 350 pounds please!”

“Wait! She can’t!”

“She can and she will, sis! Brilliant! Now we can really have a fight to the death.”

Which they did, but after a stormy half an hour had passed, it became clear that only one girl was going to win and it wasn’t the one with arms. In frustration, Heni threw the board up in the air, scattering the pieces and said, “You win then, but only through cheating! I would have triumphed otherwise! Hapu, you are mean; you only did that to spite me! You should be on my side, not hers!”

Hapu continued to visit the Ankhkhaf house every day, causing his mother and father to start making preparations on the quiet. He would usually ask to play a game and get Heni to include her potted sister, but as the elder sibling was now starting to get a little jealous – and was expecting a little more intimate time with her lover – she would often think of reasons not to include her and Hapu knew that he had to be careful so he did not push the matter. He did, however, always manage to see her, if only fleetingly, making sure that he drank lots of tea so that, after an hour or so, he was in need of the toilet. Ducking into the shrine room after one such visit – and after being denied Seni’s presence in the sitting room for three straight days – he kissed his friend on the forehead and then whispered to her, “This is awful! I really want to see you but she keeps making excuses.”

“She’s getting suspicious, Hapu. We’ll have to stop meeting.”

“But that would be awful! You’re the dearest female friend I’ve ever had and the thought of coming here and not seeing you is too terrible to contemplate. Isn’t there another way?”

Seni closed her chocolate-coloured eyes for a moment so that it looked as if she were asleep. Then a wide smile spread across her face and she opened them again. “I’ve got it! The window in the shrine room is left open every night by Teo so a breeze flows through and I don’t overheat. If you climb over the back wall into the garden, then it is right above the banana palms. Climb the one underneath it and sneak in. No one is awake between eleven and seven, and this room is on the opposite side of the house to all the bedrooms so, as long as we are quiet, we can talk to our hearts content!”

“Really?! Then I shall come, tonight! I cannot wait!”

“Me too!”

Hapu left and returned to his fiancee with a smile spread across his face. “I suppose you want to play a game again,” she said with a sulky pout on hers.

“Not at all. I was thinking that maybe a stroll around the garden might be in order, if you’d like to, of course.”

“Like to? I’d love it! I know some nice bushes that we could sneak behind where no one can see us and I can tickle you rotten… or more…”

And so they did go for a walk around the garden although, curiously, whilst Heni did manage to lure Hapu behind the bushes briefly, he seemed to be far more interested sitting on the very public bench by the fountain that overlooks the banana palms….

---

That night, dressed in black like a robber, Hapu used his climbing skills to scale the two meters or so up the wall surrounding the Ankhkhaf residence and then descend down into the moonlit garden. He silently made his way along the paths, keeping to the shadows, before heading for the large banana palm beneath the open window. He climbed the tree as quietly as he could and then squeezed himself through the narrow aperture. He was in the corridor leading to the shrine room. On tiptoes he crept down and opened the door. Inside, the candles on the shrine provided a faint, warm light and the smell of incense hung in the air. On her shelf stood Seni in her pot. Her eyes were closed and her breathing deep. Well, deep for a potgirl. He crept up to her and whispered her name. Immediately, those beautiful eyes opened and that perfect smile spread across her face. “You came!” she whispered in delight.

Hapu left the shrine room as the sun was beginning to peep its sacred face over the eastern horizon. He did not want to depart, then or ever, but above the hushed sounds of their two voices, Seni heard a bird sing its song. “It is the lark!” she whispered. “Morning is here; you must go now!”

“No, no, it is the nightingale,” Hapu replied, but he knew and, after a promise to do the same again the following night, he was gone before any of the household members were awake.

They talked about everything, all those questions that had been burning in Hapu’s brain ever since he had met this captivating potgirl. Why had she been potted? What was it like? How did she feel? Did she regret it? What was her future? Patiently, she answered them all and, in return, he told her the answers to all her queries about his life.

She had undergone potisation only six months previously, although had known for years that it would probably be her fate. “It is customary for families of standing like mine to pot a daughter and send her to the Temple of Isis. It guarantees good luck, standing and respect. The only question for our house was which one of us would have the honour.”

“I understand that. If I had had a sister, she may well have undergone potisation too; as it was, I am the only child. But why you? Why not Heni?”

“Do you want the official reasons or the real ones?”

“I’ll have all of them,” replied Hapu, who simply liked listening to Seni talk far more than what she talked about.

“Well, officially, it is because I am the younger sister, thus of a slightly lower status than Heni which can count during marital negotiations. On top of that though, I have always been the more pious and responsible and so I was deemed more suited to the role.”

“That’s the story I heard from her, but that’s terrible! Like you are being punished for being a better person than she!”

“Officially potisation is an honour, not a punishment. People respect me more because of it and Heni is jealous of me, not the other way round… officially.”

“Officially.”

“Indeed. But there were other factors at play here, never openly stated, but far more influential. The first was that our father had two wives; my mother and Heni’s mother. And Heni’s mum, Aunt Meryetamun, is both the first wife and, crucially, still alive. My mum died giving birth to me.”

