Firefly Glen [PHE] galvorn

set for oct 1

a horrid headache split tavina's very skull. their royal court had arrived not long ago; now as rashepses strode for his invitations and decorum, the sesh led tiye into the akashingo camp.

there they straightened and primped in silence, tavina's mouth curling for want of water. but at last two thrones were set, draped in plush pelts.

now she stood to the right, hoping an hour would come in which she could rest. for now she kept the perimeter.

It was not her desire to seed a headache for her governess, honest!

It was just that the princess was enamored with the host of others inhabiting this wild land, some of them familiar but most strange and new! As mother and father consorted with the camps, Neith was resolved to make her own diplomatic enquiries.

She’d managed a few stealthy strides when a woman appeared in her eye with a scent so familiar and intimate as to conjure warm memories in her mind.

“Auntie T!” She cries, skittering ecstatically through the crowds to cuddle into the leg of the doctor.

"oh! oh, hello, little princess," tavina chuckled, fighting the rush of nausea burning her chest as she opened fond arms to the child. it seemed scant days ago since they had been born; now neith dazzled up into her eyes, reminding tavina greatly of toula at the same age.

"you're having trouble being still in one camp; me too," she whispered in faux conspiracy. "let's go and find something to do. where would you like to go?"

The boys were escorted with their father—Nasima was to assist Toula and the girls—to keep an eye on—

—a blur of beautiful cream and ivory and Nasima felt her heart sink as she caught the tail end of Neith romping away. It would seem even royal princes and princesses had the ability to be scamps, and she shook her head in bewildered amusement and concern as she whispered to the other fellahin that she needed to go.

Only when she caught up did she see the girl launch herself to the arms of a dark wolf—her enthusiasm at the reunion giving Nasima a moment to pause and slow her pace—now almost unwilling to interrupt.

The other woman leaned down—enthralled with the girl, how could she not be?—and Nasima began to shimmy closer, a small smile placed on her lips—feeling the role of an intruder than a governess. “Hello,” she spoke, her eyes ranging from Neith to study Tavina.

On any other day, the princess Neith was an exemplary ward. Now, the fellahin served as a partition between herself and freedom! Her ears flattened, eyes drifting reluctantly up into the flaxen coywolf face.

“Aunt T, this is miss Nasima. My governess,” she introduces, tone lacking its usual enthusiasm. She’d been found! And she was so close to getting an adventure with Tavina! Her paws dared to wrap tighter around one onyx leg, a shimmer of unusual defiance in the scarlet eyes.

"hello, nasima. i'm tavina, physician to the palaces. i was there when pharaoh and now her daughter was born," she explained, feeling the long age in uttered longevity. many years. many children. devoted, loyal tavina, every hour bid in service because she had never asked for more after —

noticing how neith did not quite wish to be collected, the sesh smiled at the pretty governess. "we were just about to seek a diversion. come along if you like, but i'll be responsible for today's malarkey," she promised with a dramatic tilt of her head. "otherwise, dear amiirad, please release your nurse from her duties before we go."

Her smile did not wane, even as Neith’s warmth did. It was not something accustom of the princess, but any hurt feelings Nasima might have felt was flung away as she noticed the girl wrap tighter to her chosen ward, clearly desperate to maintain this current companion.

Invited along, Nasima gave a dip of her muzzle in appreciation, her smile only broadening. “I couldn’t intrude on your time together,” she murmured, her eyes kind as they studied the physician. “I will help the others set up camp and wait for your return, princess.”

It was worded as a statement—but it hung as a question—for while she might have been the governess, they knew her true reason for being here was to meet the expectations and wants of the royal children.

“Really?!” Enchanted, the girl pirouettes from the sesh’s side to wreathe her stubby arms around her governess’s neck in gratitude, “oh, thank you, thank you! I promise, I’ll be back soon!”

No time was spared in tugging at Tavina’s leg, “This way!” she beckons and they are off, milling through crowds towards the furthest, southeastern campsites.

“She’s sweet, really. Papa’s quite fond of her,” the princess prattles on as they walk. She might have thought better of her volume had she wisened to the doctor’s apparent hangover. “Oh! And we have a new servant, @Charmion. You’d like him, I think! He’s taught me all sorts of things, about Gods especially!” A furrow then, the young eyes peering up into the doctor’s tired face.

“Aunt T, why must you live so far away?”

nasima graciously took her leave. tavina turned her attention back to neith, considering that of course the beauty of the new governness was for the benefit of another. yet she did not dwell on this; she allowed herself to be led with a small smile in the princess' pleased wake.

"i'll have to meet him then. he sounds very educated," tavina commented, and then let a little sighn slip. "i used to be part of akashingo. but when muat-riya was built, well. i though i should try to work as i do in a new place. there can only be one of me, you know. i need a good trainee to follow."

she glanced up, hearing voices carried in song upon the fall air.

“Ohh I see, so you have a trainee in Muat-riya,” the amiirad concludes, little head wrenching to listen for the same howls. The sound hung over the campsite like flags of colorful celebration. “They must be important, then,” she continues, bustling through the crowd. She stops short at a Moontide vendor and lifts an unusual seas-stone to admire it more closely.

“Satakh is quite fond of plants, too, you know,” the girl fibs, devilish mischief putting a sparkle in her eye. The firstborn daughter decided then and there that plants were much too tame for her. She wanted to engage with the same activities that were encouraged of her brothers. The rock replaced, she glanced at the doctor amusedly–

and was neither too young, nor too foolish to recognize the shades of gray weariness.

