the night that tavina had come to him, ramesses himself had gone to summon @Nazli back to his side.
he had scarcely allowed her to leave despite the fact that madness wreathed in akashingo and in himself, and dulled his flesh except for sparse moments of inner fire.
he had even sent @Charles away, and now it was only the lilac fellahin who bore witness to the changes of ramesses first from pharaoh and then into a man who only raved of a sister and a land she had never seen.
senet and laughter and joking, eating, for the rest of it; he had her there to playact as though nothing was keeping pharaoh from devouring his own mind very slowly. 
he had just been ready to ask nazli what she wanted most from the storerooms when the priestess of Hathor herself called upon him, all delicate loveliness beneath her godly sheen.
"holy one," ramesses said in a low voice. "to what do i owe the pleasure of your visit?"
another loyalist to makono? the palace was riddled with them.