Lion Head Mesa honeywine

There was new life in Akashingo’s walls, and Akhtar should have been pleased. Pharoah and her consort had brought the next in line into the world, the ones who would eventually rule over this red land.

But all he could think of was he grew older, and he would never see those he loved again. Sure, he had those he loved here, but he would never..

He squished the thought.

Sometime into his convalesce, he’d lost little Bast. But, with the fevered dreams of the ibis head, he’d been encouraged to..take up a different path of worship. With a cats eye kohl, he had taken up something else. From Toth, to Bastet went the Hem.

He sat atop the Mesa this sunset, a bushel of fermented fruits to his side, as he considered the world from the high point he never quite felt.

she greatly missed muat-riya and eset. the time with the new royal children had been quite valuable, and her heart was pleased to see how easily the warmth of motherhood came to toula.

she determined to stay at least a month. such maladies of early cough could be handled if caught quickly enough, and the first two months often determined these things.

she helped herself to a ripened berry, settling alongside the dreary hem. "you're never happy when big things happen," tavina observed dryly.

Tavina.

As old a friend as the moon and the tides. He regarded her with a droll brown eye.

Well, the last several times something big happened, I ended up either imbibed, or watching a horse die on the throne room floor. His voice was dull and emotionless, only for a moment, before his mouth raised into a half smile.

It is good, to have new life in the palace. But it only serves to remind me I grow old, and those I loved are either gone from this world or no longer with me.

He could still remember the smell of his fur, the sanctuary he’d found in his touch. His heart ached to think of him, and yet to not think of him was an exquisite torture like no other.

her mouth quirked. that was fair enough.

they had aged, he and she, and in some way tavina was comforted not to be alone.

"sometimes i think of the same. our legacy, then, will not be in others. in children. it is what we do here today."

the sesh drank again then, deeply.

Akhtar smiled, wan but teasing, as he used a fine shoulder to bump against Tavina’s.

Now who’s being a sourpuss. He teased, the barest peek of his teeth appearing under his lip before he looked out over the Mesa again.

I would be ill suited for children. Then, a darkling secret.

Though..I think I may have one or two. Somewhere out there. Temporary madness, that.

"temporary madness." it was much easier with women. you couldn't impregnate them and they broke your heart into pieces so small not even a goddess could have collected them.

she pushed away the bitterness. "have you thought of taking a concubine? i hear that's the practice for priests. or another priestess. you know senmut just had a daughter with nazli, don't you?"

He huffed a laugh.

Who would I even take as concubine? Neb Gucci? I think we’d rip out each others throats within the day. There was no one else he would touch within Akashingo, beyond his once upon a time dalliance with Zaahira. But the Jodai was another one who would probably take him as concubine before he ever took her as one. Slung up over a muscular shoulder like a sack of potatoes, he could almost see it and snorted at the image.

I considered it, once. Now I’m more…sentimental than anything. He watched the distant horizon with open longing

I loved someone, once. They had been everything to each other, once.

"it is interesting how quickly you said gucci," tavina commented with a dry look toward her companion. another berry. two.

her veins swam with heat. 

"do you want to tell me about your love?" she offered, suspecting that she was the best ear for this particular conversation.