“Oh, Seni!” cried Hapu, trying to imagine what life would be like as a child without a mum. “Our goddess Shai has dealt you a rough hand…”

“Shhh! Keep your voice down; we don’t want them waking up. Yes, I suppose I have, although never having had a mum, I’ve never missed her, although countless times I have imagined what it would be like. Aunt Meryetamun was never bad with me; indeed, we get on very well, but she naturally favours Heni and when the potisation issue came to the table, there was no one to argue my side or, officially, to push for giving the great honour to Heni. So, that was one unacknowledged reason, but there is also another: Heni has always been the pretty one and it is well-known that a pretty face can attract a good husband. So, Papa made the choice, and I got the great honour while Heni got you.”

“Well, you’re wrong on two counts there: firstly, I’m not engaged to Heni yet and, secondly, you’re far prettier than she is!”

“And you’re full of lies, Hapu! I know I’m the plain one; Heni is gorgeous; she has a beautiful face and a tempting, curvy figure. Now, I don’t even have a figure, but when I did it was nothing special, just straight up and down, whilst my face is just everyday and normal.”

“Well, I must prefer everyday and normal girls then.”

They looked at one another with the unsaid allegation that he had just transgressed an unseen red line into a dangerous place. “And, to continue what I was saying, Heni has got you. After all, why would you keep on visiting here every single day if you were not thinking of marriage? If you did not propose now, then it would be most irregular and could cause both of you great shame and loss of face.”

Silence fell upon the room and this time Hapu did not transgress the boundary. Instead, he changed the subject: “So, tell me what it was like, being potted I mean?”

“The short answer is that there is not much to tell. I had the process explained to me in detail beforehand, so I can give you a medical explanation – what is removed, how infection is avoided, how the pot is fitted and so on – but, in all honesty, I saw nothing of it first-hand. I remember the great ceremony in the Isis temple where I shall later live, the incense, the chanting, the fine robes and headdress that I had to wear which made me feel like Queen Merytaten-tasherit. And then, I remember going to the inner sanctum and drinking the sacred tea, but after that, I naturally blacked out. My sleep was dreamless – some girls have vivid visions and dreams, but I can’t recall any – and when I woke up, I was like this. The tea did not keep me drugged, of course, that was done in the hospital over the week or so that I was out cold. When I awoke I had already been taken home and so when I opened my eyes I saw the view before me now: this shrine room. Unlike some girls I had no complications,so I just had to adjust to my new state; not the easiest thing in the world, but I’d had training which helped a little.”

“Heni mentioned that. She still has to undergo it she says. Something about having her arms immobilised behind her back.”

“Yes, and she absolutely hates it! Since the age of twelve, our arms were trained to accept the monoglove, a kind of leather sleeve that keeps them immobile behind your back – very soon they deaden and you can’t even feel them. It is seen as essential for future potgirls, as it gets you used to not being able to use them, and so become dependent on others to feed you and help you with the toilet and turn the pages in a book, and so on. It was embarrassing at first, but as all girls of standing undergo it, I didn’t mind that much. It was normal. And for those girls who are not destined for a vase, then it is said to improve posture which it probably does since it makes you thrust your breasts out and keep your back arched. Preferable for marriage, I’d say. But has she mentioned the legbinders?”

Hapu just shook his head.

“Oh, those were similar leather pouches that restrained my legs. Each leg was folded back on itself and then laced tightly into its own leather pouch. Wearing them, I could do nothing with my legs save open and close them for toilet purposes. I was usually put in a stand with two holes for each pouch that could be wheeled about by Teo. Straight after my potisation was announced, I started spending more and more time in them until, by the end, I was never out of them and could hardly remember what it was like to have legs to walk around with. Heni was meant to wear them too, to help her empathise with my situation and to encourage discipline – young ladies are not meant to wander about at will, ‘they may get into trouble’ as we were told – but she soon wheedled out of it through some heavy doe-eyed pleading. Anyway, due to that training, when I did eventually wake up as a fully-fledged potgirl, whilst it was still an almighty change to get used to, I was somewhat prepared.”

“So what is it like, living in a pot?”

“Good and bad, I suppose. The biggest problem is boredom. You can’t do anything, nothing at all, for yourself. My neck is even stiffened. I mean, I can look around, but not like before… of course half of looking is turning your chest, which is now rooted in here. If I sneeze I cannot even wipe my nose. That was a massive thing during my training – being unable to scratch itches was hell early on, especially under the binders – but you get used to it; it is part of the spiritual dimension of potisation. Unable to solve the problem yourself, like a meditating monk, you work out ways of blocking it from your mind. That works well with itches, although with snot its harder. But Teo comes around regularly to wipe my face.”

“You’ve mentioned Teo several times; is she your maid?”

“Yes, and much more. Teo is my handmaiden but also my best friend in all the world. We are like sisters: far more so, I am afraid to say, then I am with Heni. It is not that Heni and I do not get on, but instead that Teo understands me far better. I could never see her as a mere servant, she is the most beautiful and wonderful person alive! Our family took her in as a young girl and we played together as children. She has made a vow dedicating her life to looking after me and she never agreed with me undergoing potisation; it really upset her. We share everything.”

“Have you told her about my visits?”

