Northstar Vale jayflower

have decided to make tamar a forager! she will be gathering edible plants/seeds/etc to store in case there is no meat

tears crowded her eyes.

the southern lake, which she had taken to calling namir. tiger.

here she began to dig tubers, but eventually she only fell to soft crying, hardly heard over the rush of the water. akashingo! did they know of epoch?

would they come?

she called softly for @Meadow.

She had tired upon coming home. Her excursion hadn’t been much in her mind to report to her leaders and thus she hadn’t—not yet. The Pharaoh was a man who was quite pleased with himself and with the gifts he had sent home, she simply couldn’t imagine such grand gestures being something that would impress Arsenio and Tamar. 

With that, Tamar beckoned her. A sullen note, and worry pressed to her features as she moved to her friends voice.

Her heart shifted—was that Reysons scent on the air? What was he doing here?

Then, a crumpled Tamar—and the silver woman rushed forward, her concern blossoming to the beginning of fear. Tamar, she crooned, muzzle filtering over the she-wolf’s crown in worry.

taking advantage of the AW if that's okay <3 can be skipped for now unless spotted (or can edit/delete as needed too!)

it was not odd for zosime to be far from either warm-toned woman. yet when she caught sight of her mother crumbled, and meadow tending to her, she felt as if she ought to be far away. as if she had just witnessed something she should not have.

hesitantly she fumbled backwards through some dying foliage, not exactly the image of silence or grace. yet she most certainly was the image of confusion, sudden complex things in the growing girl's mind. a feeling she had never felt before!

she could not figure out if she should stay or go.

welcome! im gonna let her eavesdrop for now if rachel is good! <3

her muted cries covered her daughter's movement.

meadow was there and she went gladly to her sister. "reyson is here. he is — something happened. he — broke after he was sent to akashingo." before the healer could worry, tamar added: "his body, it is well. but his mind —"

she swallowed. "he said you went there, too." her pale eyes searched the other's face. "he said you spoke with pharaoh."

Tamar moved to her—the very near Zosime undetected at the moment by a very distracted Meadow as concerned eyes roved over her friend, surprise—so much surprise—when the woman spoke. Reyson was here—why had he not called for her?

Her brows only furrowed in both worry and concern as the Morphe continued—and then her heart felt like ice. This had to be the fallout. She had prepared herself for this moment—she had known it would come. It always did.

“Broken? I had gone—I just saw him. He was… aggravated, certainly, but not…” Not broken. “I did speak to the Pharaoh. He requested an audience with me—Reyson told you this?” She paused, that icy feeling continuing through her heart. “He was upset with that?”

More importantly—why did this have Tamar resorted to tears?

tamar wiped almost angrily at her face.

the silent tears continued. "no, maxim has come. i spoke with reyson myself, just now. it is — his mind. he was in —"

but she could not explain without explaining. carefully she looked at meadow; she shut her eyes and took a breath. "i was a slave in akashingo."

there, all out, trembling words that threatened to dissolve again. she exhaled. "i think i am affected by hearing of the place in the way that he was to be there." was she clear? she did not know!

Her world stilled. She stated at Tamar—the way her delicate paws would swipe at her face because her tears could not stop. How could they, when such a big revelation was given now?

And… Meadow had walked to them willingly. Had dined with the Pharaoh.

She paled. Had given her leaders name!

Tamar. Tamar he asked me of my leaders… Their names… And he had feigned interest. And horror was now beating her heart—and she quaked with a certain nausea. Tamar, what did they do to you? And what had Reyson seen to come home in such a state?

still skippable!

she had never seen her mother cry like this. she had tears of laughter, surely, but this? it scared her. startled her to think that her mother may weep so heavy and freely.

slave. akashingo. pharaoh. reyson.

all things she did not know or understand! yet she had no clue if she should stay here, hidden among growth — or if she should become a comforting face. some part of her felt she might be sent away from everything if they saw her though.

tamar sucked in another breath.

she reached blindly for meadow, pressing her paws to those of the other woman. the little morphe shook her head. "you did not know. arsenio and i, we did not say. we kept akashingo a secret."

but that was not even the most vile thing between she, her husband, and the imperator.

and tamar was not sure how to speak of any of it and omit that someone had been bought to serve in her stead.

