While Anubis and his wife, Nephthys, were laying their feelings for each other bare out in the open, closing the gaps that had naturally formed over the long years of absence and staying apart from each other, Isis, Nefertiti, and Sol were flying toward the Tower of Babel.
As a guest, it was imperative to salute or give your greetings to the host. This was the most basic form of respect after all, no matter which race's customs you may follow.
Sol had bragged about providing some time to Anubis and Nephthys but in reality, his help was completely unnecessary. After all, Anubis was at the same level as Tiamat, in terms of power and authority, and his wife thus had no need to bow down to anyone or anything. She would still do so, as a representative of all the Phoenixes, but there was no hurry to do so.
The same couldn't be said in the case of Nefertiti, however...
Nefertiti had no great authority or power etched in her name, nor was she the representative of anything noteworthy. She was practically a nobody so to speak. She didn’t even need to salute and exchange greetings with Tiamat— for the simple explicit reason that she was simply unworthy to be standing directly in front of the Dragon Empress.
At most, she would have to exchange greetings with the Dragon Queen, Kiyohime, or perhaps only Aqua for that matter as she didn't even have the authority to invoke some of the time of the Dragon Queen as some would obnoxiously point out.
Anyways, greeting either of the two would have been more befitting of her status as being the close relative of Gabriel, the divine beast of Chastity...
But there was one small thing that changed the whole equation altogether.
She was Sol’s woman. One of his loved ones.
While Sol was definitely not at the same level as Anubis, being miles apart from him in both power and status, he was still Tiamat's beloved grandson, in the end of the day, so he needed to have Nefertiti at least exchange the usual greetings with his grandmother even for courtesy's sake...much less the fact that he was hoping for them to meet each other and form a bond, no matter how light and superficial that may be...
It would be good if she liked his women and was in good terms with them but he would be satisfied with just her knowing and acknowledging them at the every least...
Moreover, it wasn’t just Nefertiti who needed the meeting with his grandmother for the exchange of greetings.
Sol had realized, while he was journeying with Isis, that he had yet to go to Tiamat with the necromancer of the Phoenix race, that was Isis, in tow with him and introduce her formally to the Empress of Dragons.
He was absolutely certain that, for a person such as Tiamat – his beloved grandmother – this kind of niceties might simply be a waste of her valuable time. But he was not really doing it for her. He was simply going through this troublesome scenario for those two adorable girls.
In one way or another, Tiamat was the only direct relative who can also be called a guardian or parent figure that was alive and kicking in this world. So he at least wished to have her blessings being the person who represented the place of his father and mother. As weird as it may seem, that was what he truly desired.
“Did you truly have to take me away with you? I wanted to spend some more time with my parents. It's not every day that I get to be with 'both of them' together you know...”
Isis couldn't help but complain as she kept looking back behind her time and time again. She had truly been curious about what would happen between them and was dying to witness the long awaited reunion of the two people who were among the short list of people she loved and cared for in this rotten world.
This was a rather frightening thought worth pondering greatly about.
“You seem uneasy.”
Nefertiti was startled when she felt a hand on her face.
“My lord...”
“It seems like we need to have a talk. But this can wait. For now, let’s hurry before Isis throws another tantrum.”
“Very well.”
She was about to accelerate when she felt a hand around her waist taking her in a princess carry and then flying forward far faster than she could have ever hoped to with her powers.
Feeling the searing warmth of his body, gently enveloping her whole being, Nefertiti released a sigh of contentment. Her mind was stabler than it had been for the last few days and now she could really feel like she was herself.
“By the way. I do not know if I already said this, but I missed you tons. I am happy to see you.”
Despite the rushing cold wind of the sea, Sol’s voice perfectly reached her ears and her heart.
She could now feel that all this wait had been truly worth it. Of course, back in the corner of her mind, there was this voice whispering to her that she was nothing to him but a mere sex sleeve.
That even this pitiful place of hers that she held in his heart and mind would soon be taken away.
After all, she was neither blind nor deaf. It was easy to see that Sol and Isis' intimacy had long since gone past the level of friends and Nephthys' words had confirmed the truth.
At the end of the day, the one Sol chose to form a contract with was not her but Isis.
As for her, she was nothing more than a gift given to him by Nent.
This was where her value started and unfortunately also stopped.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
As cruel and disheartening as that fact may be...