Seni looked to one side. “No, not that. Not yet. She may try to stop it. She would fear that we may get too attached as friends and that would both poison my relationship with my sister – Heni can be prone to jealousy, I’m afraid – and cause me too much hurt when I enter the temple.”

“Why? Couldn’t I still visit you there?”

“Visit, maybe, but only as a devotee I imagine; brief and in public. We could never get to know one another like this, intimately and alone.”

Again, silence descended on the room as something unspeakable had almost been said. This time it was Seni who changed the subject:

“I was telling you about what it is like; well, the helplessness, yes, but worse than that is the boredom. I mean, what is there to do all day but just stand here? And I say ‘stand’ almost in jest! I am beholden to my sister or father or aunt to order me moved or included in family activities. I have religious programmes to occupy me, and my prayers, but one can only pray so much. That is why I enjoy your company, Hapu; it is such a refreshing change!”

“So, that’s all I am? A change from religious indoctrination?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. Even if I wasn’t potted and could walk about and do things for myself, I would still love your company. You’re the first guy I’ve ever met – not that I’ve known many in this way – who can talk to a girl on her level, who is interested in her life and does not try to dictate everything. You’re really sweet and special.”

“As are you, Seni, as are you. Even though we’ve only just met, I feel like you’re my best friend.”

“I know, it’s weird isn’t it?And yet I feel exactly the same. I’ll hate it when we can no longer talk like this, although I do hope you’ll still visit me in the temple, even if it is only to offer supplications.”

“Of course I will, although you do realise that you are providing me with every incentive I need to delay marrying your sister.”

“I know.” They giggled together as the candles on the altar flickered.

“Carry on with your tale, please.”

“So, there is the boredom and the helplessness, but those I did anticipate and was trained for. What my training did not prepare me for though, was the overheating. Covered and contained as I am, I can no longer control my body temperature easily, and so I quickly become overheated in the daytime. That is why I am usually left in here as it is the coolest room in the house, open only slightly to the shaded side, but even then Teo has to come around regularly to flannel my face with a cold cloth. It is really hard, the heat, being unable to even cool myself down.”

“Are you hot now?”

“Feel for yourself.”

He put his hand on her cheek. It was slightly warm. “Seems ok.”

“Try the other cheek,” she whispered, gazing into his eyes.

Hapu put his other hand up and then moved his face forward until he was only centimetres away from hers. “What about your lips? Are they warmer or cooler than the rest of you?”

“I can’t tell, try them too.”

He leaned forward and placed his own lips on hers. No cheeks or foreheads, lips. They met and their mouths opened involuntarily. Before they knew it, their tongues were intermingling. Then she jerked her head backwards, only as far as she could manage, but enough.

“What is it?” he asked, shocked.

“You are due to marry my sister and I will enter the temple,” she replied coolly, a tear trickling down her cheek.

They sat for a while in silence as the tear dried in the balmy night.

The following morning, Hapu arrived later than he usually did and then struggled to stay awake while Heni sat talking with him.

“What is it with you today?” she asked at last. “Am I really so boring that you need to close your eyes when I tell you about my new gown?”

“No, no,” said Hapu in-between yawns. “I don’t know what it is. I went to bed a little later than usual last night but maybe I’m coming down with something or it could be the weather. I always get tired easily when it is muggy like this.”

“Maybe. My sister couldn’t stay awake this morning at breakfast either. She said the same thing. However, she’s got an excuse; she’s a potgirl after all so her body is more sensitive to the temperature. You, on the other hand, should be more resilient.”

“Seni is tired too?”

“Yes, so you won’t be able to invite her to play Monopoly with us today and then side with her once again so that I lose.”

“To be honest, I don’t think I could stay awake for a whole game of Monopoly.”

“I know. Maybe I’m being too hard on you. Why don’t you put your head on my lap and have a little snooze… no, don’t resist, we’ll be married soon and we can do this every night…”

---

Hapu did actually doze off on Heni’s lap as she stroked his hair, the first act of real intimacy that he had allowed and one that had made her suspect that a proposal must surely be coming soon. When he woke up though, he made his excuses and returned home where he then slept for several hours, waking up as the sun was starting to set in the west. He then had several excruciating hours of waiting until the time when all the Ankhkhaf household retired, before dressing in black once again and making his way over the garden wall, across to the banana palm, up its trunk and in through the window. This time, when he came in, Seni was already wide awake, her dark eyes sparkling in the flickering candlelight. They did not kiss on the lips, only the forehead as friends should, although, once again, those kisses lingered far longer than was appropriate for a purely platonic relationship.

They fell into talking about Seni’s future in the temple. She told him about the training that she had received, that all potgirls were expected to memorise lengthy prayers and repeat them on behalf of the devotees who would come and leave generous donations for the priests. She told him about the room that she had visited where the potgirls lived, the ornately-carved stone shelf on which the vases with their human occupants stood. And as she spoke, tears welled in her eyes and she struggled to get her words out.

“Seni, what’s the matter? Why are you crying?”

