Firefly Glen [PHE] Desert senna

As soon as her momma and daddy left, the camps lost their luster. The princess no longer wished to explore as once she had. The hunt felt more like an interim purgatory than the vibrant celebration she had imagined.

Neith pads through rows and rows of strangers, the bit of seaglass tucked between her teeth until coming upon a little clearing in the woods, an ideal place to plunk down on the ground and snuffle out the flame of her worry.

The mostly prayerless journey has kept her long dammed. The amiirad focuses on the feeling of smooth stone under paw, and closes her eyes.

his twin probably was not far, but lafayette found himself alone the moment he came upon the golden-cream girl. he'd been idly following a squirrel in the upper reaches of the trees, leaping and scrambling from branch to branch in its flight.

but with the unfamiliar face ahead, he soon forgot all about the bushy-tailed creature.

you okay? lafayette asked her. her eyes were closed, and there was a strange vibe around her—a tension in her body, perhaps. she was a few moons younger than himself, so maybe she was feeling overwhelmed with all of this. heavens knew he kind of was.

he sat nearby, quietly waiting for her response (and ready to leave if she didn't want his company right now).

She wheels, startled, the wide ruby irises landing upon a boy of a similar color. It’s the first thing she notices, and enough to render the princess atypically wordless. Though he is not so much older, he is much, much taller, and Neith is suddenly shy over the seclusion of her prayer.

“Yes!” Is quickly insisted, roseate eyes blinking fast.

It was here the amiirad wished for her mother’s eternal optimism, but she could not keep shades of grey concern from leaking into her otherwise sunny appearance. “Well, no… that’s a lie.”

It’s a solemn admission Neith believed she should not comment further on for the discretion of her parents’ kingdoms. But what she was feeling was momentarily distracted by the redwood boy with the emerald stare.

“I’m Merneith,” the princess introduces, a flick of her golden tail offered in cordial greeting.

her honesty was refreshing. lafayette found himself always trying to find the silver lining in things, and pushing back displeasure even at the cost of a bad mood later. he could empathize, and blinked softly her way as she introduced herself.

i'm lafayette, from sapphique, he replied. where you be livin'? our pack's by de sea—i be missin' it a lot here.

maybe she missed her home, too. she certainly didn't smell like the ocean, but there was a sweetness about her aroma that appealed to him—something both sweet and spicy, like a swath of wildflowers. did she live among them? he had no way of knowing about akashingo's penchant for baths and perfumes.

She puts a muzzle out only to retreat sharply as the scent of brine wafts in the air.

“What is that? Sea?” She asks, summoning every grace not to cover her nose, but the unpleasantness inevitably seeps into her expression. She scrunches her brows, finding it rather unbecoming that Lafayette would refuse a bath when there were so many important kingdoms around to meet.

“We’re from the Mesa,” the princess declares proudly, without a realization that Akashingo was foreign to many distant cultures.

But in the next moment her face drops. Neith had believed all of life would be like one long and perfect summer day, and for the first time her ideals were at odds with reality.

“I miss home, too. My mommy and daddy left us here,” the amiirad's red eyes didn’t dare glance up. If she was being honest, it was hard not to feel forgotten about.

the interaction was going well—he thought so, anyway—until merneith recoiled, nose wrinkling at what he could only assume was his own scent. lafayette frowned, caught between offense and embarrassment, and tucked his chin down to his sternum.

it be salty, with lots of fish, he explained, glowering a bit. if wolves could blush, he would be maroon. i t'ink it smell good. what's a mesa?

my mommy and daddy left us here. lafayette eased a bit at the words, shoulders sagging in quiet sympathy. he shouldn't take her sentiments too personally—she was only reacting to things she didn't know about. i'm sorry dey did dat, he murmured.

At that the princess can only tilt her head, puzzled. She was learning a great deal about feigning pleasantness when other cultures were outlandish. She could not figure why anyone would want to smell like saline and decay, but it was something she would inquire of her Pharaoh-mother. Perhaps Lafayette did not have pomegranate and sandalwood which to perfume himself at the sea home, and resolved then she was to gift him some before his return journey.

Regardless of smell, Lafayette was not so off-putting. He was kind, and besides Neith found if she breathed through her mouth it was not difficult to be around him.

“The red mesa is where the Gods live with their Goddesses,” she explains, glancing up into the green eyes with favoring mirth.

“Like me.”

the gods and goddesses? it sounded very much as if she spoke of the lwa—and then counted herself among their ranks. that to lafayette seemed quite bold, and he tilted his head, brow furrowed as he tried to catch her meaning.

how are you a goddess? the boy pressed her. manman and matant be tellin' me dat de lwa—de spirits—live in de trees and rocks and water, but not ourselves.

fairly blasphemous, should she say otherwise—but luckily, lafayette was a boy with a very open mind, and was more than willing to hear her out.

The amiirad is not so dismayed, prepared she was by her mother for just such an instance. Still, she considers the sea boy fortunate that it is she who has crossed his path, and not her more prideful siblings.

“I have holy blood in my veins,” and a pale paw is held aloft, as if in invitation for Lafayette’s examination.  “Only Pharaoh can create a living God. But some Gods live among us, even if we can’t see them! Tefnut, she lives in the water. She sounds not so different from your Iwa.”

Neith sweeps a curious tail across her paws, believing then they were more similar than she’d imagined. Smells withheld.

he examined the proffered paw, wondering if he could actually see the divine in her. to him, it looked like an ordinary small, pale limb. perhaps he needed to know more to catch a glimpse of it.

lafayette smiled, though, enchanted by her description. wi, sounds like dem indeed, he replied. we have a few lwa of de water. water be very important to my family, the boy added.

it seemed as if their homes could not be more different—but similar, at the heart of it all. whether wet or dry, water or sand, the spirits still ruled each of their lives.

even, he believed, this self-proclaimed 'goddess on earth.'

where's your camp? lafayette asked. maybe our families be havin' sometin' we can trade. sapphique's contigent had no shortage of ocean goods and trinkets, and it was clear that merneith and her pack valued finer things.

Her ears perk at a common interest she felt reflected in the evergreen eyes.

“Water is important to Akashingo, too! Each week we pray to the Serpent!” These were critical lessons in her education and she was delighted to share them. In turn she looked eagerly to the older child, excited to learn the things he knew that she did not.

“How many Iwa are there?” The amiirad asks, rising to her paws beside the redwood boy. She was more grateful for his company than he’d know, the scarlet eyes brimming now with curiosity instead of unshed tears.

“Oh, this way, Lafayette! I have something I want to show you!” Her mind leaps in childish distraction at the alluring notion of a trade. Frolicking into the veld, Neith tosses a glance over her should to make certain he follows!

more than i can count, he told her. but then she was bounding away, promising something of importance. he set off with her, ears pricked, emerald eyes glittering in anticipation.

::what is it?: he asked, voice bouncing off the trees.

said trees blurred by, his focus solely on the white-gold figure in front of him.

“There are thousands of Gods, too!” The princess calls out, making a game of weaving between the trees. She resists the urge to insight play and instead leads Lafayette to the interim camps of Akashingo, so extravagant in comparison to their neighbors. The princess slows pace to a dignified walk and shows the boy to a tidy collection of trinkets.

In Akashingo, gift giving was a cultural and religious practice in it’s own right. Her people would endow the gods with any number of offerings in order to secure a favorable outcome in death. But now the amiirad had her own favor to present. Something is plucked from the rare objects and tucked away within her fist.

“Hold out your paw,” Neith insists, turning towards the redwood boy with light in her smile.