Days were busy and life moved along within the Palace archives, particularly as significant progress was being made in Alexandria. In the coming weeks, or more than likely months given the impending war effort to the north, deliveries would be made to the finished wings of the grand library. With good fortune, the war would stay far offshore with the new Egyptian navy instead of leading the Greeks to ravage the coastal cities and his long-held dream.

As often happened with his work, Zoser ignored the signals of his body, including hunger, as he pushed himself through from task to task. His scribes were elsewhere doing his bidding as well, lost and shockingly quiet within the furthest corners of the cavernous archives.

For now, he was poring over the inventory lists, particularly the the ones that he demanded were checked twice over. He would be damned if any of these records, some from dynasties that were thousands of years old, were not properly marked. While he held a silent devotion to a few gods from his past life in Greece, there was an undying devotion to Thoth, the God of Knowledge that rang loudly through the way he ran the Palace archives. Detail was incredibly important in his work, even to the point of being critical of penmanship of the newly minted records. Overkill? Likely, but just as he admired the careful consideration of those who held his position centuries before, he wanted his own legacy to be acknowledged and for his footprints on history to be just as admired.

The result of this, though, was his tendency towards being quite a nag, particularly when he had no eaten. As such, many of his scribes had already found their way towards their midday meal, stealing away past the desk that Zoser found himself perched over, mumbling the archival notes to himself as if to reassure what he was reading.

So far, they were accurate, which in a sense gave something else for his mood to sour over - nothing to pick at. It was not an intentional thing, but simply an aftereffect of having not eaten.

And now, what was that infernal squelching noise?

For a time, he thought that perhaps the sound was just in his mind, and he nearly relented to not being in the proper mindset to finish his work. But, if there was anything more irritating than that gods-awful sound drawing closer, it was stopping in the middle of a task.

He recognized the sound of the noise, now clearly within the Archives as it echoed across the pillars of stone, and he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation as he whirled around, ready to blow, when the musical echo of lightly-accented Coptic bounced along the walls. He knew that voice, he thought, but it took a moment for his mind to catch up, his brow raising at the mention of wine.

After all, men were simple creatures of comfort.

As irritating as an unfinished task was, he could forgive himself this once for the promise of wine and a woman.

“Mistress Callidora,” Zoser replied, sing-song in his tone though his expression took a moment to shift from his prior agitation. After all, the creases on his face had slowed in smoothing over the years. Still, he stood straight and offered her a smile and reached out a hand to hers in greeting before his eyes were cast down at the crate in a handcart that looked far worse for wear.

“Thank you for coming all this way with such precious cargo,” he teased, smiling as he reached down to pick up the crate himself, the cart making a nervous squeak that led him to wince. It was only then that he began to recognize his hunger headache, along with the slight rumble of his stomach.

“Welcome to the Palace,” he said, tilting a head towards the area that he deemed his study, “Leave the cart. We can come back for it later.” And, he did not want it so close to him, ungodly loud of course.

“Have you eaten yet?” Zoser asked, his mind musing over the possibilities of where they could go. There were a handful of kitchen servants that he knew well enough to pilfer away a nice meal that could be had looking over the Nile. After a tour of the Palace, of course.

"Heh," Zoser laughed, eyes glancing down slightly as if he tried to let any vestiges of annoyance fall from his face to the flagstones beneath their feet. Looking up to her again, the sight allowed a genuine smile to cross his face, "A bit. The Library is nearly done in Alexandria, so we must inventory every artifact and scroll here before transferring them...ah, let me stop now before I bore you with the details." He shrugged, letting a hand shoo away the words that he knew could wax on for far too long if he was not careful.

Still, his smile lingered. The light melody of her laugh was infectious, cuing a few small laughs of his own. There they stood in the midst of the archives, all but giggling like children for no reason at all. There was a warmth to it, a newness of either a burgeoning friendship...or more. It lingered in the air like a perfume, noticed but not too deeply analyzed for the exact spice or flower that it was. There was no need, not in that moment.