"nothing — nothing that you might think," she said breathlessly, trying to regain herself. "i was in the queen's household. i served the mazoi. the tradesmen." or she had been meant for that. once, sihaya had touched her with that intent but it had never been in the fullness.

"my father sold me to traders and they brought me to akashingo. i was not like the other servants, who stay of their own accord. i belonged to the palace. pharaoh gave me as a wedding present to the queen sobekneferu, satsu. i slept at the foot of her bed, i — made her meals, i was with her always."

she bit her lip. "when the time came for their wedding, queen satsu had — she had not lay with a man. so she ordered me to the mazoi, to discover it for her. to lie with one of them. to find out." what a humiliation. "so i chose arsenio." and her eyes were drying now, glittering with such a hatred as had never been seen on tamar's face before. "i told her the secrets she had wanted to know. when the pharaoh found out, they quarrelled. as fellahin, i was gift to her but still his possession. he wanted me before i had been sent to find this knowledge for myself." floating too close now, to the mercenary and the payment and the girl.

"she offered me to him, as though i was nothing. he said i was ruined and sent me away. arsenio too left the palace." and no mention of belen. 

how horrified the girl had looked! tamar began to softly weep again, this time in the shame that no one else could ever know. "it is a horrible place! reyson for all his soldierliness could not even bear it there!"

Tamar wept—and in between those moments it was revealed to Meadow some of the horror she had lived there. The man had wanted her for himself first—of course she had believed there something untoward regarding the fellahin he spoke of.

But the way he had casually spoke their names. Had sent gifts and an invitation! A true snake. 

He asked me to return with gifts for you both, she finally dared, paling more at the thought. Her stomach squeezed again. And extend an invitation. And he knew… She felt the curl of her lip. And with that she held her friend fiercely. And she knew she would need to find Reyson. I need to find Reyson… Can I take you to someone to be with? Do you want to come with me?

"he did not know where we had gone."

surely he had assumed mereo. but epoch had been built and akashingo did not come. their peace had been preserved.

"he is a serpent. he can have anything he wants," she said pleadingly, the tears wet on her face again. but tamar pulled away, shaking her head. "go to him, meadow. but do not —" tell him.

her eyes pleaded. she was not ready for other men to know these things.

Finally—the ashen arrow broke. She wept freely then, burying her face into the soft nape fur of her friend. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, the guilt almost overwhelming in that very moment. Tamar did not seem to hold it against her—not yet, at least—but what would happen if the Pharaoh’s intentions were far more deceptive than simply riling them with gifts and promises of invitations to grand parties? She had played the part of a fool! And now, if he angered enough, Tamar seemed to believe he held the power to do far more to them.

“I can never be sorry enough.”

"it is not your fault, my sister."

tamar pressed kisses to the furrowed brow and hugged meadow with all her love, smoothing tears from the lovely face.

"you did not know," she said again. "and arsenio, he has sworn to kill ramesses. i kept him from it before. i will not again, if he seeks to reach out against us."

arsenio! her father.

kill!

zosime felt a special kind of frenzy in her rabbit heart now as it thumped wildly in her chest. enough that the world seemed to kind of begin to spin. a slow start to a suddenly upside down world. she could say nothing, nor did she really want to see them after whatever she had just heard.

without second thought, she bolted away. likely heard, even if not seen.

“I…” But her words trailed and when she finally considered what to say, there was a jostling noise from the foliage. Sharply, her eyes hunted for the meaning of it, and paranoia surging, the silver femme was upon the spot where Zosime had abandoned, and her heart plummeted more. “Zosime,” her voice cracked, eyes meeting Tamar’s—knowing the mother should seek her daughter out and fast.

last for me! <3

her daughter ran.

as if all this was not enough, now zosime would suffer with this burden.

tamar gave a final look to meadow, filled with many things, and then she turned to go after her child.