Work Text
Moshe was frantic when he came to her. His forehead was beaded with sweat and his eyes snapped back and forth quickly with agitation. Everyone was in disarray, rushing about and preparing to leave, but Moshe seemed in a particular panic. It was understandable, Serah thought, with the expectations of all of Israel resting upon him, and yet, it seemed to her, it was not entirely seemly for him to be so harried. The one leading their redemption should be calm, confident in the Divine’s plans for them.“Do you know? Do you remember where he is?” He gasped the question at her as he approached.Serah looked up from the meager belongings she was gathering into a sack. Four hundred years and she had hardly more belongings than when she had first arrived as a young woman. “Your sons? They are with their mother, I believe.”He looked back at her, more confused for a moment before his face resolved into a strange mix of relief and shame. So he had forgotten them again, she thought sadly. She couldn’t blame him exactly. His responsibility was to the Divine and to his larger family, not just his wife and sons. Still, she did not like to imagine how it felt for those same sons. They must have realized by now that they would always come second to their father’s holy work.“Good. She will get them where they need to be to go.” He shuffled as he talked, tension radiating from each and every limb. “It is not the future I ask about, but the past. Yosef, your uncle, asked an oath be sworn that we would bring his bones out of this land when the time came. The time has come and I find that we do not know where in this whole land they are buried and we have not the time to continue looking in vain. I hoped you might still know.” He paused finally and looked her straight in the eyes, desperate and pleading.Too much weight had been placed upon him, she thought. She knew what it was to be responsible for someone else’s fate. Even the small mission of telling her grandfather that his son still lived without killing the kind old man had felt like an unbelievable pressure. How funny it seemed that yet again the revelation of Yosef’s whereabouts was in her hands. This time at least she was confident in her ability to deliver the message without fearing for Moshe’s life. If some stress were to kill him this night it would not be at her hands.“He’s in the river.” She worried her hands as she spoke, not particularly liking to recall what had been done to her uncle or how long his body had been left alone in the water with no one to visit his grave. “They thought his bones would bring blessings to the water. They put him in a metal casket so they would sink and left him there.”Moshe’s brow furrowed. “And how exactly,” he said, voice filled with agitation. “How exactly am I supposed to get his bones out from the bottom of the river in a metal casket while also trying to shepherd all the people who are panicking and running around, half of them don’t even believe we’re leaving…” He trailed off, his anger waning into quiet desperation. “I’m sorry. You’ve been very helpful. I didn’t mean…”“It’s alright,” she said, resting her hand lightly on his shoulder. “You have a lot to manage and you’re doing it very well. It’s more than should be expected of any one person. You should think about asking for more help.”Moshe pulled away and stared at her as if she did not understand at all. Now that was a familiar look. It was times like these that she felt her age the most. They appeared matched in age, she and Moshe, or perhaps he even seemed her elder, stress having aged him beyond his years while she had remained nearly as young as when she had first arrived. She wondered idly sometimes whether her advice would be taken more seriously if she looked the ancient woman she really was.As it was, none of these young people ever believed her. Oh, they were quick to ask for facts and information, but when it came to sage advice gained from centuries of experience they looked the other way. They were all so ambitious, so sure that asking for help would somehow undermine their holy mission. Never mind that sometimes help was just what was needed for a holy mission. He nodded quickly at her, then turned and started to walk away towards the Nile.As she watched the puffs of dust raised by his quick footfalls an idea occurred to her. She yelled out to him as he hurried off. “Tell him to hurry up and get his bones out of the water already or you’ll leave him behind.” Smiling, she thrust her last few bits of cloth into her sack. If anything would summon her uncle from the water, it was that. He had never liked to be left behind when there was an adventure to be had.