“Oh Hapu,” she wept, “when I think of it… it is too terrible. I know that it is my fate, my destiny and a great, great honour, but I do not want to go there, I really don’t. To think of spending my life just standing on a shelf repeating prayers ad infinitum, with no friends, no family, no joy, no sunshine, no…”

She broke down completely and her head started to convulse as the tears flowed down her face. Without thinking, Hapu when over to her and hugged her tightly. “Don’t worry my dearest friend, it will be alright, I promise you, I’ll do something, I don’t know what but something…”

But she did not hear and instead merely cried in his arms, her tears wetting his shoulder as they soaked into his tunic.

Eventually, they dried up, the sniffling stopped and Seni whispered, “I’m alright now, truly I am. I just need to pray to the goddess more. Thank you, thank you so much, you’ve been a great help, you’re a wonderful friend, you truly are.”

Hapu stepped back and, taking out a handkerchief, wiped the tears from the young potgirl’s face. He smiled at her and she smiled back. And then, a look of absolute horror passed over her face.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

Seni darted her eyes to the right and he turned. No word of explanation was needed.

---

“I’ve been standing there for a full five minutes,” said Teo, Seni’s maid and dearest companion. “I couldn’t bear to break up your embrace, no matter how wrong it may be.”

“How did you know?” asked Seni. “You normally sleep at this time.”

“Hmm, let me think. Ever since he started coming to this house, there’s been a distinct change in you. A good one, it is true, but a change nonetheless. Before you were despondent and sad; now you seem full of the joys of spring. And then this morning you struggle to wake up and spend most of the day dozing, whilst he arrives at the door looking like the walking dead and spending half the day snoring on your sister’s lap? Then I realised what was going on. Then I knew that, despite your piety, what was causing the change in outlook was not excitement at your imminent entry into the temple when that trollope gets married.”

“Teo! I’ve told you before; she’s my sister! You shouldn’t say things like that!”

“A true sister would look after you and love you better, but she only cares about herself. You too young man, you Casanova! One Ankhkhaf daughter is not enough for you; you want to seduce both of them!”

“It’s not like that, I…”

“I know exactly what you are! I’ve heard of men like you; men with an obscene fascination for potgirls. Will you have the same done to her sister once you’ve wed her? Not that it’d be a bad thing mind, it might bring that cow down a peg or two, but I’ll not have you hurting my mistress, no, that I will not! Coming in here so you can kiss and do worse to a totally defenceless and innocent young potgirl, you…”

“Teo, it is not like that at all!” whispered Seni. “As you are my dearest friend, believe me! Hapu has had ample opportunity to do whatever he wants to me multiple times and he has acted the gentleman throughout. Apart from anything, I think he is too shy to molest a girl, that is one of the reasons why he is such an absolute darling, but there are many more. He is kind, caring, he listens to me and he knows exactly what to say!”

“By Holy Mother Isis, this is worse than I thought! You are in love, Miss Seni, you are totally besotted with him!”

“No! No! We’re not in love, we’re just friends!”

“Yes, Miss Teo, just friends!”

“Just friends my arse! I can see it in your eyes… and his. By Ra! You do not even realise it yourselves, but you are smitten, the pair of you! That is so terrible, so awful… and yet… yet so wonderful at the same time! Oh Miss Seni, this changes everything! I am so happy for you, you who deserve joy more than anyone and who has continually been afflicted by hardships! This is marvellous news, I feel like dancing with joy, I…”

“Shh! You’ll wake the others!”

Teo quietened down immediately and nodded her head. “No, we can’t have that; it would solve nothing. I came here today to expose you and get you banished from this house, but seeing the joy in my mistress’s eyes, I cannot do that now. How this will end I can’t say, probably in tears, but I shall not be the one to force the hand of fate. However, you need to promise me, Mr. Nebet, that you will not mistreat nor do ill by my mistress, for if you do, I shall hunt you down and kill you, honestly I shall, for she is my life and…”

“Miss Teo, I promise, I promise! Have no fear, I could never do ill to her, she is too precious to me.”

“Very well, and promise me one more thing too.”

“What is that?”

“That you shall not marry Miss Heni. You do not love her and she does not… can not love you, and if you two were together whilst Miss Seni spent her life in the temple alone, then it would break her heart. And I would have to kill you, did I mention that?”

“Teo, you cannot expect Hapu to…” Seni interjected, but Hapu was resolved.

“No, I promise. I shall not wed Heni, but I need to keep up the courtship as it is the only thing that allows us to be together.”

Teo nodded and then approached to kiss her mistress on the cheek. “Go girl,” she whispered, smiling, “seek happy nights for happy days!” and then, with a passing glance at Hapu, she left them all alone.

In the candlelight, Hapu gazed at Seni and Seni gazed at Hapu. “We’re not smitten are we?” he said.

“Not at all. Just friends.”

“Just friends.”

“Officially.”

“Officially.”

And then, he leaned his head in towards hers and, cradling the back of her hair with his hand, pressed his lips against her. Again, their mouths opened and their tongues explored one another intimately. This time though, she did not withdraw.

And so Hapu entered a period of absolute bliss. By day he would visit one Ankhkhaf sister, pretend to court her and be interested in her, whilst at night he would creep into the room of the other and they would talk for hours with the connivance of her maid. They would talk and they would kiss but they never did any more, even though Hapu’s rod ached to do so and, the moment he got into his bed, he would bring himself to ecstasy within seconds, the image of Seni’s heavenly face hovering before him in his mind’s eye.

