Lion Head Mesa Sessho-seki

Open to three others max. Who wants to solve a mystery? References: @Akhtar @Ashikaga @Siptah @Ramesses (Think of this as a DnD event - participants will be pm'd details if clues are found)

All was quiet; the girls in their quarters, the boy with his father. Sunbloods, each.

The queen had stepped out for a breath of air.

The corridors of her palace abuzz; fellahin doing their many duties, with a priest idling near the throne room - awaiting permission to enter.

They move like a mound of termites. Constantly busy with work, with plots, plans and schemes.

When Satsu does not return swiftly to attend her beloved husband, someone is sent to find her. When found, it is a grisly sight.

Sprawled across the plinth of her ascension (to wife, to queen, to mother). Mouth agape; foam creeping thinly upon her black gums. Eyes staring eternally towards the sun.

A piece of cured meat lays discarded, barely touched, in the dirt. Scattered along the path are tired petals meant to decorate the space. Not a drop of blood to be found - but no life, either.

siptah was with him more often each week. pharaoh found himself rising earlier with an anticipation he would not admit, to walk the halls upward with his son and heir, to meet akhtar there for the rites which welcomed the sun god.
satsu had not come this morning. ramesses had thought it would be a lovely portrait: pharaoh and queen and prince, strolling the red land outside the palace, ever-attended by dutiful servants.
it seemed no longer had he sent a coyote to find her that the poor thing skidded back to him, eyes wide and throat almost stoppered by a scream; that the royal lady was dead and there was no sense of who had done it.
ramesses stared hard at the fellahin and then he was running, racing, upwards toward the open-air throne room and —
"satsu?" his voice, garbled, gone to nothing; he crouched over her and found his heart pounding in head. pharaoh's gaze searched round for any sign. if siptah had followed, he did not know it. ramesses cried out a great and mournful cry that carried through all parts of akashingo.

a cry rent the redsands. qiao paused from tending the sparse garden plot she’d made, long ears swept in the sound’s direction. 

with dirt still dusted upon her shins, qiao came across ramesses. beneath him was a still body. 

at first, qiao assumed it the simple corpse of a fellahin killed in the throes of passion. yet ramesses’ composure spoke otherwise, for what king mourned the death of a whore?

 qiao’s expression changed from flat to cold as she stepped close and observed it was not fellahin, but the queen. the flecks of foam along satsu’s lips told it all. careful, my king — do not go close to her mouth. the hemet urged, waiting for his go-ahead to inspect satsu.

@Qiao stepped closer. ramesses shot a shaking look toward the hemet, but bowed beneath her power. whatever she needed would be given. he was stricken again to look at satsu. "what do you believe it was?"
what poison?
did not the wives in the harem do such to one another? had not his own birth been engendered by such a death? children and she-wolves died in these places, bidding endlessly to place the son of their family's lineage upon the throne.
but there was no harem here. she had been free. unfettered. 
who had sought to kill her?
"i want to know of any deceit among the fellahin," he growled after a moment, stepping back.

Sayf had arrived with Qiao as he had been helping her in her garden as he often did. The pharaoh's cry had sent chills over his entire body; he knew only something terrible would elicit that sound from his master. 

He had been stunned into silence when they arrived, pushed into the background while his mistress talked with the pale god. The queen lay dead just feet from him, when he had seen her alive just the night before. He didn't understand how or why someone would harm Satsu. 

Ramesses' growled demand had Sayf focusing on him. That he would jump automatically to the fellahin was understandable, but his words still sent a a stabbing flash of hurt thorough his heart. 

The hebsut stepped forward. I can help with that, he offered. Anything to assure his master that he had nothing to do with this.

qiao waited alongside sayf for ramesses' blessing. the king was visibly rattled.

when he bowed his great head and stepped away, qiao rushed forward. of the scenery, she drank in everything. a deep draught of breath first: what were the scents here? what did the air taste like?

she closed her eyes.

satsu's body burned in her mind. she pushed it away.

scents of something floral hung along the fringes of her awareness. when qiao opened them, she saw faint footprints in the dirt.

ramesses was besides her, his outrage glowing as his voice bounced fearsome down the corridor.

the meat -- the meat! qiao sniffed it curiously, unwilling to test it. my king, i do not know. but give me time to study this. qiao's gaze flickered to sayf knowingly. her trust in him was implicit -- or as close to implicit as she could give a male.

she took the piece of meat gently between her paws, frowning. it was properly cured with no immediate trace of tampering -- and yet, a faint odor lingered she could not place. bundling it between her peltskin, qiao rose. my king, in times of crisis often your gut instinct is the truth. but do not say it! her gaze flickered between each party. :if there are those who wish to kill our queen, there are those who wish to listen in to our conversations. i will take this and study it at once. it is my advice you close this room to any outsider, my king -- there are clues here we have yet to find. whose tracks are those, over by the petals?::

ramesses found himself pierced to hear and to see sayf. poor, loyal servant, to hear his master so disparaging. but the moment of empathy was easily killed and covered by a new wave of grief. pharaoh nodded grimly toward the priestess. "involve tavina." a pause. "and maegi. they will be knowledgeable in specific ways." a hint, to tell qiao he would not blurt aloud.
and still he was not suspicious, for in his mind ramesses had searched among them all and found no reason for deceit. satsu had been delicate but not cruel, and she had not been given the time to amass the tyranny of a true dowager queen.
he wanted to turn away. he did not; he remained near the doorway, glowering at the entire horrible scene as tears strangled his throat.

Sayf met his mistress' gaze and stared back with a knowing of his own. He would need to find some way to move the meet to her quarters without ingesting any of it himself. Maybe in a pelt or something. 

The pharaoh seemed to ignore his offer, which filled his chest with a pain so intense, he thought he might vomit. He wondered if his master would ever trust him again—the idea that he wouldn't made it difficult to breath, though he tried to keep the escalating panic to himself. This was not the time nor place. 

Instead, he would wait silently for instruction.

one last look at the queen before qiao nodded and spun on her heels. maegi and tavina would be called to in short order. for now she thought deep of every soul to walk these halls.

who?

she turned to sayf, who appeared to have shriveled in some way. it would be best not to carry this with your mouth. she turned and searched the room, producing a peltskin used as bedding. if you can bring this back to my quarters, sayf.

then she turned to the pharaoh, who remained stricken with grief. my lord. with a curtsy, qiao bowed her head and left.

he was left alone.
"oh. oh, satsu," and ignoring of all protocol, he cast himself over her and gathered her stiffening body close.
she was not beautiful in death; her countenance had been marred and twisted forever in horror and agony.
"i will avenge you, my sweet," he moaned aloud, tears pouring down his face.
ramesses howled his rage to the seven directions.