Lion Head Mesa nature pants

she's looking for @Senmut but anyone can intercept her before! based on a finding after this thread

Tuna had been exploring, much to the dismay of Senmut who told her to keep post with Toula. but there were many times were Tuna knew that Toula was not a child who needed to be constantly watched. No, she was being crowned queen in the very few days to arrive, and she was growing into her role. Besides, Tuna wanted to do something special for her, such as finding the fruit and flower she had promised.

So, the fellahin did not go far, promising that she may return to Toula with a gift, should she find anything worth taking from the nearby lands. Tuna left the steppes alone, as the shy deer were much too difficult to wrangle. She instead would move to the meadows, and upon the land, she would make a discovery that was wrought with a stench that she knew all too well.

Upon further inspection, Tuna could see that this woman did not die from an internal disease. There were teeth marks, blood, and even torn bits from her coat -- this was no painless death. this was something done as a punishment, out of cold blood. another careless killing on the steps of the kingdom. Toula would be displeased and perhaps Senmut would be angered by this discovery.

Either way, Tuna coated herself in the scent of the woman. she did not know where she hailed from, but perhaps the others would come to recognize her scent. either way, Tuna high-tailed it back to the red lands as quickly as her thin legs could carry her. 

She would spread a story of wildfire, of the dead body that lead in an all too familiar direction of the lake. Tuna was no detective, but she could string things together. and she knew that there was some form of beef with the last jodai of the pharoah.

In her bid to connect with more of her packmates, Melody picked out a scent trail and followed it. There was a tang of blood in the air, and she wondered at that. She was no healer, but perhaps could fetch one if it was needed, so she picked up the pace until she caught sight of the — coyote?

Melody was thus far unfamiliar with Akashingo's practices, the role of Fellahin, and so she hesitated. The blood was that of a wolf, and so too was the unfamiliar scent that wreathed the coyote girl. Her steps slowed, fur rising slowly along her spine and nape. She cast a glance around and tried to settle herself; no one else was coming for the coyote, and she certainly smelled like a packmate. But it was weird. It was all weird. She turned her eyes back to the coyote and stared at her as if she might find some explanation this way.

as far as tuna was concerned, EVERYONE was above her. She had seen this with the other fellahin who shared all her blood; those who were only half were still held ranking above. perhaps it was just by chance, by luck that tuna would come to take notice that coyote blood was somehow below the blood of a wolf. she could read through the fine lines, though. many shared her blood, though perhaps they would forget this part of themselves. but tuna would know; she could see the coy in others that they desperately attempted to bury and hide and perhaps even kill. 

but that held little value now. instead, tuna could smell Akashingo rush into her flared nostrils, bringing a sense of relief and yet panic at the same time. it would not be the honorary prince that finds her first, but instead, a hemet that Tuna could not recognize. "mah lady!" she would come to cry out, changing her pace and coming to slow herself to a lope as she closes the distance, "ah need senmut, there's som'thin' wrong near th'a lake! d'ew yew know where he is?"

there was certainly something uneasy about the whole thing, tuna would not deny. but she could only hope that this hemet, mistaken as a noble, would be of any use in this situation.

How Melody had gone this long without noticing the number of coyotes in the Mesa was anyone's guess, but after a few moments, she decided it was fine. She'd never had a good experience with a coyote, but neither had she had any particularly bad ones, so she remained cautiously optimistic for now.

The coyote girl started to yell about Senmut, and Melody was so caught off guard she entirely missed what she'd called her. She nodded slowly, not questioning any of it. Whatever the lake was supposed to be, clearly it was important, so she said, I think I saw him not too long ago... this way, And turned to lead the girl in the direction of where she'd last seen Senmut.

Tuna was no idiot, she could see the fact that just the sight of her caused the unfurling of the hackles and even teeth -- what a sad thing that she was born as only a coyote and not something greater. but she had to push against the feeling of microaggression and instead come to follow the lady who had come to find her.

it was a dog-eats-dog world out here, and being something even lesser than a dog was a bad place to be. 

the fellahin does not allow herself to take one more minute to think of other things. all she can think of is the safety of Toula. Tuna was the favored consort to the divine one, and this did not come without work nor delight. Tuna would not want to see any more bloodshed after this day, especially considering this is her second run-in with death. it was getting much too real for her.

"thank ya kindly for ya help," she comes to say to the confused hemet as she stays astride with her, "th'a lake-dwellers 're gettin' aggressive, foun' one'a them dead in th'a meadow." a small explanation for the scent and for the panic, she hoped it would be enough for Melody. and she hoped that she would not get in trouble for telling her form Senmut!

