Lion Head Mesa from one place of sands to another

@Rashepses! 

Meant to add @Toula as well, in case she'd like to join!

it was commanded... and he obeyed. 

from one place of sands to another, Akhen traveled in service of his prince. a brother not of blood, but of soul. the two were one—a whole.

it was a place called Akashingo. his new home, or as it would become in time.

unfamiliar scents welcomed him, but the sights described to him were here. he could see them in the vast distance. 

upon the border, unwilling to cross unpermitted, he sent a call to the skies for his prince. confirmation that he had arrived, just as it had been ordered.

there he would wait in patient silence.

The royal seethed with impatience, tossing his head back over his shoulder from time to time in scan of the horizon before returning to pace the battlements. For all his restlessness, the sentries would report only that their king was giddy this day. He held his bannered tail high and heckled his men, nipping their ruffs like a sporty colt. All had been told that the truest knight from Ta-senet was due to arrive.

So it was with full retinue that Akashingo greeted the riverman— servants to shade his path with long emerald palms, decorated hems to bless his coming, and beautiful women to grace his eyes. A taste of the riches that awaited the guard within the land of lions.

Rashepses stood decorous across from his man only for the exchange of titles, his lips pressing together in broad smile that broke into a braying laugh.

“Ahken,” his bold voice resounded grandly against the red foothills of the mesa, “my brother hasn’t made you soft now, has he?”

A jest— for the golden sun of a man was still as unyielding and hard as iron in his prime. Semer-wati pulled him into an embrace that was more a tackle than hug and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

“I knew you’d find your way back to me,” he grinned, looking deeply into those familiar olive eyes. “A refreshment for the honorable Akhenaten.” A wave of his tail brings forth three ladies with three berrywines for the kingsguard to sample.

his brother comes, standing in all the glory and exuding the power in which his title now brings. not that he hadn't had it before in Akhen's eyes. always would the prince have his respect and endearment.

soft? you should know me better, he chuckles, the sound a deep, rich rumble. 

upon the embrace, it is returned just as fervently. too much time had passed. but they would make up for it. 

I will always return to you. you may be consort here now, but you are always prince of Ta-Sanet. prince. brother. friend. warrior-in-arms. so many names, yet all so fitting and true. 

do you wish to hinder me so soon? he cannot help but laugh when the refreshments are brought, despite how sweet they smelled. a guardsman is nothing, if enabled with too much wine. but he never truly indulged in this way, so the concern was nothing but feigned.

“Then be not a guardsman this day, you have the rest of your life to carry the crook as Mazoi of the Red Serpent,” the king raised his dark brows and skewered a fermented berry upon his claw, all but forcing the thing upon his man before flattening another between his own fangs.

“It’s a long way to the top. I shall see you sloshed and at your leisure by then, old friend.” Such a firm man, and Rashepses loved him for it. But he longed to hear Akhen’s gilded laughter once more. He patted him about the shoulders before moving to advance up the redstone pathway.

“I was sorry to hear about your wife,” the consort raised then in a quieter voice as the fellahin began gathering the kingsguard’s belongings and falling in step behind them.

if put that way, how he could he well refuse? 

taking the offering, he swallowed with a hum of delight at the sweet, slightly acidic flavor. these will surely have me at my leisure, brother, he mused with a laugh. 

but the mirth in his expression was gone all too quickly as he fell in step beside Rashepses. her passing was not expected... I still mourn for her, even now. 

the love they had shared could not be rivaled, for there was great passion involved. not all couples could say the same. 

but let us not dwell on sad past times now. tell me of your new wife. how does your betrothal fare?

“There is a future here for you, my friend. When you are ready,” Rashepses promised. He saw Akhen’s grief, the way he stiffened beside him. Nothing could replace a great love, but there were ways to numb it for a time. His eyes found the road ahead again.

“My Toula,” smile dimpling as he envisioned his wife. “She is unlike any woman ever before held. She has the beauty of a goddess, and the mind of one too.” A pause, he glanced inwards for the company of his man. “I did not expect to fall in love with her, Ahken.”

His guard would know that the proud riverprince from Ta-senet would have settled for nothing less than the title of Pharaoh were it not for something so profound as– love.

“We are going to change the world. But we need alliances to do so. Your alliance.”

a future. and when the time was right, he would indeed stretch to grasp it. 

love is a powerful thing, brother. it can bring even the strongest man to his knees. just as it had done to him.

I am truly glad to hear of your happiness. she certainly sounds to be a lovely woman.

from love to strategy. it took a moment for his mind to take the leap. mm... alliances are crucial. what ideas do you have?

“She makes me happy,” a grin split his lips, “and I anticipate she will carry my sons this year.”

It was no accident that more men were arriving from Ta-senet as the prospect of his wife’s pregnancy drew near. Neither was it untold how semer-wati’s mistrust extended to Pharaoh’s own sellswords. Rashepses had once promised to carve stone with water, and now Akashingo would be armed with river-bred guardians.

“The gods smile upon our kingdom. We are wealthy, with strong numbers, and a palace of opulence to the South. No luxury will be spared you, Akhenaten. Mesen-ka has risen to the title of principal lord and hand of the consort,” he faced his man, his flaxen brother, with a grand shake of coal-black mane.

“So tell me what it is you desire from life, and let me make it so.”

it is good that you are happy. the smile you carry when you speak of her is contagious at best.

Mesen-ka had come already, and he did not lack. Akhen was not one to lust after power, unlike some men. but he was also a man of the river—of Ta-Sanet. what came his way—he would not so easily turn it down. 

you know I am not one to chase. the power. wealth. titles. all of it. but when it is earned— he is careful when he slides the when in place of an if. a tread upon water, perhaps. interest was there, and he allowed it to bleed through. —I would not deny it.

I see myself at your side always, as my prince, and also brother. as long as I have that, I am content with more of anything or nothing at all.

Rashepses paused to look at him. Many men bore their titles as honors. Akhenaten bore them as scars.

“Then it is here you shall be,” the riverking promised. He did not doubt that Akhen would prove worthy of his accolades in the red kingdom, as he had in the riverlands.

Raised from the vast crest of the Lion’s head mesa, there stood the stone arch, doorway to the red palace. Beside Akhen, the king purled, “welcome to Akashingo.”

“I will leave you to get settled. The servants will bring your things and show you to your bedchamber and the wellspring. Bathe, drink, rest. Tomorrow night you shall dine with Pharaoh Toula and I.” He beamed again, the feeling of occupying such an opulent space with Akhen returned to his side was like having a piece of Ta-senet there with him. The best part of what once was home. “I’m glad you are here, brother.”