Lion Head Mesa kusuri 薬

this was one of the few times satsu had crossed the threshold in to ramesses' sanctum. the first had been more of a shock to her system. the scent of his love nest was made bitter now with the dulling of herbs and blood.
followed at the hip by @Crowfeather, satsu was again all business.
@Ramesses, my friend says he is capable with herbs. i have brought him to tend to your wounds. it was not a question; the injury would need a more proper dressing, and satsu would not allow pharaoh to protest this.
nodding to the dark boy, satsu stepped aside so that the two could converse - or tend to the wounds - and faded in to the background; she would be present to fetch for things, seeing as both fellahin were predisposed at the moment.

pharaoh was weakened from blood-loss but no less irascible. satsu brought to him the dark and pretty boy called crowfeather, and he was content to see the young one separated from the soldier.
"when you have tended me, go to maggie. it was she who was harmed most." he assumed that satsu had bid her plucked from the sand and carried to one cool stone room or another.
in his heart, he was worried. but outwardly, ramesses disallowed himself to truly care.
"will you come closer? i do not intend to tease you again," the royal assured crowfeather, shifting upon his plush bed of collected furs atop soft branches.

The shadow followed a new shape, one that did not feel as though it fit the mold of his dark form quite as well. As Crowfeather walked alongside Satsu, he did not speak to her. The seer’s mind was trained on the image of Germanicus, joyously filled with wines and sweets, surrounded by pleasures Crowfeather could never have offered him.

What right have you? What right to that man or his body? Crowfeather felt the hot sting of shame rise in him again just moments before they had arrived at the lapis-eyed wolf’s lair.

Pharaoh, Crowfeather offered with a lowered muzzle. There was little life to his words. He only wished to busy himself. Yet the man's voice and the thought of his piercing blue eyes was enough to send a shiver down the dark wolf's spine. 

Crowfeather approached as he was told.

Hold on let me fix this. I'm so sorry I didn't wait. I didn't do so poorly. ^^;

satsu remained close against the shadows of his bedchamber. ramesses was free, then, to turn his attention to crowfeather in completion.
he turned his head to and fro. "nyra was sure to mar my face. i do not intend for these cuts to scar."
a pause. ramesses lay upon his bed and allowed crowfeather to begin his work. nearby, satsu had silently set the herbs and skins and other physician's debris for the boy's use.
"the queen of akashingo favours you, crowfeather." ramesses settled more deeply into his furs. 
reclining upon his back, pharaoh lifted a paw into the air, then dropped it back toward his chest. "where is your companion? it did not escape my notice that he slept long into the morning."
ramesses was determined to have himself known in all ways.

Satsu had provided items for him to use. Some of them were not familiar to the dark boy, or they were herbs that he had never seen in the Starsea. Still, there was more than enough there to tend to the damage that had been done to Pharaoh’s face.

The shadow winced slightly when the man stated that he did not intend for the injuries to scar. That was not pressure that Crowfeather would wish upon anyone he knew. He was much too nervous about this to have heard what Pharaoh had said about Satsu and her favors.

A distant glaze swept over his features at the mention of Germanicus.

Germanicus is away to deliver a message to the Redhawk Caldera and Brecheliant wolves, Crowfeather stated quietly. He began to chew at the leafy items until he had made them into a thick goop.

the lazuli gaze sharpened silently. crowfeather turned away and ramesses watched the sable boy fill his mouth with leaves. he would not respond then, for a time. pharaoh saw no reason to end his sportive searching. he was flushed with pleasure that satsu had separated the two after all, and closed his eyes.
"my court is in need of a physician," pharaoh said affably. "i will even offer your companion employ as a guard and messenger."
ramesses lifted his chin, exposing the poured cream column of his throat.
the lapis eyes were closed as he slowly swallowed, testing the resolve of the sullen young wolf.

The dark wolf’s mind was filled with images of Mothwing, crouched down in her cave as she gazed into a vibrant purple flower that smelled strongly of peaceful times. Crowfeather was barely listening to the man speak, the offers that were made.

When the dark wolf turned around to apply the medicine to Pharaoh's muzzle, he looked the man in the eye only once.

We are all in need of something, Pharaoh.

Crowfeather did not wish to remain in Akashingo any longer. He hated it there. He hated everything that had happened while they had been stationed on the mesa. If he had the courage to, the seer would have spat on the ruler’s paws and never looked back.

I am no medicine wolf, and I travel with Germanicus, the shadow stated shakily. I will go where he goes. You would do well to appeal to him and not… his lesser companion. The Pharaoh’s words hung thick in Crowfeather’s mind.

ramesses had made the offer indirectly; crowfeather had seized it and rejected it at once. a medicine wolf. what a quaint term for so important a role. the boy's eyes had been haunted. he had not come easily to akashingo, and now it seemed he would not stay.
"what makes you believe i think him your superior?" pharaoh tossed back, lightly.
his features smoothed. "you do not trust me, even after you heal the wounds nyra so recently left." but he did not judge with his tones, nor seek to malign. only to know.
"in the hot lands where i was born, physician to pharaoh knew not only healing, but poisons. sleeping draughts. the taste of things put in meat to sicken his king. it was only by the work of physicians and astrologers that my father survived a great illness."
the dark-sea eyes rested soberly upon crowfeather. "i have only respect for those who know medicine."

