Two Eyes Cenote calling the scarlet sands

this event is future-dated for nov 30! the first round will be for @Toula, @Rashepses, @Akhtar, @Eset, @Senmut, @Satsu (Ghost), & @Ramesses (no posting order) and then will be open to all! @Naberius @Racharra @Cornelius @Mesen-ka @Nefari @Nazli @Legend @Khusobek @Zaahira @Tavina @Tuna @Eset @Sayf 

guests: expect that your lodgings have already been set up at the palace! @Ceridwen @Frolic @Meridian @Austere @Ines @Heph @Raiyuk @Ingram @Seal @Keiko @Reverie, @Moss, adding @Chani, @Germanicus, & Chickadee as my plus-ones! remember: you can still add characters to the wedding party! RSVP here <3 feel free to tag each other as well if there traveling parties!

after the noted characters have had a chance to respond in this first round, please feel free to make one reaction post with your own or break into wedding party threads! we encourage you to mark your threads with 'wp' somewhere in the title, for tracking and fun! 

this is going to be a text wall <3333

there had been discovered a beautiful wide room with a ceiling of starlight, not stone. senmut had inspected it himself. there was a tunnel draped in soft greenery which led to the glory of this space, hung over with all manner of gentle grasses and flowering vines. when there was a source of light here, the same viridian color struck the floor in dapplework.

senmut felt he had not seen anything so fine, and determined then that this would be the coronation space for his queen and her ascension to godhead. as before, he ordered a wide dais to be arranged, stone and wood draped with satin finery for her very foot, that of her consort, and those of the holy men.

he himself was quite nervous; he had not slept the night before, instead inspecting the storerooms where great quantities of food had been gathered, including from the larders of akashingo itself, all collected here for the purpose of feeding guests in their week of glory.

quail, mutton, elk’s-flesh, soft haunches of hare, venison still quivering with fresh fat; armfuls of sedge and lavender. a very large quantity of cacti pulp had been chewed, mixed with honey, and left to ferment into a drink that he could tell by sharp scent was already potent.

beautification of the ceremonial space was complete before dawn, and by mid-morning, their first guests arrived. offered respite and a light meal, it was evening when senmut called for the gathering to begin.

tonight would be a fine triumph for eset; he touched his own eyes with dark paint and wrapped his slender body in the draping cougar-skin, mark of his rank as high priest. and nothing more.

by now, he expected the throng to perhaps silence, perhaps cheer, as the royal hawk-in-the-nest and her divine consort took to the dais, for he had signalled her fellahin that this was the moment.

the floors were strewn with the petals of desert flowers. senmut took up the heavy seal of the Apis Bull and now walked slowly through the crowd, expecting them to stand aside, to part, as he took slow steps toward where she stood waiting, and his eyes were for her alone, and he saw only her.

akhtar now, to whom he handed the seal as he turned to face their guests, their servants, the royal princes. ”akashingo welcomes those who have come to muat-riya to see a pharaoh crowned. to see a Divine Consort raised before the eyes of the gods. this will be a celebration to affirm not only a godhead, but a kingdom. long may the Kingdom of the Red Sands live!”

now senmut turned back to divine, glowing goddess and the handsome man of dark glass who glittered beside her. a raise of his paw, and a servant brought forth three stalks of wheatgrass, a cascade of white foxfur, and a small shell of rabbit-fat.

for a moment he found himself desiring a last look into her eyes before she became a true god, but withheld himself, bowing low three times in slow ritual, touching his forehead to the wood beneath her paw.

”you are The Morning and the Evening Star. you are Userma’atre’setepenre, Keeper of Harmony and Balance, Strong in Right, Elect of Ra." the young royal inherited her father’s titles in this moment, and there was a heaviness to the exchange. ”you are Muat-riya Isetnofret Toula, Princess of the Red Serpent, Wife to the Gods, Consort of Amun.”

”you are Per-en-ma'at nesu-bity, Pharaoh In Two Lands, He Who Has Achieved Ma’at.”

there was a significance in the masculinity of the name. as senmut spoke, he took turns with akhtar anointing her forehead, her cheeks, chin, chest, wrists with the small holding of fat. he directed the pharaoh to place her paw upon the stalks of wheatgrass, ”by this you take responsibility as sovereign of the land itself,” and he put around her shoulders the glowingly white garments.

