Lion Head Mesa texas

aw <3

it felt nice to be back at the mesa. though parts of tuna couldn't deny that she missed the faces of those she had grown close to. she could not deny the importance of maintaining the place of the summer palace. and certainly, she could recount the nights of the feast with distant fondness as she had come to dance, to serve, and even to eat when able. but as she tends to the palace needs of the mesa, she couldn't deny the bits of loneliness she could feel, here and there in the quiet moments.

she decides to keep herself busy with work, using the collected bundle of flexible twigs with leafy attachments and the tougher ends of the wheat plant to clean the hallways in a makeshift broom. it certainly put a strain on her neck and back, but in some way, it felt better to know there was a thrum of pain to keep her grounded than the silence of knowing she was by herself. the sound of her tiny collection of broom material echoes through the rocky walls, the pebbles and rocks scattering quietly away.

wish i was back in texas... i miss those wiiide open skies...

the soft sounds of tuna's sweeping reminded senmut that just as soon as they had settled, they would be called away again. not for long, he knew.

studiously he had kept his mind from considering that he might bring the priestess anything else, any gift.

that he might see her again.

the fellahin gained his warm look as he came to stand near, out of her way. "these halls missed your touch, tuna," senmut complimented, glancing down the gloss of the redstone wall.

she hears his voice, hearing the subtle sweetness she finds in darn near everyone's tone when they speak to her. perhaps she is only hearing things, but tuna liked to think she was no delirious believer in the fact that most here enjoyed her presence. she stops her sweeping, just for a moment as she releases her small little bundle to look at senmut.

"and ah've missed them tew," she says in a small drawl, a wayward smile on her face, "it's quiet here." she hums at the thought, thinking about the many voices she would hear in the red corridor now finally being hushed by time.

"how'ave yew been, erpa-ha?" she asks, the once foreign words on her tongue slowly growing to be more familiar as the time goes with her practice.

tuna greeted him with welcome pleasantry and senmut felt himself restored at the reassuring drawl of her voice.

"it is. and it is odd not to have our pharaoh here, nor eset. nor the others."

he hoped that when their divine ruler rose up from the sandlands, she would bring with her the retinue that had gone.

tuna asked after himself. he hesitated. "i am still settling, i believe. i am home but i have not yet embraced my bed."

she could hear it in his voice, perhaps tuna was more insightful than she wanted to let on. while normally she would keep her distance, there was a certain level of friendliness she kept reserved for the man who was responsible for the life she has built here.

he seems careful, and perhaps the worries of the crowned and her consorts remains nothing short of a storm in his head. setting aside her tiny broom to avoid others tripping over it, she steps closer to senmut's side.

"walk wit' me? tah take in tha' bee-uty of're home?" certainly she couldn't tuck him into bed (well, maybe she could if H2O was bold enough), but she could at least help him settle back into the land they have always known within the mesa.

she would lead him, if willing, out of the narrow hall to where the sun soaked the mesa, golden rays cascading into the red rock and sand.

"of course. thank you, tuna," senmut murmured, trying to keep nazli from his mind.

he turned his eyes upon the redstone columns, upon the inner corridors of the mesa. there would be paintings, armfuls of flowers, the sweet scent of clean places.

the throne room had been kept dusted and appointed, carefully preserved for the seat of their regent.

"do you miss your pharaoh?" senmut asked. " it as a god, but as a woman?"

"evr'day." her tone alone could convey the precious love tuna has for toula. not for her power as pharaoh but as a woman she dares to call a friend.

tuna knew that she missed all what akashingo once was. she missed her divine friendship, those moments she spent helping guide the young queen to settling her heart. the girl had blossomed into a woman, and the woman has become a god. tuna had been touched by this transformation, and perhaps this was evidence of her own ability to draw in the power of metamorphosis.

"she is ever'thin ah could hope she'd be. happy." there was nothing else tuna could really ask for in that sense, she wanted all of her girls to be safe, happy, treated well, adored. all of this, she wanted for them. it was nice to relax after all of the events with the coronation and to be back within the walls. but tuna knew of her loneliness and felt afraid to admit them to senmut.

she could see the point of selena's grave, not too far off now. tuna was glad to return to her role as its grounds keeper while zaahira was off and about. her eyes flicker towards senmut, "an' yew?" she asks him gently with a honeyed tone, "yew miss her tew?"

"i do. akashingo is empty without her." and somehow wrong. senmut considered this for a moment, then pulled his mind away. tuna was sweet, biddable, thoughtful; he wanted to reward her in some way.

"have you traveled much?" the prince asked next, letting his eyes alight in the direction of greatwater lake. "your duties keep you here much of the time. i do not think that pharaoh would be averse to a temporary departure," senmut went on, hinting toward something he had not yet said.

moontide waited.