Anubis' Family

"But why couldn't Zoe come along?" Anubis asked, looking frustrated.

Peter shook his head. "It's an engagement ring. It has to be a surprise."

"She's already said yes - why can't she pick out the ring?"

Peter and James shared a look. Anubis seemed petrified of going into the jewelry store, and the other men couldn't really blame him. After all, engagements and weddings had only really been explained to him the night before - he had no idea what he was getting into.

They waited for a moment, giving Anubis a chance to go inside of his own volition. When he didn't move, they each grabbed an arm and dragged him in, above his protesting.

It was easy to find the engagement rings. Finding the right one for Zoe was harder. There were so many to choose from that even Peter and James found it a little daunting. Anubis was confused by all the different types and settings. The sales assistant just made it worse, going on and on about how many carats the gold was, and how special the diamonds were. By the time they'd looked at all the rings, the three men were feeling as if their brains had been turned to mush. The two mortals relented and let Anubis out of the store, to talk about it.

"This would be so much easier if I could just give her one of the rings from my tomb." Anubis looked mournful. "I'm sure there's one there that would suit her."

The other men looked at him. James was the first to speak. "You mean... you have jewellry in Egypt? And you were going to BUY a new ring for Zoe?"

Anubis looked confused again. "I thought that was the point, that I had to buy one."

Peter chuckled. "The point is that the ring must symbolise your love for and commitment to her. How much you spend on it isn't important. At least, not to Zoe."

This seemed to cheer the death-deity up a lot. "So... you two up for a trip to Egypt?" He grinned at them. Before either man could protest, they were standing in what looked like a treasure chamber. Gold and jewels surrounded them, mostly covered in dust and sand. Here and there spiders scuttled out of the light coming from Anubis' hand.

Anubis paid the creatures no mind. Instead he walked straight over to a small wooden chest and opened it. The other men could see that it was filled with rings, which Anubis emptied onto the floor. He then started sorting through them, throwing the ones that didn't fit the engagement ring description back into the chest.

He was left with roughly two dozen in the end, all with diamonds. These he looked at carefully, putting some aside, tossing some back with the others. Peter and James knelt down to look at the ones he was choosing from.

Despite being men, they could both appreciate that these rings were ancient, and beautiful. James reached out and picked one up. It was surprisingly heavy, made from gold and studded with diamonds. Anubis pulled a face and shook his head.

"It doesn't look right." He sifted through the rest, then sighed. "None of them look right! Are you sure it has to be a diamond ring?"

Peter shrugged. "It's allowed to have other stones, but according to women, it has to have at least one diamond." Upon hearing it could contain other stones, Anubis leapt up.

"Where did I put that thing?" He muttered as he started sorting through the other chests. Peter and James shared a puzzled look - even after all these years, they still found Anubis and his exited impulses very strange.

Eventually Anubis pulled out a single ring from a different chest, then brought it back to the other men. It was a thin band of silver, studded with tiny sapphires, the same colour as Zoe's eyes. There was a single, small diamond that gleamed multicoloured in the light. Anubis smiled. "This is it. This is Zoe's."

The men nodded in agreement. Zoe would love it.

"Now that that's sorted out," James said, looking around at all the gold, "you can shout us lunch for our loyal help."