calling

Her impulse to reach for the girl, to pull her into her arms and feather her with affection is suppressed by a new wall of formality. Eset slows, stopping a respectful distance away.

The hebsut found Racharra much altered. She was tall now, willowy and long, doubling the coywolf in size and strength. And oh, she was beautiful, with embellishments in her fur that accentuated her eyes, making her appear older. But Eset still remembered the child, and the nebet was only a girl, still, in a world that had only continued to change around her.

“You know I am never busy for you, nebet,” Eset assures her gently, taking a slow step forward. But she stops abruptly when the second question is posed.

“I am,” it pained her to say so to the face of the girl. “Pharaoh has promoted me to Hebsut, I will live here in Muat-riya, now.”