Lion Head Mesa gilded breath

this can be set for whenever she gets back!

ramesses swept grandly along the hallway, upon the open-air throne room. it would be frigid there; that was why he had asked kasmut along. eventually the two lay entwined warmly in his throne. this place had been the source of much pleasure; he returned often.
today he called for @Sabah to attend him, shifting his long pale body as he laughed and spoke softly with his fellahin.

The shadow came with bated breath. She had returned from her winter dalliances, washed of heat scent and secure in the knowledge that she was not found out. After all, who’d suspect the dutiful Jodai? Nobody, she was good at what she did.

But she couldn’t help but worry.

It didn’t show on her face, but it was felt in the spaces between her ribs. She moved into the open air throne room, her leg giving a somewhat noticeable stiffness to her gait. The scars did not fair well in the cold, but Sabah was forging on.

Pharaoh. Came her greeting, the Jodai dipping into a respectful bow before focusing her gaze on the gilded ruler.

"the snows will leave and spring will return. when this happens, there will be a need for two things: a nursery outside the palace walls and more guardians for inside."
"the creek near us or the meadow. i will let you choose."
ramesses, lazily fixed once more on expansion.

A nursery outside the walls, and guards for the inside.

What was Ramesses trying to make her? Captain of the guards, or captain of babysitters? A part of the Jodai wanted to scoff and introduce the Pharaoh’s face to her own hind end to see what she thought of his lazily executed expansions, while the rest of her simply wanted to say “no” and turn around to never look back.

Instead, she thought it out.

The creek is easy for water, but easy to lose children to. The meadow would be safest, in my opinion. Sabah offered, ready to switch opinions should Ramesses decide he didn’t like either option or a captain with opinions.

ramesses would have rudely laughed to hear her thoughts. "the meadow then." he shifted again, and sent kasmut away after a moment.
when he was alone with the captain of the guard, pharaoh leveled his eyes full upon her.
"should the palace be attacked, there must be a safe place for my children to be taken and protected." no mention of the others he might sire, or who might be born in this place.
but sabah understood this.

Sabah nodded, blue eyes glittering.

Of course. She said. Royalty loved their heirs, even if they spawned bastards aplenty on the side. The Jodai shuffled her weight.

Do you have somewhere in particular you would like them to be taken? She half wanted to see if asking to establish her own outpost like Germanicus would net her a swift kick out the borders, but despite her wish to see what would happen, Sabah curbed the impulse.

ramesses stared at sabah. "mereo."
the roman hated him. but pharaoh did not believe he would slay children.
"this is assuming our enemies return and all our guards as well as myself have fallen. it would be a shedding of blood that reflected the weakness of our defense."
she had already been away. did she plan to leave the queen's door as well?

Mereo.

If Sabah knew what Pharoah was thinking, perhaps she would have joined him in his laughter at her own thoughts. Queens, kings, what was it to a planned traitor.

She dipped her head sharply.

I will do as asked.

No she wouldn’t.

the man flicked his tail. "do you have no wants of your own, sabah?" he purled. sakai was loyal. the fellahin were loyal. he knew nothing of the queen's-guard nor her ambitions. it was a poor place for a royal to find himself. "it occurs to me that our young prince crowfeather needs something to occupy his mind."
he was slowly circling, testing sabah to see if she would hear the unspoken.

He was circling her, and it took everything Sabah had in her not to track his movements with her entire body. She minutely stiffened when Ramesses mentioned Crowfeather, glancing at him out of the side of her eyes. When she had left, Crowfeather could barely walk, and had that odd little thing to keep him company.

What use was a Jodai in that situation?

I don’t have much I want for myself. I’m happy in the position you gave me. She let that first question be answered before turning to the other.

Do you have something in mind for how to occupy him?

ramesses smirked and pressed on. "i think you may have to visit him. the prince is not easily motivated. he is sullen. and he is just now able to stand, with supervision. but perhaps aiding you in this architecture might brighten him."
ramesses arched his brow but turned his eyes toward the range of the sunspire. "perhaps you might use the suggestion that the roman germanicus might be prevailed upon to return to akashingo, at least for a time. i would like him to examine your choice of location for tactical retreat and protection."

Sabah’s suspicions rolled in her stomach like an eldritch sea. She wanted so many things in that moment. To run, perhaps. To sprint into the horizon and vanish from sight and mind, never to be seen here again. To watch Ramesses’s fur saturate with red blood, staining that royal facade forever more, face bedecked in a death snarl. To laugh, and laugh, and laugh like she had never laughed before, high and wild and crackling mightily in the Mesa so that in the dark corners where Pharaoh took his concubines, the sound might still echo there.

Instead of any of those things, she simply stared at Ramesses for a while, before nodding.

I can do that. Queens-guard had no reason to deny the throne.

Would you like to discuss anything else?

"no. go your way, sabah."
pharaoh flicked his tail. it was a dismissal, but not: "come to me again when you have decided where your claim might be staked."
ramesses smiled, the dangerous expression of an adder.