remembering
@Satsu's insistence that pharaoh bathe, he did so. untangling himself from jawahir, ramesses stepped to the sunwarmed, slow river etching below the mesa.
dampened, he strode out into the redstone hallways, encircled by the rich perfume of flowers which seemed always to hang in the air.
pharaoh searched for the
shabti-woman, and when he had discovered her, ramesses slowed his approach.
"you left so suddenly after i returned," he purled, sea-dark eyes glimmering in the muted light.
there had been a single sprig of flowerheads left to thrive upon the trees. she had plucked the smallest branch of this, carrying it down to where the water lazily pulsed along the mesa's edge. as she approached she saw a shimmering gold figure and was surprised, dropping the pale pink-white bouquet.
as she hastened to gather up the blossom before it could gather dust and wilt entirely, pharaoh made his advance. his comment stirred something in satsu she had no name for.
there was no saving the blossom.
yes, i.. thought it pertinent to go,
idly she pushes the remains of the little flowerhead in to the water where it bobs, then sinks. so that you could have privacy. i also wanted to know if there were others near us.
glancing up now to his face, satsu's eyes study his features and then drop to observe the slowly moving sliver of a creek.
the brush of the blossoms against her cheek brought pharaoh's lapis eyes to glow beneath the touch of Ra. ramesses did not watch the petals float away as if they were a group of small barges; he looked only at satsu, and attempted to ponder the undertone of her careful voice.
"it is not i who needs privacy," pharaoh remarked on gilded voice, melding their spaces until there was only a single parameter around the both of them.
"can you bear to live inside the sphinx, satsu?" a flash of white teeth in a grin. have i asked too much of you?
he was hard to read at the best of times, with his laughing eyes and silver-tongue. she did not deign to answer his question; if he had come to know her at all during their travel together, or even their time as allies within the strathwood, he would have his answer already.
satsu stuck with the diplomatic answer.
i learned that there is a han to the west of us. they are called redhawks.
perhaps he knew of them already? ah, but she recalled crowfeather too - and a boy who travels with a guardian, by the name of crowfeather. i met him first in the strathwood, then again by a lake near to this akataka han.
thinking of crowfeather helped satsu retain a modicum of calm now. though her cheeks turned a soft pink like those lost petals. i invited the pair of them to visit. perhaps he will stay.
but he had asked this time in sympathy. ramesses was somehow ignorant to his own arrogance, and could not understand why satsu did not answer.
they went on. she was lotus-pure against the red backdrop of their palace.
the mention of a boy sent pharaoh spiraling into a furor of inner jealousy. "they will be well attended here," he chose to say, in their game of senet that never seemed to find its end.
"i know not of these redhawks," ramesses said proudly. "perhaps the boy will be a guard in akashingo."
his voice, airy and searching. "what role would you give this crowfeather here?"
there was a shift in pharaoh. satsu took it to be offense for having ignored his question and left it at that. he could be a hot-blooded man but never cruel to her, at least in any way she would recognize. not in the manner that the pale harlot had been.
his questions were met with a thoughtful pause.
he would do well as our messenger, perhaps. he expressed a desire to hunt at our last meeting. i believe his friend may be more of a warrior, but i am unsure.
either way, they would be coming soon to visit.
i had hoped we could feed them well. i would like to show crowfeather our land.
again the blush comes, but this time satsu is prepared for it and is able to breathe deeply to contain her awkwardness.
ramesses felt the roseglow upon satsu scorch the edge of his sensibility. he knew more than ever that he must walk softly, and avoid any crudity. "did he say the name of his companion?" pharaoh inquired, closeting his ugly response behind a practiced smile.
it surprised him also that she would agree to tour this boy about? he did not truly care for the second; ramesses felt himself drawn to the low hum of who exactly crowfeather was.
"a messenger? to sing the psalms of akashingo?"
a poised pause, one warm with the anticipation of hearing her voice once more.
satsu thought back to their conversation, eyes raising to the smoke-haze on the horizon, but then she shook her head and blinked at ramesses.
i do not remember a name. i did not think to ask.
when ramesses spoke again, satsu could not tell if he was joking or if he was trying to get a rise out of her; often it was the same sentiment for both. she smiled, presuming it was a jest. maybe. or we could be left to care for the mesa while he goes to visit kynareth, if that is ever required.
remembering why the two of them had briefly been parted, satsu's amusement waned.
how was your visit?
she did not bother asking if her absence was noticed, as no doubt pharaoh had much to share.
ramesses gave a long-suffering sigh. "kynareth and nyra took to our vision here. but they will be visiting us, in one form or another, and require us to visit the canyon in three weeks' time."
pharaoh turned his lazuli eyes upon satsu. " the grandmaster seems eager to taste what honeyed berries we have gathered to our court."
"i told nyra that there was no entertainment here for her."
ramesses' mouth twitched with atrocious amusement.
oh.
this news wasn't terrible, but it certainly killed whatever good mood satsu had been trying to revive.
come here? to the mesa.
it wasn't a frightening thought by any means, but it meant that they were still under the scrutinizing eye of the daimyo and not as free as she would have liked. and to think of him visiting only to entertain himself (with someone who was not his wife!) disturbed satsu.
imagining how nyra would take to such a visit was peculiar at best; the giant woman had a temper and a distinct dislike for pharaoh, so it stood to reason nyra might appear only to break his favorite toys.
i suppose we must grin and bear their reception.
satsu's tone was lacking. she was not enthused at the prospect of having such visitors, and hoped they would at least take their time in making their official visit, so that she could spare crowfeather a sudden meeting.
a nod from his pale crown. "nyra enjoys talk of violence. a challenge. kynareth revels in flattery. we have both in jawahir and maggie."
he made no mention of satsu's role in this. and with no small amount of interest, pharaoh wondered if the shabti meant to amuse this boy herself.
an indelicate and nauseating thought, for the verdant snake choked him once more.