At her mention of enjoying not being in the Marketplace, Zoser blinked a moment and then immediately began recalculating their plans. The market, of course, had the most options but thankfully, the scholar knew of a few eateries that were away from the city center. Either that, or if she were quite hungry as she mentioned, he was certain there were a few things to be pilfered from the kitchens for the walk at least.

"I have something in mind," Zoser teased, his eyes crinkling cat-like into a silent laugh as her stomach rumbled, echoing lightly on the tiles, "Orrrr...if you're truly starving, the Palace stores are not far. We can have something to sustain us here so you do not collapse in the street." His eyes followed the way her gaze lingered on the scrolls, sparking a slight itch in his own fingers to find a proper stopping point in his process instead of leaving the task mostly unfinished.

"If you would indulge me, perhaps we will begin here with a small bite then venture out?" He gestured lightly at the records on the desk, "I am nearly done with this task. It will not take long, I assure you. " It would not take long, he knew, and you could not take two steps without all but tripping over a Palace slave - they could fetch some refreshments while he quickly finished the work. He offered a reassuring smile and added, "Only if you wish it, of course."

The sight of the Grecian merchant was salve enough for his headache, though he knew finding something to eat would also solve the issue rather quickly.

Zoser began to beam with pride as the woman showed more than just polite interest in the Library. Her continued questions saw his smile brighten with each one, until a toothy laugh had warmed his features and smoothed out every wrinkle of focus from his brow.

"No, don't hold them. I am a scholar. I love questions," Zoser offered, with a smile of genuine amusement and a light teasing tone, "I also love talking about things such as this, particularly with those who are interested." He invited her to stand closer to him so he could explain while his hands marked quick, neat notes across the inventory sheets.

"For the past several years we have set to work on it, and the construction is nearly complete now. I travel rather frequently to see it's progress, particularly with regard to the wall carvings and artifact rooms. My hope it to see it done within the year, so long as there are not any....impediments."

War with Greece was exactly what Zoser meant. With Alexandria being a seaside city, there was no doubt in his mind that it would suffer casualties should the Greeks cross the seas to combat their war-mongering Pharaoh.

Then, Zoser had an idea, which would very well depend on how the evening went with his fine company. A slightly suggestive smirk curled at the corner of his lips as he attempted to casually offer, "If we find ourselves in Alexandria at the same time, I could show you."

It was not as if he had not made his interest in Callidora anything but blatant at this point. In fact, it had grown just in the time that she stood next to him, asking about a tome that had been left open on the table. Greek, beautiful, and interested in learning? It was a dream.

"Ah, this?" Zoser examined the pages, making a point to stand very much within her personal space to do so, the sides of their hips touching as his hands fluttered through the pages.

"It is a history of the oldest kingdoms of Egypt, when there was, at one point, two Pharaohs who ruled. The kingdoms were split - one ruled the rocky lands up the Nile, and the others ruled the lands from here toward the sea..."

As she looked at the pages, Zoser admired the profile of her face, the color her hair, the rounding of her rosy lips as they parted in wonder as she looked on the page. A warmth feeling flowed through him, not a burn of desire or a flutter of anticipation, but something...smoother than that. Something that was comfortable, even for being so unknown.

At her question, Zoser laughed.

"That is what aides are for," Zoser mused, as if indulging her to one of life's greatest secrets, "Send them to do the menial work so that anything I find myself on a 'tangent' with can simply be called 'research' - it is the secret of the trade." He laughed again and then placed his hand lightly on the space between her shoulderblades, and smiled.

"Come, before you or I find ourselves knee deep in 'research', or we will both surely starve." With that, he guided her through the stacks, not towards the direction where they entered the palace, but to a staircase that led down from the archives to a guarded side-entrance to the Palace, used by the scholars to enter in the mornings.

"Did anyone ever do something about those scoundrels who damaged your stall?" He asked, filling the time between them with talk as they passed through the gates and into the upper levels of the city, towards the upper markets where the highest end of goods were sold. The further they walked, the sweeter the air smelled, with the flowers along the Nile blending with the highly spiced meals being prepared.