Lion Head Mesa fifteenth

tension, filling the palace.

senmut waited for the moment to change. in the interim, he sought out @Diantha, their newest.

surely she was aware of the changes. he would not elaborate. he only wished to know what sort of person she might be.

There was not motivation to hunt for herself, now that meals were delivered to her at regular intervals by the servants. Diantha enjoyed that, but what was she supposed to do with her time. Everybody else seemed wrapped up in their own whatever, and she had taken to roaming the winding tunnels restlessly.

Somebody followed her, and she stopped where she was to turn and face him. Another servant?

Why are you following me? she asked, her tone more curious than accusatory.

"i want to know where your loyalties lie," senmut said directly. "for what purpose have you been brought here?"

his green eyes were resigned. 

"i am a priest of akashingo."

She recognized him now. He was the one who had greeted her and led her to the pharaoh. Diantha couldn't remember his name, or perhaps he had not given it.

I am to give heirs to Charles, she replied. Did he not remember? Or perhaps he had left before the pharaoh had settled their negotiation. The days all bled together in boredom now. If she knew that she would be safe outside these walls, she might have abandoned them. But a world out there was not safe for a lone woman her first year.

a concubine, then. she was the first formal one of her kind beneath this roof. senmut knew if she could sense it.

what worth were heirs not royal? and yet he sensed an ability to perhaps use such for the advantage of his ruler.

"and when you have done so?" senmut pressed, settling lightly with straight back.

Diantha looked dumbly at him. A simple girl. A simple girl, here to give heirs to her betrothed. She said the words again and again in her mind's eye.

Then I do what my betrothed wants of me, she replied. Unfortunately, she did not know what Charles would want. The pharaoh had been vague on what Charles was like—and that was putting it lightly. Diantha could only hope he was as easy to bend to her will as the pharaoh had been.

a good answer.

too poised. senmut saw the care the woman took.

"so you have come to be a submissive concubine?" he prodded, voice gentle but eyes a study upon her as he tested the temper of the woman.

He pressed, doubting her. He was smart to do so, but Diantha knew better than to give in. Is that so hard to believe? she asked, eyes wide, head tilted ever-so-slightly to one side.

I do wish to meet him—Charles. He does not visit me. Perhaps he was unable perform his own duties as neb. And what good was she if he did not want her? Is he not pleased with me?

senmut smiled. perhaps she was not so easily dissuaded.

"the prince is busy at the whims of pharaoh," he explained. "in due time, you will meet him. tell me what you intend to seek as a role in the meantime. there is court. or perhaps you will join me for a prayer."

He offered options. Court or prayer. Neither one interested her, but she entertained him anyway. What does one do with the court? she asked. Diantha had no need of prayer, not believing in gods or anything beyond what she could see and touch.

"you attend the pharaoh as she passes judgement or decides to extend beyond our borders," senmut explained.

who was this woman?

"who do you worship, lady diantha?"

The honest answer was “myself,” but Diantha knew better than to reveal that to this religious man. Instead, she remembered Bartholomew. God, she replied. He gives us what we want if we are devout and follow His teachings. It wasn’t truth, but she knew that the strange man had thought it so. Unfortunately, Diantha had quickly grown bored of waiting around for God, and so she’d left Bartholomew to his God.

senmut laughed, though it was more a breathy and arrogant sound. "which god? we have countless."

and here his face lit with a good and pure light that perhaps would have reminded the priest he was handsome had he not been far beyond physicality.

"what does it mean to be devout? to you?"

Diantha knew that Bartholomew's God was not the same as the many that Senmut worshipped. She did know that they served a similar purpose. A silly story to make them all sleep better at night for all the horrible things in the world. Diantha had always thought it strange that these all-powerful beings had refused her so much. And why? What had she, as such a young girl, ever done to deserve it?

I have only one, she said pointedly. We must follow what He teaches. Be kind to our neighbors. Chaste until called upon. Beg forgiveness for our sins if we should stray from His path.

"forgive me, my lady, but you do not seem the type to beg for anything."

he let his eyes fall upon her.

yes. once he had known a woman. and then no more since. but he saw the carnality of all things.

"you will give me leave to go. i must rejoin pharaoh. and perhaps you will join me for prayers tomorrow morning."