A question… Neff thought suddenly, an idea germinating in her mind.
Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it before?
Because you’ll get in trouble!
Then again, how much trouble could it possibly cause?
Neff ran to her father and gripped his arm. “Please, Yati, we must see Bast! We’ve never missed her, and all my friends will be there. No one will be shopping at the market anyway! Everyone in the village will be waiting for the goddess too!”
Neff’s father rubbed his temples. “Ach… we only sold five scrolls yesterday,” he grumbled. “I was hoping to make up for that this morning.”
“We can rush to the stall as soon as she’s passed,” Neff cajoled him. “We’ll stay until nightfall. We’ll stay until midnight! We’ll sell more scrolls, because of everyone visiting from other villages.”Please, she thought.Please let me go.
Her father dropped his head back and stared at the cloudless sky. “Do you hear this, Ahura? I’ve taught her too well.” Then he nodded. “You drive a hard bargain, my girl. Fine, we’ll go. It would probably look bad if we didn’t. But we won’t stay for a moment longer than we have to!”
Neff grinned and craned her neck to plant a kiss on her father’s shining bald head. “Thank you, Yati! Thank you so much!”
Neff helped her mother quickly finish the chores. The goddess would leave her temple soon, and they needed to get a good spot on the street before the crowd grew too thick. Because for the first time in her life, Neff planned to approach Bast with a question of her own.
If anyone could help her remember her dream, it was the goddess herself.
***
The main street of Bubas was already buzzing with villagers by the time Neff and her parents arrived. It took them a little longer than usual because her father kept stopping to chat with everyone he saw, fishing for information about their lives so he could sell them a spell scroll.
“You and Khabak have been married for what, two seasons now?” he asked a young woman waiting with her husband on the street corner. “Don’t you think it’s time to think about starting a family? I’ve got a scroll for that, you know. You’ll be with child within the month!”
Neff rolled her eyes.Come on, she thought.Not now!
Finally, they managed to find a perfect spot to see Bast. It was near the edge of town, where the road started to curve toward the Iteru River. At the end of that road, a boat waited to carry Bast to the capital.
Neff saw a couple of her friends in the crowd—Henhen, thebaker’s daughter, and Istara, the papyrus merchant’s girl. She’d known them both forever, and often visited them in their family’s market stalls whenever Yati let her have a break. She waved. They waved back, beaming with excitement.
“Neff!” Henhen called out. “Will you be at the festival tonight?”
Neff remembered her promise to stay at the market until midnight and bit her lip. “I hope so!” she shouted back.
Bast only visited once a year, and that night, the village would be alive with celebrations. There’d be singing and dancing, and perhaps even some tiger nut sweets. Neff’s mouth watered at the thought of the little balls of nuts and dates and honey. Her mother wasn’t the only one with a sweet tooth.
“My father got permission to ask the goddess a question!” Istara added. “Isn’t that amazing? He’s been waiting for the nomarch to choose him for two years! He’s going to ask her to give us another brother! Not that I want one.” She laughed.
Neff ignored the sting of envy. “Amazing!” Turning away, she felt a thorn of doubt creep into her heart. Even if she didn’t get into terrible trouble for addressing the goddess without permission, who was to say that the goddess would answer her question?
Don’t think of that, she scolded herself. Standing on the tips of her toes, she strained to see over the crowd to where Bast and her retinue would process.She’ll be here any minute!
Then, a ripple of excitement passed through the gathered villagers.
“She’s coming!” someone shouted.
A moment later, Neff saw it: a beautifully crafted wooden palanquin, held aloft by four bald-headed men in white loincloths, carrying a sacred boat. It was about five cubits long, with cat heads carved into its bow and stern. A canopy covered the center of the boat, and behind its blowsy, translucent curtains,Neff caught her first glimpse of the goddess.
Bast was beautiful. An exquisitely carved statue, the goddess was a cat-headed woman in an intricate striped-pattern dress, made from dark smooth bronze. She held a basket in the crookof one arm and a sistrum in the other. At her feet sat four bronze kittens—three large and one small.
A tall, sharp-eyed woman with deep-brown skin walked at the front of the procession. Like the litter bearers, she was bald too. Three black tattoos, each drawn in the shape of the wadjet eye, adorned each of her shoulders. Over her simple white dress hung a large golden necklace—a broad collar in the shape of a half-moon, adorned with the head of a cat.
The high priestess of Bast.Neff wondered how old the woman was. No matter how many times she’d seen her at the annual festival, she never seemed to age.
As the priestess walked with Bast’s boat sailing through the crowd behind her, she shook a sistrum, and the rhythmic, jangling sound of its copper rings silenced the crowd as she came. Neff watched the palanquin stop at intervals, allowing the villagers who stepped forward to petition the goddess.