”thus is the Horus Throne given new life. from this day forward, the gods will see you as one of their own.”

and she was pharaoh.

”the Divine Falcon is joined with Prince Rashepses of Ta-senet, Iry-pat of the right bank,” senmut further intoned, turning his attention now to the elegant man. he stepped aside so rashepses might take his place, and the two might regard one another before the watching eyes.

he would direct the prince to kiss the holy forehead of his powerful ruler, ”to honor Wadjet,” and to kiss each of her forepaws, ”to bestow his respect for the crook and the flail.”

he too, was anointed upon the same various points, and a robe of white too was placed over his hackles. ”i name you Semer-wati, Only Companion to the God, Hemet-neswet, Devoted Consort, Favoured of the Scarlet Land.”

and so it was, and so it would be.

at last senmut, though he wished to hesitate, gave the seal of the Apis Bull to rashepses, in symbolic show that he surrendered divine safekeeping to the man chosen by pharaoh to be her eternal companion.

starlight beamed down; moonglow filled the room and the waiting breaths.

pharaoh and consort, stepping forward, even as senmut faded to one side.

his voice rose with a piece of a hymn, and as its echoes died away, he would lead the guests and all of akashingo in a loud cheer for the royal pair.

”your rays nurse all fields,
when You shine they live, they grow for You;
You made the seasons to foster all that You made,
winter to cool them, heat that they taste You.
You made the far sky to shine therein,
to behold all that You made;
You alone, shining in Your form from Yourself alone,
homes, villages, fields, the river’s course;
all eyes observe You upon them,
for You are the Aten of daytime on high.”

senmut did not sing the final lines;

You are in my heart,
there is no other who knows You.

As Senmut paced the night before so too did Eset lay restlessly upon her furs and trace all possible scenarios of the evening into the ceiling of her bedchamber. She’d risen before dawn to make an impression, bathing and plying the insides of her wrists and throat with perfume distilled from the petals of wild violet; enunciating the fire of her eyes with charcoal. If all in the kingdom served as specimens of Toula’s vision, her handmaiden would, too.

In the precincts of the temple for Muat-Riya there stirred the presence of something that had never, in the long history of these domed cenotes, been there before. A murmuring amongst guests swept like a breeze from the serpent moves through papyrus beds. The fellahin moved beneath the Erpa-ha's directive, escorting guests to where they would stand in view of the raised tribune before laying the path of ascension in sacred lotus. The air bloomed. The girl stepped off to one side. Whispers abated, and Senmut was first to appear.

Handsome, she thought him, caressed as he was by filtered light rays and decorated in ceremonial ways. Akhtar following, all willowy elegance in his holy mien to take his place beside. And then her eyes looked down the aisle for Toula.

Through the crowd she emerged. The fellahin- even having a hand in the dressing- was enthralled in her presence, so much so she had to fight averting her eyes over the intensity of such power. Instead they clung softly to every detail; the brush of fine powder that lined the arch of her collarbone and the drapes that accentuated the length of her pale legs. The vined amulets that adorned her forearms and neck. The malachite she’d dusted cunningly to the upper eye. The way she moved confidently under the weight of her honors. Even the striking man at her side, tall and alluring in his polished obsidian.

With power like that, Toula could uproot the world in the blink of an eye. But she chose to wield it for the good of all her people.

Mistress no longer- Pharaoh, and Goddess in eternal life.

As the birth of a god played out before her, and Senmut’s hymn came to a close, Eset felt the beginnings of something long withheld;

Peace.

Rashepses was a man born in opulence and after the weeks of travel through scant unsettled desert the pomp and regalia was a welcomed return to form. He enjoyed the press and the chorus of whispers from the guests until the ceremony began and the crowd subsided into silence.

He sat regally upon the dais as he watched the priest’s procession, but his eyes sought the shape of only one. When she appeared he felt the surge of blood. She was his Toula, but sharper beneath the embellishments. Darker, beneath the night. He could not look away. Across the throng of bodies and deckered pathway his eyes found her’s.

