Two Eyes Cenote tyet

the scent of lake water followed nazli as she made her rounds from altar to altar. she thought it was certainly a trick of her mind, a memory of her horrible time among the Greatwater wolves, nothing more.

the previous foray in to the meadow, where she had been stalked, was not far from her mind either; but she focused on her work, at least for a while.

reeds and dried flowers, crushed now, were wedged against a wide flat stone, where they became a fragrant paste.

whatever it was she worked on, nazli was engrossed.

nazli was changing.

tavina sensed it as any mother might; she had already returned from the moontide excursion aglow. and the sesh, too, felt she understood this.

the young priestess was taken by her work. tavina cleared her throat loudly as she came up beside the left. "more painting?"

more painting?
nazli looked up, seeing and smiling at tavina in a distracted manner, but she eventually nodded and glanced down at the paste.
i sometimes dream of a blue muat-riya, which was odd but true, and it wasn't until she said it aloud that she noticed how silly it sounded—a little nervous laugh slipping from her.
how are you, miss tee? when was the last time she asked?

nala's joyed face filled tavina's mind.

"i'm well. anticipating a new gaggle of royal kids," the sesh answered, considering now how long it had been since the laughter of little ones had filled the red halls.

"blue is a beautiful shade. perhaps we could decorate to your liking." she enjoyed being near nazli, it had been a while, and she had time yet.

nazli smiles as she grinds some more of the dried ingredients against the stone.
her mind wanders. she thinks of rodyn of moontide, and the sea, and the sand where she and senmut had been together. the feeling of him. them, together. cold and shocking and warm and — swiftly her thoughts focused upon what she had said to the man of that village.
her work pauses.

do you think— she begins to ask something, but the words catch in her throat where they burn, and briefly nazli feels like she is her old curious girl-self. she shakes her head, still smiling, and moves the paint-paste to a shelf. oh, nevermind.

the hemet knows her role by now, she does not want to disrupt anything even if her heart desires something new or different; but then she hears khusobek in her memory—what is it you want?
she tidies something on the shelf, moves to another, goes to a plinth nearby and then back to where tavina is standing. here! ah, i was -- briefly, away from muat-riya and found some things that might be useful to you.

she presents a bundle of herbs, grasses, flowers, from the meadow. laying them carefully upon the small plinth jutting from the wall, so that tavina can inspect them. perhaps she knows of what they are? or they might be new to muat-riya entirely. nazli looks on with a distracted sort of hope.

"tell me!" tavina encouraged with a light little smirk, before she took the proffered bundle and opened it with gentle movements.

"sea lavender. salt gentian. ocean mallow," the sesh pointed out, inhaling the lovely floral fragrance of each. "oh, nazli. and they're so well-preserved!" tavina exclaimed, looking with deep praise at her ward, her daughter.

tavina was happy with the gifts, which brought confidence to nazli.
ah, she finishes arranging some of the dried flowers and things for tavina, building a pochette for her to carry with bits and pieces, while the rest could be gathered and moved to her own collections.
i was going to say, ah... do you think i would be a -- a good mother? i mean, i'm not expecting or anything, she was hasty to correct herself, to make it known in case this brought ideas to tavina's mind.
i know i cannot, because that's what the healer's circle discovered. and -- well, i am hemet so, it would have gone against tradition, and taken her attention away from the divinities she was meant to listen to, and to serve.
i've been thinking a lot about it lately. being a mother. i suppose. and you're like my mother, miss tee. you would know best, because you're so good at it.
she felt like a foolish child suddenly!

a pause, but tavina did not let it linger. "you are skilled and devoted and kind. you would be a fine mother, nazli."

but she remembered the distended, pained girl; she remembered the blood and the spell that qiao had given;

and the healers;

nazli did not need to choose that. the knowledge that the young woman thought of her as mother brought a look of plain delight to the sesh's face. "i'm humbled you think so much of me." but she would not smoulder with tears here. "tell me what brought the idea of children to your mind."

she blushed as if she were a girl again, uncontrollably.
i suppose the season calls forward the idea.

she tried to brush it all off.

knowing that the divine one might bring us new royals has me thinking, too. that was a plausible explanation; she did not want to dwell on her horomones or the sadness that came with her dreaming. i wonder—if it isn't too treasonous to share— her voice went low as she preambled;

what would makono's children be like? i—i miss her.

the season. tavina wondered if it would come for nazli. "i don't think that's treasonous at all," she declared. "they would be ambitious, i suppose, more likely to make war or battle. but no less intelligent or elegant than those children our pharaoh will have."

a pause.

"it is best that only one divine ruler will have children here. other royal babies would bring a lot of strife to a sacred bloodline."

yes, you are right. i know it would only cause upset; but still, i wonder. nazli murmured, thinking of her friend, her sister, once so beloved by the people and now? now there was no word, and nobody appeared to hold makono in their mind at all, least of all their heart. nazli kept her memory alive in small ways: silent prayers from time to time, more than anything.

as that topic dwindled, she returned her attention to her work.

"it's all right to wonder. makono was your friend before she was pharaoh."

would nazli's children have grown up to be servants to a new royal generation? tavina could see it, and wished she could not.

in warm silence they worked, murmuring infrequently as the hour went on.