Lion Head Mesa quamdiu

germanicus had not returned to his rooms. he had not slept. he avoided all except when pharaoh demanded his company as chief royal tactician.

he hated the name of it. he hated the pretension of akashingo. he hated the growing courts and the way that the egyptian commanded control over a war he would not be going to fight.

and yet it was all he knew. that was the sum of it. the eagle gravitated toward conflict for it was his one skill. and crowfeather had come to this point and had asked him. but germanicus had not realized it then.

when he thought of the shadow his spirit became taut. 

the imperator stood upon the mesa and surveyed the landscape, a sentry to guide the sun into the sky.