Lion Head Mesa Chrysanthemum

There is no one to tell her no.

The princess Merneith takes full advantage of this. Outside morning and evening prayers, she keeps her own schedule, confined most days and nights to the archives, rifling through ancient documents. Ornate artifacts please her eyes but it is the musty records which acquire the most attention, and the magic forged within their scripture.

The hours tick away into slow darkness.

The amiirad blinks against her languor, inexhaustible.

pharaoh and Consort remain in the sands.

the children grew apart inside this darkened palace.

senmut bowed low before prince khaemwaset, frowning slightly as the boy stormed away.

princess merneith was quieter; she pored over the old curios of another time as the earth grew still and cold outside the mesa.

"queen treva, forgotten dowager mother, she once asked me who i favored among the gods." his voice was hushed among the stacks, the glossy fall of long lore. a smile was light on his face below the eyes which worried for the amiirad. "would you care to know the hymn i taught to her?"

Traces of Khaem leap first into her nose. The intensity after so long apart sends wave after wave of sorrow through her body. She remembers his eyes that night– how even in betrayal they glittered more deeply than any stowed jewel within these annals.

The princess turns her gaze northward, using the hook of paw to brush dust from the honey-gold brow. Her mother’s loyal priest is welcomed among the amassing monuments.

“I would very much like to hear it, erpa-ha,” she invites, glad because it gives her something to think about other than the mess of confusion that has opened up in her chest.

Her attention in full rests upon the pastoral wisdom of the prince.

"i told the queen that i had worshipped Wepwawet, among others. but He was my first patron."

palm raised to the gilded wisdoms, the scrolls; he felt their power and in him began the reverent alto;

"Wepwawet, wep em wawet,
dua iyiek, dua peretek
Wepwawet, wep em wawet,
wep merut ibi."

"Wepwawet, open the way,
praise Your coming, praise Your going.
Wepwawet, open the way.
open the way to my heart's desire."

once more he sang the ancient words, resonant with power as the princess watched on.