01x01 - The Woman Who Bowed to No One

[bunniefuu]

Our names were
whispered through time.

From generation to generation.

I was an Egyptian sl*ve,
but she changed all that.

The woman who bowed to no one.

I was in search of freedom.

She was in search of faith.

Our lives were to become one.

The story started long ago
in a marketplace in harran.

Blue as the sea itself.

I have never even seen the sea.

How much is it?

For you, ten shekels.

Perhaps another day.

It suits you.

- You think so?
- Very much so.

Sarai! Sarai!

I've been looking for you everywhere!

What's wrong, mother?

Abim the gerarite is
making your father an offer.

A dozen prime ewes
for your daughter's hand.

What say you?

It's an acceptable bride price, I suppose.

What say you, Sarai? Do you consent?

What need have you for a wife, abim?

Don't you already have one?

Tilda. She gave me three sons.

I want more.

I ask again, do you consent?

To marrying a man I hardly
know, much less admire?

- I think not.
- Sarai!

Seems that your daughter has

what some would call a spirited nature.

She's long been that way.

- Apologize, Sarai.
- No.

Bow to your betrothed
and accept his forgiveness.

I bow to no man.

Well, now that I've had
a look at you up close,

you're not worth a dozen
prime ewes to begin with.

Hey!

You heard the lady, move on.

This has nothing to do with you, boy.

Shame.

You have more beauty than sense.

Look what you've gone and done.

No man will marry you now.

Are you all right?

Are you?

Listen, Sarai, I...

I haven't a dozen sheeps in
my name or anything even close,

but...

I'd be proud to be your husband.

Abram.

Not someone to bow to, but to
stand shoulder to shoulder with,

no matter what life might bring.

Finally.

I thought you might not ever ask.

Will you have me, Sarai?

I'll stand with you,
Abram, and be your wife...

Until the day I die.

May it bring children.

Many, many children.

Abram.

- You remembered.
- Of course.

A picnic.

Twenty-five years.

I remember too.

I just finished.

It's beautiful. I love it.

Your favorite color.

Sarai?

Do you ever think about
taking another wife?

Why, that's quite the
question to ask your husband

on our anniversary day.

Most men in your position would have.

Most men are not married
to a woman like you.

You are my wife and no other.

I failed you.

No.

Your bloodline ends with me.

When we die, your name dies with us.

Stop this.

Tell me the truth, my
husband, here and now.

Would you still have married me

if you'd known I couldn't
give you children?

Shoulder to shoulder no
matter what life might bring.

Remember when I said that?

Like it was yesterday.

Did you hear that?

It's just the wind.

Can we go back to sleep?

Good morning, neela.

I'm sorry. Did he wake you up?

It's all right. Is it his cough?

If you put some mint
and some honey in a tea,

it should do the trick.

Ooh!

Look at you. How did you get so big?

Abram?

Abram.

Abram.

He spoke to me.

What?

He spoke to me.

Who?

God.

God? What god?

God.

Well, what does he look like?

Does he have a name?

He did not say.

And I didn't see him.

So it... it was just a voice then?

A voice.

A presence.

Indescribable.

"Go forth," he said,
"from your native land

into a land that I will show you."

And you want to do
this because of a dream?

It wasn't a dream, no.

I am as certain of
that as my love for you.

He said he would make
a great nation of me.

Children, Sarai. He's
going to give us children.

Those were his words.

Those were his words to you, Abram?

Yes, and I have to go.

I must follow where god leads me.

But I can't do this without you.

Please, my love.

You must trust me.

Please trust me.

I trust you.

If you need me to do
this... I will go with you.

Eliezer, fill these as well.

We must bring as much
water as we can carry.

I'll make sure there's
enough for all the servants.

Sarai.

I worry for your safety, my daughter.

Take these.

Household idols to
protect you on your travels.

Abram will protect me.

Till we meet again, father.

I fear that's not to be.

Not in this lifetime.

We have to find water.

And grass to pasture our flock.

Where?

There's drought across the entire levant.

Then we head south to Egypt.

No matter the drought, the nile still flows.

Neela.

For your little ones.

Thank you, mistress.

Here.

People are starving, Abram.

