Luneshale Pass forty-ninth

this is aw to any NL dwellers and the party itself! @Rashepses @Siatum @Thutmose @Zaahira @Khusobek @Legend @Racharra @Tavina @Akhtar @Nahkt <3

the pass had been well-claimed.

that evening, senmut called their camp, and this time he bestowed the antelope's-meat and sweet wine brought from the palace to buoy the spirits of those adventurers.

"the queen will soon be among us," he said softly, looking around with his kohled eyes. "do any of you have anything to report?" senmut inquired; for now, he remained erpa-ha and could ask such things.

plenty, he might have scoffed. but no report for senmut.

the small red prince would not be pharaoh. the crocodile had turned his attention elsewhere.

he grunted, "suppose she does not care for the outpost, lord prince?" wine seared down his throat.

"well, that's why it's an outpost, mazoi," tavina gruffed. she set down her bag of medicines, always carefully guarded, and settled with a sigh. "the land is filled with anti-inflammatory plants, as well as several poisons. we'll need to be careful."

she took a small bite and glanced around herself.

Racharra sat amongst her fellow travelers. it had been rough on the nebet, shielded from the harshness of the desert until this voyage. 
so once her tongue met the sweet wine and savory taste of meat, she took her time savoring the food she took for granted.
do you know when she'll arrive? she asked eagerly between bites, tail thumping against the floor.

“Your mazoi has noted the heavy population of coyote in this land,” Rashepses motioned toward the red soldier.

He made no further mention but pinned the stoneprince beneath an industrious stare. He thought of an alliance. He also thought of progress and servitude. There were two ways to go about this.

Can be skipped unless prompted for interaction!

A howl had her turned on her feet.

Behind Rashepses, she settled to a down with pointed ears and a lippy smile etched on her lips. She stared forward at Senmut, and other times her eyes passed onwards to Tavina. Khusobek.

She thought avidly and affectionately about the gift Rashepses gave her. Nice gift! Fun gift! All hers! All nice and soft to herself!

Are you actually kidding me? It was hardly a couple days of steady travel to the ravine, and while Meridian didn't share any kinship or values with the Tribe, she leeched of the protection of numbers, given the recent events. First the mutts from the oasis, then a predatory feline, and now this? A band of buffoons?! After her encounter with Anselm, Meridian would be wise to have caution around a large number of wolves, but she had none of that timidness. 

The traveler priestess approached from a distance, tail held confidently up in the air. The sun illuminated her fur as she strode forward, pausing a few meters away from the group. She called out over the chatter. If you're the rest of that shadow coyote's clown car, you can leave now. Meridian had no desire to guard territory, never mind land that she hadn't even claimed, but she took interest into harassing them.

no posting order! anyone can still join!

"when this outpost feels the safest for her, we will send word back to the palace," senmut explained to racharra, ignoring khusobek for the present. his green eyes fell upon prince rashepses now, a warmer glance to legend before he turned his attentions back upon the man who should truly feel more rival-like by now.

in that moment, he thought of nazli, and how she had spoken, how she had sounded; the look of face and eyes. and her last words, before he and tavina had sent her away. heartache, beating beneath breastbone.

before he could answer, however, one such called out to the wolves in a stern voice.

senmut stood. "who is this shadow coyote of whom you speak?" he etched back in the warm air, giving his answer to rashepses in this way: amiability between wolves and others must be kept for the purposes of peace and trade.

whatever he had hoped to hear was stilled now.

khusobek rose in fluid grace, stalking near the princes. a single coyote was easily slain or run off.

a pack of them, however, was another thing entirely, and his cold eyes searched for more shadows falling across the sand.

“Seize her,” it was an order for Khusobek.

The Erpa-ha meant for peace. Rashepses would not tolerate such disrespect. There was a new power in the south.

The speech of Akashingo's men felt more like droning in her ears as her meal is pecked at with graceful teeth; coyotes. The outpost. The Queen. Zaahira was only a woman of her duty. Her response is one of hums and nods.
Until a voice is heard; foreign; and her head swivels. Rashepses commands as if he already wears the crown, and immediate is the grumble that lurches from her throat.
Do not dare, between Khusobek and Rashepses does her gaze bounce. allow erpa-ha to hear what she has to say.
The coyote, now, has her ears.

satisfied with Senmut's explanation, she gave a firm nod. it made sense, and it was on the erpa-ha's word, so it must be true. but a different matter had stolen Racharra's attention away from the exciting news.

a scuffle was brewing between the adults, stirred by the prince. the darkling pup's gaze laid squarely on the stranger however. she gazed up between the legs of the grown wolves, as best as she could, anyway. whatever was a shadow coyote, or a clown car for that matter. that wasn't in the lessons, unless she'd forgotten.

let her speak! she parroted Zaahira, bounding up to close the distance between herself and the important happenings of the adults.

