Lion Head Mesa yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon

he observed every place curiously as they walked, familiarizing himself with it all. this could be my home, he thought, thrilled by the idea. 

khaemwaset shared that there were no common names among them, unlike athamas and the 'ostrega' that hung sadly at the end of his title. he wondered if he ought to ditch it, but it was a decision he had all the time in the world to think on, and so he shelved this thought for later.

"you may call me khaemwaset only, if you would like. or — Divine One." 

Divine One, athamas echoed, testing out the unfamiliar title on his tongue. it meant nothing to him, for he knew nothing of divinity- but if it pleased khaemwaset, then it was no trouble for the yearling to adopt. 

they moved along the passages, the red hallways bustling with servants, to whom the young king of akashingo called out a request. a meal sounded amazing right now, but athamas tried not to get his hopes up- he did not know yet if this was a cruel leader who might eat before him just to taunt. 

he followed carefully as they made their way past an open pool, into a smaller place that was rather plain. the divine one mentions senmut- a former servant, now a prince, yet one who would never have the throne as long as khaemwaset was here. 

athamas thought of his mother- her determination, as she had once shared, to conquer the throne of her great mountain despite all obstacles, despite whoever might've planted their flag on her birthright. athamas had not been very old when she had begun to share these ambitions- it had been his own life's purpose too, as he was raised to help her achieve this. with whatever violence it would take, he knew, until he'd broken free. athamas thought of this, and then imagined that this senmut must be a trusted man indeed- otherwise having a secondary prince who only needed to remove the heir above him to take control seemed dangerous. 

the arrival of the luxuries cut his train of thought, and his mouth nearly began to water as all sorts of specialties were placed before them, things he could never have dreamed to taste. in the presence of all this wealth, athamas felt even more worthless- like a speck of dust beside a mountain. they were incomparable, him and this boy, and yet his imagination ran free... if mother had taken back the land that was hers, would he have become a royal prince, and lived such an easy life? but he knew in the back of his mind that it would never have been reality- he would have had to die for that, for her goals, and athamas was not willing to waste his one life away as a disposable shield.

khaemwaset invited him to eat. athamas hesitated, wanting to be polite, but he carefully took a rabbit's haunch, the most familiar delicacy on the red floor. i thank you, he spoke to his company, voice sincere. athamas took a bite, a delicious bite that felt like heaven, especially for the hungry yearling. and he could not believe that just an hour before he had been standing in the empty landscape, wondering whether to call.

"i want to know more about your mother's mother."

athamas swallowed, running his tongue over his fangs to make sure his teeth were cleared of any remaining rabbit flesh. 

my mother has told me her name was hydra. she was a dark wolf- darker than me, dark all over- with blue eyes. she lead a large group in the mountains, and had other packs across the land that would happily do her favors, whenever she asked. athamas wondered if she had commanded servants with ease like khaemwaset did.

she was a master of battle- strong, brave and ambitious, easily gathering the respect of wolves around her. my mother has said that she would have one day ruled the entire land, but a giant rock fell from the sky, destroying part of the mountain and hydra with it. many of her- er, i suppose my- family was destroyed, and seperated, and so almost nothing was left of it, the group or their power. if he knew much more, he would have shared- but his knowledge of hydra was sparse. it was clear from the way she'd spoken of her that mother had respected her greatly, but even still, mira's words had mainly been reserved for her own ambitions. 

he took another careful bite, swallowing. if... if it would be alright with you, Divine One, i would like to hear about your family, too. surely this place was not built in a day, and athamas knew there must be a story behind it all.