Some days, Heni would agree to Seni being brought down to join them and she would stand there in her pot whilst they drank tea or played a game and, whenever Heni’s back was turned, she would wink at Hapu and they would both smile at the secret that they shared.

But even though the period was like a perfect summer’s day, over it hung a cloud. At the back of both of their minds was the awareness that it was only temporary, that it could not last and that the ending would be cruel, for it would mean Hapu unable to visit the Ankhkhaf residence and, after Heni’s marriage, Seni being sentenced to this life and the afterlife in the gloomy confines of the Isis temple.

And then, one day most unexpectedly, the clouds broke and the rain gushed down in torrents.

---

Bleary-eyed, Hapu knocked on the door of the Ankhkhaf residence. As usual, a servant let him in and showed him to the sitting room. As usual, Heni was sitting there waiting for him, a smile on her face, wearing a revealing and expensive gown. Unlike usual, next to her sat her dad and, next to Mr. Ankhkhaf sat someone else.

“Good morning, Hapuneseb,” said Unasankh Ankhkhaf.

“Good morning, Hapu,” said his own father.

“Dad… err… Mr. Ankhkhaf… g-g-good morning.”

“Please sit, Hapuneseb,” continued Unasankh Ankhkhaf. “Now, I know that seeing us here today is not what you expected; instead you were looking forward to more time together with my daughter Hentmereb here. However, that is why we need to talk with you today.”

“Yes Hapu. You’ve been courting with Miss Ankhkhaf for more than a month now and, if you continue visiting this house without making a marriage proposal, then it will become questionable in terms of propriety and people will begin to talk. Now I know that you have always been a trifle shy around young ladies, but a month is more than enough to know if you are attracted or not and, what is more, the festival of Sokar is almost upon us, recognised since ancient times as the ideal time for a a wedding to take place. So, I must ask you to make a decision, son, and, I must say, Miss Ankhkhaf is certainly a charming and well-bred lady whom, if I were your age, I would not hesitate to propose to.”

“Lord Nebet, you are too kind!”

“Well, Hapu?”

Hapu sat there. He looked from his father to Heni, from Heni to her father and from Mr. Ankhkhaf back to his dad. This was the moment of truth; this was when it would all end, when the greatest friendship of his life would be destroyed and only an abyss of misery could be seen before him. He had promised never to marry Heni – a girl whom he would have stopped seeing after the first day under normal circumstances – and he would keep that promise, but to do so would mean that his name would be mud to the Ankhkhaf family and that Heni would marry someone else and Seni would be taken from him into the temple forever. He pictured his beloved, entombed in her pot on that dark and dusty shelf amongst all the others, chanting prayers for all eternity, that joyful smile and sparkling eyes dimming with a crushing and hellish life. No! No, he could not let that happen! Yet what could he do? One couldn’t marry a potgirl after all, could one… could one?

He turned to Unasankh Ankhkhaf. “Sir, if I am to understand you correctly, you desire me to marry your daughter?”

“Nothing would make me happier, Hapuneseb.”

“And Father, if I am to understand you correctly; you do not want me to leave this house today without proposing first to Miss Ankhkhaf.”

“That is correct, Hapu.”

“So be it. I shall do it, but under one condition. I would like the whole family gathered here as I do it.”

“That is a strange request, but I shall honour it, Hapuneseb.” Unasankh Ankhkhaf clicked his fingers and the servant waiting by the door came over. “Man! Bring my wife here and also Miss Senisonbe!”

“Yes sir.”

Around a minute later, Mrs. Ankhkhaf came into the room and, a confused look upon her face, sat down on the couch beside her daughter. Soon after that, Teo entered carrying Seni in her pot. She laid her down carefully on the small table by the couch and then stood back looking as bemused as the lady of the house. Hapu stood up and addressed the room:

“Today my father and Mr. Ankhkhaf have asked me if I am prepared to marry Miss Ankhkhaf and that, if she accepts, they will too. I am willing to marry her. Therefore, I have brought you all here so that you may witness my proposal and her response.”

Then, turning to the small table by the couch, he went down on one knee and said quietly yet firmly, “Senisonbe Ankhkhaf, do you agree to become my lawfully wedded wife?”

Seni’s eyes lit up. “I do,” she replied, tears of joy running down her face.

Chaos reigned in the Ankhkhaf house! Meryetamun Ankhkhaf fainted, and from her daughter Heni’s mouth erupted an awful sound, something between a scream and a wail and, when she had done that, she lunged for her potted sister and had to be restrained by her father. Lord Nebet turned on his son and bellowed, “Hapu! I demand an explanation!” whilst Teo clapped her hands in glee and hugged her mistress.

It was a full ten minutes before things calmed down.

When they did, the talk was sober and serious.

“Hapu, it is not possible. She is a potgirl! You cannot marry a potgirl!”

“Why not, Father? Lots of men in noble families have potwives. Your own grandfather on your father’s side had two, as did Mother’s dad.”

“Yes, but that is different.They were potted after marriage, after childbirth. Senisonbe here has already undergone the procedure.”

