Lion Head Mesa mirrors

It was rare for Nazli to be indisposed and separated from the princess, though it did happen on occasions such as this, as the girl was sent on a small errand by a wayward fellahin away from the palace. It was meant to be short, sweet, quick.

Being among the scrub-grass and in the open air, it felt as if she were still on the road to Mereo. The sun was fully formed above the horizon line and climbing. There was a thickness to the air that smelled almost foul and certainly not normal; however, Nazli did not care.

She took great pleasure in running down a little bird and was fortunate to find a lizard also, which tried to scurry beneath a slab of stone but was not quick enough. Her girlish features had almost entirely been shed by now. Her stride was long, her body lean.

When next she is spotted by a patrolling mazoi it is with her prize pair hanging from her teeth, her sparse coat hewn with dust, returning by way of a servant's passage which cleaved close to the royal hall.

senmut himself had snuck away to the river. 

he sluiced water over his limbs, his muzzle, his head. his voice was a steady muttering of various prayers, eyes closed as he turned his face to the sun.

water droplets tumbled from his fur, shining like golden coins. 

when he looked up it was to spot the retreating form of a servant girl. the hem dried quickly and followed her, catching up in the passage. "you are nazli, are you not? the favourite of princess makono."

Further up the passage was a turn towards a store room, and along the other side of the wall there were small divots carved in, to leave ledges for decorations.

Nazli kept the lizard with her as she walked but when she came to this turn, she placed both things down and began to arrange the feathers of the bird. Plucking the cleanest ones, placing some upon one ledge or another.

A shape came creeping up behind her. It spoke her name, it spoke of the princess, but in all she heard little of it and spooked readily. A nervous energy frisked from her tailbone to her shoulders, prickling everything up in a wave. Oh! Y-you, you startled me, as was clearly evident.

It was the priest-boy; her darkening eyes caught his face and then averted to the half-plucked bird at her feet. Bits of feather floated in the air or caught in the furs along her face.

I am Nazli, yes? Did he require something?

she was pretty, more than that: she was lithe with a coat of striking lilac cream and dark eyes. but as he looked at her, he saw they were warmer, the color of deep granite.

the hem was staring. he dropped his eyes and cleared his throat. "sorry. i did not mean to startle you. i am senmut, the new priest. well. i will be a priest, that is." his eyes moved back to her face. "i was wondering if you would help me move some stacks of red reeds to the top of the mesa." it was heavy work. he could have asked the sanpin.

She was already orienting the rest of the bird as he spoke, a servant's habit to keep busy at all times, as well as to keep from looking at him.

This was the boy who wouldn't look upon the princess but Nazli could feel him staring now, and was thankful the corridor was not well-lit here.

Of course. I must attend to these first, but... A sweeping motion to the bird as well as the lizard off to one side, briefly, as she collects them. I will be only a moment!

She gathers her kills and with a quick dip of her head, pardons herself from his company. As she hurries around the corner she leaves a flurry of feather-puffs in her wake which dance like motes of dust; she is not so far that he wouldn't hear her organizing in the store-room.

After a handful of minutes, she reappears a touch disheveled but empty-handed and alert, with a thin smile for him. Um, lead the way, sir.

senmut waited awkwardly in the hallway as nazli danced off, ears twitching to hear her rummaging in a room he could not see.

when the servant girl returned, it was with the smell of the storeroom laying over the scent of dust kicked into the air. the fragrance of desert places. he turned on his heel and led the way to the priests' quarters, near where the mazoi denned.

there were six bundles of reeds, unwieldy and long. senmut gave nazli an apologetic look before he took one in his teeth. their path would wend out and up, with several bends where the reeds would scrape and catch. their reward for the first bundles was to come out into the golden, ever-present light of Ra. senmut set down his burden and drew a breath of delight.

The bundles were easy to spot. Nazli wondered who had tucked them together so neatly. When the boy glanced her way Nazli smiled awkwardly a second time.

Grabbing one, hoisting it (thankful for her new height), she followed. He decided where they'd place the bundle, and then there was a pause as they collectively recovered.

Out here beneath the sun, he was radiant. There were strong cinnamon notes to his coat that set him apart from the typical coyote-blood of the fellahin, and a strength to him that reminded Nazli of the princess; she felt suddenly quite ugly herself.

Without word, she turned to head back for another cluster of reeds.

down for more reeds, up for others. senmut saw she worked as hard as any else. the difference in their ranks, for now, was not so great.

but one day he would be a hem. and she would still be a fellahin. he did not care for this, even as he accepted it.

when at last they finished, senmut strode some feet across the top of the palace. "this is where akhtar did his embalmings." his voice was reverent. "it is the first place Ra steps when He rises."

The girl was almost out of breath. It was harder work than she had expected, but it had thrilled her to be of use. Her body had adapted well to the life of fellahin since that was her limited birthright but in that instant, she felt almost powerful, as if she had been a conquering mazoi. Alas, they were only reeds!

Em, embalmings? It was not a word she knew. It puffed out of her as she gathered herself. Flustered as she was, her curiosity would always be stronger.

"when one has died, you take the body. you remove its organs; you wrap it in cloths and amulets. there are — certain prayers to be said." he tilted his muzzle to the low stone plinth, now empty. "the body takes seventy days to dry here beneath the eye of the Sun God. and then it is buried."

he studied nazli again. the sunlight played upon her ivory-cream points and lit the fairy-blue in her coat to gold-tipping.

he realized he had never looked at the princess half so directly.

"hem akhtar did it first for someone called maggie. and then the late queen satsu."

It sounded similar to the preparation of a meal - what a ghastly comparison! She could not help the thought; her belly felt as if it bubbled in protest and she hoped it was soundless.

He mentioned other names and the girl nodded, understanding, and feigning sorrow as that was expected when the deceased queen was brought up.

Yes, I have heard of Maggie. She was a fellahin and she was hurt, um, she was... she died. It was before her time. The queen though, everyone knew of that loss, as the funeral had been the most recent.

He was watching her, still. The girl shifted her weight and her eyes and then, when he did not stop, boldly met his gaze. Is there something wrong? It was a wonder that her gray fur didn't alight like filaments to her embarrassment.

senmut was aghast at himself, and cut his eyes aside at once. "no! no," more easily, and then his gaze went helplessly back to her. "you are — beautiful, is all."

the dynamic between them could not have been less appropriate.

senmut cleared his throat and turned to the reeds. "when these are peeled, they will be made into mats. some of them will be used for — embalmings."

his cheeks burned.

He did not admonish her for her reaction, and in fact turned away, as bashful as herself - perhaps moreso! He was animate and almost afraid of her, she thought.

The comment was what disoriented her the most; then he began to elucidate on the preparation of the reed and their use, which was much easier to hear, so she ignored the previous.

oh, I — I see, she looked at the piled reeds as voraciously as he looked to the earth, and neither saw one-another. Then I will leave you to -- that, this, um. If you want me -- need me, for something further...

She was drawing away quickly, turning, hiding in plain sight.

—pardon, I have -- duties.
A curtsy, or thereabouts, her face warm her thoughts a tizzy; dismissing herself back to the palace.

nazli grew into herself. she became avoidant and stepped aside. but he could see his words had made an impact. and if he was another man, a more powerful man, he might have enjoyed this.

rather, senmut saw this as a sad display of his own incorrectness. his own wrongness.

the young priest was silent as he snapped the bindings on the first bundle and began to peel the thin bark in wide red strips.