Two Eyes Cenote calling the scarlet sands

this event is future-dated for nov 30! the first round will be for @Toula, @Rashepses, @Akhtar, @Eset, @Senmut, @Satsu (Ghost), & @Ramesses (no posting order) and then will be open to all! @Naberius @Racharra @Cornelius @Mesen-ka @Nefari @Nazli @Legend @Khusobek @Zaahira @Tavina @Tuna @Eset @Sayf 

guests: expect that your lodgings have already been set up at the palace! @Ceridwen @Frolic @Meridian @Austere @Ines @Heph @Raiyuk @Ingram @Seal @Keiko @Reverie, @Moss, adding @Chani, @Germanicus, & Chickadee as my plus-ones! remember: you can still add characters to the wedding party! RSVP here <3 feel free to tag each other as well if there traveling parties!

after the noted characters have had a chance to respond in this first round, please feel free to make one reaction post with your own or break into wedding party threads! we encourage you to mark your threads with 'wp' somewhere in the title, for tracking and fun! 

this is going to be a text wall <3333

there had been discovered a beautiful wide room with a ceiling of starlight, not stone. senmut had inspected it himself. there was a tunnel draped in soft greenery which led to the glory of this space, hung over with all manner of gentle grasses and flowering vines. when there was a source of light here, the same viridian color struck the floor in dapplework.

senmut felt he had not seen anything so fine, and determined then that this would be the coronation space for his queen and her ascension to godhead. as before, he ordered a wide dais to be arranged, stone and wood draped with satin finery for her very foot, that of her consort, and those of the holy men.

he himself was quite nervous; he had not slept the night before, instead inspecting the storerooms where great quantities of food had been gathered, including from the larders of akashingo itself, all collected here for the purpose of feeding guests in their week of glory.

quail, mutton, elk’s-flesh, soft haunches of hare, venison still quivering with fresh fat; armfuls of sedge and lavender. a very large quantity of cacti pulp had been chewed, mixed with honey, and left to ferment into a drink that he could tell by sharp scent was already potent.

beautification of the ceremonial space was complete before dawn, and by mid-morning, their first guests arrived. offered respite and a light meal, it was evening when senmut called for the gathering to begin.

tonight would be a fine triumph for eset; he touched his own eyes with dark paint and wrapped his slender body in the draping cougar-skin, mark of his rank as high priest. and nothing more.

by now, he expected the throng to perhaps silence, perhaps cheer, as the royal hawk-in-the-nest and her divine consort took to the dais, for he had signalled her fellahin that this was the moment.

the floors were strewn with the petals of desert flowers. senmut took up the heavy seal of the Apis Bull and now walked slowly through the crowd, expecting them to stand aside, to part, as he took slow steps toward where she stood waiting, and his eyes were for her alone, and he saw only her.

akhtar now, to whom he handed the seal as he turned to face their guests, their servants, the royal princes. ”akashingo welcomes those who have come to muat-riya to see a pharaoh crowned. to see a Divine Consort raised before the eyes of the gods. this will be a celebration to affirm not only a godhead, but a kingdom. long may the Kingdom of the Red Sands live!”

now senmut turned back to divine, glowing goddess and the handsome man of dark glass who glittered beside her. a raise of his paw, and a servant brought forth three stalks of wheatgrass, a cascade of white foxfur, and a small shell of rabbit-fat.

for a moment he found himself desiring a last look into her eyes before she became a true god, but withheld himself, bowing low three times in slow ritual, touching his forehead to the wood beneath her paw.

”you are The Morning and the Evening Star. you are Userma’atre’setepenre, Keeper of Harmony and Balance, Strong in Right, Elect of Ra." the young royal inherited her father’s titles in this moment, and there was a heaviness to the exchange. ”you are Muat-riya Isetnofret Toula, Princess of the Red Serpent, Wife to the Gods, Consort of Amun.”

”you are Per-en-ma'at nesu-bity, Pharaoh In Two Lands, He Who Has Achieved Ma’at.”

there was a significance in the masculinity of the name. as senmut spoke, he took turns with akhtar anointing her forehead, her cheeks, chin, chest, wrists with the small holding of fat. he directed the pharaoh to place her paw upon the stalks of wheatgrass, ”by this you take responsibility as sovereign of the land itself,” and he put around her shoulders the glowingly white garments.

”thus is the Horus Throne given new life. from this day forward, the gods will see you as one of their own.”

and she was pharaoh.

”the Divine Falcon is joined with Prince Rashepses of Ta-senet, Iry-pat of the right bank,” senmut further intoned, turning his attention now to the elegant man. he stepped aside so rashepses might take his place, and the two might regard one another before the watching eyes.

he would direct the prince to kiss the holy forehead of his powerful ruler, ”to honor Wadjet,” and to kiss each of her forepaws, ”to bestow his respect for the crook and the flail.”

he too, was anointed upon the same various points, and a robe of white too was placed over his hackles. ”i name you Semer-wati, Only Companion to the God, Hemet-neswet, Devoted Consort, Favoured of the Scarlet Land.”

and so it was, and so it would be.

at last senmut, though he wished to hesitate, gave the seal of the Apis Bull to rashepses, in symbolic show that he surrendered divine safekeeping to the man chosen by pharaoh to be her eternal companion.

starlight beamed down; moonglow filled the room and the waiting breaths.

pharaoh and consort, stepping forward, even as senmut faded to one side.

his voice rose with a piece of a hymn, and as its echoes died away, he would lead the guests and all of akashingo in a loud cheer for the royal pair.

”your rays nurse all fields,
when You shine they live, they grow for You;
You made the seasons to foster all that You made,
winter to cool them, heat that they taste You.
You made the far sky to shine therein,
to behold all that You made;
You alone, shining in Your form from Yourself alone,
homes, villages, fields, the river’s course;
all eyes observe You upon them,
for You are the Aten of daytime on high.”

senmut did not sing the final lines;

You are in my heart,
there is no other who knows You.