Sheepeater Cliff [m] eighty-eighth

Time ticked still.

However, time had always been still. 

A world not so cruel.

Of course, sex would always be numbing, but she found instead the many other avenues of resting in the prince's bed more appealing. The beat of hearts, the hold of arms, the break from the outer world, and the quiet fellahin who served in the place she had many times.

All of that, but now in the burning sun that cracked over them. Senmut should know she would repeat this reality for a lifetime and more just to break into that serenity again, that shelter.

"Do you hope for many children?" Nazli. "Fatherhood?" Unjudging, only..truly curious, and listening.