Redsand Canyon panaderia

if u have time!

pharaoh's daughter was here. @Makono; one of the princesses. belen had been sent away when they were only children. she did not think the girl would remember. it was still with perfectly groomed pelt and a fellahin's practiced grace that she went to the princess' temporary quarters. "it has been some time since i last saw you, divine one."

always <3

latin consumed her tongue in private.

if she passed the eagle, she offered a greeting in it too. it felt like a power she held now. a step above the rest, another step above those in akashingo.

to see belen here broke her of these thoughts. she hardly remembered her, not enough to say how she should feel upon seeing her. perhaps that was for the best. no clouding of judgement if she had very little established feelings to go off of.

divine one — such words had not met her ears since akashingo.

she knew this was a fellahin she was speaking to — even if this was mereo's claim. she regarded her with a practiced gaze of warmth and a small, polite smile.

do you tend to mereo now? perhaps she was a gift to lighten the spirits of rigid soldiers.

belen brightened to be addressed by the royal princess. "i am only here by chance. pharaoh sent me to the coast, to the islands. but they have gone on. i found my way to mereo by the will of the gods." belen bowed her head reverently. she wondered if she should mention crowfeather, but decided that her friend would not want akashingo at all to know of his whereabouts.

she was sent away to the coast. a place makono had only heard whispers of. the concept of a coast and a whole vast land of water was practically a fairytale.

belen had lived that fairytale.

i see, she hummed gently. thoughtful. do you intend to return to the palace and tell pharaoh these things?

makono held onto any internal thoughts of the woman depending on her answer.

belen had been prepared for this, but not so soon. she veiled her intake of breath with another small bow. "i have more information to gather for pharaoh upon where these wolves have gone." he was fond of marina, more than fond. she had suspected them together that very same night. she was quiet. would the princess command it? would she heed?

it was not a yes.

it was not a no.

makono regarded her with a raised brow now. intrigued, spinning a web around the woman in her mind.

oh?

it was all she offered now. waiting for the fellahin to tell her more. makono was here on diplomatic work, she continued that work here in the exchange between them.

she was the voice of akashingo, away from the palace.

"our pharaoh gave the island wolves gifts. not only of me, but of meats and honey and berries. they repay him with nothing. with disappearance." her voice was the smooth glissade of a courtesan. "i think that warrants vengeance, princess. but unless i search, i will not know." belen sold the lie as best she was able, deferring in all ways to the divine girl.

vengeance.

something ugly peeked out from the corner of her heart. how easy it was to feel powerful when she was the one at the helm of a discussion like that.

i understand. something bitter and ugly in her voice. not for the fellahin.

tell me all the words you would tell pharaoh. i can tell him these things when i return.

belen nodded. "it was a fantastical place. i would not be able to find the swimming route to the islands themselves unless i returned. their leader is very young, too young to have children of her own. and yet she did have children that she called hers." the young wolf mused. "she spoke of marrying me off." here the former servant gave princess a softly incredulous look. "i expect they have allies on the mainland." belen had become adept at lying. "so i will head north first once i have recovered and repaid the imperator for his kindness."

it was all that she had asked for.

the fellahin told her the words she wished to hear. an answer for every question. part of her wished to take belen with her upon return. the woman might be nice during times where nazli was too busy.

you will do me a favor while i am here, for delivering this message. there was little room for negotiation in makono's voice. even less room in her lapis gaze.

i have brought a fellahin my age, nazli, with me on this trip. i ask you to teach her things she may not already know. she should return to akashingo more knowledgeable than when she left.

she waited to see if belen may argue with this.

belen dipped her muzzle. "of course. i have learned many things i can impart." she supposed the girl was far too young to learn what kasmut and jawahir had taught her. but every fellahin must one day learn, and comprehend. "i heard of your mother. i am sorry, divine one." she bowed low.

her eyes grew half-lidded. the gaze now reminiscent of the pharaoh they spoke of.

the wound of her mother had been reopened here in mereo. time with the imperator and domina had granted her stories of a woman she had not grown to know. all of it hurt. all of it stirred ugliness.

she swallowed the lump in her throat.

a slight nod, before she raised her chin.

were you close? the imperator and lady had stories.

princess makono struggled. belen averted her eyes out of respect. "we were not close. i was her servant. she was my queen. but she was kind to me, divine one. she laughed often. she loved you and your brother and sister." her voice hoarsened, not for satsu perhaps but for all that she had known in the palace.

for a grim and bleak moment, makono wondered if nazli would speak of her in such a manner. a queen and a servant. would nazli speak of the kindness she showed the lilac girl?

she stood upright, seated herself with a straightened spine rather than the lounging sphinx position she had maintained.

she has been laid to rest. the valley of queens. makono spoke now, steady but hushed.

should you have last words she did not hear, gifts she would cherish. speak now, fellahin.

perhaps makono hoped she would have things just as much as she dreaded it all.

there was much belen could tell makono. and there was much she never would. how could she describe to the princess how she had been little more than a plaything for satsu and ramesses both? or that she had been traded to free tamar, so she might flee wherever she wanted to go. that left more than a little bitterness in the young wolf. she looked down. "your mother spoke of your grandfather and grandmother. he was very different from pharaoh, and she was strict." belen studied makono. "your mother defied them both and became more than what they thought she would be." gifts. a smile tugged at her mouth. "she liked soft things. quiet and beautiful items."

for the first time, in a long while it felt, she wished to rip up the earth.

the grief of everything was raw again. opened and marred by the words the fellahin spoke. makono had hoped that the passing of the grieving would pass hers too.

a thought she now knew to be childish.

go. find me a feather, leave it with my fellahin. it will be given when i return.

she could not turn away, in this confined space, but she hoped the forlorn look on her face was enough indication for the fellahin.

<3

belen nodded. she bowed. the princess dismissed her. "great one." she backed from the imposing presence of the young girl and was gone. but when she left crowfeather later, it would be to hunt. and nazli would discover a single wing-feather of a mountain bluebird: deep azurite and without a single fibre out of place.