And she is promised to the temple,” added Unasankh Ankhkhaf, “and that is a sacred vow that we cannot renege on.”

“And you both promised to honour my proposal if I made it.”

“To Hentmereb, Hapuneseb, I promised to honour your proposal to Hentmereb!”

“But sir, I never mentioned Hentmereb. I merely promised to propose to your daughter, Miss Ankhkhaf. That could be Heni or Seni.”

“He has a point, Unasankh,” said Lord Nebet, “although, promise or not, I cannot allow it. The fact is Hapu, you are our only child and the Nebets are an ancient and noble line. I require you to produce an heir and, charming though Miss Seni may be, she is clearly unable to do so. Therefore, I must veto this union on those grounds alone.”

“But Father, if that is your only objection, then you should have no fear! Miss Senisonbe could produce an heir for me. When we were talking, she explained that, as part of the potisation process, the eggs in her ovaries were removed and frozen for future fertilisation as, in the temple of Isis, the semen of the priests is matched with the eggs of the temple potgirls and surrogate mothers – young pious poor girls who want to attain favour with the goddess – birth them before giving them to the temple. They become the next generation of priests. So why not, instead of a priest, my seed could be used and, providing we can find a suitable surrogate, our children can be birthed?”

“I’ll act as a surrogate for my beloved mistress,” shouted out Teo, before remembering her place and shutting up again.

Hapu looked at his father as if to say, ‘Well then?’ and Lord Nebet shrugged. “If that is the case, then… then I have no objections. Potisation is an ancient and noble Egyptian custom and, if my son and the girl are happy, and if you too Unasankh, have no objections about marrying a daughter into the Nebet clan, then why should I stand in your way?”

“Lord Nebet, I am honoured to have a daughter be considered worthy to become a Nebet, but what of the Temple of Holy Isis? I made a sacred vow and that cannot be broken.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Unasankh; I know the head priest at that temple well and, between you and me, if we grease his palm enough, he’ll find a way around the vow. Indeed, I’ve heard of it before; if one daughter cannot make it for whatever reason, then they’re always happen to accept another.”

“Noooooo!!” cried Heni and her mother in unison, collapsing on the floor together.

But Unasankh Ankhkhaf was a changed man. He had a daughter marrying into the Nebet family, he could see the joy on her face, and he could still retain his pious standing in the temple. “Although I must admit that this is something of a surprise and unexpected turn of events, Hapuneseb Nebet, I accept your proposal to my daughter and, Senisonbe, I will allow you to wed.”

---

The torches flickered and the smell of frankincense wafted through the balmy night air. The sound of ululating womenfolk drew louder and louder until it stopped and a knock sounded on the great, carved door.

“Enter!” ordered Hapuneseb, heir to the noble and ancient house of Nebet.

The door opened and a pair of servants entered, carrying a veiled object on a silver tray between them. They laid it down on the carved wooden table at the end of the bed, bowed, and then departed, carefully closing the great wooden door behind them.

When they had gone, Hapuneseb walked over to the object and, carefully removed the embroidered piece of white silk that covered it.

In doing so he revealed a beautiful potgirl, with large chocolate-coloured eyes and the most captivating smile this side of the Sinai Desert.

Smiling, he bent down and carefully lifted her up and carried her into the bed itself. Then he removed his silken wedding robes to reveal his rampant member. Sitting down on the bed, he opened his legs wide and then picked up to potgirl and, lovingly kissed her on the lips. She reciprocated and groaned in bliss. Then, carefully, he positioned his tool over the aperture in the clay that revealed her womanly channel and said, “Seni, my darling wife, I love you with all my heart!”

“Officially?” she asked him with a grin in-between her panting.

“Officially,” he replied, before lowering himself deep within her.

Hapu lay on the bed, his baby daughter cradled in his arms. Beside them stood his wife in her pot, the look in her eyes full of maternal bliss.

Nefertiry – or Nefi for short – had been born safely only three days before. Created from Seni’s egg fertilised with Hapu’s seed and then transferred inside the womb of Teo, she had enjoyed an easy birth and the hospital had given the all-clear for her to leave the premises and enter the family home. Teo was breastfeeding her and taking care of most of her needs just as a real mother would, although they made sure that the baby spent most of her time with her biological mother who happily sang her lullabies to help her sleep. In the meantime, a new maid had been hired to see to Seni’s needs to give the exhausted Teo a break.

After Nefi had drifted off, Hapu lifted his eyes to those of his beloved wife and smiled. She smiled back and then whispered, “Darling, we need to talk.”

“What is it?”

“What are we to do about Teo? She has done so much for us; how can we ever repay her?”

“She has not asked for any repayment and she tells me that she is perfectly happy.”

“She tells me the same, Hapu, but I know that she is lying. I am a woman after all. She has needs, we all do, and little Nefi here has awoken them.”

“Needs?”

“Sexual needs. Maternal needs. Like I said, she is a woman, and an attractive one at that.”

Hapu had noticed the same thing, of course, but he had wisely never mentioned it. It does not do to mention to your wife that you are transfixed by the shape of her maid’s arse, particularly when she does not have an arse of her own.

