My beloved is so distraught that she does not realize that I have my arms around her. Do not wail so, dearest love, I am beside you. I stroke her lovely black hair but the aggrieved howl streaming from her lips will not abate. What can be the cause of such sorrow? My eyes rest on the body of a man. My brother, Aken, has been slain! Alarmed, I leave my sobbing dear one and go to his side. Soldiers come to lift Aken. Tetisheri throws herself on his body, screaming at them not to take him, drenching his blood-smeared chest with her tears. I do not understand. Does she love Aken? I did not know she had ever met him. But she must have known him. Why else would he have been here in her room? Perhaps he had escaped the stone quarry and come to free me -- and been caught. Tetisheri, what has happened here? 69 She gives no sign of having heard me. Answer me, my love. She can hold back the soldiers no longer and they carry Aken from the room.