Dead! Melody had never seen death, not in one of her own kind, and she could hardly wrap her mind around it. The coyote girl's frantic state made a bit more sense now.

She walked a little faster but otherwise made no response. Head-in-the-sand Melody was learning quite quickly to guard her tongue. What she didn't yet know, she would learn by observing. This way, she hoped no one would take note of her ignorance — especially @Senmut, who they were nearing now if the freshness of his scent was anything to go by.

when he turned, it was to see the two newest approaching.

somehow senmut did not believe this to be a call for mere socializing's sake. his eyes moved between them; he rose from his prayers and was almost cold for a moment, almost severe.

soon enough they encounter the loyal man to the divine, Tuna bows her head before relaying what she knows. "senmut," she comes to say, practically out of breath from all the internal dialogue of panic that racked through her brain "is'tha lake pack."

"ah was in th'a meadow an' found on'a 'em dead. killed! she was maim'ed and covered 'n their smell. it was like she was punish'd or somthin'." Tuna couldn't really find any other hints as to why this happened or what exactly transpired, but she knew a beat-up carcass as she's seen a few in her time during her travels. 

"i dunno what ta make of'all 'dis." perhaps he knew, perhaps even Melody, though the girl seemed to prefer to keep her trap shut. Tuna didn't mind, it meant she wouldn't have to face being asked a bunch of questions that she didn't know the answers to.

Skippable unless addressed!

Melody immediately grew uncomfortable in Senmut's presence. She stood back, keeping closer to the Fellahin rather than stand too near to him. He hates me, she reminded herself, though a part of her rather thought he likely didn't care enough to hate her. Annoyance was perhaps a better description for the vibe she had gotten from him thus far.

Or maybe she was just taking it all too personally — but his coldness existed in such stark contrast to the warmth she'd been met with by their Pharaoh and their Queen, she just couldn't help it. Melody was silent as the coyote girl spoke, half-expecting to be dismissed at any moment. She was ready for it, too; any excuse to avoid Senmut.

"our enemies are savages." senmut's eyes were softer upon tuna. "thus now, let my order be heard, and carry it through akashingo: no one is to travel alone, not until that den of snakes has been sorted."

to melody; "see that you too are not alone when you walk outside the palace walls."

it was all too clear.

this lake pack was under a tyrannical ruler. and the only soul to be liberated has paid the ultimate price for her freedom. tuna's large ears come to flatten from Senmut's words.

no one was safe.

"it will be don'." a dip of the head, the word will come to be heard all throughout the mesa. "ah don' wanna scare miz toula with tha news, though." the girl queen deserved to know what was happening in the mesa and beyond, but this would perhaps come to strike fear that death continued to wander in and out of the red land. "ah told her ah'd come back to her thron' room an' all. will you tell her, or ah?" 

Senmut picked his words with more care than Tuna. perhaps she would let him continue to provide news into the queen's ear without sparking anything else that would lead to regret.

Heat rushed into her cheeks and ears, to be addressed separately. As if she did not understand his order. As if she was nothing more than a child! Melody looked at Senmut for a moment when he spoke to her, then away.

He hated her. Why did he hate her? Pharaoh saw worth in her, but this man — if it had been up to him, surely Melody would not be here. Consumed by her insecurity, she said nothing. But she would heed his words.

"i will tell her."

somewhere along her time here, he had become fond of tuna.

the earlier practice of priests served by fellahin was a practice which had evaporated under makono and now had no place in toula's court.

melody was silent. senmut did not know what to make of her. "we should bury her," he suggested quietly, glancing to tuna as if to ask that she would lead them.

perhaps it is the shining and mericful light of the crowned prince and queen that Akashingo is able to provide acts of service to others, when when they hold no ties to the court. Tuna thinks highly of her superiors.

she comes to offer Melody of soft gaze for a moment. "mah lady," she says to her, "perhaps y'ew'd preh'fer to rest 'n not haf'ta see th'a body?" up until this point, Tuna has yet to be corrected that this hemet is actually a priestess (but Tuna always makes the healthy assumptions that unless she can see some coy, they're probably not fellahin material).

she comes to look towards the prince. "is'this'a way" she comes to point her muzzle in the direction of the open meadow, and if all felt right, she would come to push off and lead him (and possibly melody too if she wished) to the body of the lost woman.

perhaps when they bury her, tuna may notice the flowers on the woman's body left by a ghostly lover.

last for me! <3

melody was sent away.

senmut followed the dutiful tuna.

and there were flowers also, there.

he bid the woman buried beside the serpent, where her essence might flow into the river and be taken back to Osiris, God of Rebirth.