Greatwater Lake so take heave young heathen

i know he's busy so if he can't make this, it will be a dramatic RO :3 <3

she said not a word.

but it would travel fast still she believed, that a crown prince would be wayward. khaba would notice, bayek would notice. she dared to think senmut would notice too.

the path she walked now was hers alone and she would not damn any others in her wake.

treason, she could hear. treacherous crown prince. doomed if things did not fall into place in her own ways. she had inherited the own paranoid streak of her father it seemed.

the snow made her restless, the whispers in halls made her agitated. the lacking of nazli helped none either. all she gained with her days of toiling among soldiers was a stronger bite to her words.

only when she felt certain, as the mountain met the lake and a day of travel stretched between her and akashingo, did she think her voice would be safe.

now was a dangerous waiting game.

if @Germanicus did not show, perhaps she had just sealed her own tomb.

or perhaps it was sealed already anyway.

joining with permission <3 :D

Germanicus was away but Fennec heard the call faintly while she was working within her gardens. She froze, taking in the movement of the wind and the direction that it had come from, her ears twisting to narrow it as much as she could. Then she began to make her way to a path that would take her over the western border.

She recognized the caller as the Prince of Akashingo. If it was anyone else she might not have gone, but Makono seemed like an important ally of Germanicus' from the frequency of her presence in Mereo. If she was calling then she probably shouldn't be left to wait the few days it might take to get a message to her.

It would take her some extra time, but eventually Fennec found her way to the lake's edge and caught the scent of the Prince. She waited until it was strong enough to indicate she'd grown near. The Imperator is busy. As Imperatrix, I can ensure he'll hear whatever message you came to deliver.

She withheld a smirk at how formal the language was, training her features into neutrality. She was beginning to like playing this character; it was a variation on a mimicry of her husband. She figured that it was the safest way to ensure she didn't fuck up relations when she had to stand in for him in situations like these.

thank you again for snagging!! :D

imperatrix.

between a promotion for reyson and now this figure, it seemed germanicus sought to grow his head of power. she might have been offended or worried.

if not for a few, very important shared interests.

it is a pleasure to meet you, imperatrix. and she offered a warm look even if it could not be seen. for it helped project it into her voice too! i had hopes of a discussion that might reinforce relations between us even further. i know...the divine pharaoh has a way about him that germanicus and i see eye-to-eye on. are you...familiar?

treason!

Was it? She sounded genuine but Fennec wasn’t sure if she believed it. Still, it was polite, so she tipped her head to acknowledge this.

I didn’t think our relations could be any stronger. She replied, keeping a conscientious lightness to the words. Germanicus wasn’t here which meant she got to give her own brand of honesty.

And I think Germanicus has been more generous to your Pharaoh than has been returned. I intend to see Mereo become more than just an outpost. Otherwise I haven’t given much thought to you and yours. No offense. She wanted her own measure of this Prince. Makono had spent a lot of time in Mereo - but did she care about it as more than a pawn in some game she played? And what was Germanicus to her?

He likely wouldn’t appreciate her sticking her nose in here but she didn’t care much for his opinion either. He was too upright to say the things that were necessary. She wanted answers of her own.

the imperatrix served her with a blunt honesty that makono often asked for.

seldom did she receive it. even from the imperator! she wondered if he knew his dear spoke in this way to those they were connected to. once upon a time she had not pinned the roman for picking those with a hot streak. now...well, she was forced to wonder, wasn't she?

i agree.

a proverbial laying down of her sword.

what is the vision you have for mereo now?

if they could not speak of the future, then makono knew she had her answer.

Fennec’s maw twitched into a sardonic smile that she didn’t bother to hide at the choice of wording, though she wondered if Makono would get the joke she’d inadvertently made.

A fortress. Something permanent. She didn’t want to give every detail of her and Germanicus’ conversations, but this revelation was hardly a large one. Anyone who spoke with the Imperator would know that he was not a homemaker.

We’ll still need allies in that. She added, settling herself down on her haunches and listening carefully to the other woman as she spoke. She didn’t entirely trust the prince but she felt comfortable enough to know she wouldn’t be outright antagonized. I may not know everything about the Imperator’s relationship with the Pharaoh, but I know that he respects you a great deal.

She had an inkling and she wanted to know more. She doubted Makono summoned Germanicus to talk about Mereo.

a fortress.

against what? she could not help but wonder. it implied military was still a focus, but more rooted to that canyon than anything else. who did the imperator and imperatrix move to keep at bay?

i am flattered. a soft twitch of her lips, short lived as she too settled into a seated pose. but here i am with you now, the imperatrix. that great detail could not be ignored. that her weight might move mereo as much as germanicus' now.

what things make you respect another? what do you wish to see in allies?