“You’re dangerously beautiful,” the lowest murmur spoke into her ear as she met him and the priests began to lead their rituals.  They acted as bid and Rashepses knelt, laying his kiss upon each ivory paw and into her temple, lastly taking the seal that placed Pharaoh Toula into his eternal protection. He pulled back to drink in the curves of her face as adulations soared.

If Ramesses was the Sun, Satsu was the Moon.
The night was clear and the stars glowed upon those gathered; the moon watching as Senmut spoke, and Rashepses was welcomed forward, and stood beside Toula who would be a goddess on this night. A woman and her consort.
Satsu watched.
She was the Moon that hung above; she imbued the two-eyes of the cenote, its clear water her gaze. This land which was meant for Ashikaga, for Makono, for her blood, now passing to the bastard girl! Here, Satsu had found some semblance of power in her unlife, watching and learning, witnessing the changes in her kingdom, and growing further from the love she once held for her husband the Sun.
Here, Toula would be crowned!
The words spoken, the songs sung; the people, gathered to witness and to love her. It was wrong!
Above in the open air, where the stars stared and the moon glowed, the wind began to whip and howl.

it was right. all of it—done to perfection! her heart grew and it grew, no coldness in her—Toula, starborn and destined for more without knowing it. raised in love, with careful guiding paws—those of mother, of father, of sister, of court and of fellahin. 
the storm that was coming broke as Toula looked upward, taking a singular step with a foreleg bedecked in the amulet of her father. one of protection! even in death did he gift her with this. 
the fellahin had finished with their beautification of her. they accentuated the things that already made her beautiful to them—and then, they added to her things to build upon that. she was their canvas brought to life, and this day was perhaps their best work yet. when Toula looked into the stillwaters that acted as a mirror, she had seen the image of her father looking back at her. another blink, and she saw herself,
and could foretell the greatness she would come to bring, as the first Pharaoh of Akashingo had. the thought made her float rather than walk to the place the invocations would occur, the air all the more warm and comfortable with each forward step that she took. with her own power, she would beat back any enmity toward her or her people—her confidence in this made the storm brought by Satsu wilt away from her person, unruffled, unafraid.
it was her throne, now. Makono had gone and had never returned—and Ashikaga had been gone for too long. but for them both, her beloved sisters, she would be sure that they would know greatness too. they were her family, and always would be. her protection would reach out over them, the shield of her love carried for each of them. 
her eyes found Rashepses. and if there were any doubt in the thing that she had decided upon, this power and their love, he burned it all away with a look that strengthened her. the words he spoke were met with a slow smile. he brought her back here, into this moment—and then it was the coolness of Senmut’s gaze she had found, love and love and more love present as he spoke, as he sang, as he made her who perhaps she was always meant to be, unbeknownst to them all, 
oh! she felt strong, and yes, she felt so very certain! she was ready, costumed as she was by Eset and her companions who she loved so much. her eyes found Zaahira, further finding strength in the very presence of her. indeed, in her heart was that love for her people, and her heart was fit to burst with the fullness of it all. for father, the sun; for mother, the stars; for her people, the planets that orbited—and let Satsu, the cold and barren and beautiful moon, feel this true, earnest love too! so warm that she was untouched by any chill. she banished it, looking skyward for only a moment. 
she felt imbued with power. her blood sang with it. and so it was easy, then, for Toula to then become what they had dressed her this very morning to become, transformed and transcended as she sang the hymns and thanked the Gods:
Pharaoh. 
and with a little trilling song, she called to the hawk gifted to her by Senmut so many moons ago—it flew in, brown with its youth, through the open ceiling, and landed upon her shoulder. her smile broadened, as she cast her gaze out to her people and her guests.

satsu raged;
her fury was eternal. her rage was tasted by the royal who watched his daughter step upon the dais beside the pretty rashepses, but his delight was dashed to a thousand pieces by the storm his heartlove gathered above the cenote.
his lapis eyes were sharp toward the shade of satsu, who grieved surely for her daughters. but they were not here! she had no love for toula, this much he knew; she did not share his pride in this acension.
but makono had been pharaoh! and ashikaga had never left her role as princess to seek more. his sons were gone. toula was the last chance for his legacy, for his blood, for that of seti.
and so as his love bore her anger against the skies themselves, ramesses was as a cloud, rising as mist through the open ceiling and into the heavens, where he imbued the stars exact with Ra's brilliance, and shone a silverglow down through the storm which satsu had whipped into a frenzy.
his blood.
his lineage.
his glory.

