Redsand Canyon palma

"there is another here now who speaks latin," he said to prince @Makono of alstroemeria.

he did not use her name.

it was night and they walked the high paths. he had told her of the wolverine. it was near time for the girl and her retinue to depart.

she would soon return to akashingo.

something about it left her a bit more formal.

your children? some edge of humor, but mostly genuine intrigue. she had not failed to notice the sudden coming and going of new faces among her trials of soldiers.

he smiled, a quick thing.

"aside from them,  had not heard the words before."

he paused. "would you suspect her, princeps? as a spy?"

it is convenient, isn't it?

this asked as they moved as one. she had come to learn his pace on their patrols, following his steps, always at his hip.

i believe suspicions should be kept until disproven, imperator.

now she turned a warm gaze upon him, wondering what he felt of this newcomer dripping latin off their tongue.

wise. germanicus did not know why he was so open with makono in these times.

"are you ready to return home, great one?" he said of the upcoming week and its promise of travel. "reyson will be remaining behind with you for a month."

he thought of fennec and wondered how much the prince of akashingo had come to see.

i am,

just as much as she was not. she tried to fathom the things that may have happened in her absence.

it was best to not.

and who will return a report on him?

"he will return a report upon himself."

the imperator's voice was wry.

"when you see him again he will have joined me in leadership." a reign that germanicus anticipated would outlive pharaoh.

a report on himself!

she had half a mind to argue, but she had known better than to bring her warring politics of akashingo into these moments.

and what will leadership look like for him? what will he be?

"he will be my confidant and look after the legions as do i."

germanicus was silent a moment. "i have not often left mereo this year. reyson's presence will allow me travel."

eastward. crowfeather.

westward.

her, the palace, she feels the hungry need to keep germanicus sated and close. it jarred her. deeply.

and where will you travel, imperator?

her gaze and false smile perhaps say all the things she would not. that she wished for him to walk among the palace halls.

"i have not yet decided."

they looked at one another, he guarded and she unsaid. "in the spring perhaps i will return to akashingo, if i am invited."

now it was his turn to softly joke.

i know someone who can put in a good word...

her own voice a tease now, if that was the way he wished to navigate this.

we continue to host one another. it continues to strengthen us.

how daring!

germanicus snorted.

"to our aspirations then."

and how many did she hide in her heart?

"climb with me again." this time she would not falter so much he knew.

their asperations.

when they spoke now, it was as a pair. a bond. woven and tightening by the time she spent with him. makono held no doubt of him towards her.

the bigger concern was between pharaoh and roman.

but she fell into line without word. it had become clear that the training of a soldier had not been lost upon the crown prince.

a meeting upon neutral ground may look too suspicious, won't it?

her voice a tease, her mind plotting.

makono wanted him as her confidant.

yet the eagle was not beneath the grip of akashingo, even through its heir.

he saw the necessity of their alliance. he saw the pleasantry of it, as she was not cruel or malicious as her father.

but makono was indeed calculating, and germanicus moved to shield mereo from such a backlash.

"i will come to the palace. you will come here. we will convene in neutral territory for goodwill hunting."

a jest and light. but the imperator was firm beneath it. he had honed the crown prince as a soldier. he could not let her ambitions fall back with claws upon his domain.

and yet there was a bond despite his tactical steps.

the hunting is plenty in the flatlands.

and hunting could bring speaking. could bring planning. she could make moves upon the roman.

i could send word to you, when the hunting is good enough to come down from your post.

she awaited his response. they carved the stone together in a moving pattern.

"do so, princeps. a good hunting may be well for the troops."

how could he know more changes would come to mereo? yet it was his duty to know such things. he sensed the shifting.

germanicus fell silent, slinging his lithe body to the top of the wall as a panther might.

i did not forget how well they enjoyed the meats i brought my first trip.

she slunk after him. not as poised, but not clambering as dramatically as she had the first time.

she allowed herself to admire the stone of the man. then her eyes turned out to mereo once more. a sinking stone in her stomach as she realized she was not yet ready to return.

yet she must.

"it is good that the soldiers have grown to know the face of akashingo's next pharaoh."

his voice was firm. he looked down. "off we go again, heir. faster this time, i think."

no time for more words, only the honing of the crown prince for her own future.