Lion Head Mesa twentieth

this is the first official court-holding for pharaoh! everyone is welcome, but in silence unless addressed. the main participants will be @Makono, @Toula, @Sethnakht, @Qiao, @Khaba, & senmut. NPCs will be assumed present & guards will be assumed to be stationed at the doors/beside the throne as others arrive. once participants have arrived, we can start rounds. those not the center of court can reply during as many rounds as u want w reactions. this can go slow & accommodating, please reach out if i have been confusing! @Charles & @Gucci for ref

no posting order till we get to specific rounds!

@Diantha Nala @Bayek @Aquillius @Sanguinex @Tavina @Nazli @Medusa

senmut was solemn. the morning had been sung to the earth by himself and the priestess of Hathor. from the Mother Herself did senmut ask for wisdom this day, not only in choosing his own words but for their pharaoh in her first judgements.

the fellahin were sent on summons and he himself went to join pharaoh in the high-ceilinged room of proud scarlet stone. how small she still seemed upon the Horus Throne! but in the unreadable look of her kohled eyes and how she had learned to wear the confident cloak of divinity, senmut saw her right to sit where she did.

he set sanguinex and aquillius at the doorposts, asking bayek the medjay to stand at pharaoh's right, just below the three rough steps leading to the platform.

the floor had been sprinkled with fragrant water, and dried flowers lay upon the steps and were strewn where the populace of akashingo might stand.

no one might dictate where the other royal children might stand, simply that in the end the semi-circle of wolves left a ring of empty space between they and the throne.

this here was where pharaoh would pass her judgement upon he, upon khaba, on behalf of lady qiao. and it was here also that pharaoh would discover whether or not her siblings were prepared to swear their fealty to her before the entire court.

"bow before your pharaoh," senmut ordered the royal subjects. he wore around his shoulders a white fur with black ticking and had brought the emblems of his office: the mark of the Apis Bull and a charm similar to what he had given nazli.

he stood as high priest.

"nekubi makono, Devourer of Fate, Blessed by the Red Land, She Who Is Favoured by Ma'at, has gathered you to her presence now."

senmut looked now to pharaoh, for it was her choice whether or not to settle the matter of lady qiao and khaba first, or test her brother and sister.