Through chapped lips and dead eyes, Akhtar watched the proceedings with a queasy smile and no small amount of dread.

Three parties. Each one chaotic, each one throwing a minefield across the celebration. His eyes flicked in constant paranoia, never able to be reassured. The priest was visibly off, though he offered the happy couple his most vibrant of smiles before he was back to scanning the crowds.

An ear cocked, listening to the billow of the storm. While the partygoers listened and cheered, Akhtar turned away, staring up, up, up. Where the wind howled.

By the gods name… could he not have one normal party? He kept his eyes distant, searching, visibly waiting for the shoe to drop.

everything had been leading to this. all roads ended here.
in the days before, zaahira had oft spent her afternoons overseeing, organizing, planning. while it had not been necessary, she humbly assisted the fellahin where she could; she gave her creative insight with the design of toula's outfit, she helped set up decor and hunted for meat and berries and garnishings. when she was not doing such, she kept her post where she always was: at pharaoh's shoulder, like a little bird perched upon a branch.
they had, perhaps, conversed about the visions of satsu and ramesses. either way, the fury of the shabti's spirit seemed to have been felt by akashingo's people; it had not gone unnoticed. the air had been — tense. the gods have chosen you for a reason, zaahira recalled telling her; you were born to become pharaoh.
zaahira firmly believed this.

and now the day had come.

that morning, the first thing zaahira had done was vomit up the contents of last night's dinner — meat, and far, far too much liquor. her head reeled. she ate breakfast with jittering paws, paced the halls frantically; and inji had spared a moment to help her get dressed.
a jet-black skin that once belonged to a rat snake, tossed 'round her neck as if it were a scarf, and dabbed upon her eyes was paint made from crushed cornflower. a soldier's armor.
bodies filter into the flowering room; faces are registered, names are exchanged, and formal bows are given to those of foreign lands. the nervousness is thick within her voice, even as she tries to soothe it with all the power in her bones.
she settles among her peers as the voice of senmut flourishes within the halls. her eyes settle upon toula, at first, and oh, how incredible she looks! not girl, but woman; not woman, but god.
and then there is rashepses.
he, too, is crowned; semer-wati, king consort. and where zaahira should have felt glee, instead a bitterness simmers lowly beneath her surface. she had always told herself she would throw a metaphorical shoe at the altar if they were to wed.
but instead, she finds the eyes of pharaoh, the glimmer of unadulterated, girlish joy crystallized in the seaglass, and from the masses she casts a feeble smile.
if he makes you happy.
to you alone, no matter what, i am eternally devoted.

much work had gone in to this moment. the cenote was cleansed of spirits by priests, and the temple nazli hoped to build was thusly found and made ready. she was pleased to be of use; pleased to make those around her happy, and give the heir her perfect moment.

nazli did as she wished in the evenings leading up to this. she basked in the starlight and spoke quiet hymns to the moon, trying to reach out with her faculties and become something - someone - that Akhtar and Senmut would approve of. in the daylight she rested, or worked reeds in to prayer mats, or gathered plants and ran little errands; but night became her favorite time, and by studying the sky she thought she could learn the pattern of the clouds and the winds, so that the best day would be picked for Toula.

as the sky now began to rebel against the ceremony it was nazli who grew sullen, cursing under her breath at her own ineptitude. her studies would take more effort to make up for this blunder! where had this wind come from? why did the gods obscure the moon on this night of all nights? she prayed, and listened to Senmut through her prayer, and upon opening her eyes beheld Toula and her chosen.

a part of her wished it was Makono she looked upon. an ache deep in her chest begged for this; and in that instant, she did not see Rashepses standing there but herself, and her beloved royal sister. it was there and then it was gone; Toula in her finery, Rashepses kissing her brow.

the crowd having gathered now rapt with their attention. they would not notice the deflation of the hemet, her sulking, her slinking back out with attentions front-facing. all her love for Akashingo was there of course; she would be present for the resulting celebration - but for now, slipping away from the thick of it, she would mourn.

