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waiting for decisions. You will be summoned this evening.” Huy watched her walk away in the direction of the main building, her steps smooth and graceful, her escort hurrying to catch up to her. He could still feel the mild touch of her hennaed fingers on his skin.
    The day was becoming warmer. The sun was almost overhead. Huy re-entered the palace, and by asking directions from the many soldiers and servants filling the corridors, he made his way back to his quarters. Amunmose met him just inside the doors. “If you want a meal, I’ll have to take Tetiankh to the nearest kitchens so I can watch him fill your platters,” the steward grumbled. “Honestly, Huy, we might as well be back in the temple of Ra at Iunu with me still an apprentice cook and you a schoolboy! At the very least you need more staff to fetch and carry. The soldiers are complaining that they can’t organize themselves. Anhur must be replaced, and soon.”
    “I know. Send Tetiankh to the kitchens for food. You can taste it here. Talk to Chief Steward Nubti about having sealed flagons of beer sent in regularly for all of us, and see to the procuring of water yourself. I miss the estate also,” he finished as Amunmose was nodding unhappily. “In the future I’ll use the income from the poppy fields and caravans to build us all a new home. Until then, do the work I promoted you for.”
    Amunmose wheeled away, calling for Tetiankh, and Huy walked through his reception room to stand at the small open door giving out onto a garden. Several nurses and attendants were sitting in the shade of the sycamores and watching a gaggle of children playing on the grass. I’d completely forgotten about my litter-bearers , Huy thought suddenly. I suppose Amunmose sent them to the nearest servants’ cells. I’ll need them this afternoon to take me to the barracks. I must find Amunhotep-Huy . The need for his drug had begun to nag at him. Abruptly he retraced his steps and flung himself into one of the ornate chairs scattered over the floor.
    After his meal, he did not sleep. Sending Amunmose for his litter and bearers, he made his way to the main entrance of the palace with two of his guards, and this time he became lost only once. The bearers greeted him effusively. He questioned them briefly about their welfare. They had no complaints. Privately Huy wondered how he might gather every member of his household into one large apartment close to his own; their scattering was a cause for concern. The Queen had not told him anything about the living arrangements the dozens of officials had. Were they and their families all quartered in the palace, or did they have homes somewhere within the Fine District of Pharaoh, itself inside the enormous walled Ankh-tawy area comprising the temples of Neith and Ptah, the ancient citadel girded by the equally ancient White Walls, the barracks and arsenal, and the Peru-nefer docks?
    He gave the men his order. They lifted him and set off towards the canal up which he had been rowed, across the vast sweep of concourse in front of the palace entrance. Several small skiffs were moored close by. He and his men settled themselves in the boat, together with the litter. Huy told the man whose job it was to pole courtiers and visitors wherever they wanted to go that he needed the barracks. It was good to be on the water, to look ahead to the line of palms on the river’s bank and above to a cloudless blue sky, to see the rivulets of the canal sparkle under a bright sun. At the canal’s mouth the skiff turned south against the current, but it was still spring, Peret, and only the one man was needed to pole Huy slowly past the noise and dust of the portion of the city lying between the Fine District of Pharaoh and the busy river. They passed the waterway leading straight to the temple of Ptah, and were jockeyed into the last mooring space available at the watersteps leading up to Peru-nefer and the barracks beyond. To Huy’s left another canal