Starglow Basin fifty-second

And yet you have done so well, Senmut. As high priest, and in other places. It wasn’t a bitter thing to say, like he’d somehow expected. Beneath the stars, it seemed Akhtar was more than just a fanciful sinner who’d won his name on sheer luck and being good eye candy.

He looked over to the student, his only student in all his years of living, then back to the sky. A distant night insect chirped for only a moment.

Would you like to know a secret, erpa-ha? His eyes twinkled, deep black in the night.