Attending the coronation was like stepping into one of her mother’s fairy tales. It was a feast not only for the stomach but all the senses. Frolic did quite happily imbibe the exotic repasts, though there was the resplendent decor and the finery draped over the wolves themselves. And she had never seen so many gathered together at once.

The only thing she didn’t particularly care for was the ceremony itself. Sometime in the evening, a voice instructed the crowd to be silent and still, with all eyes drawn to a sort of platform up front. Frolic could see the wolves standing on it and hear the oration, though it was hard to follow and went on far too long for her tastes.

Finally, the throngs burst into a loud cheer. Frolic joined in, sensing that the boring formalities were over and they could get back to partying properly. She pumped a black fist before climbing to her feet, bouncing on her heels as she wondered when she could go get some more of that spicy water…

Frolic’s eyes found @Ceridwen, wondering if her sister would let her go off and mingle. She particularly wanted to find @Seal and any of her other peers that might be somewhere out in the crowd of revelers.

apologies for the short and late post TvT

the coronation had arrived, and racharra sat amongst the crowd to watch. Toula, the woman she has pledged to, would now truly become Queen.

glee filled her heart, eyes affixed to the sacred beauty of the event playing before them. excitement beat against her chest, and the trembles of it crawled down to her tail. it thuds against the floor so much she had to place a paw on top to stop it. she wouldn't dare ruin this precious day.

never once in her short life could she have ever imagined something as invigortating at this.

yes. he had gone back. @Aquillius and @Valiria had been informed of their father's decision to revisit the desert and tell cornelius of their whereabouts.

and so the hinterlands faded behind him and the flatlands opened, and he marched into the golden sands and cactusflowers of the queen's new kingdom.

arriving at the touch of darkness, the roman was admitted with affable nature and offerings of wine and lavish food. these he turned aside, joining the throng and glancing about at the varied nature of allies which seemed to have been gathered.

the rite was overblown and decadent as everything with egyptians tended to be. but the eagle admitted silently that toula was glowingly powerful in her rainment and her new role, and the man beside her was all devoted attention to the young woman at his side.

when the priest had stepped back, germanicus withdrew to the edge of the crowd, and here he took a single drink offered by a frisking servant.

his yellowpaint eyes searched now for his son.

the search for astera and miette had taken chani further from home than she had ever gone in her life. she had gotten beyond the rise when she turned and called to @Chacal and to mireille, telling them she would be gone for a time. there was a determination in her voice that asked them to trust her, and then the red girl delved into the unknown land, headed across the mountains she had never traversed.
it was by chance she came to the desert at all, exhausted, thirsty, and almost charred by the sun!
it was by further chance that odd creatures she did not yet know as coyotes reached out to her, calling her guest, offering some drink that chani gulped with the trust of the young, surrounded by a growing number of strangers.
queen. royalty. kingdom. chani knew none of these words; she was buffeted along, swept beneath the world into glowing rooms her mind scarcely comprehended.
here she found the scent of sea in a boy (@Raiyuk) and a woman (@Heph). they were accompanied by a girl almost exactly her age (@Seal), and chani found herself shyly aligning near the trio as the presentation began.
there were many words she did not understand, a beautiful woman standing above them and a man beside her. chani garnered the importance of the event, but the sea was the only god she recognized.
almost bored, she brightened when the long-winded sentences ended and charged up enough courage to whisper, "what do you be thinkin' of all dat?" to the girl her own year.

Like Zaahira, Nefari too had spent the night before drinking her worries away on much too empty a stomach than she would've liked. Though the threat of another killing lay imminent, the fellahin had assured her that queen consort Rashepses and the mazoi had it under control.

The Obelisk busied herself that morning with preparations. Her retinue had stayed to dress her in the finest of fur hats, silk red-blue deel clasped carefully around her figure and finished with an adorning gold sash. The whites of her cheeks had been accentuated and blushed with crushed rose petals, leaving a subtle fragrance as she walked. Not so extravagant as to upstage Toula, but enough to leave a lasting impression on guests, she would hope.

By evening, the princess sat atop a small step to raise her above the crowd, rosewater eyes looking fondly upon the Queen as she parted the crowd. But it was the obsidian man beside her that drew a gasp from her pursed lips. Devastatingly handsome as he knelt at the foot of the new Pharaoh, Toula had chosen well. Rashepses - Khonsu reborn.

