Lion Head Mesa bellows

set for the 14th, morning! all tagged are free to join in any posting order

the tea had steeped for two days, as directed by lady @Qiao.

tavina knew that @Nala had gone to make a resting-area for the poor girl.

she would wait to join both priestesses before the trio of resolute women moved toward the servants'-quarters to find @Nazli with their attempt at rescue from the harrowing hell she had undergone.

it had happened before she could comprehend it.

makono had returned! she had been elated; there had been a strange conversation, and in her ill state nazli had not followed it closely enough. the pharaoh ate, and the pharaoh was no more.

there were hymns, prayers — the man had gone away to a high place, and now —

nazli had been escorted to her own alcove. tremors shook the voices of the fellahin as rumor spread, as panic came to some of them, and nazli could not understand! it wasn't until a day later, two days, she could not be sure, when tavina came.

is he sick? the pharaoh? she was delirious.
she had been there, watched it happen. numb. happy to see makono. confused. mostly confused.
and the time had slipped by.

nala had busied herself in the two days.

she had prepared a comfortable resting place among halls of worship. furs fresh and primed for a resting place. an old bone had been given carvings of protection and health, placed near where nazli's head may lay. dried old stalks of lavender had been laid out to make a circle around the bed.

she felt certain that the fellahin may find healing here. under watchful eyes and praying hearts.

now it was time to go with her wife and fellow priestess to gather her.

eyes soft when they spotted the young girl. asking after the pharaoh! an ill sense of deja vu overcame her in those moments.

she'd leave the words to one who did not tremble when they spoke.

"nazli," the sesh greeted. "pharaoh is dead."

she moved to catch the girl now if she should sway. "and you are sick. we've come with medicine." her purple eyes were knowing. they asked for nazli's trust.

dead.

nazli deflated. she felt her body tremble, which could have been the sickness or the shock, or both, and was caught between nala and tavina.

was it me? she was sick, he had taken such an interest — had it spread to him? had she been the cause? her eyes welled with tears.

her heart!

how could poor nazli have come to this? to think these things and be so horribly weaved deeply into them?

she would stand there, as soft silent protection, but her mismatch gaze went to tavina now. how impossible it felt to speak.

tavina shook her head once and firmly.

"it was not, sweet girl. come with nala and i. you need to rest."

the paste prepared. the devils claw plant sprinkled around the bed nala had prepared. all ready to assuage nazli and take her into a sleep from which tavina hoped she would wake, healed.

whether she wanted for sleep or not, sleep could come.

although nazli heard what was said, she also didn't. she was already convinced that her own malaise had somehow become a deep affliction of the pharaoh, and that somehow she was culpable. a part of her knew this to be impossible - she had only ever done what was asked of her, what was expected, what was desired. she felt blessed to have had the time with ramesses that she did!

the bed soft and inviting, and with a great comfort brought to nazli by the presence of both the women. when she'd drifted off to dreaming, her mind would conjure a wide blue sky, unblemished.

and nala began a hum.

soft and sweet, honeyed by the rich culture senmut had taught her. it was the kind of thing she might have used once to soften the hard heart of pharaoh.

this time it felt as if she sung to a spirit in the room. willing it to release the young girl it had grabbed hold of.

and when the girl finally seemed under the spell —

i will not leave her until she wakes. this she decided softly. her work could be done here for the next few days.

tavina, however, may be called upon elsewhere.

medicine; sleep. tavina looked down at the slumbering girl and hoped that qiao's medicine would work.

the sesh nodded solemnly at nala. "we will take it in shifts," she decided, reaching out to press her wife's paw.

cameo only, tag for reference! <3

blood. nazli. senmut followed in horror.

khaba. tavina. nala; milling; senmut pushed between them until he beheld the drained small face of the fellahin he dared not adore.

and he knew.

the hem was gone in the next, but not before he pushed the amulet back into nazli's limp paw.

he went then to pharaoh, stepping up the three rough-hewn steps to whisper in hoarse tones that @Makono need fear no specter of her father now.