Two Eyes Cenote Threadsnake

no rush whatsoever <3

She could not get the man out of her head. She closed her eyes and bent her chin in prayer, and there was the man again in her mind’s eye.

She didn’t know him– and yet she did, so many men like him, from a culture that rewarded the amassing of things and built cages around the penury of many others.

It made her sick. It made her angry. Mostly, it made her fear for @Safiya, who’s life had just started, and whose soul was unadulterated. For not the first time, the hebsut questioned the decision to promote her so early. With the new position came innumerable risks and moments to learn, Eset understood that.

But it was not only the dangers of her rank which sickened now. The hebsut sought the young mazoi with another matter to discuss.

With more questions and less answers Safiya roamed the outskirts of her patrol. She took her duties seriously despite what her sister and brother thought. Her sister who hated her felt like she hated her since she was born. And Safiya didn't hate Tiye. She found her annoying and mean. Mostly she just made her sad.

A tilt of her ear and a familiar step. She turned to look towards the sound. Lady Eset. She quickly averted her eyes and wondered briefly at the woman. And what she wanted.

 Safiya had not been bad or done anything wrong that she was aware of and yet her father and her sister and her brother were so quick to tell her she had.

“Hello, Safiya,” she greets the young soldier on her guard. The girl is so dedicated to her task, and Eset had no desire to part her from it. Uneasiness rolls in the air, an uncertainty the hebsut moves swiftly to soothe.

“May I join your patrol? I'd like to speak with you about something.”

Safiya dipped her head. Respectful polite. and yet so unsure. There was no fear there, just the knowing that her fate lay in the balance and it made her angry. Because she didn't understand why everyone was so angry.

Of course.

A twitch of her tail and a movement so that their leader could step into place.  Awoman she deeply respected.

She falls in step beside the proud shoulders, so much of her sculpted by her father’s lineage, but also through the religious drilling the youth had sought of her own volition.

“I have learned about the man, Soto.” She begins, eyes seeking the girl’s own. A gentle pause, Eset stills the young mazoi with a soft reach to her shoulder, so that they might regard one another directly.

“I want you to know, Safiya, I am not here to scold you. I am not coming to you as a hebsut, or a figure in service to Akashingo, but as a woman. I want to speak openly with you, and hope you may feel the freedom to do the same, is that all right? Woman-to-woman.”

Safiya was surprised when Eset moved to touch her. And she froze at the touch and lifted her gaze higher. Soto? What about him? He had done her no harm. 

He brought you a gift a few days ago. Legend took it to you remember? Then he came to see me once with gifts for me. They're in my room. Everyone say's he is dangerous. But he has not been unkind to me at all. Not yucky either, but Tiye said he was yucky to her.

Yes you can. She nodded. Maybe she would get some answers.

“Our Pharaoh and Muat-riya want what is best for you, Safiya. But not everyone is this way. There are those out there who do not have your interests at heart. They want to control, or take advantage of you. They can be quite convincing. They can bombard you with gifts and acts of affection to gain your trust, or prey upon your sympathy and goodwill, until they have what they are after– you. All of you.” Her tongue burgeons with such poison. Resentment flared for the man who had stolen Safiya’s moral world view at such a tender age.

“It is not only men. Women will do this, too. I know it is difficult to understand why anyone would in act this way. But I am afraid it is more common than we’d like to believe.” She looks fully into the blue rungs of color in the girls’ eyes, searching for traces of her mind’s true part.

"We must be careful to guard ourselves."

Safiya listened. But part of her rebelled at such a thought. Why would someone do such a horrendous thing. And he truly seemed to care about her whatever it maybe. Or was that the true rub. You were their friend and then they hurt you?

She was confused. What would someone want with all of her. There were some ugly parts. She though of the words like barbs she had flung at her sister, her brother. Yea some parts were ugly and cruel.

I'm a pretty good guard. She stated somberly.

“More than good,” the hesbut is swift to concur, “I see in you a great openness for learning, and truly I believe that is what one needs to be successful,” as the girl-guard had already proved. Her paw upon the shoulder tightens. Already their eyes align.