As the night drew on, so too did stormclouds broil and swirl. The old deities, perhaps, did not see Toula's rise to godhood as a thing to be celebrated. Nefari would mutter a prayer under her breath before departing into the crowd, tension prickling at her withers.

the crocodile had been posted atop the cenote for this, perched upon the rooftop as the rituals went on below him. he was not unhappy with this; his scaly nature made khusobek intractable and rude in such thick crowds. out beneath the eye of the stars and the glowing moon, he was alone with his own fantasies of godhood.

the truth that khusobek did not know was it was his blood-niece on the dais above her people and her subjects.

his eye was only for the wind, the churning storm, the stars that suddenly loomed powerful in the gloaming.

When Tousaint was informed that Chani had left to go searching, he pursed his lips together and insisted that he go as well. He had passed over her scent earlier along the borders, and assured his aunt Chacal that he knew which way she had gone. He would hurry, catch up with her, and then do his very first round of 'searching.' 

It wasn't as if he wanted to find Miette or Astera, though. He didn't even care to look- all he knew was that those girls had snatched up every bit of attention while they had been in Sapphique and now even while they were gone, the pack continued to spend every waking moment going out in shifts looking for them. He had absolutely no interest looking but he did want to go and spend more time with his cousin Chani. 

Unfortunately, his mother was not easily convinced that her nephew should go out on his own, when Chani had such a head start. Touched by his plea, though, she did allow him to go- so long as Suzu went with him. 

He rolled his eyes but accepted the request, knowing that Suzu was slow and easily distracted her appetite. He would need to keep her close until they actually found Chani as his tracking skills were still lacking, but he fully intended to ditch his babysitter the moment he found his cousin. 

He came to realize, as did Suzu, that Chani had gone much further than what would have been expected. Further inland and away from the pack than even Suzu had ever gone, and yet they remained- just a few hours behind her trail, slowed by Suzu's sluggish gait, but holding fast to her scent. 

When the desert stretched before them, they continued- paws stinging from walking on hot earth, and dehydrated from the travel. But as with Chani before them, they were quickly swept up by the hospitable fellahin, presented with fine drink, and welcomed. Tousaint, still dizzy from the long travel, looked around, starry-eyed, until he saw his cousin. Leaving Suzu behind, he drifted to her side, regarding the riches and spoils with an envious gaze. He had never seen so much food, and so many fine-looking wolves in his life. 

A lengthy speech was given, and a beautiful hymn sung. Tousaint remained quiet, gaining a bit of composure with every beat and cadence of the man's voice. 

He wasn't sure exactly what this place- but he felt, somehow, that this was where he belonged. 

It might've been the fermented drink talking- but this place certainly felt right.

she had been here before, and she was tired.

a dozen celebrations. a horse slaughtered. a godhead ascended.

tavina kept herself to the background, and this time she did drink, and a good deal as well. 



she did not like rashepses because she did not know rashepses. she thought toula entirely too young to marry, not even to her first season —! she felt the priests were too eager for it. she hated the touch of fur against her own. she had come to despise the desert and knew she would return in the next day to the palace indeed, and grew eager to return to her rooms and pack her things.

despite all this, despite it all, a smile did spark upon her face to see toula so very, very happy, to see her fulfilled and radiant as makono had not been.

Suzu had hoped that her job, throughout all the searching, might be simply to mind the borders. She did not travel well, and with winter approaching, she had little that was higher on her priority lists than eating as many calories as she could to fight the cold wind she knew would come. Wolves had left in pairs to search for the girls, returning every now and again and spelling each other off. None seemed to come back with any conclusive evidence. 

She was summoned by her mother to accompany Tousaint; Chani, apparently, had begged to go looking and Chacal had allowed her to go, though she seemed to worry now. Tousaint- the bitter one- now also wanted to go and in the interest of keeping an eye on two of this year's youths, she was asked to help Tousaint track Chani down, to make sure that she returned safely. 

Tousaint had never been one of Suzu's favourite nephews; she loved him, but she despised the way he looked down his snout at others. Not that Miette or Astera were a walk in the park, either, but at least they were friendly. He spared very few words for her while they travelled and walked just fast enough that she had to shuffle along, huffing and puffing. More than once she had to call out for him to slow down, only to gain a roll of his eye and the flick of an ear. 

