Pivot of the Sky

The town of Som had a population of over one thousand. It was gigantic compared to the sporadic villages around it. But for Amon, it was just a small town compared to Duc. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the blue sky and wooden houses here. Most people here wore cotton and even linen clothes. Observing the richly-grown croplands, the flocks of sheep, chicken and other livestocks, Amon could tell that this town’s inhabitants lived a much better life than the Ducians had.

However, the wooden houses here were apparently less st.u.r.dy than the stone ones in Duc. Does that mean that they are less rich than the Ducians? Amon was even surprised when he walked by the shrine in the town 一 It was built from wood as well, with only two storeys! It was a poor shed compared to the shrines of Duc built out of lazurite and marble.

He mumbled, “Why did they build a shrine out of wood? Just as they do with their houses… Don"t they worry about them burning down in a fire?”

Inanna explained to him in a low voice, “The stones had to be carried from distant mountains. They cost a lot. Here people use wood, which is cheaper and easy to get… Besides, the shrine is built with fir. That’s a difference.”

“Which kingdom are we in? Which G.o.d is wors.h.i.+pped in the shrine?”

“We are in Bablon now. It’s the Enlil Shrine.”

“I heard that the Bablonians wors.h.i.+p Marduc. It’s the Hitt.i.tes and a.s.syrians who wors.h.i.+p Enlil as their major G.o.d. Why is there an Enlil Shrine in this town?”

Inanna shrugged, “Perhaps the G.o.ds’ realms are not exactly the same with the territories of the kingdoms on earth. Despite being in the same kingdom, the states to the east of the river build shrines dedicated to Marduc, while the ones to the west of the river only build shrines for Enlil. Even though, in the Enlil shrine, there are places for Marduc and other G.o.ds for people to wors.h.i.+p… After all, they are in the same family. According to the folklore, Enlil is Marduc’s uncle, isn’t he?”

Amon nodded, “Oh, I understand now.”

While Amon stopped asking, Inanna started to ask him questions, “Amon, aren’t you curious about all this?”

Amon gave her a confused glance, “Why should I be curious? Enlil’s Marduc’s uncle, isn’t he? As far as I know, the Ejyptians wors.h.i.+p Horus as their major G.o.d, but the major shrine in Lower Ejypt is the Isis Shrine of Memfis. And in that shrine there are also places for Horus and some other G.o.ds.”

Inanna blinked, “I mean the fact that people build shrines for different G.o.ds on different sides of the river. Aren’t you curious about how this situation came into being? Is it possible that there’s a deal between the deities? Don’t you want to know more about this?”

Curiosity of deities? Crazy’Ole and Bair had lost their lives for that, with so many people caught up in it and a lot even died. Amon himself was one of the ones involved, drawn into a rough and dangerous journey full of the unknown. He didn’t want to stay on this hazardous topic, he smiled bitterly and replied, “What is the point of being curious about this? I’m just a humble mortal. I know neither Marduc nor Enlil. Nowhere can I get closer to the answer to any of these questions… Inanna, you know this place better than I do. Where can we buy some clothes here? Let’s go there first.”

Inanna led Amon to a clothes shop in a small alley. As they walked in, a young lad looking like around sixteen or seventeen years old came to them, “My dear mister and lady! Please take a look at our clothes as you like! What we have here are the best clothes in town. Made-to-measure, ready-made, materials. Everything you can think of!”

Buying clothes was simple for Amon, he pointed to himself, “I want some clothes that fit me.”

The lad took a look at him, and found that he was apparently not a n.o.bleman. So he took out a nicely-made light cotton gown with conspicuous good-looking red stripes but no other patterns or decorations. He smiled and recommended it to Amon, “Why don’t you try on this caftan? It’s light and thin, comfortable to wear in the hot weather. And it only costs thirty copper coins. I a.s.sure you, you can’t find a gown as nice as this for as low anywhere else!”

Amon found the fabric not solid enough. He pointed to a thin yet densely-woven flax gown and asked, “How much is this? I want two of this, along with two pairs of pants made of the same fabric.”

The lad was a bit disappointed, “Light gown and pants made from local flax! Ten copper coins by set. Twenty copper coins for two sets. Don’t you want to buy something more?”

Amon shook his head, “That’s enough for me… Inanna, what clothes do you like? Please pick some.”

Inanna pointed at a long dress hanging on the wall, “This one looks great. I like it. Wouldn’t it be too expensive?”

The lad began to focus on Inanna, and couldn’t move his eyes from her face since. Entranced, he managed to react to the question with some difficulty, “My dear lady, you certainly have excellent taste! This is the best one we can offer beside those for n.o.ble lords. It is just a little bit more costly than the other ones, merely sixty copper coins!”

