Lion Head Mesa [m] signet

ramesses saw first the singing tremour of her muscles. the water parted evenly as she came to settle near him; beneath its surface, his strong arm stole around her waist and moved her in front of him, the straightness of her back toward him, some inches of the pool between.
pharaoh lifted a pawful of water and as she had done for him, sluiced it over shoulders and arms, working the sage's magick into the lines of her dutiful figure.
there was no sound for some minutes, save for their breathing, the lap of wellspring upon red stone, and the gentle whisper of limbs in the sighing aquifer as ramesses continued to anoint nazli, letting water trickle across her forehead and down the backs of her ears.
a man caressing the delicate filligree of a priceless crown with oil until it gleamed.