Lion Head Mesa [m] signet

This game felt much more like a lesson, such as the kind she'd taken with Sokha, than any real work. It had been an entertaining way to pass the time. For it to suddenly be over was a let-down, and while Nazli reacted to her orders by standing and straightening herself, then tending to Ramesses as he requested, her mind was on those stones and the numbers in the game. She gave it one last glance as she hurried to gather sage from the storehouse, which itself was on the way to the spring - thus she did not miss a step.
From what she knew of Charles, and she knew only what she'd witnessed as an attendant, he was an ornery man who could not keep peace alone; but also he was wed to a woman who was not here, and so perhaps he drank because he was alone, and was alone because he drank? He was a circular fellow, she thought, but otherwise held no opinion.
They came to the wellspring and Nazli knew to keep her head down and eyes averted as she welcomed Ramesses to the water; she placed the dried sage upon a plinth for now, and did the natural things she had been trained to do: escort the pharaoh to the water and prepare to wait on him, or fetch whatever he may summon.