Lion Head Mesa shield

maybe somebody here from mereo? :)

it was obvious.

she could not ignore it, nobody could ignore it if they saw. perhaps they would play nice and pretend that her sides were not swollen and she hardly made it further than her den. although the second was more by...choice. hardly coaxed into much action beyond basic care and making sure she didn't become frail.

she tended to stick to the night for wandering.

just as she did tonight. sayyadina never seemed very far from her at these times either. kind enough to attempt to correct her whenever it seemed she might push herself too far.

although she found it in herself to stop without heeding. sitting down at the edge of the spring. eyes sealed tight as she listened the music of the night stir around her.

perhaps by now word had gotten round of his interviews.

he had given himself a respite for now. his belly clawed with hunger. the man missed ruenna and the laughter of his children. this place held many memories of pain.

he could not keep the shadow from his mind.

germanicus hunted through the hushed hallways. he came upon the wellspring. a woman was there, gently curved with an unborn presence. his mind went to his task and he approached. "may i join you, lady ...?"

"may i join you, lady ...?"

her head rolled, looking over a shoulder at the salt and pepper figure of a stranger. a soldier. he must have been one of the ones come to help with the murder.

once more she was reminded of how she looked.

she stayed seated, composed, tight upon herself as if it might hide the gentle width of her form.

treva, then she gestured loosely next to her. she may not have a desire to look at him from her seated place, but perhaps he would make it easier to converse by sitting near. you're one of the soldiers. less of a question, more of a solemn observation.

he dipped a forepaw into the water and then the other, washing them with all the aplomb of a sinking stone. she was green-eyed and delicate, with a caution to her movements he suspected was in response to her new carrying.

the imperator joined her and did not sit too closely.

"i am germanicus, the imperator of mereo, lady treva."

i know this is very short, but figure it'll be very dialouge focused once things get flowing <3

tell me of mereo, imperator.

she knew why he was here, but perhaps she could feel out information from him first.

absolutely! <3

ramesses had spoken of another queen waiting in the proverbial wings. there was a princess here reserved for a prince but if the imperator guessed, the pharaoh would take her for himself.

"mereo was initially formed as an outpost to akashingo. we routed the saints from the mountains and saw fit to hold the area for ourselves. soldiers are trained there and sent here for finishing. i expect pharaoh will also send his sons to me for the same."

it was informative enough if brief, the eagle felt.

initially.

was it no longer? one victory and they cut themselves from the umbilical cord of akashingo? perhaps the pharaoh's grandness had already spoiled her mind the way it had her womb.

you must be a trusted figure, she settled on cooly. silly thing to say. you've come to investigate a royal murder — of course you are. her eyes rolled softly to herself under heavy lids. carefully she stood only to feel exposed with the roundness of her sides, then pushed into the water.

am i next in your lineup of suspects, imperator?

the water broke around her shoulders. germanicus considered bringing the measurements of her sides to aquene. it would be the only way he discovered how advanced in her pregnancy the lady treva was.

it felt quite invasive even to have the thought.

"everyone in akashingo is a suspect until pharaoh turns his eye somewhere else."

his voice was dry. "are you familiar with the ways of royalty?" that was to ask, had she come to akashingo as a political tribute for ramesses?

pharaoh, she wondered who those gemstone eyes suspected the most.

a doctor? a newcomer? the woman who steady swelled, fit to fill an empty seat? treva had not dropped her suspicions about how others would look upon her. it was even harder to drop when the top man himself sent soldiers upon his own.

she might have been offended, if it wasn't so plainly a pharaoh move.

only barely. keep the company of them long enough and you will learn their ways.

a tight draw of her brows, shoulder deep in the water.

it did not feel deep enough.

i am a mazoi, though. i was meant for hardy work.

now look at her.

germanicus did not believe that ramesses would agree with treva's assessment of herself. she was no coarse peasant and she was the exact sort the pharaoh enjoyed.

the imperator wondered if that sort of diversion had put the lady in her current state.

his smile was quick and cool. "we have that in agreement."

"did you know queen satsu or spend time with her?"

never even got the chance to see her.

even now, on display in her carefully crafted state, did treva dare to look at her.

when i arrived, i was told she was indisposed, by none other than the pharaoh himself. then next thing i know the queen is well beyond that state and the great soldiers of mereo are called to investigate.

germanicus received this information with a nod. he saw no reason not to believe treva.

none save for the swell of her sides and the unknown man who had ripened them.

he wondered if the lady meant to flatter him. "not so great, domina. it is the duty of a good ally. akashingo's enemies are mereo's enemies."

he studied her. "the queen might have made you an enemy. they do not take easily to children who are not theirs born under their roofs."

the duty of a good ally.

is that why ramesses had once before wanted her to make sure no loyalty switched to them?

here was a man who saw fit to bring to light her greatest weakness. she knew someone would eventually turn an eye to this, who might think that she was after the queen directly.

for a moment, she had no words for his own. she had laid with ramesses before the queen passed and had not known the fruits of it until well after. what would the detail matter to him any?

i had been intended to make an outpost from here, perhaps she could spin the blinding lights some.

an outpost. it was no surprise that ramesses wanted to expand. the curiosity lay in his choice to head it.

"your current status waylaid that, i assume." his voice was even with none of the pharaoh's honeyed tones. 

the silence fell and stretched and billowed between he and the gravid lady treva.

she missed the honey drenched serpent of the pharaoh's tongue. she kept her gaze away from him, focused on how the water bounced off of too-round sides.

pair it with the grieving and i think there's little thought of expansion in the pharaoh's mind now,

maybe she was wrong. it was not as if they spoke much anymore. tended to by tavina and sayyadina.

"i assure you that widening a kingdom is the birthright of any pharaoh."

ramesses mourned now. he would not forever.

"princes are reared in opposition to one another. he may see fit to send any more sons of his to other outposts."

maybe, she explained, nearly approaching a point of being too fatigued to keep up a guarded defense. how horrible, she thought. for her body to betray her mind time and time again.

i don't know the depth of any plans he has anymore. she confessed. uncertain what more she could tell him with certainty.

perhaps all this conversation had done was illuminated her lack of knowledge here.

the tactician heard her voice and its change.

he assumed defensiveness in her second sentence.

the eagle struck.

"perhaps you lost pharaoh when you fell pregnant with his children."

the yellow eyes sought to compel her into a deeper confession.

she grew too tired for much of anything. there was a temptation to float off into the waters, to ignore him entirely and feel the weight of her own pregnancy lift off her joints.

ask what you mean, imperator.

exhausted, exhausted, exhausted.

she should have accepted tavina's offer.

treva was impressive. she would not quail before his suggestion.

her word was a command.

only it was not one he saw fit to heed. "i have my answers, lady treva." he stood and bowed deeply.

"guard yourself. you may call directly upon me even after i have left akashingo."

she turned her head and looked at him. almost as if she was only seeing him for the very first time.

a kindness in her green gaze that she did not speak of, that perhaps she did not need to speak of, to him. maybe they were not so different.

she would let silence befall her as they parted ways.