for
@Toula if ur not too overloaded! <3 backdated to june 26, running adjacent to
thisthis place.
these halls.
he knew them all.
their knowing was a disease upon his mind, for what he had seen and not done.
a servant escorted him willingly enough to the throne room of the girl queen.
"divine one," germanicus greeted. "you rule akashingo." not as pharaoh, and not alone.
the eagle still wondered for her well-being, toula's true power.
Toula would see both Swan and Taltos again. but first they must meet Senmut, and he could answer their questions at least. even before that, they would rest their weary heads and sleep.
does this please you, my dear friend?
perhaps he might not think of her the same way, but she remembered all of his kindness toward her in his visits. his lessons—and dancing!
and she then says, I am sorry to hear of Mereo. how… how did its fall come to pass? is it your wish, to rule another place like it?
it had its benefit, but had he been unhappy?
she could see no other way in which he was no longer Imperator other than Mereo being no more, though belatedly she realized that this had been an assumption.
"it does."
he wished to ask where makono had gone. but first he would answer the questions put to him. "the barracks became nothing. i ended my second marriage. after that, mereo dissolved and i traveled east."
the sandstone floor beneath his paws glowed as if it had been buffed.
he raised his gaze to the queen once more, noting concern in her youthful features, her voice. "i do not wish to rule again in any capacity, great one." a pause but one he swept into his own inquiry: "where has pharaoh makono gone?"
he dreaded to hear that she had reached a swift end to a short life.
how shocking, all of this! but… have you found happiness, or has that too been lost?
for all that he had listed sounded to her like sorrow after sorrow! and Toula mourned these losses for him, and thought too Akashingo had lost something with Mereo being no more.
but lost things could be found again, she remembered. perhaps this came to mind as she thought of her own loss, of sisters and brothers. it was as if he knew her thoughts, speaking her name and bringing one of them to life again.
we have not heard recent news, but the last thing spoken was that she had gone to study,
truth, all of that—it was only that the words had been spoken by a man that had then been Hem. and by now, Toula believed it too, so often had she said those words.
back to him, now—she asked with a girlish innocence, rather than one prying for information, what happened with your marriage? that you ended it?
she had not known such a thing possible! and as Toula searched now for a husband, she felt the knowing of this might aid her, somehow.
divorce? she wished to hear of marriage's end? germanicus wondered when the gentle girl had crossed the threshold of innocent wonder to the thinking of a soon-to-be woman. her voice was kind, reassuring in its touch upon his tragedy.
"i was not honest with myself, nor her. i have loved another for many years, and married twice in spite of it. of him," the eagle corrected, added, so that the young queen might truly understand. "she sent me away to find him. the rest i have said."
his eyes shone with a dozen things. "i have joined him in the eastern valley."
i have betrayed him also.
well, this was even more a surprise! but you have not married him yet?
years denied to them! why had life been so cruel? and what now did he wait for? Toula suggested in a well-meaning manner, you know, you two—you could be married here. it would make my heart happy to do such a thing for you, for all that you have done for me—for Akashingo!
even alone, even without ruling Mereo, Toula would think him at least an ally. a friend. he had hosted Makono, he had taught her, and when Mereo did stand she remembered her family hosting he and his soldiers.
fond thoughts. no dark smears upon them, her days of Amiirad had been light and sweet and good.
"i have not, great one."
and there were so many reasons for it.
and none he could say to her delicate, innocent and girlish mien. queen she might be, he could see she was still only a child in many ways.
the young ruler spoke of his wedding held here, in this splendor. germanicus did not imagine a world in which crowfeather meant to come back to this place.
"i will tell you when i have asked him," the former imperator said softly. "you devote yourself to loving others, divine one."