Two Eyes Cenote fifty-seventh

senmut went to visit @Legend.

the ceilings here were dark, vaulted with a strange shining substance to illuminate one's step.

beneath these beautiful, eldritch domes; beneath one, would their queen announce her choice. he had not seen thutmose in some time; if the man did not join them, the choice then would fall to he and to the man whose blood demanded far more.

but for now, he came quietly and whispered the darkfeather's name.

Sleep came in bounds.
Queen’s summer palace sheltered a new patient: one that did not go down willingly.
Every sleep came through a new vision of terror and luxury. The last was still. Examined with deep care for the unknown and lust to satiate curiosities, see them grow.
A second spell casted upon the the devils child, gods blood, within the wraps of Akashingo.

She was in Shuyet.
Suns turned to moons. Casted out of a door rich in stones in a hurry- a shouting, tested voice. Flashing paintings of golden sands and faded prints. Endless treks. Sutekh. Only to repeat again, another call, again, another walk. Messenger of Shuyet. Hellfire in Shuyet.

Her name brushed her ears.
Imp’s eyes flickered open drowsily. Senmut.
”Sa…”

"i am here." his paw, steady upon her own; his voice, steady beside her ear. "i am here, legend."

senmut sat himself beside her pallet and lay his muzzle near. "you have traveled the dark world. i though we might lose you to the Land of Reeds."

his voice betrayed for a moment how greatly such a notion affected him even now.

Hope and grief on his voice, lost was she to other places. Other ideas. Other thoughts, where she felt her own version of twisted joy. Pride, finally seeping into her skin. He would be happy. Happy with her? A goal, etched to her bone as she lifted a paw, delicate to his until she felt the warmth of his chest. A smile now, soft and weak by exhaustion, but there- she could not forget. Couldn’t stop thinking about it. She told him.

In gentle voice. “I found- Nazli.”
The smile grew, grew, only lightly pulling at the corners of her lips, as her eyes sunk deep into the unrelated serotonin of it. That she’d done it. She’d done it, as asked. As commanded. Duty-bound to it, she showed him the most engaged eye, body slow, but breathe thin, quietly faster. Proud. Proud. She wanted to see him proud- was he proud?
All she wanted.

nazli; nazli; his mouth curved next to her own; he pressed soft kisses to her face.

"i wish to reward you." nazli; and legend, alive, and senmut found a contentment in the absence of desperation.

heartache; beneath toula's hand, he hoped nazli might find a new life. a love.

and for him; senmut looked upon legend with the pride she desired.

Could he see? See. See how infatuation ran wild across her eyes, and how the smile upon her mouth was molded into rough-cut gold. Her wrist bent to his push, his mouth riddling kisses along her face until there was the delicate, amping waves of a sinners tail.
Refreshed by his liquid touch, she drank from the cup of it. The imps tongue touched loosely to her nose. A seed tucked under soils.

“Reward?” Wag, wag. His lips, tongue, she did not dare return it, did not take the reward not given to her that was soiling his coat with her own affection. To simply touch him, their Erpa-ha, their Sphinx, in such a way.

“My priest, I’ve seen so many things,” she whispered, a great wonder, joy, to her voice now, sealed with his pride. His touch. His validation. 

so; they drank; supped; healed.

"tell me," the prince whispered, for here he was both prince and man. she gave this to him, and even as she lay curled in mending, she worshipped him.

was this what he offered the queen;

he marvelled, his lips on her brow. "yes, reward. you have done well."

Failed.
Lost to expectation.
But he, he who traversed with the Gods, her Gods, a God, spoke forbidden words amongst her ears. It could only be truth, holy; commandment. He said she had done well. A smile from her lips.
A good job. He fed her joy, pleasures. She had done. Well. “Really? Yeah?” Her tail tapped to cold stone.

Tap. “Reward me.”

A returned inhale, her gears turned quickly, a rapid influx of thought. They whispered amongst one another. The changeling spoke with ghosts. To him. As an altar.
“I’ve seen,” her eyes wandered, darting the the ceilings, and how they poured light amongst their bodies where they did not shadow one another, “so much of the Queen. Queen Toula.” Another inhale, soft to his fur. Her eyes to his.

 “So much of you.”

senmut knew legend enough to understand she did not always exist fully in their world. 

she walked between, ushabti to darkness and light alike. the gods knew her and she swallowed into herself the doctrines of ancient dynasties.

legend did not speak of what she wished; she spoke of him. for now he only kissed her, softly, and murmured softly, "tell me what it is you saw of the queen."

“I saw..”

Stars. So many stars.
Her eyes were drastically wandering, voice afloat, words coming to a neat little trail. Oh, oh, oh- and then! Oh— REWARD! Oh, she liked rewards. She loved rewards! A quick inhale from her nose, her words came rushing back to her mind again. An arm grazing his neck, her brows tense with the slightest curve, she squinted.
“Sen,” So serious! She was serious. So, so serious. Oh, how very serious! Near to a pout, if not one, or just a frown to the fact she was so sad that she didn’t have one-“I want som’thin’ pretty!”  
As if he could deliver, as if he would, she thought of nothing. Only pretty things. Something nice and shiny, or beautiful, or fancy, or both. Something she could see lavish in. Oh, Eset had something pretty! Where’d she get it?

"something pretty." his eyes said he saw her own visage as treasured, carved from finery. "you shall have it."

what else did his legend want outside of what could be touched? senmut had the distinct realization that he did not know if she desired more of him. a commitment. a bond assured.

"tell me of the most striking place you have ever visited," he urged, wishing to hear more of her delighted voice.

“-Nn.” Her voice was cut.

”Striking place?” Her voice fell to a quiet whisper. Searching with her eyes, somewhere she didn’t know, her brain rattled and crumbled. Highs and lows, she had traveled through many places. All were filled with miles of endless desert and sand, beyond their horizons and far over. “I’ve seen- golden sands,” her eyes grew big, “for miles!” But Senmut didn’t ask that. Prince, high-priest, Erpa-ha, he asked for the most striking.

But Legend had not seen more than sand. She referred to it all as golden and beautiful.
None had been different than the other.
Nothing that she thought of more.
She had never considered the most striking.

Legend didn’t know. Such a place did not exist for her. How could she, when she had not seen enough.

There was one place, that Avery-Totoro once showed her. “A wolf to the west, they once showed me the most beautiful act of Hapi. Where water came rushing down from a big hill! I’d never seen so much- water,” she remembered so greatly, vividly of this day. Water in plenty, crashing down to a new body of water from so high above. 

a beautiful act of Hapi. legend described racing water, her expressive face detailing for her prince the pleasure she had felt upon witnessing such things.

the desert for him also was not the most lovely place he had been. such was reserved for the land along the serpent river, where he had gone to accompany queen treva and ramesses on their honeymoon.

"perhaps the water calls to you." he kissed her wrist, outside, inside; "perhaps it calls to you as the shadows do."

soon he would leave her to rest, but for now senmut lingered.