Lion Head Mesa narcissus
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#1
All Welcome 
being vague but wanted this up so there isn't terrible back dating happening<3

down from the mountains.

through the woods.

makono returned anew. mereo had molded her in some ways, shed further the child she had left as. even now she looked different. a month of growth was plenty at her age.

at the first light of day she cut across the horizon with nazli at her heels. the fellahin girl was given the gifts she returned with to carry. makono held closely her wealth of knowledge she had returned with. a foreign language danced upon her tongue.

she went straight to the rooms of @Ramesses without second thought.

she need not an audience when she had found great appeal in the acts of rogue behavior now.

aquila erat bonus hospes.

she spoke without shame in the tongue she had come with.
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#2
<3

makono returned.
her fellahin bore gifts. the shadows of akashingo welcomed her. and pharaoh did also, departing his throne to embrace his princess child closely.
she smelled of travel, of dust. 
she spoke latin.
"semper erat vir bonus magister," the man answered easily, and his lazuli eyes shone with approval.
ramesses wrinkled his nostrils teasingly and ordered food brought for her. "tell me of your travels. then you will bathe."
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#3
she had missed the palace more than she had realized.

or perhaps she had missed the faces within it the most. she laughed warmly, both for the glee of his returned latin and the humor of needing to be bathed.

the giant is gone. can you believe it?

she started with, a quirked brow. what would lord pharaoh make of her discussing the very state of mereo's ranks?
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#4
he loved it, and ate honeyed berries with a smile as she spoke. ramesses had the sense that makono had engaged in more than one little intrigue.
he looked over the gifts and the quiet servant girl, wondering if his princess would dismiss her. "he was very unpleasant. did the eagle send him away? or did he merely disappear?"
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from what i can tell, he disappeared. nearly as soon as we made it. a humored smirk settled upon her face. a playful roll of her eyes.

she turned towards nazli for a moment. prompted her closer to give whispered orders. to go to her room and unpack the things they had brought.

they could be sorted later, by the eyes of makono.

he was an officer in the army there. given duties upon return it sounded like but... her shoulders shrugged and she scooped a berry into her mouth.
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#6
ramesses considered, and then offered makono a trio of fermented berries. she was older now, and beneath his watchful gaze.
he ate three himself.
"what you must know about soldiers is that they do not share their plans with royalty. if you want to know them, you must know their leadership."
was that what she had been doing with germanicus?
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so she had grown in her absence.

she did not think twice before she moved onto the fermented berries. one, then she spoke.

the soldiers spoke to me. the imperator spoke to me, even his lady. the commoners spoke!

she laughed warmly, slumped along the earth in a near feline-like manner.

i think they speak more than they all realize.
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the warm fire floated in his own veins. ramesses looked indulgently at makono.
"and what did you hear, my snapdragon?"
voice, teasing; eyes, loving. 
there was an irreverence here that he did not share with the prince.
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#9
tell me father,

she cooed. warm and delighted. basking in the glow of akashingo and her true self.

what do you want to hear first? do you wish to hear the whispers of inside or the whispers of things i heard about happening nearby?

her own lapis eyes dazzled and gleamed with delight.
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#10
ramesses lolled indolently upon a pile of pale furs, propped against his own elbow.
"i want to hear the nearby. and then the inside." another berry. who knew a child could be so vibrant and so full of the gods' life.
she was a good thing, this daughter born of treva. daughter of pharaoh and queen. 
he waited.
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the eagle taught me latin. then he said the trader's tongue is greek. i made him teach me the latin tongue, but do you know what he said of the greek? of where i might go to learn it?

she plucked another berry for emphasis. quickly sucked down and burst between still youthful white molars.

he spoke of an epoch. northstar vale.

she leaned forward now.

the image of two gossips.
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#12
ramesses' eyes flashed.
he lifted his chin.
"shall i tell you what he meant or shall you tell me your inside news next?" his tone was heavy with implication of knowledge beyond what makono knew, the key for the hidden missive.
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she was greedy.

it flashed in the depths of her eyes, a mirror of his own more often than not.

