Kali loved the sound of water flowing into a bath, the steam rising slowly from the belly of the tub as if reluctant to leave the warm, clear water. She would always lower herself in gradually, enjoying every moment as she could feel all the worries and troubles of the day slipping off her skin, joining the steam as it spiralled upwards. She left the water running and walked across the corridor where she would undress, brush her hair and look around at her things. When the steam reached her she knew that the bath was full and would go towards the bathroom, wrapping a towel around her as she went. Baths relaxed her; sometimes she would add salt to the waters to remind her of her favourite place, the frothy waves flowing over soft sand, spiralling in the constant motion of the tides. Sometimes she would add exotic perfumes and oils sent to her from her homeland. The smell of lotus to remind her of the mornings in the marketplace, chamomile of the tea she would serve to her aunts at midday, and which they would rub into their dark skin as the sun set. Her homeland was now faraway, but she remembered it in a way that was as clear as the water of The Nile.

Looking back at the ceiling Kali slid further down into the bath, allowing the lapping water to reach her neck, recalling the first time that she had bathed in The Nile, how her parents had worried as she had disappeared, laughing, under the swift water, only to laugh as she emerged moments later. She had spent many days swimming in The Great River as a child, playing with the other children naked amongst the reeds. All these scents brought her life in Egypt back to her, her childhood, her coming of age and the lotus flowers that were arrayed in her hair for her marriage, followed closely by her husband’s death, his body anointed with exotic perfumes and oils similar to the ones she used herself. After that, the immortal lotus no longer filled her mornings or its smell her nights.

Leaning forward Kali turned off the taps, completely submerging herself in the water. Now it was only at these times of day when she could lie in the water and remember her former life, one of the only two places where she could find comfort, where the seemingly endless sand met the seemingly endless seas and in the place where she had one of the last reminders of Egypt, the smell of the never dying lotus. After her husband’s death his family had moved away from Egypt, taking her with them she had lost almost all contact with her own family, having had no need to remember addresses before. Only her aunt had found her, writing to inform her of the death of her mother, father and sister. They had died from the same illness as her husband. She had wept many tears for them, the salty water of her tears mingling with the fresh bathwater. It was then that her father-in-law had shown her the sea.

Kali had fallen in love with the sea as she had with the great river of her home, its unpredictability and wild nature matched her own. She felt able to sit there in peace, her salt tears mingling with the briny water, eventually reaching Egypt and becoming part of her river. She had been told by her mother as a little girl that she would always find happiness whenever water was near, and she smiled as she lay in the water for her mother had been right. Why else would her first thoughts of her own country be of its river and water lily, her story brought to her mind by the tides of the sea and the steam off the water of a hot bath? In Egypt, the river gave life and had done so for millennia. It fertilised the soil, provided drink for all living things, cleansed the people, healed the sick, provided transport in a country otherwise inaccessible and provided entertainment for the young amongst all other things.

Knowing this, Kali let the water drain out of the bath, knowing that that water would go out into the sea, part of the seemingly never ending body of water, giving hope and comfort to many and eventually join the flow of the great river of Egypt. She knew in her heart that she was never truly far away from her home, and that she was connected by the life-giving creation of the gods.