Redsand Canyon papyrus

vague about some stuff. anyone welcomed <3

she stirred in the night.

nazli tended to her well and stayed near. the grey mountain of a soldier had hardly been seen since their arrival. not that it mattered — mereo seemed to give her the feeling that eyes were always upon her.

so she found freedom in the night. assuring nazli that she would be fine, that she might bring something back for the other girl! but the truth of the matter was she needed a moment to herself. already she ticked with some sort of sense of homesick.

even the boys seemed so stuffy!

there was a glassy look in her eyes as she stared towards the stars that peered from beyond the clouds.

"princess makono."

the tactician's voice was posed. he lay a haunch of cliff-hare beside the girl. "how are you finding your way in mereo?"

it was spectacular that she had brought a guard and a servant. but it was moreso that she had not brought a humongous retinue. the pharaoh saw the importance of traveling lightly.

or he had no more to give even his precious royal child.

"princess makono."

she blinked, cleared her eyes of the soft sheen. straightened her spine in the presence of another, even more so inclined since it was the imperator.

it is different from akashingo. but her voice did not declare this was a bad thing, merely a fact. an observation!

has your glaukos— spoken more like a title than name. —been hard at work?

she had not missed the way he had seemingly forgotten all about his task to keep her safe the moment they had arrived to mereo.

"he is an officer in this army and was handed several details upon his return."

germanicus looked at makono. "has the pharaoh sent you with a message or something for us to discuss, your highness?" it was not unheard of. after all, the girl was here as an emissary, despite her youth.

an officer.

details dealt to him upon return.

it was not a great many details, but it was things to tell her father all the same. she wondered how he'd feel to know the soldier of his outpost disposed duties of the princess in favor of duties of...whatever kind.

as for a message. she did not bring anything explicit, but she was quick to drift into a discussion anyway.

a small smile well trained lit up her features.

i brought you gifts. you could discuss that with me, how they fare for mereo. i made sure to send herbs that might be hard to find here.

germanicus inclined his head. "the meats were a particular treat."

she was poised like her divine father. the eagle wondered if she was also as arrogant.

"your herbs will be given to our medicus." a thought came to him. "has your father taught you latin?"

of course they were!

she wished to beam with delight, but instead she offered only a warm smile. trained by lessons and perfected by practice.

he has not, but i would be delighted to learn. if you have time to teach.

he wondered why pharaoh had wanted his daughter ignorant if she went in the name of akashingo.

latin was not a necessary language unless you spoke to soldiers. unless you wished to understand a hierarchy.

"rome does not have princesses. we have empresses. and so there is not a word for princess. it is interchangeable with the one for prince. princeps."

"so to say, 'i am the princess makono of akashingo, you would say: ego sum princeps e akashingo."

she enjoyed something, deeply, about the title he offered instead.

empress.

but still she had not grown into such a role and found herself with the lower title of princeps. interchangeable for prince!

ego sum princeps e akashingo... spoken once, twice. enough for her to get the comfort of the words in her mouth. is that how i should greet your soldiers? in latin?

"their titles are in latin. but the language spoken most in mereo is common."

germanicus paused. "and the language of trade is greek."

"this place is redsand canyon. plyae e rubrum sabulo."

the titles in latin.

the men spoken common.

the trader language of greek.

well, mereo certainly seemed more worldly than she had first thought. even akashingo shared the tongues of many, but such felt expected! here? stiff soldiers and tending plebians? she thought they might be simple.

plyae e rubrum sabulo. the same process, but with each passing word and phrase it grew easier on her tongue. she had to be a quick learner in akashingo and the skill would not fail her here and now.

do you have any here you share this tongue with frequently?

silently, she wondered and favored the idea of sharing something special with the imperator.

"the only time i speak latin is with your lord father."

dismal, that.

"you catch on well. greek is far more fluid. prinkípissa makóno tou akasín'nko."

lord father.

the imperator knew his tongue well. to speak of him like this before her.

prinkípissa makóno tou akasín'nko. all of it appeased her. to know how she might proclaim herself in any language. it soothed the green beast who dwelled in her.

i might like to speak to you more. in these tongues.

the imperator may not have charmed her, but she did admire his steadfast ways and wealth of knowledge.

"tum latine loquemur." perhaps he had been hasty in his assessment of her.

"princeps siptah frater meus est. princeps ashikaga soror meus est."

the first words she could not make sense of. however she had enough sense to figure that latine must, obviously, be latin. perhaps a declaration of her offer as he carried on.

however she offered him knowledge too in return her at his words.

it was easy to switch names in places of sentences that still worked.

princeps sethnakht frater meus est. princeps toula soror meus est.

these were not the names he had spoken. these were names she had come to know nearly right before her departure. belonging to stubby faces she cared neither either way for at this time.

did the imperator know these things?

sethnakht. toula.

where had these names come from?

"habes fratrem novum. you have a new brother. et soror."

i do.

she confessed with a level gaze.

empress, too. it was not fully latin, but she sought to improvise where needed.

new siblings. a new queen.

makono learned fast.

how different her life must be from those of his own children. it was obvious that pharaoh meant her for something, if she was here already.

"regina is above empress. it means queen."

ah! she beamed now, a smile.

habes regina novum, then? they learned from one another in these vital moments.

makono had no qualms of being the bond between mereo and akashingo.

"sic." yes.

his eyes were warmer. he chided himself for his fatherly mien.

"discis ieiunium. you learn fast." perhaps that was why she had been sent.

it is the mark of a good princess.

she told him, but her face gave way to how she appreciated his words.

do you have any plans to see akashingo again soon?

he nodded. her face was brilliant.

"when i am invited."

there had been no talk of weddings, yet there was a new queen. "where will you go after this, princeps makono?"

makono on her worst mental behavior

she could invite him. it would be easy, to call upon him either in honest desire for learning or with a whimsical need that she could lie of.

create a situation that could only be fixed by the imperator. it would not be kind to mereo, but her thoughts were of herself and akashingo always.

i have not decided.

her thoughts stayed on the imperator and the knowledge he held.

does mereo have a teacher? one that could hold the latin tongue and be sent to me for more teachings.

it was no small ask. although she made no demands of it — infact, she remained rather soothed and composed in the presence of imperator, unexpectedly — she wondered what his reaction might be. another line of thinking sprung in her mind.

there is an alternative thought, too, but i wish to hear your mind on the first.

perfect always <3

"there is no one else here who speaks latin, save for my children. and they are too young to travel."

another idea.

"i do know where you might go to learn greek. epoch of northstar vale."

his yellowpaint eyes waited for her expansion.

his children — all deemed too young for travel. she would not care for a child teacher either way. perhaps a selfish, prudent thought. she wished for any she learned from to be older and wiser.

and who in epoch might teach me?

it was not latin, but she felt a great hunger for this new knowledge too. both of greek and of a new place.