Lion Head Mesa gaze at blue

a quickie to get this started.  no pressure wrt response time on this, and as always we can discuss oocly if this gets too far behind or you'd like to have belen ranked.

many of her arrangements were coming to a close.  bridget had (presumably) been returned to brecheliant, and the speaker was quick to make her way to the pharoh's claim.  she came for belen.  anxious to return home, she threw her head to the sky and called for @Ramesses.

one fellahin or another would go to answer marina of the druids, and once more she would be escorted across the red land and to into the mesa, down the stone hallways until they were once more at the door to ramesses' throne room.
he received her with a desirous expression that remembered the hunger of their last time together.
with a command that belen be brought, pharaoh walked quietly toward marina and then stopped. "how was your journey?"

the druid was far less receptive than she was during their previous visit.  it was not that she was unkind — marina always had her manners about her — but the magnetic desire she had once held for the pharoh had dissipated with the emergence of @Ego.

plainly, she smiled towards him, and quietly offered the prey that she definitely remembered to bring with her but her player definitely forgot to mention in the opening post. 

he stopped.  she did not move to close the distance.

long, she says with a laugh.  it always is.  but i made a promise to you, pharoh.  i trust all is well in your domain?

marina was cooler now, and this did not escape the notice of pharaoh. he gracefully retreated into himself, presenting a more formal mien for this meeting. 
her gift was accepted and handed to a servant who carried it off to a storeroom. 
"akashingo thanks you for your loyalty." a hint, held upon his tongue. he smiled. "the palace grows stronger. i have named my heir."
he invited her to sit at his eating-place in the corner of the room, and took up a seat across from her. "i have not told belen she is yet to leave. but trust that she will not cause pains when you lead her away. is your leadership aware of my terms?"

congratulations to you and yours, she says.  she was sure a kingdom of his size must take a painful amount of work to maintain.  she handled relations with only a handful of packs and at times it felt sisyphean.

yes, she informs him, they were generous, my listener took no issue with them.  we would like to offer you a gift in return; one for another.  something lodges in her throat. in just a moment she has wrestled it back down to her belly where it belonged.  an accomplished healer and caregiver.  if there will be children in akashingo this year, which cerulean greatly suspected, their paws will be put to good use here.

a trade offer? he had expected it, though not another body. perhaps spoils from the sea. perhaps lengths of fine kelp or sea-gems or even the plumes of the birds he knew lived beside the salt water.
but another wolf, and skilled at the sound of it.
pharaoh glittered with approval and curiosity. "when can i expect this emissary?" he asked in a diplomatic tone that probed just somewhat at its honeyed edges.

upon my return with belen, she rejoined, pleased to see the pharoh's shimmering response.  we will send them then.

a pause.  when would you like to meet again?  the beginning of autumn seemed appropriate, after the children were old enough that their parents might not be so protective. but she wanted to hear ramesses' thoughts on the matter.

"before winter," ramesses decided. "it is far between the flatlands and the coast. i would not care for anyone to be caught by the snow."
the coast; her eyes, like spunsalt jewels pulled from an atlantic depth.
"is there anything you wish to take from akashingo? any token of your importance to our mutual politics?"