Egyptian Timewave

Chapter 6

Abayomi touches the dusky brown fabric of her hijab, making sure it is tucked tightly into itself. She doesn't really need to be wearing it as she doesn't constantly wear it for religious reasons, at least not all the time just yet, but she thought she would be polite and cover her hair at least for the first day on site. She's technically supposed to be covering up, but she isn't comfortable doing it all the time yet.

Until she is, she has a little leeway in when she chooses to don the hijab, and she's doing it now. Besides, it'll protect the back of her neck from the sun. Despite the early hour, not long after dawn, she can already feel the heat beginning to ripple off the sand and rock at their site. Today will be a hot one, if this is any indication.

Her calves burn slightly with the steep climb to their site, and she can't help but grin when the deep red cloth of a canopy tent comes into view. One of the people sitting there waves at Abayomi and her father, and she can see her father wave back out of the corner of her eye. The two of them speed up slightly to reach the tent, where Abayomi's father slumps into one of the chairs, sighing.

"You'd think I would be used to that, wouldn't you?"

The man who had waved at them laughs. "Yes, I would. Y'know, are you sure you're my younger cousin? You're acting like an old man."

Abayomi's dad sits bolt upright. "Fahim! I'm not old."

Fahim laughs and looks to Abayomi. "And who are you, ya aanesa?"

Her dad pipes up. "Abayomi is my daughter, Fahim."

"Really? Assalamu alaikum. Are you here to watch, Abayomi, or are you participating in the dig?"

Abayomi laughs. "Assalamu alaikum. I'm participating. I certainly didn't spend five years in junior archaeology digs and learning about ancient Egypt to come here and not participate."

Fahim laughs. "Well said. Has your baba told you where we stand on the site?"

Abayomi frowns. "Not much beyond having been working on this site last season as well."

"Ah. Well, last season we were almost able to get into the tomb itself. We managed to clear away all the rubble, so this season we will actually be able to get inside. We'll have to clear away any rubble that has accumulated since last season, though, but we don't expect that to take too long."

"That's good."

"Indeed. What are you best at?"

Abayomi shrugs."I'm pretty good at identifying artifacts, and translating hieroglyphs."

Her father snorts. "You're more than good at translating. Remember the temple?"

Fahim's brows lift. "What is this about the temple?"

Abayomi shifts nervously. "I pointed out a cartouche on one of the pillars of the Luxor temple that showed the name of Amenhotep III."

Fahim's eyebrows lift even higher. "Those are hard to spot, let alone read. I agree with Alim on that translating of yours." He pauses at the sound of a shout from somewhere beyond the tent. "We're going to start clearing away the rubble soon. If you have any food you want to put away, the cooler is there." He nods towards the blue ice chest tucked beneath a table.

Abayomi quickly pulls a few bottles of water from her bag and tucks them into the ice chest along with some sandwiches for her and her father. There is a soft whistle from behind a flap of fabric at the back of the tent, where two more tents seem to be set up as workspaces. Fahim disappears through the flap into one of the smaller tents, speaking to someone in hushed tones. He comes out a moment later and beckons to Abayomi.

"Come, I'd like you to meet someone."

Abayomi ducks into the tent to see a woman moving around the space, shifting items and neatening the various tables scattered around the tent. She glances up at Abayomi's entrance.

"I heard that you have some experience identifying artifacts?" Abayomi nods. "That's what I do here. So it seems you'll be working with me."

Abayomi grins. "That sounds wonderful. What's your name? I'm Abayomi Nahr."

"Oh! Are you related to Alim?"

"He's my father, actually."

The woman grins. "I don't know what we would do without him. He's amazing at determining what type of structure we're looking at and the history shown by it." She pauses. "I'm Yasmine Quraishi. It's a pleasure to meet you." She pauses again, seeming to nibble on her lip. "Would you mind assisting me with moving some things? I anticipate needing some space for any artifacts we find today, but there are so many things I also need to be accessible."

Abayomi laughs. "No worries. What do you need to move and what needs to be available?"

Fahim is quick to leave them be, and when Yasmine chuckles at his disappearance, Abayomi is easily able to guess that he was hoping to not be roped into the task. Yasmine nods sharply a heartbeat later.

"The machines should be left accessible, but they take up so much space that they might not all be. These two tables-" She points to two against the right wall of the tent "- are the main ones that need to be cleared, if possible. I can take the one on the left if you take the other?"

"Of course."

Many of the items scattered across the table are tools, so Abayomi grabs one of the many boxes stacked beneath the table and in the corners of the tent. With a sweep of her hand, she piles all of the various tools into the box, effectively clearing half the space. She moves to tuck it beneath the table but then she glances over at the other one and moves to pile all the tools there in as well.

It doesn't take much to shift the machines left on the table to the sides, angling the ones in the back to still be useful without moving them around. A shout rings through the tent just as the two of them step back, and Abayomi's dad pops his head into the tent.

"We've been cleared to start working. Are you going to help us clear away any of the accumulating rubble?"

Abayomi quickly nods and he leaves the tent. She follows a heartbeat later, touching the edge of her headscarf to make sure that it is covering her hair. Yasmine follows suit with her cream colored hijab, leaving only the barest sliver of dark hair visible. When the two of them meet with the others, Abayomi frowns down the slope at the pile of rubble covering the opening into the tomb.

There isn't too much of it, but there are a few pieces that will probably take quite a bit of work to remove. After a moment of looking, she clambers down the slope and pulls at one of the chinks of stone, dragging it away from the rest. When there is enough space she shifts, moving around it to push instead, and someone steps beside her to do the same.

It's someone whose name she doesn't know, and together they push the rock up the slope and away from the tomb's entrance. When Abayomi turns back to go for another rock, she isn't surprised to see everyone at the site working together to clear the rubble away.
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Big change from the first version, where only Abayomi's dad was working at the dig site.  Ow Abayomi is too!
How do you think it'll go? What do you think will be found over the course of the dig? Tell me your thoughts!
Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out