“She should marry then. She has had plenty of suitors and we would provide a suitable dowry.”

“She will not. I ordered her to and she refused. Our family took her in as a young girl; we played together as children, and she has made a vow dedicating her life to looking after me. She never agreed with me undergoing potisation; it really upset her, and she promised that she would always be by my side. I have told her that she should not feel beholden but she is stubborn. She will not marry, no matter who comes knocking.”

“Then there is nothing we can do.”

“But there is something, Hapu.”

“What?”

His wife looked at him, her eyes tracing every inch of the body that she loved so much, and she smiled. “You,” she whispered softly.

“Me?”

“You’re a man, and men, like women, have needs. Don’t think I haven’t noticed your eyes following her around the room, fixing on her bum or breasts. Like I said earlier, she’s an attractive woman, and men want an attractive woman to hold and caress.”

“Darling, there is only one woman in my life… or at least, there was until little Nefi here came along! And I love her because she has come from you. You, Seni, you are the one I love, with all my heart, the only one I have ever and will ever love.”

“I know that darling, but…”

“But nothing! If I’d have wanted a full-bodied girl to squeeze and caress then I’d have married your sister! You satisfy my needs, completely and totally. I need nobody else.”

“Hapu, you are many things, but a good liar is not one of them. Yes, you love me totally, I know that and always will; yes, you will always be mine. That is why I am comfortable suggesting such a thing! But that doesn’t mean that you don’t dream of a full-bodied girl from time to time. A breast to cup or buttock to stroke.”

“When I stroke the curves of your pot then I imagine…”

“Imagine no longer, Hapu, do not fantasise, live! Lie with Teo when she is ready again; satisfy her needs and give her a child. Reward her for her service to us and show her that you… we, care.”

“I couldn’t! I’d feel guilty, I’d… to go behind your back…”

“Hapu, I don’t have a back and, besides, you wouldn’t be. I would there too, in the bed with you both. Kissing your lips as you satisfied her.”

Hapu imagined the scene and, involuntarily, his member stiffened. Seni glanced down and smiled. “Do it for me, Hapu; that’s an order.”

---

For a number of months now, Hapu had noticed an uneasiness with his potwife whenever they talked or lay together. It was as if something was on her mind and so, one evening after congress, when she was lying alongside him in their bed, he asked her straight what it was that was bothering her.

“It is my sister. I feel guilty. She would never have had to undergo potisation if it weren’t for my actions and, I fear she must hate me for it. After all, she wanted to marry so much – or at least, to enjoy some of the benefits of marrying – and, whatever her faults, potisation is never easy. I want to speak with her and, if possible, to beg her forgiveness. She took the place in the temple that should have been mine and yet I know she was never of a religious bent. I fear that place is not suitable for her.”

“But you know that visiting temple potgirls is prohibited… if  I had known back then, not even family! No. Their job is to pray for us and to do that, they must be cut off from the world.”

“Yes, that is true, and I would never have asked before. But the fact is that their guardian can request to see them – I learned this when I was being prepared for temple life – and ever since Papa passed away so suddenly, then you became her guardian and thus can see her.”

“Even so, that is me, not you.”

“But we have money and even in Isis temples, I am sure that money can unlock some doors that otherwise would be closed, remember what your father did for mine. That temple receives a sizeable income from both the Ankhkhaf and Nebet families and they wouldn’t want to lose some of that.”

“Well, if it mean so much to you, darling, we shall go there on the morrow.”

---

And so, the very next morning, Hapu did carry his potwife up the steps to the esteemed Isis temple. And, once there, he requested a meeting with the high priest who, after initially refusing and stating that such a meeting would be “impossible”, then discovered, with the lubrication of a sizeable donation to the new wing that was currently being planned for a further forty potgirls, that there was in fact a loophole in the law that allowed a temple potgirl to meet with, not only their guardian but also other females so long as they too have undergone potisation.

Twenty minutes later, Heni was carried into the private chamber that the priest had found for them. There, before two smoking incense burners, she was carefully set down by the temple attendant who promptly left the three alone.

Heni looked far better than Seni had expected. She had worried about her sister being depressed and this showing in her face and demeanour. She had anticipated a torrent of abuse or even a refusal to meet with the woman and man who had caused her life to be transformed from that of a free, able-bodied young noblewoman, to an immobile, dependent religious ornament. However, to her surprise, Heni’s skin seemed to glow in the lamplight and her expression was a happy one.

“It is so good to see you sister and brother-in-law!” she exclaimed once the attendant had gone. “You really have left it too long! Please, give me a kiss.”

Hapu picked up his wife and carried her over, angling her pot so that the two sisters could embrace. Then, after putting her down again, he too kissed Heni and, to his surprise and shock, he found that as he did so, her tongue entered his mouth and explored it a little more than was proper. He withdrew and she winked at him.

“Not what you expected, eh?”

“Not quite,” replied Seni, who was both surprised and a little concerned. Had the temple sent her sister round the bend?

“You expected me to be cursing you – both of you – for putting me in here, and by that I mean in this pot and this place. You expected me to hate you, Hapu, for rejecting me and choosing her, whilst you, Seni, dearest sis, for condemning me to a life which, as you know better than anyone, is far from easy.”

