Two Eyes Cenote they occupy my heart and so-called mind

ik i said requested for it to be after calling but i couldnt wait im sorry i have too much muse sduhfidfij please take ur time

to be fair to her, it is not @Eset's fault that she and racharra have lost touch.

she had been told to reach out if neccessary, to call if needed. it is an offer that racharra did not take advantage of despite the opportunities she had.

still, racharra couldn't help but taste bitterness as she stares at the palace from afar. the one that guides her halts when she does. the nebet nods to them, and they continue inside.
her arrival is announced, and racharra waits to be greeted.

She knew something was wrong as she set aside her work and hurried through the palatial halls. It would not have been like Racharra to have herself formally announced- not to Eset. Has a distance been wedged between their hearts as well as their locales?

It fills the hebsut with immediate concern as she steps beneath the vaulted archway and out into the high desert heat to greet her girl. Her breath stifles to see how the months had molded her into a fine, graceful shewolf, with a royal presence.

“Lady Racharra,” Eset bows, pained by the formality, but nevertheless bestowing all the etiquette and respect owed the regal young noblewoman of Pharaoh’s court.

eset comes to greet her. her body begins to bow, but she stops. racharra straightens herself.

toula and eset have only ever told of their love for the girl behind closed doors. why? would it really be so terrible for others to know.

eset. it is good to see you again! her smile is gingerly and she reels the woman in for a tight embrace, but behind it stirs a mixture of anger, sorrow, and guilt. haven't i grown?

In the familiar wrap of Racharra’s arms, the hebsut sighs with barefaced relief and inhales her ruff, noting the scents of the girl’s travels as well as spiced fennel leaf and milk from the red palace. There were discussions to be had, she knew this, but for the moment she resisted falling back into worry.

“Incredibly so!” Eset laughs in response, pulling back to fixing Racharra with a look of plain admiration. “Come inside!” She takes her hand, “there’s so much to show you!” She was eager to show the girl how the palace had improved since the early days of her initial visit.

and there's so much to tell, i'm sure! she followed behind eset, though her own feelings remain muddled as ever. 
they were lightened by the open embrace, but doubt had taken a hold of the nebet for many months now, and it gets harder to fight back.

what has happned? start from the worst first and finish with the best.

Eset admires the elegance in her walk, her strong strides. She had grown into her paws and ears and there was a surefire power in her that had only before simmered. The hebsut ushers her forward with pride of her own, leading her first to the cenote gardens which she had carefully cultivated over the last two seasons.

“We have had many visitors of note from all over the world! I believe they have found the palace quite impressive. And we grow! Five cubs were born this year.” She went on, detailing the comings and goings, the routine workings of the blue palace. There were things, dark ones she did not know if she should mention to Racharra, if only because she had just gotten her black and could not imagine staining their time together with worry.

But she did see the bridling in the girl’s face. There amid the trickle of water and sweet blooming jasmine Eset reaches for her hand.

“Tell me, what is on your mind?”

ah, you must have your hands full! if she sharpened her hearing, she wondered if she could hear them playing from deeper within the palace. with a giggle, she nudges eset's shoulder. and how many are yours?
quite a bit has happened in the palace as well, though some of it i did not witness much. soon the women walk alone together. i've been traveling quite a bit lately.

more than there should be. racharra scoffs, straightening her shoulders. i'm soon to marry. i've gone searching for suitors already.

ahhh post 500 for you! <3

The coywolf’s eyes dare not move to inspect the flat, firmness of her own belly, even when her heart flushes with an unspoken possibility-

In her mind flickers the palest starlit eyes. Eset glances aside, flustered for a moment, a grin heating her cheeks.

“Just these ones,” she muses, running a smooth paw across the blushing spires of penstemon. She could tell no one- not until she was certain, and even then-

Racharra’s next words steal the hebsut away from daydreams. Her head whips forward, brow twisting with fearsome shock. There is a piercing blaze beneath the girl's sarcasm that worries Eset. “So soon,” she gasps before it can be helped. The nebet was only a girl still! Too young to be contemplating marriage!

...and yet in her heart she knew it was the ordinance of their nobility to wed early, sometimes as soon as adolescence. Racharra was now a yearling.

She swallows thickly over the dryness in her throat, moving a firm arm to the girl’s shoulder just the same as she had when Racharra was only elbow-high. “Tell me what has happened, and where you have travelled to.”

and not i? the nebet misses the hebsut's bashful glance to what must be embarrassment over her joke.

eset's surprise is mirrored in racharra. i asked for it. she starts, a nervous smile guiding her lips. it's been hard, but i will manage. i got to visit the moonvillages — but boys of all walks of life are the same, for some reason. she didn't know what exactly in the beach water made them so lanky, so skittish around her and yet so kind.

but more happened at moontide. and even in the palace. it's a surprise that those news hadn't reached eset's ears at all. zharille came back. she's intent on taking the lake. an ache trickles through her shoulders, pricking her like needles. and akashingo has given it to her. the girl huffs. it's none of my business anymore, though. it doesn't concern me. she says, like a liar.

“You will always be mine,” she smiles, her hand smoothing over Racharra’s shoulder. It was the women in the menagerie who’d taught Eset about chosen bonds, and her own sire who affirmed that the blood of the covenant was thicker than the water of the womb. Still there was a deep intimacy in splitting herself with an unborn inside her- of being one of two in the dark.

