Lion Head Mesa all's well that ends

i know it's a lil chaos here rn!! so this is AW with the tags mainly being a soft invintation/optional <3

senmut busied himself plenty with the change of things. makono moved in silence more often than not. plucking faces from the crowd to converse with.

there were faces new to her entirely that she did not know if she should expect them to stay or to leave. perhaps she should sort through them while it was fresh and hot. yet she thought of only those here for perhaps even longer than her own existence.

would @Tavina stay? would the wife of hers stay too? what of the returned loyalist @Qiao?

makono stepped out into the fresh air and the sun hid its face from her. how fitting.

qiao followed on sayf's heels, their errand coming to a close. overhead the sunlight shifted as a long cloud pulled across akashingo.

she paused, for steps rung in the hall. makono, made pharaoh while ramesses' body still burned with the heat of his final passion.

qiao had underestimated many things, but none caught her tail so ruefully as makono.

great pharaoh. qiao bowed her head as she had done for ramesses hundreds of times, stepping from the path to allow the newly anointed her egress.

she had not realized how exhausted she was. how the mourning had already begun in her and made her weary. yet there was still too much to do.

hemet. her voice was warm despite the lack of knowing between them. yet senmut had not warned her against this face. had no whispers of ill on the breeze.

her eyes fluttered from sayf with a small, thin smile. then they returned back to the holy woman.

might i ask for your company?

you are pharaoh. you may ask of anything. and it will be given to you.

qiao shared a look with sayf. the fellahin turned down the hall and retreated to qiao's chambers.

she fell in step with makono, taking care her measured strides kept her slightly behind the pharaoh's in reverence.

she knew this! and yet, perhaps it was a reminder. in the way senmut might remind her. only she knew the hem far better than she knew the hemet.

then i ask of your loyalty. she did not say how she felt she needed it. she did not speak on how her eyes stayed fixed ahead or how she walked as tactician.

the sun's continued absence left her forlorn. as if it had looked upon her father for one last time and forgot all of those left behind in his wake.

they walked astride. oh, qiao had set herself up for that one. what a sharp girl this was -- no wonder ramesses found his heart festering in hatred.

qiao did not flinch in her delivery. her head bowed. my loyalty is to the crown always, pharaoh. qiao had come into akashingo before makono walked this earth -- now her reign extended down the red halls of their keep. this one was so young to have buried her father!

she slowed. they tread the knife's edge. qiao sensed a current underfoot. did you question my loyalty, my pharaoh?

her paws moved in a pace towards the wellsprings. no matter if the pace slowed or hurried. it would all be the same at the end of the journey.

you have walked these halls longer than i have breathed. this she knew and now she turned a lapis gaze to the mystical woman. perhaps i am only asking after you.

a raise of one brow.

in makono came a vsion of ramesses. perhaps it was the lilt of her voice, or the cool way her lapis gaze turned over.

her father's daughter in every respect save the one that had cost him his death.

qiao was being measured. assessed. flattered to soften the hardness of her shoulders. but qiao had learned long ago that rulers could end a life with a snap of their claws - it was not enough to speak carefully. one had to move wisely.

my service has always been to the crown, pharaoh makono -- but know this -- my service to ramesses was contractual, and he did not pay his debt.

did she intend to press her for a debt that likely existed before she had even been conceived? not that she could know if it had been that long. only that her feet had not been on this earth before the hemet.

and yet the mystical woman had plucked at a heart of curiosity.

speak to me of the debt, hemet. and she meant to keep them moving. closer and closer to the wellspring.

their path brought them towards the budding waters of the wellspring. qiao kept her steps measured.

it was bold of her to speak openly. she wondered, had makono been brought up on a life of curated words? had she been fed from the spoon of manipulation, as she had seen ramesses do many times?

and would it cost qiao's hide to speak so brazenly?

perhaps ramesses would have paid the debt if his life had not been cut short. qiao kept this quip from her tongue. she knew nothing of makono, only that a serviceman of hers had willingly shed a loyal subject's blood. for that, qiao was wary.

i was promised a child apprentice, pharaoh makono. i do not tell you this to hold it over your head. qiao once more lowered her skull -- the wound along her head throbbed. i tell you so you may know the bigger picture. you question my loyalty to you after a man of yours spilled my blood upon your door and left me for dead. what reason did qiao have to trust her? 

here she paused, readying for a blow. if it is a coup you intended, its best not to offend your loyalists. my pharaoh.

acid, bile. burning her throat to see the wound and have it associated with her. makono had ordered no such thing. whichever loyalist to her had done this, had acted beyond her reach in doing so.

to say so gave the image that she could not control her own. to a point that they gave violence. to say she ordered it said she was willing to fatally strike at those who pledged to her. qiao had successfully put the pharaoh at the edge of the knife's tip.

of course, her voice lacking in much of anything she felt. the uglier parts of her father creeping through the edges. you are wise. it did not need to be said, but she did still say it. perhaps a flash of respect for the woman's bluntness and whatever mystic ways she held about her.

tell me the other side of this contractual agreement you had with ramesses. your side.

that i would do whatever he bid. trade spices, deliver children, kill whoever he wished. qiao answered this simply, for it was the truth. while her errands had largely been in securing trade routes, qiao knew she had been underutilized.=

it took a creative pharaoh to see qiao's assets weren't in spun furs or stocking herbal caches.

qiao did not bask in the compliment, but she acknowledged her appreciation by keeping her eyes and head lower than makono's. it would be improper of them to speak as equals. she knew this, and kept her posture humble. i am the crown's to do as the crown bids, divine one.

why had her father stifled this woman? fear, perhaps? a killer stuck to the role of hemet? that was not to say that one could not draw life and be spirtual but...

wise, indeed, it seemed. makono knew she would do best to keep qiao pleased and close.

we both know i am too young to give a child apprentice from myself if that is your debt, a fact clear as day. not one that could be disputed no matter anybody's wants! but perhaps you will speak with me over a meal, something more proper than a stroll, and we will sort things.

it sounded as if she gave room for rejection! yet she did not wish to see any.

and i am sure you have tales that have not reached my ears.

she wondered if her days of wandering were over now that she would be perched upon a throne.

it was an honor, this invitation. and qiao would be stupid to decline. 

she heard trickling; the wellspring was close. 

of course, divine one. here she stopped at the stony plinth and bowed. i am yours to call upon as you see fit.

oh, they could do terrible, wonderful things together. their meeting had lasted only minutes, yet it was all qiao needed to know that this one was far more clever than her father.

feel free to fade here! makono will probably be calling her very very soon x)

the woman bowed and makono could only see the mark upon her skull. the woman had already paid some price of blood and still bowed to the crown. it jarred her, electrified her.

she motioned a fellahin near to them.

see to the needs of the hemet in all ways today. and makono would go began a descent into frigid waters. prepared to keep the sharpness of her muscles. qiao was free to join or leave, their words had been spoken. for now.