Did your god not warn
you of all the suffering?

We have water now. Food will come.

Well, it best come soon.

People are hungry. They need bread.

If we offer enough,

there must be somewhere to buy grain.

I'll go at once.

But we'll need to make it last.

Pharaoh.

Pharaoh! Pharaoh! Pharaoh!

Eliezer, get down.

So many of them.

This one.

Why is she not bowing?

She needs to be made an example of.

Mistress Sarai, on your
knees before the living god.

Seize her!

Wait! Wait! No! Wait! No!

Please, let her go!

- Move!
- No! Let me go!

- Hyah!
- Abram! Abram!

Sarai! Sarai!

Sarai!

What is your name?

Sarai.

Tell me, Sarai.

Are you of royal blood?

No, pharaoh.

- Are you a goddess?
- No, pharaoh.

Yet you refuse to bow in my presence.

I decided long ago I
would bow to no man.

And you say it was not personal?

I meant no offense.

What about a god?

Would you deign to bow before one?

If I encountered one.

It is all right.

She is new to Egypt.

She does not know.

What if you meet a god and
you do not recognize him?

He would recognize me.

Know what's in my heart.

My every thought.

That I meant no offense.

Since none was meant,
then none is taken.

I shall not k*ll her.

Pharaoh will keep her.

It's a great honor to have
pharaoh take you as a wife.

- A wife?
- Was that your husband

who tried to stop you
from being taken away?

No.

No, it was my brother.

Good. Less messy that way.

I'll see to it he's paid a handsome price.

Hagar.

Clean her and dress
her for pharaoh tonight.

Consider this sl*ve girl the betrothal gift.

It's pharaoh's desire that
his wives be happy here.

You were right to lie about your husband.

The pharaoh would've had him k*lled.

Come with me, please.

You love your husband very much.

He's my world.

I too know what it means
to give someone up

so that they might live.

I wasn't born a sl*ve, you know.

My people were Reed farmers in shur.

We worshipped the wrong god,

so pharaoh had our village
razed and our fields salted.

Our family was starving.

I sold myself for three pieces of silver

to a passing sl*ve trader.

So they could live.

I'll see them again.

Someday.

Why did you leave home,
you and your husband?

My husband's god promised us children.

Why would his god
promise you such a thing

only to cause you to end up here?

Makes no sense.

Maybe it was his way of
telling him to find another wife.

One who could give
him a child that I can't.

He'll tire of you soon
enough, the pharaoh.

He'll move on to his next new toy.

There's no way out of here.

If there was, I would've found it.

Come closer.

You almost look Egyptian.

Almost.

But not so much.

Underneath this paint and
dress, I can still see your disdain.

You're far away from home.

How is it that you came to Egypt?

My brother's god
ordered us to leave harran.

Which god?

Maybe I know him.

Look around you.

These, my ancestors.

They go back centuries.

Who knows?

Maybe one day it will
be your countenance

that adorns these sacred walls.

Take it off.

Pharaoh commands you.

You have fire in you.

I like that.

Now, take it off.

What, what is this?

Did you poison me?

You witch! What magic is this?

What have you done to me?

It's not I, pharaoh.

Guards!

Guards!

Leave her! Let her go!

She's a witch!

Leave!

Leave and never come back!

Take your sl*ve girl and
see that you both never return,

under pain of death.

Hagar, come. Come with me.

Hyah! Hyah!

My beloved. You're alive.

Did they hurt you?

Are you... are you harmed?

No.

No?

W-Was it god?

Did god save you?

I can't explain it.

Who is this?

Hagar. She's coming with us.

So that one day I might
see my home again.

I was banished from my homeland.

And my life was saved by this stranger.

I had witnessed a power

that could make a
pharaoh cower in pain.

I could've run away,

but I chose to follow
her into the unknown.

Wherever it would lead.

Good place to start a family.

You need to start saving
your first morning bladder.

Saving it for what?

To soak these in.

If it's a boy, the barley will sprout,

and if it's a girl, the wheat.

Hagar.

Abram's god did not
bring you out of Egypt

to not give you a child,
but you have to do your part,

and so does he.

We've been married 30 years.