But her mind is pulled away from such notions and in her relief to see the girl brighten Eset settles back among the fragrant arms of jasmine. Courtship was an exciting juncture in a noble’s life and with Toula’s empowerment of her women there there is no reason to expect an unpleasant prospect for the nebet. But she is not gratified to hear the name of the woman who’d abandoned her kin and borne so much grief into Racharra returning to their kingdom as a political ally.

“Of course it is, Racharra.” The hebsut's eyes are attentive, tempering her animosity only for the girl. “Do you wish to see her?” She asks, wondering if any desire remained to know the woman who’d birthed her.

comfort never lasts long.
it isn't. racharra quickly shuts down the thought, fixing her gaze firmly on eset. anger simmers at the tip of her tongue, and unlike the hebsut the girl does not attempt hiding it. 
not anymore. i decided the lake was not mine and that i am no longer bint-zharille from that day forth. and she keeps it at that — eset is smart enough to piece together what she means. counting the jasmine keeps the nebet from admitting otherwise. 

...but i've yet to announce that... the girl shifts, less relaxed but less tense than prior. soon she loosens herself with the flick of a wrist and a scoff. enough of that, this day is too nice to turn sour.

Her heart sinks, because what she sees in Racharra is a very familiar numbness. A barrier for deferring grief. Sometimes that was the only way to survive, but it was never what she had wanted for the girl. Still, each of her words is tipped with a rightful anger for the name and woman who’d forsaken her family. The coywolf shares it with vivid regard. She would not let Racharra be alone in this.

“That is one of the hardest things you will ever do,” she tells her. “Sometimes we have to bury those who no longer serve us. I am proud of you for knowing when to make that choice. I wish you didn't have to go through any of this, Racharra. You've been dealt a difficult hand. ” Only after several heartbeats did Eset pull away, inhaling a breathful of honeysuckle and releasing it with a small smile.

“What shall we talk about-  the weather?” A tease. The hebsut disdained all forms of small talk. That she reserved only for dull company.

“Tell me about these suitors, then,” Eset’s brow arches. She plucks a silver jasmine bloom and tucks it behind the girl’s pointed ear with a grin. “Are they sweet? handsome?”

sorry for the delay on this!!

racharra hadn't expected such a tight embrace, a grunt leaving her before she sinks into it. she'd already shed enough tears from that day, though her eyes pricked enough to convince her there may be more left to that hurt. but it's in the past now. she assures them both.

the weather would be a good topic — this heat is killing me! i'm tempted to pluck out all my fur and run bald. a hearty chuckle washes out that ache, if just for now, and the next topic numbs the rest.

i've met only one — moontide's raiyuk. he was quite sweet! he's.. smaller though he's quite strong. he lead me to moonglow, where i arranged a meeting with the leading woman's son kassuq. i've yet to meet him, though i'm sure he's quite handsome too.
she sighs, pondering on whether she should share the next suitor. she stifles a smile — she just couldn't resist! i also met a lone boy.. he lived on an island. he taught me how to fish.. he was reserved but though he didn't know who i was, he was quite sweet. and he had these most peculiar eyes — so wide, and two different colors. one of silver and one of gold, maybe bronze! she blabbers as the jasmine is tied behind her ears. of course the boys i met were handsome, but i'd never seen anyone like him! though, i guess this is also the first time actually meeting boys my age — maybe boys with two different colors for eyes are common... racharra continues to trail on almost endlessly.

no worries ever <33

Racharra’s lovely face warmed like a summer rain. The hebsut loved to watch her dreamy expressions, the way her smile lit and dark brows curved in a hushed harmony with the secret confessions.

“I’ve never seen such eyes as that,” Eset declares, nosing more strands of fur from her cheek to set another jasmine, “he does sound unique.”

She pulls back to admire her work, paw rounding beneath her nebet's chin. “Three potential suitors. We shall make them come crawling to you.” Another jasmine plucked in hand, Eset’s grin is alluring, wondering if her young mistress knew how to flirt with men.

she had no clue how to ignite a flame in a man's heart. she had no clue that she even had to in the first place.

he does, doesn't he? i don't do him justice — i don't know when i'll see him again, but hopefully i can bring him here. if she can even convince him. she stops her rambling only to return eset a smile, realizing only now that more flowers had been braided into her mane, and smiling at her reflection in a pool of water. sometimes, she feels pretty.

perhaps if they see me like this, they'd claw their way even from Duat for me. she chuckles. an overexaggeration, but it was a pleasant thought nonetheless.

“You just let me know when, and we shall host the most elegant party these halls have ever seen,” her snout, reaching for a kiss.

“And you will look every part a Queen,” she smiled into the obsidian cheek, letting floral scents pervade her lungs. She sighs and rests back into the pale boughs, admiring the beauty of Racharra in the dappled-lit plants of the garden.

“How long do I have you?” Eset asks, thinking she would prepare a nice dinner for the nebet that evening.

racharra's shoulders raise from embarrassment at the thought, heat rising to her cheeks and a smile follows suit. oh please! the girl gives a firm shake of her head. i'll have to see it to believe it.

you have me for tonight. she hoped so anyways. unless luck would have it that she is needed at the red palace, just a day's stay wouldn't hurt.

A night, only. She didn't know why she felt like crying.

But she held her girl longer than she surely would have liked, and broke away to stir to her haunches.

“Then tonight, we dine like queens,” a low laugh, keeping quiet so as not to stir whispers of favoritism, even if such a thing was clear.