"you aren't ever coming back, are you?"
her body ached when she woke now, not for pain nor rigour, but for touch. tavina had retreated to the very recesses of muat-riya as of late, glimpsed most often at evening when she strode out to gather more herbs than the palace could possibly need.
sprigs to bind her soul, twigs to wall the pain, newblooms to mute the crying body which wept in loneliness.
"no. you're not," tavina murmured to herself, voice breaking only once.
her body ached when she woke now, not for pain nor rigour, but for touch. tavina had retreated to the very recesses of muat-riya as of late, glimpsed most often at evening when she strode out to gather more herbs than the palace could possibly need.
sprigs to bind her soul, twigs to wall the pain, newblooms to mute the crying body which wept in loneliness.
"no. you're not," tavina murmured to herself, voice breaking only once.
![](https://i.imgur.com/NB0aQZ1.png)
May 18, 2024, 02:14 PM
There were many things unspoken between them, but none so consuming as the nameless wrap of grief. Such a master at hiding it, Eset had even fooled herself, carrying on in the ways she always had. But Tavina’s isolation was unusual, an ever increasing concern in the hebsut’s mind, so much so she found it difficult to focus on much of anything else. The sesh is trailed that evening as she forages among the dusk-blooming ornamentals.
Eset approaches carefully, almost tentatively, as if reluctant to steal Tavina away from herself. With the utmost care, she places a limb of flowers at the sesh’s feet. The petals are a deep violet, and when she lifts her chin to look into her face, they are a perfect complement of Tavina’s eyes.
“Look what I’ve found,” she whispers.
![[Image: large.JPG]](https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/3101509/large.JPG)
Eset approaches carefully, almost tentatively, as if reluctant to steal Tavina away from herself. With the utmost care, she places a limb of flowers at the sesh’s feet. The petals are a deep violet, and when she lifts her chin to look into her face, they are a perfect complement of Tavina’s eyes.
“Look what I’ve found,” she whispers.
May 18, 2024, 05:27 PM
<3
one evening, at her lowest, tavina had thought of summoning a fellahin. she knew that their companionship was no longer expected, and she rather felt that her presence as trusted sesh might invite intimacies of their own. but the initial thought had made her feel so pathetic that revulsion had followed, and she had sought to quell the yawning hungers of her forgotten body.
but then eset was beside her, a nightfall shape of lithe beauty, scorpion weed falling from her pretty palm. the matching gaze warmed then misted; a muscle played along her jaw; she could not speak as she found the marigold eyes, laid bare by what she wanted so dearly to be both true and untrue.
but then eset was beside her, a nightfall shape of lithe beauty, scorpion weed falling from her pretty palm. the matching gaze warmed then misted; a muscle played along her jaw; she could not speak as she found the marigold eyes, laid bare by what she wanted so dearly to be both true and untrue.
![](https://i.imgur.com/NB0aQZ1.png)
May 23, 2024, 12:15 PM
“Tavina?” Her name comes from her lips in the softest whisper, the wet flicker in her sesh’s eyes sending a chill down her spine. It is a look she knows, one she’s seen before, and still it robs her lungs of breath.
To never have answers- abandoned to wonder. That was fate worse than death, Eset believed then.
“I’m here,” her voice cracks, temper seething with anxiety. She swiftly draws her arms over Tavina’s back, gathering her close into the space of her chest. She sought to be everything Tavina was to her, the constant she so hopelessly needed. A kiss is pressed to her shoulder as she melds them together, but into the velvet wisps of her neck a voice quivers.
“I- I’m scared for you.”
To never have answers- abandoned to wonder. That was fate worse than death, Eset believed then.
“I’m here,” her voice cracks, temper seething with anxiety. She swiftly draws her arms over Tavina’s back, gathering her close into the space of her chest. She sought to be everything Tavina was to her, the constant she so hopelessly needed. A kiss is pressed to her shoulder as she melds them together, but into the velvet wisps of her neck a voice quivers.
“I- I’m scared for you.”
![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/94ebda0b4cc3f23dbca8d3a6c5d5e48f/dee0c8a56378e860-12/s540x810/d8a67c605f4c64720189f3c6283da82cc9d9d176.gif)
eset's worry struck through tavina as if it were a lance; the gentle whisper of worry along the back of her shoulder sent a tremour through her. for a moment the sesh almost broke away, almost pushed those satin arms aside.
she was still, and then the first sob came, a racking soundless thing that jerked her entire form against the embrace of eset. and then another, and another, oh, she was losing it. the self-made bridle slipping from errant face, the too-tight bit falling from a bruised mouth;
tavina was not certain she had ever wept so hard before, or if muat-riya's gleaming halls of blue had ever heard the wrenching misery of a broken woman as clearly as her hoarse cries echoed now.
she was still, and then the first sob came, a racking soundless thing that jerked her entire form against the embrace of eset. and then another, and another, oh, she was losing it. the self-made bridle slipping from errant face, the too-tight bit falling from a bruised mouth;
tavina was not certain she had ever wept so hard before, or if muat-riya's gleaming halls of blue had ever heard the wrenching misery of a broken woman as clearly as her hoarse cries echoed now.
