Shadow Mountain imminent

@Zaahira

The Jodai of Akashingo has been clear.
Meet her.
Mesen-ka follows blindly the path of the distant mountains and leaves Muat-Riya after Akhtar's attack. He's not to leave @Rashepses' side, but it is important. He promises his King avidly that he will be safe. Should his King follow, he tells him he will be waiting and he will keep every stone in his path cleared. There is only one mazoi at Akashingo now and he has asked @Legend to be guarded. There is no exception.

He follows up the mountains seeking the Jodai.

mesen-ka was nothing if not dutiful. for a man, she thought, he was at least tolerable; respectable. he came at her call as he had promised.
she meets him atop a steep hillside, light shimmering between branches and cascading across her firelit pelt. i have not yet found a trace of her, the jodai grimaced. i am beginning to wonder if we should travel to other kingdoms. ask if they may know anything. but we may also not be able to trust them.
her frustration is evident in the flourishing bristle of her hackles. what say you, sphinx?

Closely he’d kept Toula within his possession, one moment of content pouring into the next. In a handful of weeks his wife would come into heat and the urgency to return to her roiled through every heavy step as the Semer-wati made the bitter winter crossing towards the rally of the Jodai and Sphinx. Black ears flicked hard against the cutting winds when Zaahira spoke.

“Coyotes,” a growl interjected, distaste curling his muzzle when he spoke it, “The night they butchered that girl is when the Princess went missing.”

It is on them then. He's in quiet thought as he watches the ground. Jodai asks him his opinion. She is likely not wrong.

"I believe it is smart to seek out nearby kingdoms and see of their knowledge. Perhaps they will know of these coyotes! I suggest, also, that we do not dismiss the idea the princess has chosen to depart." He is asking King Rashespes first. Zaahira next. "To that, perhaps we brunt the coyotes in the lowlands. Do we believe the coyote girl from our travels and her people are involved?" Because Meridian had been around.

that would not surprise me.
zaahira turns now toward the southern winds. her eyes squeeze shut as the harsh breeze slices her face, numbs the tips of her ears. we will apprehend them, then. bring them to akashingo for questioning. we must get the full truth from them by any means necessary.
the gaze lined with gemstones finds the dark face of the king and searches for any sign of disagreement; or, even more pressing, signs that may show he is lying. if that does not work, we will go to brecheliant.

Zaahira was not alone in her mistrust. Rashepses’ gold bore down hard upon the elected Jodai. The blood smothered soil of Muat-Riya was all the evidence needed to cut their teeth on the band of cur, and this excursion into the north had pilfered away precious hours. Akashingo hesitated before and had paid for it with one of their own. An error not to be repeated. They had a strong lead that the Princess’ disappearance was tied to the death of her hemet.

A sharp look was followed by a nod to the warriors, “we’ll exhaust the southern villages first.”

He pushed his stride south-ward.

Mesen-ka gives a sharp eye to the Pharaoh's Jodai. Acknowledgement turned to a set path. Rashepses has made a decision, and he follows it now loyally. They will find these murderers. They will handle them.
It will not happen again. He sees the violence in his brothers eyes. Brother once.
If they are to execute these perpetrators, so be it.