She had stirred the hornet's nest. Meridian replied with exasperation in her voice. One of the thugs that lives down by the oasis. Pelt as dark as shadows, one hell of a disgrace to the sun. She really hoped the party had nothing to do with the vermin that was Widower and Tumbleweed. Her attentions were drawn to the group's intentions. What are you doing here, anyway?

things began to devolve, and tavina's eyes smouldered with indignation.

there was no "side" for her to choose; she treasured the queen and loved akashingo in her own brisk way. when the man rashepses barked an order, she glanced incredulously between he and the guards, and then to senmut himself.

she suspected some sort of vying between the men; wasn't that all this was? and so she dourly stepped back, toward her medicines, mentally categorizing them in case this meet came to blows.

He serves Rashepses and his order. This command is also for him.

He will not stop without order to.

Immediately, his settled position is released, and he's quickly making way for the coyote. Make this easy for me, his eyes say. Don't fight. 
Be good, and get rewarded.

If she does not run, he has nothing to chase. Should she be still, he goes to put his teeth on the pinching point of her scruff, to detain her and bring her to his liege. He would not draw blood, but hold her prisoner until further notice.

There was a shift in order. A stranger, one they did not know, and one she had brief interaction with, gave commands. Traditional ones, to seize their intruder and hold her for her actions. But there was a problem. 

That was against her Erpa-ha's word.

He challenged him.

Legend's head came to a strong lift, eyes darting from the quick warmth of Senmut's gaze, to the tails of the foreign prince and his guards. Peering big eyes, little in posture, but now evidently taking notice. 

minor pp with permission from meridian <3

A prince may have idled while his guards were put to work but the small size of their desert troupe and hesitancy made soldiers of aristocracy. Rashepses leapt from their meeting place and set himself opposite his princeguard, aligning his body to use as a barrier to the coyote for questioning should she make no attempt to flee them. A flick of snout bids Mesen-Ka to release his grip now that she was stationed between them.

“We are migrants from the North soon to take up residence here,” he could not speak of an affiliation with a dark coyote, though it was important that the dwellers of the desert understood a new pack was to settle here, one of great power that would not be trifled with.

“Tell us of these oasis ‘thugs’ and you will be released,” he informed, though he had half a mind to keep this one, a fine gilded gift she’d make his Queen.

Everything happened so fast. She was charged at, picked up, and released near the wolves. As they questioned her, her frustration grew. She answered with a scowl. What more is there to be told? Let me spell it out for you. Meridian sighed. They live in the oasis. Two of them, possibly more. They steal, kill, and loot. Simple, right? A glare was passed to the wolves. Can I go now?

what do they look like? she only vaguely knew what a coyote was, so the cub approached between the adults, more curious than frightened. if they were as big as this stranger, then there really shouldn't be much issue.

prince rashepses ordered.

the mazoi was halted from his heeding by the seethe of zaahira's voice. he exchanged a cool look with the aspirant jodai.

the young noble girl came forth with an order. ironic that her voice superseded that of a prince by way of her status as nebet and his as sphinx.

but khusobek did not move again.

the ground seethed. the actions split. senmut grew annoyed, remaining still and straight. rashepses and his men shepherded the coyote; the hereditary prince took in the words given and soon strode forward. "release her."

he did not look toward the proud man; his word was law over all here. at least for the present.

and yet he knew this moment was a poignant one not easily forgotten.

it was not a cohesive showing before the threat the coyote named. "thank you for your information. we have fineries and rich food as payment for further explanation. you must forgive our zealotry. our queen is a sacred being, and the desert invites attack."

His eyes are rested upon not the body of Senmut, but the body of Rashepses after giving the red prince a fast one. He waits, keeping the coyote still between their pin and command. Not once would he unlock his muscles or put a guard across his teeth. Instead, there's only a wait and his undeniable servitude towards Rashepses. As he looks, there is a tell in his eyes, a certain humor and anchored order that says: 'Waiting on you.'

He will not move without command. From his ruler.

The young noble nebet had more fire than the whole of Akashingo’s infantry, and all the kingdom had to show for themselves was a laughably disjointed front. The riverprince shot his eyes across the whipping sands to the Erpa-ha.

He saw in them a lack of action; weakness. He would not be expected to trust these tired mazoi with the life of his Queen if they so readily submitted to ridicule from a lone coyote.

“Do as the priest commands,” he orders Mesan-Ka, voice mocking.

Warning bells chime in the distance, although they may as well have been sirens that shatter the skull of the limbo-weaving jodai. Not yet did she hold the power to command her fellow mazoi; not yet, and as such, all that comes from her at first is an unruly stone glare, alight with the shimmer of golden hour.
Taking a rather brazen step forward, the hiss of her ire is cast first to the princeguards, and then to the man himself; teeth glinting as her lip peels in a wordless grimace. To Senmut, then, a look, one that damn near begs him to punish him, do something—
You listen to the priest. an utterance, a threat.
To the coyote does she soften apologetically. That man, a pointed look to the riverprince. knows not what he does. Forgive him. I would not blame you if you didn't.

"Of course, my lord."

He releases.

The coyote makes idiots of these men. Kneeling peasants, bending by rules of a taunt from a creature less than them. It's laughable, but he is no man to point tongues. The woman before them makes their kind look weak upon apologizing to the captive, who so disrespectfully mocked them prior in approach.

He is also happy to hear that this warrior woman sees the priest as they did.

A priest and nothing more.

Nothing is said to Rashepses now as he stations at his side, but the mind spoke all.