Fairspell Meadow breaker of the dawn
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#1
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The boy was gone. In his place was the ambitious sister.

Akhtar did not seethe. He did not hiss like a serpent. He did not fuss like a child denied a treat. No, he calculated, pressed and pushed.

He slipped away from the Mesa at the earliest hours of morning, when no one expected him to be awake. He walked, and walked, and walked, his eyes almost crossed from how hard he was thinking. His steps only rolled to a halt when he found himself in the meadow beside the mesa, and his eyes caught them.

Bucks. Fighting each other for the does clustered in the background, blood drooling from their noses and their tines entwined.

Akhtar could not look away. He stood, a silent witness, and watched.
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#2
"she has changed Ma'at. she has driven out her brother."
pharaoh stepped to the hem's silken side. his eyes roved over the meadow. "she has been given all the tasks meant for him and he has gone into exile."
his heart was heavy.
"was this meant to be? or is it some punishment?"
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#3
Ramesses joined him this morning, and Akhtar gave him a look out of the side of his eye.

He was a father, in this moment, not the king Akhtar tiptoed around. A father whos daughter had outfoxed him. The saluki let out a low sigh.

To be honest? I do not know. The gods’ silence has been deafening since her sacrifice. Her popularity stunt, he did not say. He was still uncharitable in many ways about the killing of the horse, and he would fester in such thoughts until such a time he got distracted by something else to damn to hell. Like a small town preacher.

Akhtar watched the Pharaoh. He was a handsome man, he could almost see what all the women saw in him. His eyes went back to the bucks.

I taste tension, however. We will learn more, soon. His tail flicked up and curved over itself, the hairs brushing his flanks as he began to step carefully deeper into the meadow, dew streaking his grey fur dark.
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#4
silence. "it is better than vengeance." he walked beside the priest in stately quiet, enjoying the cool green look of the land. "the crown prince has been given this meadow to measure and to claim. she suggested that neb gucci be our chosen noble for the land. i had considered that he be built a summer-home here."
involving the hem in politics was necessary; akhtar must know the pulse of the palace. "that pupil of yours. senmut. it appears he has caught the eye of the princess."
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#5
Akhtar had no head for politics (a lie).

He also, however, had no patience for this (a truth). His apprentice was to stay his apprentice until such a time the master felt comfortable releasing the pupil from his service and allowing him to blossom.

This was not that time. Akhtar felt the urge to snap peevishly, but instead, he sighed.

That he has. I had thought to separate them as best I could, but I do not believe that will work for long. His eyes scanned the meadow beneath their feet, as though hunting for something. When he didn’t find it immediately, he grumbled something to himself, lowering his nose to the ground.
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#6
ramesses nodded, sensing none of akhtar's inner strife. "i think it is good that he understands her power." he glanced sidelong. "i will not be here forever. the priests who serve the next pharaoh should be so loyal." pharaoh took a moment to examine his mortality.
"but i do not think i will allow her to bring him out of akashingo. that is for you to decide."
the lazuli eyes darkened. "i think our young rooster will crow more softly on another roof. when she goes to mereo for her soldiers' training, i ask that you turn your eye to an auspicious star. it is time a future match was made for princess toula. now, before she decides she might follow her sister."
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#7
Akhtar raised his head to look over his shoulder at the Pharoah, blinking at him for a moment, before humming.

A match for Toula? And Makono is going to Mereo? He gave a short shrug, tail flicking to the side as he thought.

Does the Imperator have children? Any of his soldiers? Get one of them as a match, that way you can be certain they will not spit in our faces. He went back to nosing the ground.

That is just a suggestion of course, great one. I’m sure an alliance can be forged with packs we have not met otherwise.
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#8
"my pious, doting little princess, the wife of a roman dog?" ramesses laughed, and it was a spoilt, arrogant sound. "i should sooner send her into eternal chastity as a priestess than allow it." though his voice was deep with a jest he knew akhtar would understand.
"but i have thought of it. the sweet child, she has asked already that she be made bride to sethnakht." his voice was warm with affection and amusement. "but he is meant for the role of Divine Consort if he means to be content with the crown prince as pharaoh."
he mused. "there are none as royal as this place."
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#9
Akhtar threw his head back to join in the laughter of Pharaoh, gifting him with a short, honking ha!.

She is a bright young thing, your princess. He mused once the laughter had died, taking a short hop forward.

Should she wish for it, I would be happy to have her as priestess. But, she is meant for divine things, Pharaoh. The gods will provide. He intoned, before his eyes snapped around, and he let out a short a-ha!, diving into the grass and coming up with the shorn off remains of a deer’s antler, gripped in his jaws. The tines curved up, and one poked him rather harshly in the nostril, but he was jubilant.

’js ne’e one mo’e! He managed around the hefty object.
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#10
yes; there existed in ramesses now a fierce and tangible sense that he must protect toula as much as ashikaga. makono walked her own path now. but he could make it softer for his other daughters.
he watched bemused as the priest moved into the grass and emerged with bone. ramesses ranged ahead, searching for the other. it was play of a sort, something he did not always indulge.
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#11
Akhtar sat his newly found piece upon a rock, so he did not lose it in the grass. Off went the gold coat of Pharoah, hunting for the other, and his face split into a grin, feathery tail waving like a banner.

