Lion Head Mesa wild blue rye

set for tomorrow morning, AW...maybe someone she hasn't met? or hasn't threaded with in a while. can really be anyone since things are so wild rn! lol

senmut had gone off in the dawn. makono found a yawning coldness in her. maybe it was more like shock. settling into the knowledge that her father was truly dead. laid under the first light of Ra. that not a single parent left standing. siblings scattered or displaced. what was the difference?

she thought she saw a glimpse of jawahir at her door — or perhaps it was a shadowed sayf. it mattered not as she rose and they seemed to go off to prepare one thing or another. she moved to a place with fresh air, with the first sprawling light of day.

too much needed to be done still.

Many things had played through his mind. He had not slept, but his visit with the woman Qiao had been enjoyable. He liked her company almost as much as he had his ex-wife. After he had spent some time making sure she was well, talking with her, sharing in her sharp words, Bayek had patrolled the edge of the mesa until he could not walk it anymore.

Now, he turned inward and sought their young ruler.

Pharaoh Makono, you are up early, he said with a laugh on his words. Amethyst eyes danced pleasantly up to see her. What can I do for you today?

and she met him with a warm gaze. even if the edge of tiredness still clung to her.

there are emissary tasks that must be done, medjay. she invited him with as she moved out further into the open air. to look around them and the sprawling flatlands. devoid of any other but them. i think you would make a fine head for them.

and she looked to him, searching.

She spoke of tasks that would take him far from the mesa. Duty said that he must agree. Being Medjay was more than just tending to Akashingo. If he must be convinced, the duties of Yaret were still unknown to him and he had agreed to take them on.

Senmut wished for Bayek to protect her and Makono wished for him to go.

Where is it you would like for me to go? he asked with openness on his lips.

the former shabti had intended a winter feast, but such a thing has no place in mourning. she informed before a yawn rolled out, punctuation to her words. as if talk of the shabti bored her! it did not, only her whole being and soul still ached.

i am thinking gifts of apologies and telling them the news of a new pharaoh.

she turned a lapis gaze to him now, seeking as usual.

No, Makono was right. They should not feast after such a tragedy. It would appear too close to a celebration. The man understood that his purpose as emissary was to deliver grave news. She was thoughtful enough to consider gifts. After mourning, Bayek thought it would be fitting to have a celebration for their new Pharaoh. She had not yet tasted the pleasures of her new role. It was earned. Makono should not feel this weary weight forever. 

Very good. A message to each of Akashingo’s allies, then? I will deliver this. The Medjay would do most anything that the girl asked of him. His heart was that of a father. He wished her only to know happiness and peace. I have only known Brecheliant. Will you tell me the others? Their general direction, so I might travel swiftly. His eyes studied her tired face.

they had walked to a place of sun and now she sat. allowed it to give radiance to her golden fur. the first she had seen of Ra since her father had gone in the morning light.

mereo. they lay up in the mountains to our east, a redsand canyon. she hardly knew of others, but that ought to change soon.

there is a new mazoi. i might see if he wishes to act as ranger between guard duties. i want no strangers between these mountain ranges. was it too much? she did not know and now her shoulders set back. a sliver of determination peaking through all her exhaustion.

i am not sending you off at once, either. the bundles of apology and well-meaning must be perfect before you go.

Mereo, Bayek repeated the name of the outpost so that she knew he was listening.

Makono had thought about many things. Her plans were to offer one of the new Mazoi as a ranger, to see if he would make scouting trips between his duties as a guard. The Medjay could see no fault in this. If the new Mazoi wished to follow such a path, it would be long and hard and fulfilling for him. There could be no better way to put his physical strengths to use.

She had thought of gifts, too. Bundles of apology and well-meaning, she called them.

Bayek smiled slightly at the term and nodded his head.

Whatever you would like me to take, wherever you wish for me to go, I will. Would you like assistance in preparing these bundles?

The man’s amethyst eyes shifted back to her.

sayf may lead the fellahin in making them, but perhaps you should give them a lookover with the eyes of diplomat and messenger. make sure they are fit.

she trusted bayek to understand these delicacies that she had come to learn early. a life of stepping and weaving words and bonds from the womb! she had not become a trained ambassador and tactician by simply sleeping royal days away.

thank you, medjay, a soft dismissal if he cared it to be.

A nod was given. He would check, though he did not doubt that they would be suitable enough. She wouldn’t have assigned Sayf to the task if she did not believe he would be able to accomplish it to her satisfaction. Bayek would only offer polite compliments, he was sure.

The dismissal was soft. The Medjay bowed his head in thanks to the Pharaoh and held his submissive form for a moment longer than he normally would. She was so young to be in the place of a ruler. Heavy was the head that wore the crown.

Bayek withdrew to his work and thought on their new Pharaoh until he became too troubled to continue.