“But you are a beautiful girl. And that is the most dangerous thing to be.”

A welling of pride filled her chest and her head. A rushing in her ears while she fought to calm herself. A small smile. Sea green's alight with the pride she wore. And yet there was a serious edge to it. She was a good guard and that meant consequences. That meant she had to think hard. She had to know things that were unpleasant. 

Safiya blinked surprised and looked down over her paws, her fur. She had never thought about what she looked like before. She was simply Safiya. It was second to her how she looked. Tiye was pretty, her brothers were cute. She supposed she could see, but where Tiye was softness and gentle curves. Safiya was hard edges and muscle. Was she really?

I'll have to take your word for it, because i never paid attention.

Another time she might have amused herself with just how opposite the sisters were in character. But there was no levity in the eyes of the hebsut now, only the grievous reality that the world was dangerous for so young a person.

She sighs, lips pulling into a tight, half-smile, “Others will, Safiya.”

Her worried eyes search. “What are you thinking?”

A soft laugh at teh quiet question. What could she say. She was thinking many things. All over the place her mind was not a quiet place. It was full of questions that had no answers and turmoil. And she felt so out of place she didn't know what to say.

I was thinking that I do not know if I believe you, but not in a cruelty. It is simply because I have not paid attention. My skills are first and foremost on my mind. Not whether i have a pretty face.

She licked a tongue along her fang, pressing lighty as she thought about it. And I was thinking that I am so different from baba and mama and all my siblings. I don't know if I like that.

She did smile then, earnestly. Work; it was a great unifier. Eset found she had so little in common with those who lacked such passion.

“They are not so mutually exclusive. But I admire your dedication to your task, and I will continue to support you throughout your career, so long as it is your wish to serve the kingdom of Akashingo.”

“My dam was coyote. My sire, wolf. I am like neither of them,” a parting then, Eset drew a breath of hot desert air and felt the stirring of her hackles. “It is harder to be different. But sometimes I think it is a good thing. You see from your own perspective. You have already blazed your own trail, Safiya.” The first of her siblings to do so.

Safiya didn't know why she was built the way she was. Perhaps she got her work ethic from her father. He certainly seemed to enjoy what he did. So did her mother, even if Safiya didn't understand the appeal of such work as that. 

Like my lineage. She knew well that she was not all wolf. It was clear in the points of her ears and the shape of her eyes. But it was not so pointed that it was odd.

Ihave tried. I wish my siblings would find something they care about. Instead of being cruel. A soft little frown on her face. But hadn't she done the same in a fit of anger.

“Maybe that is why they are mean. Sometimes it is easier to lash out than it is to face your own struggles,” she suggests. Eset knew some were intrinsically cruel, but she could not see this in Safiya’s siblings.

“They will learn their lessons and grow, or they won't. Either way, you will keep succeeding.” Her look aimed to comfort, though it troubled her that the girl was being picked on. Perhaps such goading was common between siblings of a certain age. Eset did not know.

Safiya sighed. Yea and they're jealous. But I told them they can be like me. I even told them I'd be happy for them if they were me. But they don't understand.

She blew out a breath and shook her head. But it' sokay someday they'll be better. I hope.

Safiya nodded. She hoped that Eset was right. Because if not she didn't know what the future would hold for her siblings and it was both frightening and frustrating.

Another gentle touch of arm and Eset nods in kind, turning aside.

“You may always come to me, Safiya. I promise to do my best to listen without judgment,” her eyes train ahead, uncertain if the young mazoi truly understood the consequences of Soto. But she would, in time, the hebsut reminds herself, and for now, Safiya was safe from his atrocities.

Safiya smiled softly. It was nice ot have someone in her corner. Granted she had her dad. Her mom was fairly absent from her life as of late. But that was what it was. IT happened. She was not as much like her as Khuso.

Thank you.

Safiya would bow her head and go towards her duties with a little bit lighter heart.