Luneshale Pass (BOO) Though tears can be hidden, all hearts break.

This was not her kingdom, yet she walked.

This was nowhere, a wasteland.

Yet there was a glimmer of sunlight on the horizon and, drawn towards it, as the sun rose there came a recognition. It was not the sun she followed.

A voice called softly, @Ashikaga, to some only a breath of wind.
@Makono, a humming,
@Siptah...

A glint of silver-blue, and a cry: @Ramesses —

He'd finally done it. Left the redoubt behind and headed toward the mountains. He remembered that he'd had them on one side when leaving Swiftcurrent Creek—and when he approached said side, quickly moved past until he'd crossed the highlands and left that part of the world—and his life—behind.

Now, it was time to turn and head toward the southwest face of the peaks. But first, a drink.

Caligula was lapping from the meager river that cut through this place when he heard it. Her. He lifted his head, eyes wide, water dripping from his chin.

It—she?—sounded close.

Hello? he called out, the hair along his spine bristling. The words were words he'd never heard—or were they names? Was it looking—

—she looking—

Something seemed off.

She was a silver wraith; drifting, hazy. Did she touch the earth? Her form appeared to move without striding, although mimed the motion.
Her voice called in return: Where...?
The boy, a shadow. The ghost drawn to it like a moth to flame, eager to get close, hungry for warmth.
Standing now in view of him, poised with her head high. A queen. My child... A smile draws across her face, matronly, sharp, somehow disingenuous.

her scream was fury incarnate; it broke upon the Land of Reeds and washed ramesses down into the mortal world; laughingly, in shock! he came and found himself in a place where he had never been, intrigued by gold and by sand. familiar and yet not.
but it was for her he came, his queen, his first;
gone from him, and he gone into his cups, and guilt stirred like blue mist in the heart of the shadow.
to satsu he came, and he looked with curling lip on the animal before them. "he is not your son," ramesses grinned with a tip of his kohled eyes. "do you remember the faces of your children, my shabti?"
beautiful, still; beautiful, and the gossamer edges of ramesses shimmered in grief.

It was her. Beautiful and regal, cloaked in silver, with an ethereal glow about her that he'd never seen before on any living being. She speaks, and he shakes his head—no chance he could have come from this ethereal woman—and is about to refute her words before they are joined by another.

And just as gorgeous! A man, this time, white-gold with glittering eyes. The two begin a conversation he does not understand, and Caligula sinks lower, closer to the water. Hawkish gaze shifting back and forth, watching the dialogue as it plays out.

He knows he does not belong in this moment—but he's loath to leave the otherworldly scene behind.

She chased the glimmering gold without reach, without eyes to see, or skin to feel; but she chased,
that voice that came —||shabti!—those eyes, she knew them, she loved them!

Where...? She moaned, wanting.

"a son, departed." ramesses wished to kiss satsu, and so did not wait; he swept forward to offer a brush of mouth for cheek that was wholly chaste.
"a daughter, crowned pharaoh in my name. she left."
lambent, tormented; ramesses felt his chest twist; he fell to her feet. "an eternal princess, returned to claim the birthright her pharaonic sister abdicated."
"oh, my love! for my sin, Ammit eats half my days. i asked for more; more torture! for my failure to the queen of akashingo!"

He'd all but disappeared in the wake of their reunion, and that was fine. Caligula took a couple more halting sips of water, and then began to slink away, a lurking shadow 'neath the feet of these apparitions of silver and gold.

Though, before he exited the scene entirely, he took one brief look back—for it would be a while, he thought, before he saw beings of their like again—

And the words that spilled from their mouths! So beautiful.

Pharoah. Ammit. Akashingo, he whispered, tasting each syllable like precious fruit.

Then, he was gone.

their son! yes, he walked with them; she had seen him once, and thought it a dream. a wail breaks from her!

as her husband fell, she saw over his head to the shadow of a boy beyond; she saw the way he watched them and as he departed, a piece of herself trailed after him. she felt pulled apart and looked to dissipate as her desires split her; parts lingering with ramesses, others adrift.

the spirit cried, her mouth hanging agape and stretching wider than anything, barely holding the composition of her body; and as ramesses declared his love and his failures, satsu became so untethered that she was less a shape and more a mist.

and then, his golden shape remained alone.