Lion Head Mesa forty-seventh

senmut had served two pharaohs and a queen before the ascension of this royal daughter, and she had remained aglow in wartime and in the wake of her father's death, the dispersal of her royal brothers, her sister's disappearance, and the absence of the final sister to sit upon the horus throne.

of course, his mouth wished to form, but it was not the same adulation he must offer now. thoughts of legend and of nazli, yes — they must be put aside, for his loyalty must ever be for those who commanded the reins of akashingo.

passion; sentimentality; he knew them already, knew their shape and taste and the intimate anguish as well, these demands of tribute upon the very spirit. moreover, that which was to be exacted from them both, he as speaker for their gods and she as their very face, their truest intercession.

did he worship the queen or did he serve her divinity? was it she to which senmut was willing to be married, or to the foundations of their very kingdom? perhaps he had not shown so much of himself before her eyes in hopes she chose another; perhaps at his deepest, he had no desire to be pharaoh. 

a stanza, of love, of lovers calling to one another amid a green oasis; calling one another sister and brother;

"she has stolen my heart with her embrace,
she has made the neck of every man
turn at the sight of her.
whoever embraces her is happy,
he is like the head of lovers,
and she is seen beneath the sun
as a Goddess, the One Goddess."

and when it ended, senmut at last let his eyes touch that of her own; briefly; "give me leave to go, great one," and like an exhale it was, trembling in the air.