Lion Head Mesa desert rose

ramesses recognized her song for what it was. 
each morning the priest and priestess arose with dawn to sing the first prayers. surely toula was accustomed to them now.
he was with his single guard and several servants when he rounded a corner of the corridors and came upon her there. "princess toula, where is your nurse?" 
but treva was close at hand, and though ramesses was annoyed not to see a glimpse of his punished gemstone jawahir, he looked back at the child.
for a very long moment he did not move nor speak.
and then,

"bring her," ramesses said at last. "we are going to bless the river."
from then on, as the procession made its way up the main path and out into the open-air throne room, little toula would be fussed over and carried, fed bits of sweetmeat and tiny pieces of honeycomb, and carried if her legs tired. when ramesses strode out into the strong light of Ra, his princess was shaded by a branch carried by one servant or another.
ramesses stopped his entire entourage, commanding that they bow in the direction of satsu's tomb.
and then they had come to the river. its shallows were sun-warmed. ramesses motioned for toula to come near and stand beside him, ankle-deep, and here he lifted his voice, to praise Ra, to praise the serpent river which gave akashingo its water.

life-giver,
we give you this offering,
let it be a sign of our worship
let your waters always bring richness to this land
we are your servants

toula was handed a precious stone dug from somewhere in the sunspire, a bit of trade courtesy of the hemet qiao.
ramesses smiled. "throw it into the deep water, as far as you can."