“Heni, I never meant for you to be hurt, I…”

“Shhh, leave it. I bear you no ill will… either of you. True, I did find it hard, especially the potisation. Why would anyone ever want to have half their body chopped off and be entombed within a vase for the rest of their lives, unable to do the slightest thing for oneself? True, I have heard that there are some pretty messed up individuals who do want it, some sort of weird fetish or something, but, trust me, I was never one of them. Yeah, your names were mud for many weeks with me, and I was pretty low, let me tell you. I mean, my whole future had been taken from me and I was being transformed into some pious ornament whose only function is to pray endlessly until she leaves this world, after which she’ll be reborn in the next, just as helpless and miserable. However, after I arrived here, well, my outlook changed.”

“It did?” the couple said in tandem.

“Yeah, it did. This place wasn’t what I expected. In all honesty, I don’t think it would have suited you at all, Seni.”

“But I was always the more religious one of us.”

“Religion ain’t got nothing to do with it, sis.”

“What on earth do you mean?”

“Look, which goddess is this temple dedicated to?”

“Isis, of course.”

“And what are her attributes?”

“Well, she’s the mother goddess, the sky goddess, fertility, magic, and miracles…”

“Precisely, fertility and magic. Which means, well, depending on how you translate it, that this place is the place to come for a bit of magic or a miracle. And how the priests translate that is, well, how priests translate these things everywhere: in the way that brings in the most profit for the temple.”

“Heni, how can you say such things? That’s blasphemous!”

“Seni, I’m a temple potgirl; I can say whatever the hell I want and I say them because I live here and I know what goes on. Before I came, I thought it would all be a lifetime of standing on a shelf and reciting prayers like you did in the shrine room for all those months. However, the reality is very different indeed.”

“In what way?”

“Isis enables miracles, right, through the medium of her potgirls. And fertility is all about sex, right again? So, how does this place make its money? Basically, men – and a few women – come here to copulate with the potgirls. We’re like a holy brothel. They pay a handsome sum and then take one of us into a chamber like this one – indeed, I was in this very room only yesterday with the High Judge – and they give us a damn good spiritual probing. Men love it; a lot seem to have a potgirl fetish, the helplessness of us appeals I suppose, and so there is no shortage of takers. Plus, with a temple potgirl, not only is there no risk of pregnancy, but it is also a blessing, not a sin. See a whore and the world judges; screw a temple potgirl and you receive great boons. And not only you, us too.”

“What are you saying? This is outrageous!”

“Seni, you prude, calm down! The fact is, I have always liked men. I longed to feel a penis inside me but all that stupid no sex before marriage crap prevented it. I was horny as hell, Hapu you remember. Now though, I get as much cock as I like, all the time! On average five times a day; at festival times it can be double or triple that. I get to be probed right in the spirit constantly and I absolutely love it. Rather than sitting around dreaming of it at home, today I am living it. Of course, I wish I still had arms and legs and that, some of these acolytes have no sense of rhythm, but one can’t have everything. The fact is Hapu, if we’re honest, me and you would never have worked; you were looking for true love; I’m just wanton. But you fucked up, you know, big boy, you fucked up big time.”

“How?”

“Well, if you’d have married me, then we could have screwed as often as we liked, full-bodied, which would have been something, and with Seni as a temple potgirl, you could have taken her as much as you wanted too. But this way, while you can still enjoy us both to your heart’s content (so long as you pay the temple fee, of course) it will only ever be as potgirls. You lose out; never mind.”

Seni was incredulous. “So, it’s all about sex. All you think about is sex?”

“Not all, darling sis. A lot, yes, but not all. The fact is that we’re a community here. Men are all well and good for fucking, but I wouldn’t want to have to live with them and talk to them all day long, particularly if it were just the one. But here, there are forty of us, and, every evening after closing, aside from the one that the high priest chooses, we are all placed in a circle where we can chat, share gossip and compare each other’s news. You get to find out a hell of a lot in here you know; all the rich and powerful come in. I bet you didn’t know that the Pharaoh has just forced his former favourite concubine Isetnofret – yes, the same one who turned him against Queen Merytaten-tasherit – to undergo potisation, because he suspected her of having an affair with one of his top generals. They weren’t, of course; the general was seeing another of his concubines though, but that is by the by. Old Isetnofret now sits on a shelf, her cunt locked off and inaccessible, next to the very queen she betrayed. Yes indeed, we find out everything and never go to sleep unsated. I hardly have time to pray…”

---

When they had left and were back in their bedroom at home, Hapu looked at his potwife and said, “So, what do you make of all that?”

Seni smiled. “Not what I expected at all, but I’m glad she’s not angry with us. She seems happy, which is what matters.”

“I suppose so, although it is not what I anticipated either. Still, at least it sort-of brings a close to the tale of how we got together.”

“Yes, it does, and, because of that, I think we should celebrate.”

“Celebrate? How?”

“Fuck me like a temple potgirl, big boy! Fuck me like you’re going to get myriad blessings at the end of it!”

“But I already have, my darling, I already have,” he replied, laughing as he slipped his rigid member into her hopelessly exposed slit and met her lips with his own.