Lion Head Mesa Eien ni Tomodachi

Posting this a day early because I wont have time tomorrow! Set for the 6th, late night/early morning of the 7th. For @Ashikaga @Makono and @Siptah, tagging others for reference! Ash and Mako do not have players so they will be NPC'd until 3 months.

Satsu kept to her quarters more and more as the days passed, with @Tavina attending most frequently around meal times, or @Sayf, or even Belen; until such time that their attention was too much, so that in the evening as things began to truly shift within her, Satsu told them off. They would not be far from her door even so - Satsu could sense them in the hall, imagining their subdued voices gossiping about her.

She could not find comfort among her bedclothes, and called for them to be changed - once, twice, then turned aside entirely, as the queen was both too hot and too cold. The busy bodies were commanded out again as night settled upon the palace. Satsu had not eaten; she held no appetite, and too much nervous energy.

The first wave of pain startled her to silence. Teeth grit, body taut, until it eased. It came again and again, stronger each time, and she found some comfort among the piled pelts upon the floor. By morning there was a reeking mess staining the soil - and three bundles tucked against her belly.

it was time. 

spurned by the queen, belen had come to the doctor, wild-eyed and panting that the babies were arriving. tavina charged the girl with bringing fresh pelts and water, and went at once to join the royal woman. "lean on me," she said lowly as the pains began in earnest.

satsu laboured hard. she would not return to bed and tavina did not insist on this. she kept herself close as the woman walked or sat or lay down; she did not speak except in soft murmurs. 

childbirth was a rigor. the sesh did not allow any close. she kept them all at bay and ramesses especially, though as the hours wore on she ordered belen to inform his majesty of the happenings.

the young fellahin was the go-between for the pharaoh and the birthing chamber.

each time a child was born, belen left and bowed before ramesses, telling him of the sex.

and then it was over. tavina smoothed the queen's forehead with a cool wet pelt. "you have done very well, great one. you have given akashingo a prince. an heir." the sun had not yet risen but when it dawned, it would be upon a new chapter within the hallowed palace.

satsu was mercurial! belen was only dimly aware of the situation's gravity until she was ordered viciously from the queen's apartments. it was then that she had sought tavina. the girl hovered in the corner, excited and anxious by turns. her wide eyes took in all that she could see of the process itself. it seemed very painful and taxing. the sound of footsteps in the hall sent her looking toward the physician for approval, and belen scurried from the room in the next moment. the royal man did not enter. each time she exited it was to find his pale figure pacing, watched over by his guard. and it was not until belen announced the birth of a son that the man's face softened and he seemed to be overcome with relief. she felt his gaze follow her back into the now-sacred chambers, a place where men should not enter for a time.

ramesses lifted his head as belen entered his throne room. the night had worn on long and velveteen. the girl gasped out what was happening. pharaoh straightened at once, eyes cold with anticipation.
there was a seed of worry within him for the well-being of the queen herself, but his mind was upon this last and final test for satsu: her ability to deliver him an heir.
ramesses strode quickly through the winding red stoneways. sihaya followed in his usual cunning silence. and when the queen's rooms loomed ahead, ramesses slowed. his ears strained to hear.
but there was not yet any news for him.
uncomfortable and perturbed, the long white legs began to churn in a frustrated way. pharaoh padded up and down the hallway outside satsu's apartments, pausing here and there to again listen.
what he heard sickened him with worry and anger, worry that he could not see what went on and anger that he should be so riddled with frayed nerves.
i am pharaoh. i am the Morning and the Evening Star.
"tell the priest to make a sacrifice to Bes and to Tawret," he growled toward sihaya, who turned and stalked away.
belen was there once more. "a girl!" she beamed happily before turning and darting back into the room.
a girl. ramesses' face was implacable but he was glad that he had sent sihaya away.
he resumed his pacing. time. ramesses lost track of them. his limbs were numb and still his heart beat fast and insistent.
the little fellahin, bowing again. "another girl!" that she had been identical to the first was a detail lost to belen in the chaos of this eventful night. the dismay that crossed pharaoh's face now was palpable, and she shrunk away from it, eager enough to return to tavina and satsu.
more moments, minutes, hours. the sky above akashingo was dark save for glittering stars. ramesses began to grow claustrophobic, head down as his plodding started to wane and to slow.
girl children were worthless. his queen had given him not one but two. 
ramesses felt the ire burning once more, that her beauty had so deceived him of her ability. 
but when he opened his cold eyes once more, belen had come a third time. 
"a boy."
a son.
at first he did not register what the other was saying. and then his head rose sharply; muzzle pointed toward the archway of the room where satsu had, after all, birthed his heir.
ramesses felt himself unwind somewhat. his look to belen was softer. he sat with his back to the wall and let out a long, audible sigh of relief.
akashingo would go on. how had he ever doubted his queen?