She increased her own speed when she realized that Chani hadn't gone on a mere jaunt around the valley- her trail led deep beyond the mountains, to where the land became low, dry, and flat. Concern spurred her on, though her stomach gurgled and growled and her paws, knees and lower back ached from all the walking. 

But when she smelled food... Her spirits lifted. And under the moonlight, the desert transformed into something beautiful, and the cool breeze gave her some relief from the journey. Friendly coyotes came to greet them, ushering them forward and Suzu was far too exhausted to disagree- especially when she saw the LITERAL BUFFET OF FOOD.

Her jaw fell slack. 

Whatever kind of life it was they lived in Sapphique, this was something else. Elevated dining, where the scent of herbs and honey mixed with the food, fat glistening in the pale light. She salivated, and her stomach's complaints came even louder- until she was supplied with a liquid that was dark and fragrant. It would be rude of her to eat now- while the ceremony was taking place- but the feremented juice would sate her appetite for a while, at least. 

Tousaint sat near Chani, who she was relieved to see. But Suzu herself remained as close to the buffet as possible- just waiting for the feast to begin.

Raiyuk, along with @Seal and @Heph, felt himself almost herded in to the space where the coronation was to be held. He did not understand what it was he witnessed, only that there were songs with words he did not know, and things spoken for lengths of time. It did remind him keenly of the death dirge of the moon villages — the only thing he could compare this to. From the words and songs to the gathering bodies, and then to see the open sky above with many stars and a bright moon shining, it felt to him so familiar and yet so foreign all at once. He knew they were not singing death songs, yet Raiyuk expected to see the sweeping green of the northern lights. Instead, there was a hungry wind picking up. These voices seemed to him to be a spell, trying to quell the night, before the full celebration.

There was a girl at the front — perhaps no older than himself? He could not tell really; there were too many other bodies, and smells, and goings-on between, to distract him. He leaned close to Seal to say something but a stranger was already speaking to her (@Chani) and at once he felt protective, possessive, and overwhelmed, so he withdrew with a furrow to his brow. There were guards to protect them here; servants flitted about with food and drink; it was safe, he need not be on guard. Still, Raiyuk took his duties very seriously (especially after what had happened to Marina, which was fresh in his mind).

Raiyuk was slow to accept any food, and was suspicious (and curious) of the fermented things being shared. He was observing the crowd, witness to a few people slipping away and feeling a striking jealousy for their freedom, when the crowd gave a cheer; he jumped in his skin, and looked sheepishly to Seal. There was so much going on in this place that Raiyuk did not know what to do with himself! He had thought the village was a busy place, but compared to this...?!

on the edge of the dais would rise the cat as the words of holy dogs and holy wolves cascade down.

so many have come to see the wolf girl and her night man marry.

the cat wears a tufting of red feathers around throat and matching vinery around an uplifted tail. 

Horus descends with beautiful wings to the shoulder of the royal girl. the cat is not impressed, but only because they know Horus is a complete wench for a theatrical display.

in the moment between cheer and hushed voices, a pointed "mrowl" echoes very loudly in the wide space as the cat commands the attention of pharaoh.

pharaoh to wolves. servant to Bast.

the cenote was glowing and filled with wolves. there were more here than zoug had ever seen. 

he remained as far from the territory as he was able, watching as their far distant and small shapes continued to arrive until he had exceeded his few counting words.

it was a bad thing.

he crept away and took a long route home, with many windings and many hours, spending another day in the desert before he returned to the tribe.

She had found her way out of the badlands, eventually, and went scurrying through Naaghani for the sake of food and shelter; it was during this chaos that she took note of many scents from many places, all gathering.

It was easy to get inside.
Carrying @Colt with her, clutched tightly as she slid her way among the other visitors, Redbird kept her eyes watching and ears twitching. Initially someone tried to pry the jawbone from her, but a warning growl kept the thieving coyotes back, and they seemed startled enough - and busy enough - to leave her alone.

