Two Eyes Cenote gods of the arena

tags for reference! <3

@Eset has yet to return and he worries for her endlessly; as fitful about it as he is while he sleeps ( which is to say very fitful ). he is a grumbling patient for @Tavina, though he does not have the full force of her attention for that remains on @Khusobek, of whom he checks on daily. they weren't friends, at least meseba would not consider them as such, but they were brothers in arms. had spilled and had their own blood spilled upon the salt of the earth.

and his vision in his damaged eye only appears to worsen.

his stomach clenches from hunger and he feasts on the meats brought to him by the fellahin; knowing it will be time before he will be able to hunt for himself.

his mood sours only more as he feels sekhmet's presence and knows that perhaps soon he will be fierce in looks only; a guard for show rather than one of action.

he casts a cruel sneer at the shadows on the walls; huffing as he paces in his chambers, the walls suddenly reduced to a cage.

khusobek was still.

it was not his fault what had happened, and yet tavina found herself resentful of the man who lay in such esteem while eset perhaps lay dead somewhere in the desert.

she had tried greatly to preserve what sight meseba possessed; now she turned a swollen face at his tread and went at once to the doorway of her exam-room.

"come here," voice a hushed dismal thing even as her eyes snapped with a reined fury. "i need your help with something."

he is sullen and surly.

he does not mean to be towards the healer, who looms in the doorway, hushed voice issuing a command for him.

good eye slices towards her over his shoulder as his pacing stops, shoulders steeled.

i am no use at healing, comes the mazoi's truthful grumble as a reminder; letting his mind travel where it may even as he turns to follow dutifully after her.

"that is not what i need from you," tavina said, some note of tense desperation entering her voice despite the fact she tried to control it.

clearing her throat, the sesh raised a paw. "please. i need to clean your eye anyway," tavina managed, stepping back.

servants against the wall watched them. they would report to rashepses; she needed to be careful. 

but anger burned in tavina. she had defied a god. she would do so again.

the tension in her voice gives rise to his own, tightening the muscles of his shoulders as he studies her with his good eye. pharaoh's consort's servants watch; always watching. eyes and ears of the walls and shadows. little birds eager to fly back to their master and whisper what they've heard and seen.

it unnerves meseba a little; still apparently finding his bearing in the pharaoh's courts of intrigue.

will you have to cut it out? asks meseba in a way that was a tone equivalent of ripping off a bandaid. gritted teeth and baited breath and 'tell it to me straight'. it wasn't as if it would be any use to him if he couldn't use it anyway. still, the question has plagued him and he dislikes being burdened by questions that feel like a stone in his chest.

he gestures for her to lead the way, silently communicating he will follow.

what do you need of me, sesh? asks meseba in a quiet tone.

"eyes are more resilient than we know." willowbark astringent, dabbed along the corner of that unfortunate wound. "we will keep it covered."

her own bruised face smarted still, cut tingling where rashepses had slashed her in his fury. 

keeping meseba's muscular back turned for a moment, she faced the guard and dropped her voice into a conversational inflection, though its volume had decreased. "don't react. you should know that our semer-wati refuses to send mazoi to find eset, as she is only one servant."

she slowly wiped a red crust from the corner of his eye, salving the angry flesh there at once with aloe. "my talk with him was less than fruitful. now i am a prisoner here in the examination room until khusobek wakes."

don't react, tavina's stare warned meseba once more. "eset would not want you to do anything untoward. and if rashepses sees you leave muat-riya, he will know you go for her."

now she took a small padding of sheep's-wool and fit it over the guard's injured eye, swaddling his proud face in strips of thick grass to keep it held. 

"it would be better if you leave in the direction of akashingo, meseba. tell senmut what has happened. he will not act rashly. or, you might go to rashepses himself and ask where you might be most effective. once you're out of the palace, you can go anywhere you like. anywhere you need."

angered pain swam in her own face. "i fear my time in muat-riya will come to an end if the captain dies or if he lives. our semer-wati has already threatened the destruction of my rooms and then my execution if i persist for eset."

resolutely she gazed up into the stoic knowledge of meseba's face. "i know you will find her. i wish i could tell you where to start."