He was very good at this game. He bounded up with a rabbit like agility, twisting his body so he landed already at a lope from the momentum. He couldn’t let the man win without a challenge, now could he?

He couldn’t help the fast wiggle of his tail. It had been so long since he’d indulged in this sort of thing.
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#12
ahktar danced about. ramesses watched him with an intrigued eye, then let his own limbs move in a bound. he leapt over a patch of emerald grass and doubled back, for he had seen the glimmer of ivory against the ground.
with a boyish crow he lifted a piece from the earth, a smaller one than the priest's. it was such an allusion to make him chuckle, before he too set it down and went in search of more.
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#13
A little small isn’t it, Pharoah? He called with boyish delight, his stance held wide, before he transitioned smoothly into a jog, still cackling to himself at his own bawdy joke.

Perhaps it was unsightly of a priest. But the priest of a brothel could be just as crass as everyone else. He shuddered to think what any of his old peers would think of him now.

Then he buried the thought, because they were either dead in the ground or dead in his mind.
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#14
"even a thrust from a small knife can kill," ramesses called in returned joking. he enjoyed this, perhaps more than he had expected.
for a time they were playmates.
ramesses lifted a long, dragging antler from the grass, chuffing a hoot of success.
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Akhtar’s cheeks puffed out in a childish pout and, much like the boy he once was, he stuck his tongue out in jest.

Then, he released a series of high pitched, excited noises, like a mouse that had been stepped on, diving into a bushed area and dragging his own large specimen out of the other side. He gave it a critical eye.

I have seen large ones up north quite a ways. Past this place. The priest giggled like a schoolboy.

In both senses. Those people had been quite large and much had his heart tried to claw its way out of his chest.

He added the antler to his pile, and kept hunting for more. He did not even notice the deer from earlier had ceased their fight, now locked together with their breaths steaming into the air, unable to break apart.
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#16
ramesses noticed, if only because he had quit the antler-gathering to watch akhtar with intrigue. he had never see the holy man so giddy, so full of play. so lewd. his lazuli eyes were filled with delight, even as he pulled them from the hem to look at the once-warring beasts.
"and did they change your tastes, holy one?" did they now run counter to what ramesses had believed of the man?
or was he in self-same company?
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#17
Akhtar laughed at that, giving a raised limb and a shrug to complete the movement.

Oh they both terrified and intrigued me. I was a scrap of a thing, barely a year. His dark eyes twinkled at the lopsided way his head tipped.

My taste, however, has been consistent. Brawny barbarians aside.
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#18
ramesses' grin was resplendent in the long gilding of the grassland. "if i remember correctly, your tastes run to fiery-spirited little creatures who keep you in your rooms."
where had belen gone, he wondered, keeping his eyes upon the priest to see his reaction.
Akashingo
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Akhtar grinned.

Oh certainly. Who doesn’t enjoy some fire at times, hm? He wondered if Belen himself, for a moment. He rather did hope she was alright, wherever she had gone off to.

But I haven’t found that in quite a time. Maybe I will again. He mused, his eyes wandering to the distant mountains, before he chuffed, as if he thought of a funny joke.

If I don’t, perhaps I will start a monastery and become a stuffy old coot, as my mentor was.
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#20
ramesses chuckled. "why forgo such pleasures when they are abundant? see the blessings you have been given," the divine wolf purled, but he was curious as to what ahktar considered beyond his wise eyes.
"perhaps you might find yourself called to be a priest of Apis." the holy bull. the gilded ox-stud, called forth to sire, to open, to be the first.
his gaze was radiant with the joke, the suggestion.
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#21
Akhtar gave a short little laugh at that, a gentle honk, fair as a midsummer goose attack. He grinned cheekily.

Perhaps so, Pharoah. Though, I think my appearance unsettles some. He’d gotten quite a few stares in his day thanks to his long, tapered snout and low, floppy ears. It had never bothered him much.

He was also quite certain any children of his would be squirreled away. He didn’t need them interfering in his cosmic game of chess, where no one knew he was playing it, or what his next move might end up being.
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#22
ramesses glittered with a sudden, wicked thought. perhaps not so malicious, but deceptive in a way he delighted to see within his games.
"suppose i wanted to make you a tutor of sorts to new fellahin. it would be another part of their training."
nostrils flared; muzzle tipped. would the priest comprehend what pharaoh meant?
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#23
Akhtar blinked, one eyebrow raising at the Pharaoh, as if asking him “what gives?”. The Saluki chuffed a short laugh.

I would accept any job you give me, Pharaoh, but I am a busy man. Perhaps I could split these duties, give others a chance to..train them how they will. He ran it through in his head.

Why not get that Neb involved. The small one.
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#24
ramesses gave a cunning look. "i have. but the neb does not seem inclined toward the pleasures found here."
"jawahir, sayf, and sokha will be given the greater part of this task. yours would be to instill a sense of chastity and eagerness to serve."
divine his child may be, she did not understand the power vested in her servant, nor the ways in which the girl might be utilized in far more ambitious ways.