Honesty. She didn't even have to think a moment about it. Germanicus would have had a different answer, she was sure, but Makono had asked her what she sought.

Lies are fine for strangers, even friends. Not allies. The two weren't the same thing.

What would you expect from an ally to you? Her word choice was deliberate here. If she asked about an ally to Akashingo, the prince might give her father's response. Fennec didn't necessarily care what Makono thought the Pharaoh's opinions were - she'd ask him herself one day, no doubt.

perhaps the woman could not see it, but something close to warmth dazzled the gaze of makono. honesty of allies was powerful.

the same thing you ask of. for makono had asked those closest her to present honesty at all hours. why would she not expect it of someone she allied alongside?

but i believe strength should be shared. between bodies and minds. i do not want to be the kind who is all taking and no giving — and mereo has already given me plenty.

a soft pitch of her brow, a hummed thought to her words.

did the imperatrix smell treason in the air?

Fennec knew that Germanicus had mixed feelings about the Pharaoh, and she’d heard enough to get a sense for at least part of why. He seemed exploitative, but she would need to visit Akashingo herself if she wanted to actually know. She also knew that Makono came to Mereo more often, and as the heir, she was as beneficial to them as they were to her.

She also knew that Germanicus had told her to keep the poison. Fennec had been surprised at the time; poison was a weapon of duplicity. The Imperator didn’t hold onto things like that without reason.

There was only one use she could think of, so far. Every other threat he seemed happy to let his soldiers handle, but if things with Akashingo turned, poison would be the only way to destroy their Pharaoh without all out war. Fennec wasn’t sure if she was right, mostly because she wasn’t sure if Germanicus would have the stomach for it. Of the two of them, she was the snake; he was the eagle.

I’m not sure if the Imperator mentioned it, but we do have more to offer than just strength. Especially now that Mereo is moving beyond being just a barracks. I have gardens, and there’s a number of us who weren’t raised with only war on our minds. A slightly sardonic smile appeared.

I haven’t heard much about the Pharaoh. Would he agree? She wanted a better understanding of what the landscape was here. It was one area she hadn’t broached in depth with Germanicus and she suddenly regretted not pressing for more.

the punchy honesty of fennec's words invigorated her.

horrified her.

equal turns, the duality of makono was a melting pot of gold.

the title of pharaoh fell from the other pale dusted woman's lips and the crown prince could not help the soft sneer upon her features.

his tastes can be fickle.

and her voice became a blunt clip. a serious, somber air wrapped around her like heavy royal furs.

but i am not here on behalf of the pharaoh, imperatrix. i am here for myself, to intertwine my own future as the head of akashingo alongside mereo's own growth.

and her heart became war drums in her ears.

That was her answer. It was as direct as she was going to get, but she could hear clearly what the Prince was saying. Fennec could appreciate the way she worded it to dance about the issue, but her doubts and questions about what went on between her husband and the heir were all but closed.

Mereo looks forward to the day when such a well-trained and strong leader takes the throne. The Imperator has only spoken well of you. The things that she left unsaid would hopefully answer in kind. Whatever she and Germanicus spoke of, Fennec would assist in realizing. She did not know the Pharaoh, had no other ties to Akashingo, and did not care about anything but Mereo and Epoch thriving. She only cared about the latter because Towhee was there.

I want to see Mereo gain more permanence as an independent pack. But from this, it sounds like our allyship can only grow. Fennec’s smile grew a little. She had a dark sense of humor on her best days, but this… this was a conversation she was living for.

her cheeks burned hot beneath pale fur. perhaps it was all that needed to be said. nobody needed to outright declare anything this moment.

merely lay down the cards, let all at the table gaze upon them so they might know the plays to come.

and an allyship is what i mean it to be.

she did not call them an outpost nor an extension of akashingo.

we should speak more, imperatrix, but surely you know how my prolonged absence might look, hm?

Of course. If you need anything, call. I’ll tell the Imperator we spoke. If she had a message Fennec would be glad to deliver it, but otherwise she would simply inform Germanicus that the woman had come calling.

She’d never enjoyed recruiting or other aspects of leadership, but something about this conversation caught her. Maybe the politics of leadership weren’t that different from the games she used to play, deceptions and facades that could trick others in harmless ways. As long as the core of it was the truth, she could slide the meanings however she needed.

This was more fun, and more interesting, than any conversation she’d had in a while. She liked this Prince.