Lion Head Mesa cobalt

it had been twelve days since the queen had been found in that grisly scene.

it meant that jawahir was free to return to her own children, who surely should be attending their rolework soon.

a message had come the night before, rousing the physician from her bed and to the pharaoh's throne room, where he glittered and seethed and did not sleep.

and now she had come to the quarters of the mazoi, looking for @Treva.

she lived on the outskirts these days.

she would say it was for a watchful eye of suspicious figures, she would say it was out of respect.

she lived in a restless state.

so perhaps it would have been no surprise that she tossed and turned that night, doing so as the physician arrived. treva wore a look of exhaustion, uncomfortable in her own skin for the first time she could recall.

slowly, wordlessly, she moved towards the mouth of her home.

and although she seemed aloof, she did not turn the other woman away.

the mazoi was lissome and with an otherworldly, feral character. tavina was reminded at once of why ramesses had taken such a liking to the other's looks.

"i am here on pharaoh's order." she stepped closer, away from the door, and took her voice to a lower pitch. "ramesses wishes to know if you are with child."

he had certainly acted frenzied in the moment. even now tavina remembered the things that he had said.

of course she was, treva thought. why else would she come visiting in the night?

treva's features may have hardened if she was not so exhausted. this level of exhaustion ran too deep to wear too many faces.

horrible time to have such news, isn't it?

her features grim, eyes drifting away from the physician as she stared hard out into the darkness.

"horrible for whom?" tavina asked quietly.

she took treva's avoidance as an answer. that ramesses would have other children with other mothers was a given. look at jawahir's children, the sire of whom tavina had not outwardly questioned.

she looked at the body of the mazoi, at the tiredness smeared in shadow across the appealing features.

do you think it looks good to carry the children of a man who just had his wife murdered?

it lacked her usual wit, instead it dropped, a dangling hushed question in the dark between them.

perhaps she needed to hear an answer that did not come from the depths of her own mind.

it did not look good. but tavina had been through the scene multiple times. she and the priestess qiao had investigated all the finest details of the place where satsu had been found.

if treva had been the one to poison the queen, she had done a striking job of covering her tracks.

"you carry the children of the only man strong enough to protect them against any rumours." tavina did not like ramesses but it could not be said that his orders were questioned.

the sesh straightened. "when you are the queen of akashingo, no one may question you. or the right of any of your sons to the same throne meant for siptah."

she moved forward another step. "but if you mean to be rid of them, tell me now." pharaoh need never know this part if it was what the mazoi chose.

she listened, she stewed on the words. nearly clamped her own tongue so hard it threatened blood.

then her shoulders sagged. a sigh followed. the expanse of it all laid down before her for her to gaze upon with thoughtfulness.

i won't rid them.

this much she was certain of.

they had spoken of extensions, this may have been a more welcomed thing if that had been the case. now there was expansion here in the subtle start of swelling sides.

queen.

she had used the word queen, spoken of the title as if treva now wore it — or perhaps she only meant to use it as a dangle out of reach. it was hard to tell, but regardless her gaze drifted to the woman's face once more.

does he wish to see me or only to hear the diagnosis?

treva would keep her pregnancy. tavina wanted to tell her the foolishness of that choice. ramesses would feel entitled to her own flesh in ways now that the mazoi could not understand.

but she said nothing. if she meant to bind herself to the pharaoh then so be it.

"he is in mourning. the proper time must pass. and then many things will change, treva." the sesh took a breath. "i will carry him the news. for now i am your physician. and the fellahin named sayyadina will be your personal body servant."

there was a pause. "how far along do you think you are? have you been quite ill or not at all?"

and then many things will change, treva.

change. hadn't she wanted change? now here it was in the form of a feast and she found herself too full to stomach it all.

she might as well have ceased all brain functions after that, hardly hearing the words that echoed around her.

tired, she told her softly. no illness yet, only forever exhausted by things. i had been waiting for something more. illness, further swelling, something concrete.

but now it was here, veiled but undeniable.

tavina nodded. "it will happen. rest. decrease your patrols. drink water." were these her instructions as a doctor or as a friend?

another breath. "these are royal children. when i tell the pharaoh, he will insist that they be protected. watch what you eat and do not strain yourself. and let sayyadina serve you. that's her role."

it was odd. twelve days, and here she was speaking to the next intended queen. ramesses moved quickly. but not too quickly for his own aims.

treva had thought herself wise. quick-witted and rarely outmatched.

so why, listening to these instructions, did it feel like she stepped into quicksand? no patrolling, rest easy, let another do her work. it was everything she wanted and it yet it was also all she was.

a mazoi with harsh limits on physical activity, it didn't make sense.

but she would listen.

am I not supposed to see him at all until the mourning is over?

her toes flexed, harsh against the ground before she spoke once more. this time softened by the sudden shift of her existence.

will sayyadina stay with me?

she felt exposed.

"she will stay wherever you wish."

she could not read treva's tone and so she only assumed. "i think you should prepare not to see him for a while. he is suffering and he says horrible things to anyone around him. men lash out when they are in pain. keep away until he finds control again." 

suppose ramesses should rethink and turn treva into a suspect? tavina was not even sure that she trusted the mazoi herself. but she was only a messenger, and now with the weight of royal expectations on her, the sly, pretty creature would be under even more watch and lock.

"tell no one any of this," the sesh said in a low, firm tone.

suffering, lashing out, keep away. it all read clear as day and the truth was there was as much comfort in being away as there was being near.

if she kept herself confined and away, others may whisper but they would not see.

if she stayed in the public eye, they would whisper and see.

so she would be content now. a sudden happiness to be near bedridden and have another for her physical tasks. it would be easier. she could hide and brew for longer.

i won't, and for once it was truth, spilling over that exposed heart. will you bring me something for sleep after you tell him?

it was the last thing she would ask of the dark woman tonight.

a moment passed. tavina nodded. "of course."

if not stopped, she would turn now and leave the woman alone, carrying the important news in silence back to pharaoh. akashingo lay mourning under the darkness and in a handful of hours, everyone would rise to weep again.

she was unmoved.