Luneshale Pass arrival

there were many things senmut did not expect to experience.

firstly, was that he was moved to see her chosen arriving, the mazoi moving to and fro — the glister of rich finery and the stirring movement of green palm-boughs, and he was transported to an earlier time. an easier time.

a young boy, feet stained with the rich dark earth of his father's tiny patch in upper aswan, watches as a priestess steps down from a palanquin. her feet scarcely touch the ground. for a moment, he sees the gold dangling from her lobes, the drape of silver spilling along her chest.

and it was that sensation held within his spirit when the curtains were thrown back and revealed toula, unapproachable and resplendent. feathers in brilliant hue crowned her head, a match for her eyes, lined carefully with a skill he knew belonged to eset. they intensified the natural kohling, lighting her gaze with an inner glow until they were as faience against his own —

senmut did not expect to find her beautiful, this creature who had changed from poised, kind girl to a luminous vision of divinity. both ramesses and makono shared this with toula, but her father had forged this in sin and her sister in ambition. she was set apart, gilded by her own goodness.

senmut did not expect to find emotionality lodged beneath his ribcage, a deep strike which threatened to knock all his breath away; a reaction to godhead made final flesh before him. the designs upon her body were magickal in origin, his priest's mind assumed, and he saw them as sigils of protection.

and senmut did not expect to comprehend upon her sight that he could indeed be pharaoh. that he wanted it. that her splendor and his worship could make of akashingo such a sight as would not be seen again in ten thousand years. that she had changed in these short weeks, and he as well, and reforged once more in newness of their shared quiet truths.

low, his bow, forehead touching the sand for a minute entire.

and then he raised his head, and offered a small smile. "the desert welcomes its queen. and i too welcome mine."

he did not dare to glance into those attentive eyes; he lowered himself, and when a moment had come, murmured quietly to @Eset, @Inji, and @Tuna of the rooms discovered by the mazoi, and sent to him by @Thutmose. yes, khusobek had included this detail, and so senmut, not wishing to take an advantage that was not his own, sent it along as well.

the trio of round spaces were as fine as anything that could be hewn from the side of a pass, large enough for her entourage and items, and he would set two guards there each night.

for now, senmut belonged entire to the blessed attention of their divine queen.

and yet! and still! some shuddering portion of him wished that he could marry the mazoi who stood just at hand, and disappear into the whirl of her shadowed arms from the entire crush of royalty.

but within him the blossoming uraeus raised its sibilant head and breathed, i will be pharaoh, and senmut could only heed.