None tried to shepherd her after that. She could roam among the peasantry, taking food or drink as she liked, all while laughing to herself - and murmuring to Colt, See? told ya th' bear would hold up 'is end of the deal. Look at all this! Stuffing her face with dried meats and fragrant concoctions, while the jawbone was between her paws.

Wedding? Who cares about a wedding? There was free food!

"well, shit."
guess she'd been right.
colt briggs swaggered beside her through guards, servants, all matter of fine folk. his ragged hackles swung to and fro as his neck craned hither and thither, trying to take in all the sights at once.
staring at the food, he imagined its taste and was satisfied. took little to fill your belly in ghostland, he reckoned.
red was in fine form. he watched crumbs bounce off his jawbone and scowled. but he wouldn't say nothing about it. she deserved to eat. he still didn't know how she'd gotten them out of that damned basin.
but here they were, and something pretty was going on. royalty of some sort. words beyond him, words that sounded like utter nonsense. 
but when he raised his red eyes, he snickered a little. a small woman of violent light raged against a man who wore the face of the girl standing and getting hitched. "yew can't see it, but there's trouble in paradise," he joked, leaning back against the wall and pretending to trip a passersby.

This was not how the story was supposed to end.

Akashingo's pet.
Shut down.





The crowd cheered.
Roars of celebration. Joyous people, and bittersweet memories engraved and chiseled. Moonlight sheltered by hazy clouds.

A ring, deafening her ears

She thought that as she listened to both somber and proud cries that she would transform to the mass of peace. As a new story of history began.


This wasn't how it was supposed to end.


Upon her post, high enough for crowd-work where the top of the wall dipped, stationed in set point, there was she. Belly, firm to the ground. Paws, wrapped around the top of her head. She shook. Ringing, quiet as Khonsu's path in the night, berating as a death cry bellowing in a temples hollow. And she couldn't get it to stop. And when she tried, she couldn't stop shaking. No matter what she did, and she tried, tried and tried, she couldn't stop.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Every battered smile and erratic jump of her ever changing limbs, they fled her now. And she didn't understand why. Or why she cared.

Legend didn't care.

Legend didn't care at all.
Trembles, ruling her with a cowering tail, a whelps sleeping whine. The music of wolfsong and mass that grew blurry in a mind trying to dispose of itself from this moment.


Legend didn't care.
Legend didn't care at all.


Her eyes, winced tight, held shut by an earths core that quaked.
This wasn't how it went.
Tucked to her leg, her tail stayed. It would kill itself of muscle before it uncurled. Why did the hands of Khonsu, did they beat her? Without understanding of what she did wrong.

She didn't understand.
She didn't understand.

For a child of Hades so lost.
She couldn't understand.
How could she?

Yeah, go ahead... Dwin told @Frolic , who had been surprisingly obedient and quiet during the ceremony and not fulfilled any of the embarrassing scenarios, where her older sister would have to save her younger sister's hide from the wrath of this cult. She had to admit - they were extraordinary - but she had not decided, whether it was a good or a bad thing. It was weird watching, how games of little children were continued to be played by adults. In the case of the former - it was adorable. In the case of the latter - well, Dwin did not like it, even if they did it all in style. She thought about the dark-pelted man and their discussion about his gods. At that time he had appeared to her as an exception of the norm. A rarity. Here - she cast a glance around the people, who had gathered - at least half took this coronation and deification seriously. 

The new pharaoh was no older than Dwin, but she seemed to enjoy her new shiny status and the party thrown for her. She idly wondered, if she wanted to be in her place, and the answer was a very clear cut no. In her second year of life she had grown more into the paws of the wolf she was going to be for the rest of her life. And one of her defining characteristics was being honest. With all this decourum and religious traditions, pretty words that meant nothing to her... she had a feeling that this was all a veil, an illusion to satisfy the expectations of the masses. An idol placed on a throne. A symbol you were supposed to be loyal to, trust and blindly worship, without really knowing, who they were and what they were made of. Who were these people really, when you took the layers away? And especially their belief in being more special than the others?

She memorized the new leader's name just in case it ever was useful to Brecheliant and then proceeded to walk through the crowd, see, who else had come, and keep a distant eye on Frolic. She did not touch the food or drinks provided, not trusting their next door neighbours fully. They were made of a different material than her folk and, who knew, what other odd customs they had besides the coronation rites.