(AIDA appears in a uniform of a Palace Slave.)
[Mereb:]
Well now you look like a handmaiden. But at least the Captain saw that you are special.
[Aida:]
What that man sees and understands could be etched on a grain of sand.
[Mereb:]
That may be, but Radames did save you and the other women from the copper mines.
[Aida:]
That was surprising and decent of him.
[Mereb:]
When I was ten, Radames saved me from being beaten to death by a palace guard. He promised he'd look after me from then on. He has kept his promise.
(AIDA turns away.)
Look, I know what you are thinking… that I've become one of them. But I am still Nubian. I will always be Nubian.
[Aida:]
Of course