After saying this, he reluctantly threw a glimpse at Amon.

Amon didn’t care what the lad thought of him. He took out a silver coin and handed it to the lad, “So that’s all. I’m buying them. Do you have a room for us to change? Let her change first.”

The lad startled, then nodded repeatedly,

“Of course! Of course! That small door beside the counter! That"s the changing room!” Then he grabbed the silver coin from Amon and gave him twenty copper coins as change.

Amon was also stunned when Inanna came out wearing the new clothes. The clothes fit her well. Fine, thin white cotton, printed on with deep blue stripes, nicely shaping out her perfect slim and attractive body curve. The lad was completely frozen except for his chest rising and him emitting a slight panting noise. Inanna turned around and asked flirtatiously, “Do I look good, Amon?”

Amon nodded, “Very good. You look beautiful already, and even more so with this dress.”

The lad started to give compliments too, “My dear lady, you look fantastic! May I know your name?”

Inanna gave him a sweet glimpse over her shoulder, “My name is Inanna. Since I’ve bought so costly a dress from you, do you mind give me a pair of shoes as a gift?”

A costly dress? Really? Amon had not much concept about this. Clothes that cost money were costly, surely. But it didn’t matter that much. Eighty copper coins for two sets of clothes and a long dress, that was even cheaper than a bottle of the cheapest wine in Duc.

The lad could hardly hold himself in one piece seeing that glimpse of Inanna"s. With a simper, he took out a pair of cloth shoes with thick linen insole, “Of course! My dear beautiful lady, you are welcome here all the time! We have the best offers in town just for you!”

Inanna smiled at him again but didn’t thank him for his compliments. Instead, she pointed at Amon and said, “I’m not asking for shoes for me. He paid you the money. You should give him a pair of shoes. These ones are too small.”

“Ah —”, the lad gave out a disappointing sigh. But since Inanna was still smiling at him, he took out another pair of shoes and handed them to Inanna along with the first pair, “Oh, I can offer a pair more. The first pair would be my personal gift for you, my dear beautiful lady!”

Inanna smiled covering her mouth, “You are giving out two pairs of shoes for me. Aren’t you afraid that your boss will beat you to death when he finds out?”

The lad suddenly got excited, raising his chest,
"That’s not a question! My father owns this shop!… I own this shop! My dear lady, you can come here any time you like, any time! You can take advantages here…"

The poor lad wasn’t aware of what he was saying anymore. Judging from the excitement on his face, he might be more aware of who wanted to take advantage of whom.

The two changed into the new clothes and went back out onto the street. Amon found that they were receiving even more attention than before. Most pa.s.sengers couldn’t take their eyes off of Inanna — her face, her chest, her body. A normal girl would have felt very uncomfortable with it, but Inanna ignored it completely, talking and walking like nothing was happening.

The clothing problem solved, Amon proceeded on to the next one, “Where can we buy a lamb? Let’s go buy one.”

“Certainly not in the street. There’s a market at the other side of town.”

It was a common law in the continent that slaves couldn’t wear colored clothes and commoners couldn’t wear clothes with decorative patterns. Inanna said that she was a bondmaid, a shepherding slave, but she was fine wearing a colored dress. However, Amon didn’t notice this, since there were hardly any slave women in Duc.

Most of the inhabitants of Duc were miners. Only the mayor and Shog had servants for housework, which were hired laborers with similar status to the miners and wore similar clothes. Amon just found the dress to be very good-looking and that Inanna was much more beautiful with it. He couldn’t help but look at her from time to time.

Inanna caused a big commotion when the two arrived at the market. Amon wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest with all the eyes on him. He could watch back at Icho Maria’s eyes in Duc and accept being called a deity in the caveman’s tribe. Even back in Duc, he had become the focal point of stories several times. So being stared at by some townees wouldn’t scare him.

What alerted his mind was a hint of danger. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong.

Almost every stall owner came over to them gallantly, then left a knowing glance towards Amon’s flax gown and straw sandals, as if saying that this young man was far from being match to the lady walking with him.

They searched around the market thoroughly, but couldn’t find a white lamb with black spots as Inanna had mentioned. Dissatisfaction was revealed from her eyes. It seemed that she was about to sob again. Amon tried to console her, “Perhaps we can buy another lamb? What you’ve lost is a lamb. I can buy you a bigger one, with a nicer coat.”

Inanna shook her head and pouted, “No, I am looking for that exact one I described. There’s a farm with a lot of sheep walking this way down out of town. Can we find a shepherd there and buy a lamb from him?”

Amon nodded, “All right. Let’s go find one there.”

[to be continued…]