Two Eyes Cenote (BOO) Daughter of mine.

Across the dead space she went, as powerful as a gathering storm, as formless; to the place where @Toula slept.

Daughter? Oh sweet girl, my girl,
No! This one, asleep in luxury, this one she did not know.

A chill filled the girl's quarters that night, one which could not be remedied. At first it was a sombre feeling, then one of sadness; a creeping damp that came as petrichor.

Princess... The voice a whisper only she would hear.

Toula existed in this plane, it often felt. the dead always walked among them! and so she was without fear when a chill came to her, and she heard her name. 
was it a God? was it one of those that had gone to the field of Reeds? she lifted her head, eyes searching. who calls? she gently wonders aloud, not yet able to see them!

at first, there is no answer but the cold and the empty. the finery that decorates her quarters seem somehow older than they were, with slanting shadows, a layer of dust, as if her trinkets and prizes were forgotten things rather than the gifts and decorations that toula so adored.

the sensation retuirns; a sorrow.

i am queen, as if she mourned her life, the disembodied voice lilts softly for toula's ears. it sounds like the start of rain pattering across the stone; the sky might be dark but it is clear outside of the mesa. perhaps this is a dream.

princess. so young; you think you are ready for it? the voice is hollow. there is a sense of something probing in to toula's mind the longer the cold lingers, clinging to her where she lays in her bed.
i see your heart. do not lie to me.

queen! queen, but not mother—yet a presence she had felt often. perhaps not near, but there at her pyramid where the Queens would go only after death. Toula had often gone to visit the mother of Makono and Ashikaga—and so the familiarity did not feel strange.
it was welcome. Toula pushed to a stand in order to bow a measure, having great respect for the first for many reasons. eternal Shabti, you honor me she breathes, reverent. the question was one she thought on for a moment, eyes drifting in a direction that the voice was not as she considered.
a quiet sigh. and after another moment, she stands a little taller. for our people, I must be. and so for them, I am. I have seen two Pharaohs before me—I will make them each proud, and now she thinks of them, gaze searching. were either of them here?

no, she would not let them manifest.

her husband would know better; others held no power here.

it was at this moment that satsu made her presence visible; the chill making any breath to feel like claws in the throat, and become a mist on exhalation, but through this lingering haze stepped a silver-blue figure. stepping silently in to view as if through shadow, angular, compact, yet her sense of presence and purpose was strong.

behind her not one tail, but three sprouting from a singular base; her features more jackal-like than wolf in this moment, the truth of her soul having found expression after death. the shadows gather beneath her and seem to cling to her, holding her there before toula.

your suitor—i have seen him. the blue of her gaze is the color of the sky, and yet so cold, lacking the sunlight that true life might bestow. you choose with your heart. an observation; there is a pause and toula could respond, but even if she did the queen would cut her down by next declaring: a wrong choice.

she brought with her ill omens.

she was beautiful. it was obvious Toula thought so, her gaze full of open admiration and appreciation for the Shabti that made herself appear before her. the words carried caution, and for that Toula was grateful—but there was something that the once Shabti did not see.
still, out of her great respect for the dead and the Shabti herself, Toula held her tongue. why is it you say this? she wonders, knowing Satsu would not make her wait long for the answer.

she dares to question!

satsu's form shifts, growing. her face becomes like granite while her eyes are twin pools of unblinking sky. her tails at first shimmer like curling mist and then all that dominates toula's vision are those eyes, with the winter chill pressing in from all sides. though, not a word of answer until it feels as though winter has claimed the space entire.

men lie. the words seethe from her, mind to mind. it is a simple truth and an important one that innocent toula has not grasped yet. he lies; your chosen, he is not happy as consort. he wishes for your throne and for your sons to carry his blood. her mouth does not move, for she is made of stone and shadow now.

you, child, who visit me often. you who give me gifts, and honor me... nothing that begins in love, ends in love. you are young, you do not know. let me be your tutor. her size is small again; her tails curling around her feet where she sits, and her eyes close, and even her head bows — the first queen! the shabti of the red sands, bowing to a girl!

your love of him blinds you to many things. you may stand as pharaoh to your people but he will never accept it in his heart. there is darkness there.

men lie. it was something she knew. but so too did women. so too did any with their own motivations—perhaps even the dead. one might think another with no life to live would have none—
but such was not so in Akashingo. and Satsu had a daughter who could benefit from such a union still among them. 
her heart was trusting. he had a choice. he still has one—if he wished to be Pharaoh, he could have any other. but he kneeled to her—and in one another, they had found true love and happiness. 
but she had no vizier. and the Shabti was in fact wise. it would be a fool who would not take this opportunity of what was offered. and to truly know the mother of Makono, of Ashikaga… 
and when she bowed, Toula knew the honor that was provided to her then that no other might ever receive again from the departed soul. I have heard you, and if you would tutor me, I would accept. I have heard only great things if you, eternal Shabti, 
as for love—she could not come to regret her decision. she married Rashepses for great sons and great daughters, for his Godsblood, as much as she did for his heart. he was worthy of Akashingo. a trueblooded prince. 
and proving by the day he was worthy of her, her heart that he had so swiftly seized. she wondered if Satsu perhaps saw the no longer beating one of her father—the blackened parts of it. would you… humor me, departed great one? would you tell me… the story of yourself, and my father—your husband? her eyes were bright. indeed, she was still young; she wished to see flashes of Satsu in life, and her father, too.

yes, in this way she could remain a part of her kingdom. to watch as future generations proliferated. to see akashingo flourish and the blood of her beloved extend across the world; this glimpse was all she held, for now. perhaps when she was returned to the afterlife, she would only have these moments to reflect upon.

the cold recinds within the room. the shape of satsu diminishes, though the glow of her eyes remains; one fire, two, dancing together — becoming a singular candle without form.

in to toula's mind, the tale.

ramesses has always been a man of great ambition, insurmountable pride, and i was the opposite. while i am the daughter of a daimyo - a pharaoh of my own people, you could call it; though my people are gone now - i was foremost, a dancer. these were things she had meant to tell her daughters! instead she spoke freely of such precious things with this girl; it pained her in such a way, deep and crippling. i did not enter in to marriage with him out of love.

his ambition was so great, and he taught me much. i learned ambition from him. i learned of love through him. i danced for him and him alone, and over time, our souls aligned. it was the only way she could express the connection they had. even now, the pair roamed as spirits together! who had come first? satsu could not know. to be anywhere without ramesses felt as though she had been split in half; and now without her three children, it was the same! pieces scattered.

it is a common tale for an uncommon man. your father, the god. he elevated me, and in recognition his gods became my gods. they are why i now visit you; it is their will, and i honor them as much as i honor my husband, being here and serving you.

there was little else to say.

the story was beautiful. that she spoke with Satsu and not her own mother was not lost on her, but then it was not uncommon for a Pharaoh to have more than one wife. Satsu, however, had been gone too soon—
but Toula had not been around for the investigation, and had only heard whispers that…
were you murdered? a whisper, now. but if Satsu intended to serve her, perhaps the woman could be now given justice.

blue eyes, unfocused, swimming with some recollection. while she haunted the space of the princess, she herself was haunted.
blue, blue, swarming, so it was everywhere. this unnatural glow cast upon the walls; upon toula, shimmering, as if the room was a pool of water and the spirit now drowned the girl.
as she dissipates in to fog and loses all connection to the space, the voice of the queen drawls to toula's ears: there is no other way that royals die.
toula alone now, as the light and color drain, and she is left fully alone.

gone, and out of sight. but Toula heard the words all the same, and wondered at them.
she would pray that this time, it would not be true.