They were pale, gilded, perfect things. Tiny porcelain recreations of her own mother, of Ramesses too, with a lovely toasted edge to their round little backs, curled leaf-like ears. Satsu looked at them as if dreaming.

Tavina sounded awed; pleased by the sight of a boy more than anything, which bothered Satsu, but the queen was tired in a full-body way and remained watchful of the three. They were loved- so, so loved.

I must sleep, she sighed with sadness, not wanting to give up a single moment with them. They are perfect. Ramesses, he should see them. Him. Name our boy. She would dream of the girls through the morning and wake with their names, of this Satsu was certain.

tavina leaned closer to inspect the twin girls.

her eyes moved between the pair and their robust brother. she frowned inwardly, inspecting their breathing with a practiced eye. 

the daughters of pharaoh were smaller, no doubt due to sharing the same space and the same caul at birth. satsu was quite tired. the physician was not ready to plague her with a suspicion. she nudged the trio gently, tucking in the pelts around their mother.

tavina smiled encouragingly. "would you like him to come see you now or tomorrow, my queen?"

Tavina inspected them. The children, then with a careful eye, their mother. Satsu kissed the heads of her daughters and lightly groomed her son, and felt swept by emotion for a few moments.

She almost missed what the physician said and let a silence linger a touch too long, but with batting lashes, answered: In the morning I... suppose, I am so tired. They are alright?

The other woman lingered over the girls longer than the boy, which might have worried a more perceptive queen. She was already slacking, wanting only to rest.

"yes." it was not a lie.

at their mother's breast they squirmed, seeking the thin and watery liquid that came first before one's body flushed with milk. it would strengthen them. "they are smaller but that is because they are twins. i am going to stay with you and them tonight, great one."

perhaps in the morning she might coax satsu back into a proper bed. the sesh turned and nodded at belen. "tell pharaoh that he may return tomorrow. his children are well. you are dismissed also, belen. thank you for your help."

the girl bowed and crept from the room. tavina bustled about, cleaning and straightening. she would remove the placenta soon, leaving the organ for the queen to consume if she wished. not all did and she did not expect this of satsu. 

the royal woman could now sleep. tavina would keep watch over them all.

the queen's chamber smelled of odd, sharp things and blood. the sweetness of colostrum followed though she had no word for it. belen kept herself far removed from tavina and satsu as they spoke. she was suddenly very tired, adrenaline ebbing. the doctor was given a small bow and the queen a lower obeisance before she took herself along. ramesses sat poised against the wall. belen approached. "the queen asks that you return tomorrow, to name the boy." she suspected this would please ramesses, and looked up at him with a brief and fond expression.

a boy! a son! ramesses was smitten suddenly with vibrant images of walking with his heir, teaching him the ways of their bloodline. speaking the names of their lineage aloud; ensuring that he was educated in all things, and at last sent perhaps to the roman for a finishing semester.
the future of akashingo lay long before him, resplendent with potential. he supposed daughters had their own use: in their mother's court they would be reared in elegance and intellect. and with two of them, pharaoh saw the prospect of two more kingdoms bound to his own and exerting greater influence.
belen was in front of him again. had he been dozing? ramesses stared at her and then gave a little jerk of his muzzle.
"very well." he stood to his paws and smirked at belen. "a nursemaid also? you have gathered more than one talent." ramesses sent her away with a near chaste kiss, and sauntered back beyond sihaya, headed for his own rooms, filled with an excitement that would keep him from sleep.

The new mother slept.

Hormones flooding her system; she thought only of those little bodies snuggled against her breast and when the dream came, she was lost to it.

The desert of Akashingo bathed in warm red light, dazzling, everything faded.

Satsu, alone, striding from the edge of the palace. Her path dances, winding to a riverside decorated with reeds. The light catches through them, transitioning gold.

A wind breathes, sighing with her. Two cotton-headed reeds split, showing white. As she touches them they come apart and fly away, with pieces touching the river and drifting...

