Mummy Evolution-Chapter 18: You are Capped in the Head

Zarah sat on the camel, leaning against Sett as the beast tread through dunes after dunes.

The vast desert stretched endlessly before them, golden waves undisturbed save for the rhythmic press of hooves against the sand.

For some reason, A long silence had settled between them. It was not the heavy, awkward kind.

It was a silence that felt like a gentle lull, like the wind carrying away burdens they hadn't realized they were carrying. It felt... different from anything else.

Zarah cast a covert glance at her sister. Her sister's beautiful face seemed exhausted, kind, strong. But at the same time, it filled Zarah with grief.

Zainah's gaze was distant, lost somewhere far beyond the horizon. Perhaps she was thinking of the past. Perhaps she was simply too tired to think at all.

Huff, gruff ~

The camel huffed, making Zarah look at it.

She had always wished for a better life—for herself, yes, but even more so for her sister. Zainah, to her eyes, seemed like this camel: burdened, uncomplaining, carrying more than her fair share.

She had shouldered everything, every struggle, every hardship, as if it was her duty alone to bear. Her sister was far too pitiful, just far too responsible.

Zainah felt complex emotions that she hadn't felt in months.

Their mother had been a pleasure girl from the filthy backstreets of Burrhen City. A woman passed between men until she caught a disease no doctor would treat for a woman of her status.

Tragically, she passed away when Zarah was merely 7 years old, when Zainah was barely 13.

She had been a good mother, in the ways she could. She had done all she could, and even as death loomed, she spent her last breaths ensuring her daughters had a place to live, a roof to keep the world at bay.

Sniff.

Zarah barely remembered her. Her memories were mostly made of Zainah's stories, painted pictures of a mother who was long gone. But one thing she did remember, vividly and painfully, was how her sister had become her protector the moment their mother passed. At thirteen, Zainah had become everything to her—a guardian, a provider, a wall against a world that had already turned cruel.

While other girls her age fretted over pretty dresses, whispered about boys, and giggled over childish dreams, Zainah had worried about how to survive the next day. How to keep her little sister warm, how to keep their stomachs from twisting in hunger, how to hide from those who saw unprotected girls as easy prey.

Zainah, unlike other children, was not allowed to be a child.

Pickpocketing had been forced upon them by fate, a skill learned through necessity rather than choice. She still remembered. The first time Zarah had stolen something, her sister had slapped her—it was the first time she did that.

The sting had been less painful than the look in Zainah's eyes—an expression of fear, regret, and exhaustion all at once.

From then, it had been years now.

During all that time, Zainah had been forced to bear the burden of their life. She had worked tirelessly, ran from authorities, been spat at, and she had lived the life of a dog without complaining.

She had always been the shield that stood between Zarah and the world.

Sniff.

Tears spilled down Zarah's cheeks, dropping silently onto Sett's arm. He did not flinch, did not react. A mummy at his level cannot feel the coolness of a young girl's tears. It was a luxury for the living only.

But he saw her trembling, and instead of offering words of comfort, he simply smiled.

From the back, Zainah also saw what was happening and couldn't help but feel something stirring in her own heart.

"You?"

The memory came unbidden, cruel in its clarity.

"You want to learn in our school?"

A noblewoman had asked her that once, face as beautiful as a doll, her eyes filled with disgust. She had spat into a plate of food before handing it to Zainah, then turned and walked away without another word.

Zainah had shared the plate with her sister, eyes filled with tears.

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"Like mother, like daughter," someone else had muttered. "All worthless dead pigs. The one thing you have is your body and you are not going to sell even that? Why don't you just die?"

Zainah bit her lips and looked at the sky to distract herself. She wanted to cry, vent out all the emotions that were seemingly boiling within her. But the tears never came. They never did. It all felt as if it were trapped within her.

A sort of emptiness crawled into her heart, making her fall even more silent than she already was.

Sett looked towards the horizon filled with fluffy white clouds.

"Can't cry, Zain?" he asked.

Zainah nodded with struggle.

Sett smiled at her.

"Do you know why a child cries?"

Zarah stiffened and looked up, noticing that she had been caught crying. Strangely, though, she didn't feel embarrassed. She looked at her sister, too, wondering the answer to the question herself.

"I don't–don't know," Zainah replied, her voice slightly hoarse. "Why does that matter anyway?"

Sett could see a city faintly visible in the distance. "Children cry to ask for help. They can cry because they know that by crying, someone will come to their aid. When they get that help, they stop crying."

Zarah blinked.

"I didn't cry for that now though," she said. "I just felt blessed. What can a mummy like you know?"

Sett laughed. "You were not crying, dumbo, tears don't always mean you are crying." He shook his head. "And then there is my Zain. She wants to cry so bad. Yell at the heavens how unfair they have been. But she can't cry. It's as if she had bottled it all up at some point and now—she doesn't remember how to open that bottle."

Your Zain? Zainah thought.

Zarah looked at her sister with worry. "Is he telling the truth, sis?"

Zainah harrumphed. "Or I am just strong and don't need anyone's help—I don't need to cry."

Her sister frowned, a crease forming between her brows as if she had just stumbled upon some profound truth. She said in frustration, "You understand things unexpectedly well for a mummy, big brother Sett. She really is capped in the head."

Zainah's expression darkened. Whatever sadness she had been on the verge of feeling vanished in an instant. "What?"

Sett shook his head with a smile.

Silence fell over them once more. But this time, it was not the kind that made them feel distant. It was a silence that felt whole, as if nothing needed to be said at all.

It continued just like that.

The camel walked on golden dunes, surrounded by beautiful blue skies and infinite possible paths.

Zainah shifted closer. She wrapped her arms around Sett's back, pressing her face against his clothes. She sniffled—just once, a quiet, pitiful sound. But she did not sob. She only held on, tighter and tighter.

Sett didn't say anything, but he exchanged a look with Zarah.

They both grinned.