![](https://i.imgur.com/NB0aQZ1.png)
May 25, 2024, 04:36 PM
When the sobs shook through the sesh, they shook them both. When she threatened to fall, Eset’s arm wound tighter. Her sorrow listed high through the old acacias, invisible tendrils of grief that tore through tangles of leaves and out into the shivering face of the stars. The weight of it rose, climbed, spiraled. But when it fell back, it descended upon them both. She was not alone.
“I do not see a broken woman, Tavina,” Eset cradles into her cheek, “you do not need fixing. You are deeply hurt, in need of care.” She does not release her.
She cannot see it now, but the hebsut believed that she would find a way- because Tavina is the kind of woman who taught her that for every hurt there is a leaf to cure it.
“I do not see a broken woman, Tavina,” Eset cradles into her cheek, “you do not need fixing. You are deeply hurt, in need of care.” She does not release her.
She cannot see it now, but the hebsut believed that she would find a way- because Tavina is the kind of woman who taught her that for every hurt there is a leaf to cure it.
May 25, 2024, 07:05 PM
"i need — to let her go." tavina did not pull away from eset, but she swiped furiously at the betraying moisture of her cheeks, and when the tears continued, she let her limbs fall in despair and sagged back against the hebsut.
"i must," she insisted with a shaking breath, "surely i must find some way to release myself. release us both, but oh, eset, it is like a — patch of thorns, and i haven't the strength to till them away. the hurt goes on, and now, oh, now i've started to be angry at her, eset, angry at nala for — for nothing. and i so very much do not want to be — angry."
the stream of words ran dry.
her breath came in small slowing sobs as she stilled herself.
"i must," she insisted with a shaking breath, "surely i must find some way to release myself. release us both, but oh, eset, it is like a — patch of thorns, and i haven't the strength to till them away. the hurt goes on, and now, oh, now i've started to be angry at her, eset, angry at nala for — for nothing. and i so very much do not want to be — angry."
the stream of words ran dry.
her breath came in small slowing sobs as she stilled herself.
![](https://i.imgur.com/NB0aQZ1.png)
May 31, 2024, 12:26 PM
Because it was Tavina- because it was her stoic figure, the woman who had all the answers, who could augur the ills of the world and heal with only a touch- it hurts much more deeply. Eset catches her despair, pliable in her hands, the midnight silks of hebsut and sesh blending.
If she had the wisdom to conjure the words that could stop the past from breaking out into their hearts- would it all go away? She closes her eyes into Tavina’s bent shoulder, listening, narrow jaw clinching only to release again.
“I’ve never- truly been able to control how I feel. We can lie to ourselves. I think it works, for a time,” the coywolf quivers. Grief, and anger. These were the things she felt in the hours before waking, as essential to her identity as the desert and the Gods who preside over it. Resentment, coming to claim her.
“Your wife is gone, Tavina. It is a loss. It’s a death,” she wounds her arms tightly over the woman’s back, “it is alright to feel anger- anger can sometimes be a powerful motivator.” Eset releases a breath into Tavina’s nape and slowly pulls her chin back to look into her face.
“May I show you something?”
If she had the wisdom to conjure the words that could stop the past from breaking out into their hearts- would it all go away? She closes her eyes into Tavina’s bent shoulder, listening, narrow jaw clinching only to release again.
“I’ve never- truly been able to control how I feel. We can lie to ourselves. I think it works, for a time,” the coywolf quivers. Grief, and anger. These were the things she felt in the hours before waking, as essential to her identity as the desert and the Gods who preside over it. Resentment, coming to claim her.
“Your wife is gone, Tavina. It is a loss. It’s a death,” she wounds her arms tightly over the woman’s back, “it is alright to feel anger- anger can sometimes be a powerful motivator.” Eset releases a breath into Tavina’s nape and slowly pulls her chin back to look into her face.
“May I show you something?”
June 02, 2024, 08:02 PM
your wife is gone.
she could almost hate for that. almost.
the truth of it crushed her belly into fracturing stonework. her eyes reached for those of the hebsut.
"nala was pregnant when she disappeared." more pain to be said, framed in her tyrian-purple eyes. "i can't stop feeling like i lost the middle of my life when nala just —"
she stood, her spine glinting with pain and the shame of having dumped more stained papyri into the arms of eset. "please. show me. show me anything, eset."
she could almost hate for that. almost.
the truth of it crushed her belly into fracturing stonework. her eyes reached for those of the hebsut.
"nala was pregnant when she disappeared." more pain to be said, framed in her tyrian-purple eyes. "i can't stop feeling like i lost the middle of my life when nala just —"
she stood, her spine glinting with pain and the shame of having dumped more stained papyri into the arms of eset. "please. show me. show me anything, eset."
![](https://i.imgur.com/NB0aQZ1.png)
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