Two Eyes Cenote nefertem

it was midday when she awoke in her bed. the air was crisp and cool, while the rest of her felt warmed by the furs, but otherwise there was nothing special about the moment. sunlight filtered in from the cracks in the wall that served as a natural window; the incense there, housed in a small shell rather than the stiff reeds she would have placed herself, smelled strongly of lotus flower.

as nazli's eyes opened for the first time in many weeks, she licked her lips. she felt how coarse they were, how dry her tongue. beside her and upon the nearest stone plinth there were medicines, and a small bundle that might've been a simple breakfast, the kind which was familiar to the often-sick woman. easy things to chew up and carefully feed to her, she reasoned.

how long had it been?

she shifts in the bed, and feels like something is missing. her body is sluggish as if still asleep, but light, and she doesn't hold as much of a paunch as when she had first laid down here. when had that been? why had that been? she had been sick, surely — and as nazli arrives to reality, she remembers being pregnant, and fighting to give birth.

aiesha, she finally gasps, trying to rise.