fertility ritual to bless the serpent river, the two palaces, and the union of pharaoh with consort! PP is in vaguely assuming everyone is present! this thread will be for senmut and @Nazli only; please start your own threads in the aks forum responding to what has been seen. optional: use [sc] (shmu ceremony) in your thread titles for visibility! if anything isnt clear, please message me or here on discord! because this is a very long thread, i have broken it into pieces

@Toula @Rashepses @Racharra (visibility) @Mesen-ka @Zaahira @Legend @Haizel @Tuna @Eset @Khusobek @Tavina @Inji @Kiyya @Machiavelli @Safiya @Tiye @Kheti. babies are assumed to be carried to aks & not present at this ritual; they would be inside akashingo w a nurse. any babies who stay behind in MR would be tended by tavina.

muat-riya had been summoned four days beforehand and lodged in the sprawling god-city beneath the mesa. tirelessly had the servants toiled, preparing a feast for the celebration desired by their beloved pharaoh, decorating the bower at the serpent river with many armfuls of new blossoms; indeed, even the very shallows of the sacred water lapped with hundreds of petals by the time that the hour was announced.

these four days were sacred. only fish from the river itself were consumed, eggs preserved in cool moss and carried swiftly up to pharaoh and her Gilded Consort. each mouthful was dedicated to Min, each offering of roe a invitation for the royal pair’s retreat to royal quarters and often. a competition was encouraged among the fellahin to see how many gifts of fish-eggs one servant could bring in a day to either divine one.

in contrast, high priest and high priestess kept away from one another. senmut had resisted the urge to welcome nazli when muat-riya had arrived, instead devoting himself to long and heated prayers. for three days, each would fast alone. and on the fourth, each would be purified separately, washed to every inch of foot and fur, sprinkled with petals of the sacred yellow lotus, anointed with mica-dust, kohled, decorated;

senmut’s heart raced all the while.

as the earth welcomed renewed bounty beneath the turning of the sun, so should their ceremony reflect such. fresh fish, spring-greens, and round fruits would be part of the feast. shades of blue welcomed the touch of rain, and scatterings of red flowers hoped to evoke the desire among the river-gods that would keep fecund the land of akashingo.

the hour was called, that the procession be called together. from the cool depths of akashingo their column would emerge into the hot light of high noon, led by hem and hemet. undoubtedly would the royal ones come after. senmut sang out, light-headed in his hunger despite having kept himself well-watered, almost euphoric to feel the caress of Ra’s gaze;

Min! god of laughter and the lettuce-plant,
god of husbands’ desire and wives’ eyes wanting their men,
today i am You! today Min dances upon jesting step;
today He is bold! today His laughter has brought down
the jeweled eye of Iset upon Him!

and such was nazli, the lilac-glow embodiment of that goddess for this rite, for this day

for eternity, in the eyes of senmut;

and he was captivated.

the throng, lifted by singing, moved down the flower-strewn sands to the river, which billowed with spring-rain, and seemed to lift as if in answer to their hymns.

here only nazli and senmut went on; the others looked on, and he stood aside. his voice became a caress; his kohled eyes watched; would she dance? would she sing?

Tefnut! Sopdet! Bastet! Hathor! Khum! Sobek! Osiris! Renenutet! Heryshaf! Tawaret Mesenet! Amun!
Amun!

the blood of a white heron was shed upon the waters of the serpent. bundles of min’s-lettuce were broken, and tossed among the throng; laughter was encouraged as the plants were rather gifted with small pricklings. but the liquid given by shattered stems was suggestive as well as cooling, and he found himself jubilant.

a gentle rosy wine caught in two curved shells waited for hemet and hem upon the edge of the bower. deceptive in delicate hue, the drink had been made many weeks before from the early, tart fruits and left in a darkened storeroom. prior to its careful caching, however, poppyseeds dried atop the mesa beneath the eye of Ra and crushed were mingled with the pink depths, along with a precise dose of that soft laceleaf plant, potent in its reverent dedication to inner vision.

senmut at last sang into the dark eyes of his lover as they ascended the smoothed barkwood rise which had once been a great tree standing beside the river;

come to me, Iset.
Your praise is among all who know
Your sustenance is life-giving.
come to me, Queen of All Eternity.

wind played upon them both. senmut drank from one of the shells and was silent for a long moment. such was not a requirement, but as the pulsing rose of the sacred wine spread through his limbs quickly, encouraged by his fasting, his jubilance grew into euphoria.

how golden the light of Ra!

how azure the flowers strewn at his feet, and around their chosen altar!

and nazli! nazli! lit from within as if heaven’s-light existed too in her, and she was Iset, and the goddess was Her;

Min opened His arms to the gilded figure of splendid power, admiration and longing shimmering aureate around him.

there was no world save for Min and Iset.

no world save for senmut and nazli.

it was with two voices he beckoned her, with two souls he kissed her; it was as man and as god that he caressed Iset and felt their warmth mingling among the cascades of blue flowers, until it seemed they burned against the open sky for endless eons, and he felt Amun strong upon him, the golden Life Spark growing cosmic and unfathomable between their own celestial bodies.