Lion Head Mesa palm

@Ramesses only if you got the time <3
other tags mainly for reference but also welcome ;D

there was a fire in her today.

not uncommon, but not entirely usual either. she had many ideas in the wake of the shifting of akashingo. these ideas settled heavy in the pit of her chest and she moved orderly to attempt to find her father, great pharaoh.

if he could not be found, she supposed she'd have to find a distraction in other plans or lessons. perhaps @Nazli was around somewhere too and she could drag the fellahin into her thinkings.

she would find him overlooking the bank where stones were carried each day. he had no retinue here; he had sent them to follow siptah. any eye drawn would see the prince walking here and there, instructing the others in the creation of satsu's tomb.
it was a somber task for one so young.
"the lioness stirs in akashingo," pharaoh joked dryly as makono stalked toward him with purpose. for once he was without aplomb, his white fur stained with the red mud churned by many paws beside the river.

can be a cameo!

siptah had ordered some of the fellahin to carry rocks of specific make, or color, and to bring them to different places. nazli was hurrying to do this when she spied makono stalking along, and paused, except then she saw ramesses and with a swift bow she refocused.
she'd found a few stones but they weren't big enough for anything; this was no time to be distracted, especially with the pharaoh so close. she scurried along.

briefly, she spared a look to the working bodies. the beautiful lilac of nazli was easy in a sea of neutrals and reds. she appreciated the way the fellahin went quick back to work.

her father's words brought a smile to her.

the lioness had ideas, she declared in a well-mannered voice. purposefully she did not yet elaborate, waiting his intrigue with hungry eyes and ears.

he watched nazli go with an idle shift of his eyes. he could no longer deny the wolfblood that ran in the fellahin children. suppose his jewel had left akashingo with those two already growing and no one the wiser? his mind said that they were sisters. but his heart was hardened and said that no matter for whom jawahir had intended them, the jewel had filthied themselves.
they must be purified with his absence.
"such as?" ramesses murmured, walking slowly along the beaten shore.

she would entertain him and her heart swelled.

her brother was already so far ahead. did makono at least beat her sister in such a path? a selfish, prideful thought.

i will need a servant too when i go to mereo. she said this was a certainty. he had mentioned a guard and a servant. the soldiers who had visited from mereo certainly had not seemed so well tended to. i have a name, but i wish to test them here first.

"ah. i met your large guard. he is disrespectful." but his eyes shone with the amusement of such a brash man cowed by the fierce girl at his elbow. 
"will you take one your age? or an older fellahin?" he inquired, thinking of kasmut or even sayyadina herself.
again his mind rested upon the jewel.

the comment of her guard only earned a knowing look, but perhaps it was the promise he showed in his dutiful work that allowed her to accept such a flaw.

the next question was where her true desires laid.

the lilac, she offered the nickname with ease, a nose gestured toward the young fellahin. a trained smile from lessons, if the girl dared to glance this way. i believe her loyal and she knows her teachings.

the lilac — and he did see the servant as such, a little desert flower thriving amid the red mud of the serpent. "she would not be able to defend you if there were bandits or assassins," pharaoh mused, but said no more.
makono's every word sounded as though it were already written as law.
this pleased him.
"you are aware that no fellahin is ever truly your friend, are you not, makono?"

another little cameo ehehe

nazli hurried by in the distance.

she wondered what the princess and her father spoke of; she imagined things as she worked, and from time to time stole glances to where they lingered together.

for a moment she thought makono's eye was upon her; that they locked glances, but there was a great distance. still, nazli felt it. warm from the work of digging, more likely.

she found herself hot in the face.

i know, she settled on quickly. but i think she will work best for me if i make her feel...special. chosen. the princess was hungry for every step up she could take.

why should she not hand pick those who might climb with her?

"this is true. flatter her while she is young; train her to your will."
there came the uncomfortable yet acceptable thought that while makono was destined to remain royal, nazli was aimed for service all of her days. surely the princess did not think the urchin would be free of such a plight?
"you must instruct her to be your eyes and ears when you are in mereo. command her to impart all she hears to you and you alone."

she gaze a longer, more thoughtful look at the lilac.

a thought struck her, but she knew she could not make such a move without the blessing of her father. she turned to him now with a lower voice.

what if i made instruction now? if she tells me whispers here, i will know she can do so elsewhere.

what did the fellahin hear that makono did not? what whispers lived in the catacombs?

ramesses smirked. how cunning she was! "i had a similar thought," he told her with a tip of his muzzle and a glance toward nazli.
she would make the fellahin a spy for herself. and in this way, makono would become the same for ramesses.
"akashingo is three days from mereo. when will you leave? how long will you be gone? what item will you bring as gift and show of our wealth?"
he peppered her with questions a diplomat and emissary must know how to answer.

oops this got long, never any need to match

she looked favorably upon the working fellahin now. pleased with her, pleased with herself. makono could safely secure a fellahin in her favor and find comfort in the company of her — if she proved truthful.

soon she would descend upon the lilac with such an order, but for now her father supplied her with her diplomatic role.

the guardian said he can take me when his tour is over. and for this she looked to her father for such agreeance. akashingo still mourned and makono knew the way it might look to step away before its end, even for such a diplomatic mission. she considered her next answers carefully.

i will need to be gone long enough to read mereo...there is no date for their willingness. they were not of akashingo and although she felt certain she could rain hellfire, there was no guarantee any would bend a knee easily to her. especially if any of them proved to be akin to her picked guard.

gifts will be plenty. i want meat they do not have there, plants they do not have. her tone dripped with pride for their claim. perhaps it showed that she wished to be the picture of the bounty of akashingo. it can be tasked to the lilac as well with my sights. she says the sesh has taught her of herbs. another test.

there was suddenly a frenzy within the princess. evident by the way her lapis eyes seemed to dilate with internal excitement.

makono proclaimed things as satsu had done. from one so youthful came a plan of great detail, of great intrigue. he almost felt as though she were ready to know his plans for her future. but not yet. perhaps after her tour to mereo.
"i am your lord pharaoh," he said gently, but his eyes were not turned toward her. "i give you leave to go to mereo for a month's time. this is excluding the six days of travel. you will find a way to send me word midway through your visit. you go as a princess of akashingo, not a spy."
"not yet, my lotus. if this is your wish then you will study with the noble maegi. but on this journey you must be seen as a diplomat. after all, if you become queen, then you may hold them in your hand one day."

she found her ego fed. time and time again. father, lord pharaoh, never ceased to fill the head of makono.

"you go as a princess of akashingo, not a spy.

not yet, my lotus."

she silently reveled in this new path, this new idea. how obvious it should have been to her! of course she wished to be a spy, to learn from the other noble of this trade. the lilac fellahin would be an extension of this work too, most certainly. she could hear the blood roar in her ears.

i want that. she declared. all of it! spyhood! queenship! i will prove my worth as a diplomat and then come home to study under noble maegi.

ramesses nodded once. "so let it be written." she would flourish. "when the mourning is through i will send you off, my little bird. you will fly one day and ashikaga another."
and siptah. the boy could then be given all focus from the tradesmen and teachers. and once his sisters returned, he would be ready for a further trip, or maybe even training in mereo.
it would be his choice.
ramesses looked at makono. "you are a great tribute to your mother. do not forget that."

could be a fade, but never has to be <3

she closed her eyes.

toes caked with richness of akashingo. nose filled with the scent of clay and herbs. she felt somehow both lighter and steadier now. a bath clear cut by her ambition and the guidance of her father.

i will never forget, and i will prove it in everything i do.