When she awakens, it is morning. Her daughters are struggling and Satsu immediately touches them, loving and careful, though her eyes seek Tavina - worried.

Ashikaga, she hums over one; Makono, shhhh... My little reeds of the river... kissing them, deftly moving them to where they may latch and eat, heart fluttering.

what snippets of sleep she had gotten were punctuated by satsu's own waking and the small sounds of newborns.

tavina's purple eyes met that of the queen. the babies' breathing was not so deep as that of siptah; their little chests seemed to work doubly hard. but they suckled. the doctor rocked back onto her haunches. 

"there is a chance they swallowed fluid on the way out of your body, great one," tavina said with a measured tone. "it happens with such small children at times. we will watch them closely but i may need to seek a second opinion."

her eyes found that of the queen. "the pharaoh is on his way. we will not tell him. he will not know. do not let this be a reason for him to question you, highness." it would be nothing for ramesses to take a concubine; another royal birth would displace the queen from ramesses' favour, especially if more sons were granted. deftly she moved about, arranging and clearing the soiled cloths, bidding belen dump them far from the mesa.

with much fanfare ramesses again strode down the hallway. this time, however, the lazuli gaze was smudged with shadows.
he had not slept and it lent him a bad temper this morning. yet as pharaoh drew closer and closer to the door, he found himself warming with curiosity and affection.
the man entered the room.
the scent had massively changed. it flared his finely wrought nostrils and kept him bound to the entryway, until tavina motioned to him with a smile. 
and so ramesses moved forward, albeit a bit stiffly. it was his first time being inside a birthing chamber since his own delivery; it was rarely a place for kings to walk.
he lowered his muzzle to brush satsu's forehead with a kiss. she looked wan and exhausted, and his brow furrowed for a moment. but he did not comment, only swept his gaze eagerly to her breast for the children.
two smaller ones, no doubt the daughters. ramesses spared them a cursory glance before his true focus settled on the boy. "show him to me."
a snort filled the room at the scent of her milk. "queens do not nurse their own children," ramesses chuckled softly, settling nearby. "my mother had two wet nurses for us and bound her breasts so that she was able to return to my father's court more quickly." it was not truly a command, but surely satsu knew there were more options than to be the leaking servant of new babes.

please feel free to PP qiao in your collective posts for continuity <3

qiao arrived with peltskins and a bundle of herbs mixed within; the fat of hare and quail for satsu. she stood outside the birthing chamber, one ear turned within.

quiet voices, coupled with the mewling of newborns. the herbalist waited for ramesses' exit, bundle held at her feet.

Her first breath did not bring the relief it should have. Fluid mixed with the air she greedily sucked in once the tiny girl was freed and exposed to the cold.

She wouldn't be could for long; her attentive mother brought her close and cleaned her off. Instinct guided her next moves as she wriggled around and searched, the scent of milk pulling her to the right spot. Her body jumped with a silent cough and then she was eating, the sounds of feeding occasionally mixing with tiny squeaks.

There was commotion happening around the little princess but she was blissfully unaware. She slept through most of it once her belly was full. 

The rest of the night was more of the same: eating and sleeping with little coughs here and there. The scent of the warm being that cared for her was soothing, and she would search her mother out anytime she woke.

Her father's arrival somehow startled her awake, and she cried out for her mother's comforting touch, only quieting when she was given what she wanted.

Siptah arrived last, and he showed his displeasure by nudging and trying to crawl over his siblings in the effort to get to his mother's milk first. He knew little more than the need to eat and the need to sleep, and he was not particularly good at moving just yet. Squirming and uttering quiet cries, he shifts to be closer to his mother.

There was much going on around her. Visitors slipping in and out, with herbs or glances of appraisal, until Ramesses and his praising eye. As he spoke of wet nurses Satsu wished to shut him up - but she had little energy for now, and besides that, a drifting focus from his demands.

They were so beautiful. Each of them - so strong, and different, even twinned as the girls appeared. Satsu knew them apart immediately. The boy, so far nameless, was what Ramesses had truly come for.

At the door, another body. Herbs, brought with a nod from the queen.

