Lion Head Mesa khepresh

pharaoh leant back gratefully in the water.
the fellahin prepared a meal in his chambers.
"it was not much of a war at all," he told @Satsu, alone with her at the wellspring. the water lapped at his throat and chest, easing the long march from his muscles. his lapis eyes came to rest upon her face. "nyra saw ursus and abandoned her pack. she was mauled by them before the roman and i came upon the skirmish. they have followed her trail, and he has followed theirs."
ramesses shut his eyes. "if the gods see fit, nyra will die of her wounds and we will see her no more."

with the bulk of akashingo's defenses restored and an additional fellahin to aid around the palace, satsu felt a measure of ease return to the mesa. following ramesses to the wellspring seemed an easy thing now, with her mind less engaged with thoughts of crowfeather or the threat of the saints.
hearing that nyra was gravely injured gave her immense pleasure, without any taste of guilt to spoil it. the woman had gotten what she deserved.

her own people turned on her? satsu feigned surprise; she wondered who it was, but only knew the saints to be antagonistic and blood-hungry, so it could have been anyone.
if the gods see fit, nyra will die of her wounds...
satsu sank deeper in to the wellspring's cool water, feeling accomplished with the resolution of this moment.

i never would have thought that we would seek to avoid war in the beginning, only to be subjected to it. but what did she know of this war, in the comfort of the palace?

"near all of ursus, and at least one of her own." ramesses grinned, but it swiftly faded under a tightened jaw. "now she has fled. and in her wake she leaves maggie dead and crowfeather maimed." the sound he made next was one of disgust. pharaoh sank beneath the waters until only his nosetip was exposed.
thus submerged he thought suddenly, jealously, of having left satsu here with arsenio.
tamar darkened into a pawn.
ramesses emerged from the water with a sigh. "empires do not enjoy losing their vassal states, queen ascendant. that is why i propose we have at least two we create of our own accord. nyra and her companion were caught in a vale, but i did see the canyon where they first lived. i have a mind to send the imperator and make something of it."
germanicus was not his to command. ramesses ignored this fact.

the sun descended and soon the wellspring was a pool of gold, and then as he surfaced, looking in part crocodilian, satsu's ears pivoted to listen to his idea.
barely home and already he plotted like a conqueror!

it was reasonable to assume the saints would return to their former glory unless prevented. whether led by a follower to nyra or someone new (as satsu presumed nyra to be dead), the retaking of the canyon or the vale would be a problem for akashingo.

crowfeather rests and recovers, satsu mused aloud, speaking down to the water so that her voice carried across the surface to him, rather than out, to where the guards and the fellahin could overhear.

i am against having him leave us, but if we... if i, can convince crowfeather that he is needed for this, perhaps we can net the roman as well. it seemed reasonable given their strong ties to one-another. anywhere crowfeather went germanicus was sure to follow, to protect the boy from any further harm.

he will not have a choice in the matter. satsu said this more for her own sake, as if to convince herself. it is for his betterment that he agree. otherwise, i will make him do it anyway, and he will be cast as sanpin for disobedience.

she could not be crowfeather's queen, but she could be his keeper.

ramesses glittered.
"the shy girl i once met is gone. now you meet my designs with your own." his eyes told her that he saw her as queen, as worthy of him.
pharaoh looked at the way her shoulders were damp with water, how languid she was beneath it. "intriguing that it was nyra who ultimately granted what was wished," ramesses rejoined, slipping closer to satsu beneath the guise of his own low-pitched voice.
she was beautiful.
jawahir had brought him a new gemstone, one with luscious hips — and yet he stirred only for the royalty at his side, to the expense of all else. "it is important to me that we plot such things as these together. always."

thinking back to the girl she had been made satsu feel alarmingly unsettled. it felt like a lifetime ago that she had mourned her family, stolen away with jawahir's aid, or been one among the nanban horde of kynareth.

her desire to be a warrior was forgotten. the urge to dance or to explore, put aside. more important things had come to focus on, and now she was here, before her self-chosen betrothed, feeling the singe of his gaze upon her.

of course, she murmurs, shy of dipping her face in the water, then to emerge and let it bead along her neck, catch in her lashes.

together.

the wellspring felt too warm today, thought satsu.

"have you reconsidered the nature of our agreement?" his breath brushed her ear as he had before, but this time ramesses was aware of how delicate this allowance was. satsu was the only one who could dismiss his attention in the way that was lasting.
"i will only ask this once if you have — changed your mind about its status after our wedding."
he sought to pull her gaze into his, wanting, questioning.
the world no longer existed.

she had not thought of their agreement in some time.
somehow it had seemed unimportant. the terms, the contract, the allowances given to pharaoh for his collection of favorites, all of it.

reminded now of the circumstances of her situation, she had no words; but neither did she send him back, as she had once before. there was no struggle against his closeness.

she looked up at him, as he was taller even in the water, and thought of how alone she had felt during his absence. how difficult it had been to be without him for those few terrible, long days and nights.

though her face grew warm, she blamed this on his proximity rather than her true feeling. no— it burst from her awkwardly, this denial, and she breathed in a sigh that filled her lungs with him.
she did not push him away.

no.
no. she had not reconsidered.
and yet satsu did not pull away from him. they were suspended, both of them, each with words crowding behind their mouths. unsaid. unspoken. unsung.
the ardor building in pharaoh had not abated; he leapt to a higher flame.
his mouth was wet from the wellspring. he softly kissed the hollow of her throat with a ragged exhale.
"all right, satsu."
in the next moment he had drawn away with small regretful eddies, and stepped streaming and regal from the pool. he refused to allow the queen's eye upon his disappointment. "will you dine with me? i have missed your company."

satsu tensed against his touch. not because it was upleasant, she realized, but because - as he drew away - she almost gave chase.
but he was gone, suddenly.
those sweeping steps bringing him away, to where he could stand and drip across the stone.

she swallows her nerves.
yes, she answers, turning in the water and pulling herself deeper so that she can cool off a moment, and when she surfaces she is moving to rise from the water herself.
i will have tamar help me dry and prepare. then i will meet you.

she thought of his chambers and if they might betray what she had been up to while he had been away; but it did not matter either.
tamar would have removed all trace.

ramesses shook out his pale fur. @Sayf appeared to lick droplets from his shimmering chest. "i welcome it." 
he turned to look at satsu in the way he had come to look at her, and was unsurprised to find that even the sight of the queen still within the waters pierced him with fever.
he would dismiss the fellahin once satsu had arrived; for now he strode away, focusing up sayf's soft and affectionate grooming as they walked along.