Lion Head Mesa save the queen of paradise if she ever stumbles by

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The aftermath of the party would take longer to deal with than the preparations, and Nazli was keen to get started. She had woken before dawn and now needed something to keep her focused and busy, lest her mind wander to the goings-on of the event the night prior; further festivities were planned for the duration of the week while the visitors stayed among them, but there were quality-of-life duties that the fellahin searched out.

The first was a visit to @Makono's door, to see if she was yet awake or in need of anything, and she was still asleep. Next Nazli traveled to @Siptah's quarters and found much the same, or perhaps the rooms were both empty, she could not be certain without entering - which to Nazli was a breach of some social contract. Lastly she visited the wellspring and found it a mess.

So this space she took to tidying. She dredged red fur from the water. Collected bits of decorative petals from the wedding event, and found ways to collect the red sand from the bottom; it took some time, as she worked alone and with exceptional diligence, until the water was clean enough to see the bottom without murk.

she and nala had retired early, though the sesh had remained and was even now available to be called upon by any guest who might need her.

she found nazli up bright and early, and smiled as she joined the girl in scouring debris from the water. "have you eaten yet?" she asked, ever maternal toward the young wolf she had helped to raise.

the night before had been chaotic. bloody. wild. she thought of makono standing cold upon the plinth and her stomach turned.

Tavina arrived shortly to help, and together they went through the water and tidied the space around the pool, making quicker work of it than Nazli would alone; she was greatful for the help.

Eaten? Oh, no. She had not thought of food. Waking as she had in the priest's quarters had been disorienting; her work was keeping her mind off of things such as strange beds, and she had yet to think of breakfast.

It was hardly the first time she'd forgotten her meals.

tavina frowned a little, rocking back upon her heels. she flicked away a pawful of leaves. "you should."

another thought came to her, one that sparked a good deal more thinking than she would have liked this early. her own head pounded, after all; only a bit of a certain herb had kept it at bay.

"where did you sleep last night?"

She nodded, acquiescing, and would make a note to herself to find something to eat when her work was finished; for Nazli that could've been minutes or hours, and most likely she would find other tasks to complete so that she'd put it off effectively for the whole day. Tavina need not know that.

Her next question brought to mind the scent of incense and the too-close staring of a certain hem in training.

In an alcove, she lied, perhaps poorly. The impulse to lie had never come to Nazli before so she was not good at it, but neither would it be expected of her. The princess dismissed me after the festivities, and it was very late.

Why bother with the falsehood? Maybe Nazli did not yet want to face that she'd slept in a bed not her own, or that there might be something taboo about the priest's quarters.

tavina was hurt that nazli lied; she could see the fib and did not understand it.

but nazli was not her child. and she belonged as servant to the cold little princess. both of them, really, were in servitude here. maybe it was best she did not question.

"well," the sesh said brightly. "let me help you carry this to the midden outside. then i will find something for us to eat." she did not wait for an answer, grabbing a bundle of trash and turning to find the path out of doors.

Nazli was usually so attuned to the behaviors of others, specifically the royals, and yet she missed the hurt that spread through Tavina in that instant; but she was focused so wholly on her work that she dared not look away, at least until Tavina spoke of the midden and a meal.

She was about to say no, and knew she was being willfully rude for no good reason - and to Miss Tee! She loved Tavina with her whole heart, as she loved the palace or the royals, or her work. It served no purpose to be so nonsensical. She was tired, that must have been it. Tired and addled.

She grabbed for her own bundle and headed for the heap, and disposed of things there, before returning to seek out Tavina along the corridor. As she walked, she asked, Miss Tee, did you always... want to be a sesh? To know herbs and their uses.

tavina smiled. "not at all. i wanted to travel and learn about all the beasts of the world. climb mountains. tell stories."

back to the wellspring for the last collection of trash.

"but herbs and healing, those things are something at which i am naturally good. it comes easily to me. so i chose to b a sesh when i came to akashingo."

It sounded as if Tavina had another life in mind. What she'd dreamed of was a far cry different from what she now lived, and Nazli found that almost disheartening; but she was good with herbs and with minding people, so there was some sense to it.

All the beasts in the world... The girl murmured thoughtfully, grasping one last bundle and carrying it with her. She did not speak beyond that until the midden was stacked with bundles.

What do you say I am good at? There had been quite a span of silence between them until his question, so the sound of Nazli's own voice felt too loud to her ears, and she almost winced from that; but also, she was afraid to hear the answer.

"you certainly know your way around the palace. and you have an instinct of what peole might need, and the ability to provide it. and you have always taken pride in your work, nazli. that is very important."

the girl was a quick study besides, but surely she knew that.

tavina took a moment to watch the golden sun spread across the flatlands.

Hearing the way Tavina spoke of her was heart-warming, and while Nazli could confirm much of those aspects about herself, it felt very strange to hear it all spoken aloud anyway. She had asked, and she knew her caretaker would be honest.

She felt the need to deflect. I only do what I am supposed to, but... Thank you, it feels good that people notice. I suppose. Her face felt warm; the sun now caressed the edges of her cheeks.

Treva -- I mean, her highness, she mentioned that I might make a good mazoi. Nazli had neither the build nor the mentality of a warrior, although in the coming days as her lean body filled out there was a chance she'd begin looking more like her father than her mother, although she'd never notice.

And others ask me, often of late, if I want to pursue... Other things, or if I can. She did not want to name Senmut or think of the priests, and yet she felt ever warmer and more frazzled as she spoke.

I only want to serve well, and be a good fellahin. Is that wrong?

rising.

ascension. was there a way to do it as a girl or woman within the palace without compromise? she had done it, but she had been grown when she came to akashingo. and nala would not be made to perform, for they were bonded. however, she doubted it had more to do with that than the fact that ramesses abjectly did not trust the sweet woman, nor would he want her in his bed.

he had become more discerning.

"if you do not wish to rise, then do not seek it. others have ambition they seek to put upon you. but not everyone wants to pay the price of rising." tavina smiled gently. "it is good to be content. it shows peace in the heart." and it would be better for nazli that way, to accept a life as fellahin.

To rise there was some risk, then. Some inherent threat that Nazli had no concept of. As she lacked ambition she also lacked the ability to see things as dangerous, for surely they all lived within Akashingo together and there could be no reason to war among the classes? Such was her naivety. So long as she was fellahin and Makono was royal, all was right in her limited world.

Still, she did wonder.

She is quiet, thoughtful again. There is little more than Nazli wants to say on the subject, and so she stares out upon the red earth and the sun glowing brightly as it is hoisted in to the sky. She thinks vaguely to the night before - the priest boy, and prayers - but does not let herself linger long on the subject.

Breakfast, then? Quickly, so that she could return to her work.

tavina did not gaze toward nazli. they existed in their own contemplations, the sesh's mind upon the night of blood, the look of the princess, the shifting inside akashingo. and also nazli herself; watching the girl mature and grow and close away was difficult.

and yet she understood.

"yes," she said, happy to move on. "perhaps honey to follow." she winked, turning to lead them both in the direction of a store-room, and speaking idly as they walked of small insignificant things.