“Tavina?”

"one day, i hope to have one," tavina corrected gently, fishing around in her travel-pack for a pair of sunny gold stones which she offered to the vendor.

the sea-stone was placed firmly within neith's possession.  she avoided the eyes that abruptly seemed to see far too much. "i am all right, dear. i am just so tired. i'll be happy to be back in muat-riya. there the work doesn't exhaust me as much. it's all these strangers," the sesh added in a low voice, leaning toward her charge.

she led neith aside, meandering. "you'll never be as tired, i don't think. not unless you become pharaoh or queen," tavina smiled, wanting to know what sort of ambitions lay inside the princess.

“Auntie! Thank you!” She squeals, leaping exuberantly to plant a wet puppy kiss to the side of one cheek. She holds the banded seaglass over an eye, gazing up at Tavina through the kaleidoscope of colorful shapes. The sesh’s nose bulges and her purple eyes are abnormally angled. Neith collapses in a fitful of giggles, but is quick to straighten herself, as if remembering she is a princess first and child second.

“Oh!” the amiirad’s eyes look about at all the strange faces, nodding. She must feel similarly spent! But all this newness, it only fuels her excitement to a point where she scarcely knows how to contain it! “But– there are so many new friends to make!” The girl counters with her golden grin. Surely, she would never allow herself to grow so weary as Auntie!

Neith gallops ahead of the woman, gingerly mouthing her new trinket until the title is mentioned again. Pharaoh.

“All my siblings want to be that,” she confesses, “Pharaoh.” And indeed she felt something so intrinsic existed within her gilded siblings– the knowledge of power and how to use it.

“I think momma’s a good Pharaoh,” Neith’s head cants high, “I think daddy’s a good Semer-wati. I don’t know what I’m good at,” she whispers, like it's a grand secret, for a princess of Akashingo should be blessed upon brith with such self-possessions!

so overjoyed was little satriya with her gift that for a moment it seemed the world glowed in jewels with that childlike wonder. she saw how the young wolf corrected herself in mien and carriage, perhaps more self-aware than was fair to neith.

"personally your auntie does not care for more friends. i have akhtar. and i have eset," she added, feeling the familiar rippling in her chest to think of the hebsut and the ageless beauty of her sometimes-haunted eyes.

to hear that all wished to follow toula brought a smile to the sesh. "they're both quite good at what they do. but time has been something each of them has enjoyed, also. and you are at the beginning of your life." steering the girl from a group of rowdy-makers, tavina sighed. "you have time to find out what that is, my girl."

Accepting nods taper off, for she had no idea how to explain all she was feeling. It didn’t feel like she had any time at all- not when every day felt like she was under scrutinous examination, not just by her parents, but by the entire world. One slip up and she and her siblings would be deemed unsuitable rulers, and cast far from Akashingo's red thrones.

But Miss T was not a goddess. She did not understand. The amiirad’s head lifts to her aunt, appreciating the commiseration nonetheless. Her pink paw glides over the cool glass as smiles kindly, listening.

Oh, poor, poor Tavina. No wonder she was so weary. No one was satisfied with only two friends. Neith was only two months old and already she had six!

The princess knew what this was: a cry for help. She was much too polite to fluster the woman by pointing it out, and auntie was too old to play with her friends. Still, she had an idea!

“Momma told me about Lady Kukutux from the Moon tribes. Did you know she’s the most important mortal at the hunt? And she’s a matchmaker!” A circle spun around Miss T’s long legs, head butting her hips.

“She’ll find you a husband!” Genius! Then she wouldn’t be so alone!

“C’mon on, let’s go, let’s go!”

it was certainly a bustling place, and tavina longed for the calm serenity of a desert night. voices vied and many scents assailed nostrils already bursting with the interminable herbs. "the most important mortal," she repeated aloud, hearing both toula and rashepses in that.

but before any other dry commentary might her mind manage, princess neith startled her first with talk of matchmaking, then with mention of a —

"oh, my dear, dear girl," tavina laughed a bit in shock, deeply amused despite her surprise. pausing to give her charge a long look, her lips pursed but her eyes danced. "what would i do with a husband? i prefer the love of women."

now then! enough of it was said in her stories of the gods that maybe neith would not be caught off-guard. "let's go and see her, but not for a husband."

But the girl was caught off-guard. The idea was perplexing, to say the least, though Neith was quick to recall the goddess Nephythys from her studies, who kept women in her company by choice. She snuck a wide-eyed glance at Tavina, wherein her thoughts were clearly working themselves into a picture of understanding.

“...have babies,” she supposes, seeking her Aunt almost shyly for approval before blurting out, “I’m going to marry a prince!”

babies! again! "that is not for me, sweet girl," tavina said, hiding her utter revulsion and horror. this would be neith's lot, she supposed, especially with the politics of akashingo.

"indeed you will. trust that your mother and father will choose well for you. queenhood may be in your future, but never surrender your power to a man. not even if he is pharaoh, princess."

Would she have to? Were men coming for her? That a prince would seek to strip her of power had never once occurred, and now the girl questioned why the doctor felt it was important to say.

Her head cants to one side, but when she peers up, Auntie’s face is silhouetted in the harsh sun. Neith steps into Tavina’s shadow and leans her cheek against a charcoal leg, seeking to reassure even if she did not fully understand.

“Never,” she promises.