tell me what he meant, and she might say it back to him the next time they crossed.
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ramesses inhaled. "i will tell you, princess of akashingo. but in the future, when you are faced with an emissary, command his full report before you make your reply. this way you are not caught off-guard by all the information you will receive."
the dance of politics.
"you must never misstep, makono."
pharaoh chewed another berry. "germanicus was once a noble here. our chief royal tactician. he hired a greek mercenary by the name of arsenio to work in the palace."
ramesses shifted. "a mercenary: that is, a soldier for hire."
"arsenio fell in love with one of my fellahin. he wanted her freedom. germanicus traded the girl belen to me, and with that tamar was freed."
"if he has told you where to go, i would be unsurprised if you discovered both arsenio and tamar. mereo has built an outpost. and that mercenary answered only to him."
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she saw her flaws now, but did not harp on them. instead she took this opportunity to grow and bond.

she had plans to see mereo again, after all. a diplomat between the two. perhaps a diplomat between here and epoch. even as her father spoke the extent of histories.

his tone was a warning when he told me i must barter who teaches me in epoch. that i should wait for an invite, as if his words of knowledge weren't enough.

if the mercenary answered to the eagle, why would makono not be welcomed there?

she held her tongue on words of belen, eager to sniff out this greek mystery first.
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ramesses' teeth glittered in a malicious smile. "he means to teach you diplomacy. or something has happened that remains unsaid." 
"either way, i want to know where this new serpent rears its head." arsenio had always bene respectful. but he had not been submissive; he had taken tamar away and before pharaoh might enjoy her.
the royal looked to her. "your divine brothers must be trained in mereo when they are of age. i mean to send the princesses elsewhere."
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#17
makono found it hard to think of any of her siblings when given the spotlight of father pharaoh.

her lapis gaze was full and hungry. the trip for mereo had done nothing but given makono the craving for more of these ventures. and the treasures she was rewarded upon her return made them that much sweeter.

do you wish to send the lioness to hunt the serpent, father? or should ashikaga be afforded a chance?

her voice was not venom or poison, but the greed of being a rogue princess shined heavy upon her now.
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#18
the lioness.
and she was that: a barely grown gold-gilt cub of a royal.
in siptah curled the same fire, and ramesses wondered: did makono comprehend what would be asked of her if she wanted to be queen?
"ashikaga has not been the same since your mother passed." his tone was frank. "like little toula, she is more suited for palace life. i want you to travel with the crown prince."
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makono could only feel those two things.

greed and pride.

they chased one another like fighting foxes, rounding and rounding within her heart and head. he spoke of her alongside the crown prince, but she could not help but think of her own power here.

perhaps she should have felt something softer and warmer, to here of her littermate's distance. to hear of a half-sibling she thought little of. none of those things came to her, though.

back to mereo? for his training?

her voice conveyed she did not hate the thought.
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#20
a slow shake of the elegant head. "i want you both to visit epoch in the name of akashingo. in my name. in your own."
what a divine pair they would already cut, influence for a too-near future.
his eyes appraised makono. would she loathe to share such a light with her brother?
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both of them.

she had loathed the idea of attending somewhere with a sister, now she was expected to stand in the shade of crown prince. she loved him, she truly deeply did, but this was not what she had pictured.

what an ugly blossom in her heart.

she bid her time with a berry. to speak outright foul or harsh was not the image she had worked so hard to cultivate.

in my own, but you send me with the crown prince.

she said nothing else and waited.
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#22
ramesses gave a languid shrug, aware it would not be the response makono wished. 
"you will be seen with him over and over. what is a first time as emissaries?" he knew her pride and had shared it against her own siblings.
"you will have many brothers and sisters. there is only one crown prince."
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she had intended to discuss all the manners of mereo with him.

now she was being given this.

so the importance of him is even clearer. her lapis eyes grew half-lidded. thoughtful. pensive. they do not call me crown princess.

she did not say this in an outburst, she knew better.
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#24
"yes."
pharaoh's voice was unreadable.
"siptah will follow me on the throne when i have flown unto the sun. he must be seen as having the support of one who means to be queen."
for surely makono wanted this herself.
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she remembered the titles that germanicus had spoke.

something vile twisted up in her gut.

what do you make of one who means to be queen?

she held her tongue.