Luckily, I found these
down at the bog this morning.

What are they?

Mandrakes.

You roast them and
then slip them in his tea.

It'll be like your wedding
night all over again.

Thank you, hagar.

Well, next time.

Mama's coming.

Where are you?

Where are you?

What?

Sarai, are you all right?

Everything's fine. Go back to sleep.

Hey!

We did what you asked!

And nothing!

My womb stays closed!

What sort of a god are you?

Your promises mean nothing!

Say something!

Say something!

Say something to me!

And that's when he saw it.

A dove turn into the ark

with a freshly plucked
olive leaf in her mouth.

That's when Noah knew

the floodwaters were subsiding at last.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll
tell you a story of how god

saved a certain someone we
might know from the pharaoh himself.

I think it's time for bed.

Abram, really?

Pharaoh?

As if it were one of the sagas.

Who knows? It might be one day.

Pardon the interruption.

Pator and I have something to ask.

Celeel and I hope to marry,

and with your blessing, start a family.

Yes, of course.

I give you my blessing with joy.

And may god Grant
you many, many children.

Thank you.

Remember when that was us?

Yes, I remember.

Abram.

Maybe it's time.

It's time for us to accept
that it's never gonna happen,

and for us to name an heir.

God promised us a child.

I am past the ways of women now.

Can we please stop
pretending otherwise?

I was thinking eliezer.

He's good and born of our household.

He's loyal.

We'll talk about it in the morning.

Abram?

What happened here?

We made a covenant, he and I.

A covenant?

Sealed in blood.

He spoke to me, Sarai.

After so many years of
silence, he spoke to me again.

What did he say?

That I would have
descendants like stars in the sky.

Not of eliezer, but of my own flesh.

He promised me a son.

A son of your own flesh?

That's what he said, yes.

And of mine also?

Did he say that, Abram?

Why would he need to?

Who else would it be?

You are my wife, and no other.

A son of his own flesh.

That's what god told him.

His, not mine.

What kind of a cruel
god tries to make me think

that a woman my age
could have a child?

What if you can't?

You're blessed.

You have a loving
husband, a community.

I know.

Do you want to be a mother one day?

Of course.

How could that happen?

I'm an Egyptian sl*ve.
Who would marry me?

Hagar.

What if meeting in pharaoh's
palace wasn't an accident?

What if we were brought
together for a purpose?

I think there is a child.

It's not of my womb.

But the son that Abram
sees is his and maybe yours.

You want...

you want me to lie with Abram?

I want you to have a child on my behalf.

And in return, I will help you
get back home to your family.

The pharaoh who banished
us from Egypt no longer rules.

Home?

With my family again?

It's what you've always wanted.

It's what I've always wanted.

And you can marry.

You can have children of your own.

Yes.

Yes, I'll do this thing you ask.

You have given me so much.

I will help give you the child
that you've been promised.

Thank you.

It's all here.

You bear the child on my
knee, and then, by law, he's mine.

- And after that...
- Home.

Once we make our Mark,
there's no turning back.

Every month on the quarter moon.

Since I was a girl.

Well, then, tonight it is.

Shall I?

So pretty.

Come.

Ooh, good wine.

It's from kith.

Expensive wine.

Well...

It's a special night.

How so?

We're going to ensure your bloodline.

Lie with hagar, Abram,

so that we might have a child by her.

Sarai.

Abram, god told you that
we would have a family.

Yes.

You and I.

We will have a family, but only by hagar.

Abram, please.

I have loved only one my whole life.

Hagar.

That's the only way.

I was just getting these ready for you.

Sorry, I was gonna do it myself.

Well, then, sooner
we know, the sooner...

sooner I can go home?

You were asleep when I came in.

Yes, it was late. I was tired.

I only did what you asked.

You could have protested a little more.

If you have had a change of heart... No.

No.

Please lie with her until she is with child.

But remember, husband.

She's a woman with a woman's heart.

You're very beautiful.

I don't know why I
haven't noticed that till now.

You tell me about them, your family.

I have two younger brothers.

Hahn and creel.

Hahn and creel?

What are they like?

Well, I can't wait to see them.

A boy.

Abram!

A boy?

A son.