Her sparse coat was blushed by the sand where it was shorter, wind-whipped where it grew long, as her strides carried her back the way she'd come. Between her teeth she held
a strange stone wider than it was tall, with one knobby end and one sharp end as if it had snapped during its formation; it looked more like a bone than anything, and was encased around one edge with a shiny, stony material.
She was looking for the
hem, and sought out the priest's quarters immediately.
@Senmut might have been there had it not been so late - Nazli had not realized how long she had been off on her own, having indulged herself.
So much talk of
adventures and
rising up, and she had felt bold after the party; bold enough to shirk some of her duties for the first time under the guise of doing her work for
pharaoh; now the stars were beginning to wink awake, and she was a mess.
senmut had not missed the morning prayer.
he stood atop the mesa, waiting for the dawn, waiting for the stars to surely die. only a few hours' of sleep was given him, and so he remained as tired as he had ever been.
if nazli followed his trail, she would find him upon the great rooftop, and he would turn at her tread. "what have you found?" he asked, voice warm.
She was the same tired, mindless creature as she had been reduced to by the party; sleep had done wonders and then she had ruined herself with too much work and not enough care for her own wellbeing.
He asked after the trinket.
This she laid carefully at his feet and watched it a moment.
I don't know. I thought, a stone, or maybe a gem? It is very old.
She is out of breath.
nazli drew closer; all senmut could think for a moment was how she carried the fragrance of the rich red land and of the open places she had been.
"Ra blessed your search," he said kindly, and looked carefully over the item. "it seems very old. where did you find it?" her face was drawn, and senmut indicated she should sit with him upon the thin and ratted cloth which overlooked the ramparts.
He motioned to the cloth and she looked but did not move.
There is a place -- it is like Akashingo but in pieces, and I thought those pieces were stones like the palace walls.
She adjusts the object so it sits flatly on one side and as if taking cue from it, settles on the cloth near Senmut.
I think --
a yawn interrupts her. Nazli is bashful a moment with apology in her eyes. I think it was really once a forest. The pieces align like they should rather be standing.
And this piece, being neither stone nor tree, was altogether different: a fossil from something long dead and primordial.
"i think i would like to see it." he placed the stone carefully back in her possession. "please sit down, nazli. you have not slept in days."
the young priest was gentle but firm. "what led you in that direction?" did she too hear the voice of the gods? suppose they only spoke to her when she was away from the palace.
Mmn, alright,
she hums, and carefully lays with her limbs tucked neatly, so as not to encroach upon his space.
I have tasks from our lord,
the girl answers next, and for a moment doesn't know if she should elucidate.
And... I just, went. Nothing drew me.
Of which she was aware, anyway. I can only rest a moment - the princess may have need of me, and I must visit the prince also, and later... mazoi, woman...
She was absent-minded and leaning against Senmut, her words diminishing to the soft drone of false sleep. After a few indulgent moments she woke and -- oh! Forgive me.
nazli was speaking but senmut could see her twirling up toward the dying stars. he tried to listen, but then she was leaning against him, her breath ruffling his shoulder.
"no," he said softly when she woke in her usual apology. and unbidden, his forearm went around her, perhaps awkwardly, her shoulders. "just — rest. then lay here and sleep while i sing to Ra. He will not mind, so no one else will be allowed."
Against her better judgement perhaps, Nazli felt contented enough to stay there. It was warm and welcoming the way that he held her, and she at once was reminded of the spacious bed of the priest quarters; Senmut smelled vaguely like incense now, and dust, in that sunbaked way of the earth.
Do not let me rest too long, please.
Her voice felt so juvenile for that moment. I have much to do today, and it cannot wait.
Already her eyes were half-closed, and she drowsed beside the boy. Awake, asleep, somewhere in the middle with him.
senmut tucked her against his hip.
the sun rose and he gently stood, careful not to jostle nazli.
the glow struck golden words across the edge of the world! senmut
sang.
his voice lifted through the octave of each word; it wavered with the shimmering heat that grew toward akashingo. he shut his eyes and pretended that nazli sang with him, a priestess training beneath the love of Iset.
senmut was impassioned; his brow furrowed as he offered each note in perfection to the ears of Ra. the god's light touched the young priest; he felt himself swathed in it, surrounded. his coat burned as the hottest ember as the sun bathed each hair; he stood beside sleeping nazli in conflagration.
the song did not end for eleven minutes.
when senmut slumped breathlessly down, it was to reach, to waken her.
"Ra comes to us again."
and senmut pointed to the morning, to the sea of gold spreading to every edge of the kingdom.
His voice kept her from fully sleeping, and when he called to her to wake her, Nazli's eyes opened first to slits and then carefully wider, while the sunlight touched upon her iris and filled them with blazing bronze. Squinting next through her lashes, she looked away.
The girl got to her feet begrudgingly. The cloth was warm where she had been, and the air around her now felt cold in place of Senmut's body. Her mouth opened as if to say something - commend him on his voice, perhaps - but it felt invasive to do so; this was some holy rite he performed, and Nazli wasn't some holy thing.
So instead she offered a small smile, the bow of her head - as she went to gather the object she had brought to Senmut for his perusal - and with a final glance upon him in his full golden brilliance, slipped away, to seek a servant's door.
senmut was dazzled by the caress of Ra;
but when he turned back to nazli, finally, finally, she had gone, and he was left alone in the spooling warmth, at once both filled with peace and set upon edge.