You saw him for what he was, Crowfeather answered honestly, his voice brimming with the care that he felt for Germanicus. A royal, deserving of favors fitting that role. When the dark wolf looked to the Pharaoh, it was only with sadness.

The ruler said that Crowfeather did not trust him, but that he still worked to heal his wounds. The seer frowned softly at this, thinking it curious in a different way. He thought back to what Pharaoh had said before, that he had saved Crowfeather from a terrible fate at the fangs of the woman from the Saints.

You saved me from the woman who wished to harm me. I am repaying a debt in the way I know how.

Could it be that simple? Crowfeather hoped so.

I too have respect for those who can heal. I merely know a few tricks, Pharaoh. I am not the wolf you are looking for.

"if he wished to be an emperor he would have lived as one." ramesses did not know why anyone would choose that sort of meager life, or why a man so young would choose to cast his life away running after.
his gaze lifted to where he thought satsu might still stand, if she had not long ago slipped away. "i will press you no more, crowfeather. but i will not be beholden. we will end our time together on equal footing."
ramesses closed his eyes, the day's exhaustion beginning to sweep him. "satsu will show you to your quarters, i am sure. i would ask you to stay until maggie's ... state ... is decided."
he had more to ask, and more to say, but not to crowfeather.
"avail yourself of any herb or object you need here in the mesa. you need only ask one of our servants, and it will be provided."

remembering finally that maggie had not, in fact, been returned to her hollow as pharaoh wished, satsu took the time to slip away. the boy could tend to things in relative peace, though in the back of satsu's mind she wondered about what exactly would be talked about in her absence.

she looks down upon the tucked body of the pale thing, marred now by a great cut to her face, and finds little joy in touching her. she does not lift her as daintily as might be required.
maggie is, eventually, returned to her room - a little bruised beneath that pristine coat of her's, but intact. as satsu is stepping away to make for the realm of ramesses and the boy, she pauses, and with a frustrated sigh returns to maggie to adjust the herbal patchwork on her head.
plumping some rabbit furs together for her head.
good enough.

as satsu returns she catches the fleeting glance of ramesses, out of breath and inattentive to what is being said. the dressing on his face looks much better than what she'd attempted, earning a brief expression of relief across her face.

The dark wolf would have been a fool not to see how charming Pharaoh was with his words. Crowfeather wondered if this was why Satsu had agreed to wed him, for Germanicus also carried word of their wedding celebration on his tongue.

The shadow did not wish to think about how much he missed the stern features of the older man, or the harsh glint of his yellow gaze.

Yes, Pharaoh, the shadow said quietly, bowing his snout toward the ground. I will come to check on your wounds tomorrow. I have left you with herbs that will help you sleep deeply. They needed to say nothing more to each other. Crowfeather slipped from the ruler’s den with a shudder and set his mind toward Maggie.

ramesses had not seen satsu leave, but her azure gaze caught his eye upon her return. crowfeather remained solemn. his obedience was a deep pleasure to pharaoh, who watched him go for only a moment.
satsu, shimmering quietly in the dimmed light.
"were you worried for me earlier?" ramesses asked quietly, with little of his usual humor. the lazuli stare searched for her features, and he lifted a paw to beckon her closer. "was it affection for your co-explorer or something else, for your husband?"
pharaoh had many hungers. only one might be sated tonight.
he waited for satsu's answer.

as crowfeather departed, satsu wondered if she should follow. maggie remained to be tended and that alone curbed her desire, so she watched him vanish down the corridor and then turned to look upon ramesses, ears turning to his voice.
she draws closer and then settles to her haunches, breathing in the smell of herbal paste.
i was worried for akashingo. which was the truth, one she shared in that same chilling manner as she'd given her orders earlier, unable to warm herself up given the chaos of the day.
softly then, you are not my husband yet.

perhaps it was the weight of the day, but ramesses found himself barbed. he suspected, assumed even, that crowfeather's presence had something to do with this sudden reticence. had she not tended him for the remainder of the day?
"if you have changed your mind, our invites have already been sent out," he reminded satsu, closing his eyes and shuttering himself away. "i would take pleasure in sending the roman out again, however." 
good then, that they both thought of akashingo first.
pharaoh's silence would do well enough for her dismissal.

no, she shot back to him, breathing deeply, tasting the herbs in the air and feeling ill from them. i gave you my word, i intend to keep it.

his glib response earned a little shake of satsu's head, which had begun to throb with a low grade ache. all of this worrying and running about, fearful of nyra's return, concerned for the sake of her betrothed, embarassment even - for the sake of crowfeather now serving them rather than the other way around.

a visit, spoiled.

crowfeather may need more supplies. i will go aid him, but if you need anything - she gave him a focused look, hoping the worry did not crack through the icy veneer of her features, though satsu's gaze looked a touch watery. she turned after and made to depart.