"he was concerned for you, your place in this court of sin. i assured him that you are distant from it as you wish."
nyra had been kind enough to her. they had scarcely any dealings within the strathwood. it was easy to see why such a person had found kinship and rank among the saints, or alongside kynareth. they were similar enough, and she imbued with a rage that kynareth likely saw as a boon to his cause.
there was nothing here to hold such a creature's interest, though.
satsu scoffed lightly, air hissing between her teeth at the mention of the daimyo's concern.
not for lack of trying from your latest,
she murmured, and if that piqued the man's interest satsu would go on to explain grimly, the pale one seems a fan of her own voice.
keeping kynareth entertained with maggie would sort out any problems satsu had, though. either the man would leave content and the mesa would remain intact, or he would grow tired of the harlot, perhaps make a meal of her.
such a dark thought had no place within satsu truly, yet she found the concept brightened her outlook.
ah, but you should hear it raised in pleasure!
or perhaps she had, and that was the reason for her discontent. "she has the bearing of a hot wind," he agreed, wondering what the alabaster waif had said to assert satsu against her.
"did she seek to bring you into our trade?" pharaoh voiced aloud, the dark cunning of his stare lighting upon the desert's flower once more.
maggie was a taste one loathed or loved. ramesses felt quite sure it would be the latter for kynareth.
no; nevermind.
satsu hotly replied, eager to drop the subject of the pale thing. this maggie. what was that short for, she wondered?
maggot.
she tried to think of others but they were mostly in her father's tongue and, well, that gets irritating to translate all the time.
satsu goes on to sigh through her nose, having clenched her jaw without thinking.
the blossom she had brought with her was now some ways along, having been towed by the current, and she looked for it again but could not find it. oh well.
but ramesses' curiosity was kindled. "you do not even loathe jawahir as much as you appear to detest the pale girl." he brushed her shoulder gently with his own, seeking to draw satsu into a confidence.
"tell me," he begged in sugared tones. "what has the little waterfowl said to you?"
he was wrong, of course.
satsu's bias against coyotes was not limited in any regard to maggie; she loathed jawahir more but could not show it, lest the creature were to spill secrets that the dancer prefer remain absent from the limelight. speaking their name brought a flurry of emotion to satsu which she contained as best she could; pharaoh was watching her so intently that something might have slipped through the cracks.
with a flustered breath satsu tried to put order to her thoughts.
she wanted to know my role here. thought i was one of your chosen.
the girl straightened, standing proud and proper with a rigid spine, as the very idea was preposterous.
when she learned otherwise, she insulted me repeatedly. i do hope you fix your broken toys now that you have come home.
not a hint of acid in her tone, but a cool simmering.
as satsu spoke in her brisk and offended formality, ramesses himself became an ember of blistering amusement. he did not mean to mock her. pharaoh wished only that he had been there to see the shock and the sear upon satsu's face for himself.
he knew she took no pleasure in their kind or his sport.
and ramesses maintained secretly a bit of surprise that the woman had not yet elegantly abandoned him.
"broken toys, my."
he turned out and looked gravely upon the mesa. it was as if for a moment he was transported back to the land of seti.
"the fire of nefertari burns in you, satsu. she too was a beauteous queen scorned by her lessers."
ramesses felt the flame of Ra ignite his soul.
"nefertari avenged herself by creating such a terror in the fellahin that they worshipped her as a goddess."
ne-fa-ta-ri...
she did not know this word. it was apparently a name.
as charming as it was to hear pharaoh compare her to some desert rose, sunfire, or whatever it was (and she did warm considerably to the thought of being beautiful) satsu remained guarded.
i do not wish to be worshipped, only respected.
she looked to ramesses then, always more serious than her friend.
it was endearing to hear satsu speak the words of his homeland aloud.
he felt her eyes upon him and turned to look into them, feeling himself drift in the nile-blue of her somber expression.
"what is worship if not a more gilded respect?" ramesses spoke with the authority of a Horus godhead; he was hawk-in-the-nest, and he himself would not take only mere respect.
must i be terrible for that respect? can i not have hold of it by default.
this was not truly a question for pharaoh. for the wind perhaps, with how exasperated satsu sounded.
shaking her head, she turns to leave him.
the next time your... entertainment, speaks ill to me, may be the last time. control them ramesses.
if ever there was an idle threat, it would fall from satsu's tongue. with a pinched expression on her face she made her way from him.
ramesses watched satsu with a shift of his eyes as she departed.
but otherwise he did not stir. pharaoh watched their sun-blessed horizon with a spark of god's-gold shining gleefully in his heart.
satsu had commanded him. had he not spoken to her of queens?
"i will remake you," he murmured to himself, "into something far greater than nefertari."
for her, he would speak to jawahir. his compelling lover ruled over that world. and ramesses adored the sense of hierarchy forming within their redstone palace.