Khusobek did not inquire further about her loss. She did not want him to. Really, she was grateful; for once, she had not been looked at with the saucer-eyes of pity, of discomfort.
But what he did offer was talk of Osiris, and that made her soften.
He was murdered, too, yes?
she thinks of Akhtar, of what he told her of Akashingo's scripture. By His brother. Set.
her lower eyelid visibly twitches as she speaks, low and husky. She thinks of Khaba, of how he should perhaps learn from Set's wrongdoings — these were his gods, once.
I speak to Him, sometimes, Osiris,
and then, a heavy sigh, slouching as she leans her back against the terracotta. I ask Him to tell her things. I think she would have liked Akashingo.
She lets the air fall silent. Man and woman, soldiers in arms, a shared goal. Her head tilts upward to the gilded ceiling before her eyes fall upon the Mazoi once more. Tell me, Khusobek,
there's a flicker of intrigue, a raise of eyebrows. A burning, boiling question sits on the tip of her tongue. are you from here?
He was a gift, he says, and at that, a soft grin tugs at the edge of the aspwoman's mouth. She dips her head, chin resting against her chest before it raises again. I did not know Akashingo's reach was so broad,
she comments, a gruffness to the shell of her voice as it bounces off the catacomb walls. it has many connections. And it is weird, being foreign in such a place.
Her nerves have given her a prickly feeling in her toes. It feels odd to openly disclose her non-royal blood; the fact that it is quite the opposite. Sinir was a woman of the great bay on the edge of Kyneswood, wild and stained with seasalt. She spoke little and had even less to lose.
And Zaahira, well—
May I ask you something else?
and if he were to accept, she then inquires with a crease to the edges of her eyes, are you lonely, Khusobek?
He thinks it as an offering of her body. She had already given herself so eagerly to Akhtar, and though she and Selena had no exclusivity even while she was alive — the thought of another pair of paws touching her was sickening.
For now, at least. So she gives him a Maybe someday,
with a flicker of knowing.
I am not so lonely anymore,
she shakes her head. it is hard to be lonely here. So many faces. But the Lake was very.
a grimace snakes across her features, and she feels as though she cannot swallow.
She was no stranger to loneliness. But that was not her life anymore, was it? Now, her life was keeping watch over the angry fist of a man she once called her savior.
I heard word the Divine One is searching for suitor,
at that, a chuff, and a lift of a forepaw to her chin. I worry for her. What men would do to her.
Senmut?
Eyebrows raise in disbelief, eyes of fire suddenly lidded and squinted as if Khusobek was playing a joke on her. Senmut was... well, he was far from unattractive, but the mere idea of him lying with a woman seemed unimaginable. And he seemed a little old for her, she thought; an imbalance of power in more ways than one.
I never thought him a romantic. And not towards The Divine One,
a breathy chortle, as if she had blown smoke from her nostrils. but maybe I am mistaken.
She thinks of the potential men who were sure to come from miles away in search of Toula's hand. She thinks of the men who had already come; the ones here already, and wonders how many of them have underlying motives. And in Zaahira, a sickness billows and boils and curds in her stomach. Her Queen, being controlled by a testosterone-fuelled iron fist, not unlike the way she had been by Khaba—
Senmut did not seem the type to wish harm upon her; no, not at all. But would he love her the way she deserved?
How strange.
Zaahira finds herself intrigued. She senses distaste toward the Erpa-ha, though she cannot place the reason for it. Jealousy for his position, his royalty, his potential marriage to the Queen?
Evidently, Zaahira drinks from it. The cogs of her mind turn, and she points an inquisitive gaze at him. It makes sense,
she comments. political marriages. Perhaps it would be better to have a shared goal over being in love.
Again, she thinks of Akhtar. She had given her body to him beneath the shadows. But that was not love. She wonders of the potential for herself to be placed in marriage by the palace. As one of few female Mazoi, however, she could not think of herself as particularly valuable.
The ones who do not bluster are dangerous, he says, and to that, hickory ears turn about. What makes you say that?
Have you ever thought that perhaps some are merely humble?
Perhaps a rhetorical question, one with an upward shift of an eyebrow. In Greatwater, the pursuit of power was constant. If you did not fight for it tooth and nail, you were punished. A violent, blazing lack of camaraderie, perhaps not a structure of society that was built to last. Backstabbing, manipulation, bickering; teeth to skin, claws to chest. Blood drawn.
And it had ended in death at the hands of a cruel, weathered man.
I will keep watch,
she replies with a curt nod, turning herself so that she did not have to face him. Men could be crude; relieve themselves anywhere. She did not want to find out whether or not this even implied his going outside.