In the hour before dawn, when Alexandria sleeps and palace corridors echo only with distant fountain music, Cleopatra’s trusted handmaiden Charmion begins her day as she lived her life — in the shadows of power, preparing herself to serve someone whose every gesture could reshape the Mediterranean world.

Watch her work the ancient formulas recorded in the Papyrus Ebers: natron mixed with Nile silt into paste that scours away yesterday's accumulated duties. Sometimes crushed lotus seeds added for their gentle polishing action, the same preparation temple priestesses used to ready themselves for sacred service.

This wasn't luxury disguised as necessity. This was ritual hygiene — the daily practice that kept skin supple and senses alert for someone whose survival depended on reading unspoken signals, whose value lay in anticipating rather than reacting.

After cleansing comes the anointing. Light oils — moringa, almond, castor — recorded in medical papyri as essentials for palace life in desert climate. For Charmion, these might be scented with fig leaf or wild herbs gathered from palace gardens, subtle enough to perfume skin without claiming airspace that belonged to her queen.

The courtesy of someone who understood her place: never overwhelming the room with personal scent, never competing with the jasmine and frankincense that announced Cleopatra's presence. Her fragrance had to complement, not contradict, the royal performance.

On sacred occasions — feast days, diplomatic ceremonies, the rituals that required perfect synchronicity — Charmion might touch herself with kyphi, the temple blend Plutarch describes: honey, raisins, myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon mixed into incense that "banished the weariness of day."

This daily ritual reveals the essential difference between queen and handmaiden. Where Cleopatra's bath was political theatre — oils poured by attendants, perfumes chosen to convey diplomatic messages, every detail calculated for its effect on witnesses — Charmion's was private devotion.

The solitary preparation that kept her body soft, mind alert, spirit ready for whatever demands the day might bring. The ritual that prepared her not just for service, but for the ultimate loyalty she would demonstrate in that sealed mausoleum: dying beside the queen she'd spent her life serving.