do not fear the outcome, she said. As we are unified of body, we will be unified in the face of the unknown. I am with you.
Okay, I said, my heart swelling with emotion at the level of trust Tia showed me. I was so grateful not to be going through this alone.
“We will submit the scarab for judgment,” I declared, unclasping the brooch from my shoulder and handing it over.
“Well, since we’re all getting along so much better at present, can we dispense with the gloom and doom?” Nephthys asked shyly.
“Oh, I suppose,” Ma’at said, obviously in a much better mood now that she had her prize. While she busied herself at the Scales of Justice, Nephthys rose from her throne and drew her hand in a wide arc from left to right. As she did so, the room shimmered. The dark stone became gleaming white tile trimmed in gold, and the torches transformed into sparkling sconces lit by soft candlelight. Chandeliers hung overhead. In each corner of the long hall there was an impressive statue of each of the four gods with a shrine set in the alcoves behind them. The music from earlier continued, though the musicians disappeared and tall vases were filled with long white feathers tipped in gold. They reminded me of Isis.
“Do they belong to your wife?” I asked Osiris as I pointed to the feathers.
He smiled sadly. “They are my only reminder of her during the long spans of time we spend apart.”
“Can’t she stay here with you?” I asked.
“The law…,” he started to say, and then he gave a small shrug and a smile as he turned to watch Ma’at.
“The law stinks sometimes, doesn’t it?” I said.
Osiris laughed briefly. “Yes. It does…stink.” He wrapped his mouth around the last word as if he’d never heard it said like that before. He glanced in my direction. “It is very brave. What you’re doing, you know. We all think so.”
“Apparently not everyone,” I stage-whispered, and gestured to the goddess bending over the scales.
“She’s not usually so testy,” he explained. “She blames herself for what Seth did.”
“Why?”
“She is responsible for separating chaos from order. When chaos began to take over, she felt it was her own weakness that caused it. After Seth was imprisoned, she decided to adhere to the law even more strictly in the hope that such a thing could never happen again. Ma’at took the loss of our grandparents hard. Attempting to find absolute cosmic harmony was how she coped with everything that happened.
“She forgot that the purpose of the law and the protection and justice it offers is often more important than the law itself. Mercy must always balance justice. Unfortunately, she seems to have neglected that aspect over the centuries. It’s why she likes to keep Nephthys close. She’s the voice of mercy to balance out Ma’at’s unwavering adherence to rules.”
Osiris smiled and then continued gesturing at the hall. “That’s why this place is often called the Hall of Two Truths.”
“Meaning the truth of justice and the truth of mercy?” I asked, my own power of discerning the truth coming into play.
“That’s right.”
“We are ready,” Ma’at said. “Osiris, are you certain you want to stand for her?”
“I am,” he answered.
“Very well. Then we shall begin.”
Ma’at placed the heart scarab on a stand next to the large scale and then approached a golden box set atop a pedestal that hadn’t been there until Nephthys transformed the hall. From inside the box, Ma’at reverently drew out the object.
“This is the Feather of Justice,” she said. “Its weight is so light as to be inconsequential. When a heart is free of evil, it is not weighed down by sorrow or guilt. In this case, the scale will balance and the person may retain their heart and is admitted into paradise. This type of heart is very uncommon. When a soul has committed some wrongdoing but has expressed sorrow, made recompense, and learned from the experience, allowing it to mold their heart into a kinder, more empathetic one, then the scales dip only slightly and that person is also admitted into paradise. This is the most common type of heart.”
“And when a person has committed evil?” I asked, wetting my lips.
“An evildoer’s heart is heavy. The weight of it depends on the quantity and the depth of the crimes they’ve committed. In some cases such a person can be rehabilitated.” I nodded, remembering the shabti workers in the Field of Reeds. “But in many