Husband, Satsu wreathed the space with love and warmth, calling to him through his orders, our son needs a name from his father. There were names flitting through Satsu's mind now, a whirlwind of them, but she had claimed the girls as was her right. She would not take this moment from Ramesses now.

the queen's rooms were a flurry of activity. belen, a mediator, pharaoh and his guard in the hall. a woman that tavina had not yet met, bringing herbs for the birth. the sesh looked over all of these things with an attentive eye.

when ramesses came forward, tavina bowed lowly and moved to satsu's other side. there she would be close but not obstrusive.

she fought the urge to snort. of course he did not want the queen to nurse their own children. it was preposterous he should be here at all. tavina was silent.

satsu was strained and glowing from the birth. ramesses felt that she had come into some power that was not for his comprehension. this dazzled and annoyed pharaoh. he turned his cool lapis eyes to their son.
born of two worlds, he saw that satsu meant to recognize him in the proper way: as heir to what they had built within akashingo. his heart beat fast, and for a long moment ramesses was only a man, stricken and mesmerized by the sense of future stretching portentously before all of them.
"he will be called siptah, Crown Prince of the Red Earth."
ramesses did not touch any of the three.
his eyes moved back to satsu. 
"i would like to have a feast in your honor. a sedou, when you have recovered, my love." he smiled. he kissed her forehead.
satsu belonged to him and he to her. the birth of their children did not change this. he wished to be dismissed and waited for her to indicate this.

for a long moment, the queen's room was silent. and then ramesses spoke, bequeathing the heir a name worthy.

from qiao's lips came a silent protection spell in the tongue of the old world. but it was not for siptah -- it was for the daughters. men needed no blessings in this world, for they owned it.

a feast would be planned. qiao knew already what she would bring as supplication.

she eyed the company warily. the shadowed tavina, the queen -- shapes and faces she could not quite make out.

qiao remained silent, awaiting ramesses' departure so she might begin.

Siptah.
It was a lovely name. It held such meaning for Ramesses, this much the queen could discern with the flow of title that drawled from his lips. It was perfect.
She did not listen to the rest. It wasn't on purpose - she was so tired, delirious really. The pain of the birth had ebbed, leaving Satsu sore but vibrant too, and distracted.
She gave a nod, staring with love upon the boy; Ramesses could go if he wished, if that was custom.

siptah. it hung in the room. the eyes of the royal pair met.

tavina looked away.

she would not resume her duties until pharaoh had departed. for a moment her purpled gaze stole with curiosity toward the clear coyote who did not wear the rank of fellahin.

ram out!

ramesses felt the cloying nature of the birthing chambers, of all these women. it was not a place for a man, let alone pharaoh himself.
he leaned forward. he kissed her forehead. his heart leapt; leapt for a quick, wanting moment.
ramesses looked at his son, face suffused with pride. 
the glance he gave his daughters was softer this time, edged with a minute curiosity.
and then he was gone, turning with only a glance for qiao before he departed, marching with sihaya back to his own rooms.
satsu was now not only his lover and queen; she was mother to his heir, to his firstborn children. 
she deserved many things and he would honor her.
a sacrifice next, taken to the priest and offered for the gods' devouring.

ramesses exited the room. around him energies hissed and departed.

qiao allowed their seething to settle before she ducked into the chambers, eyes softly upon tavina and then her charge. 

the queen looked stricken with exhaustion, that thousand-yard stare as familiar to qiao as her own blood. she smiled sympathetically and brought the bundle to tavina.

meat rich with fat to restore the queen's energy when her hunger returns. give her a day, and qiao imagined satsu would be ravenous. feeding three mouths was hungry work. and the herbs are to help stabilize her as she nurses.

qiao turned to satsu with a careful bow, the room too dark to make out her expression. queen satsu, you have done grandly to deliver three new children into the world. the hemet wondered then if satsu knew the darker details of ramesses' arrangement. i will be but a call away, should you need me for anything.

With her husband departed, something heavy drifted off with him. Satsu felt free enough to breathe a sigh and slowly, as the exhaustion sapped her further, she relaxed beneath the attention of two women. One she knew - one she did not.

The new woman was kind; Satsu peered sleepily to the meat and gave a crooked smile, a nod, but did not take it. She could not think of eating, and only wished to watch her new children for as long as she could focus.

Thank you, she whispered as she looked to Qiao, her eyes struggling to stay open. She then turned her full attention away from both attendants, and would hold those daughters close, or kiss her son, or try her hardest to study those three perfect faces, until such point she couldn't any longer.