Lion Head Mesa Statuary

Tavina had left with the prince convoy and this was decidedly terrible. She missed her presence as she wandered through the bays and store room only to do a little dusting and smell the thistle that was her. She hoped the doctor was well on the trail into the South.

Legend had left too. They were perhaps not friends, but the coy-woman felt there was a shared allegiance there in knowing the depths of their depravity. It was just as safe as it was dangerous. In her absence the shadows of the palace felt less alive.

Khusobek’s shade still set a fire in her mind, but it was weakened, not like before, and she believed she could banish him from her nights in prayer.

As she passed through the empty halls hazy with the frankincense she kept burning for the gods in Toula’s worship, Senmut’s vulnerability manifests, the part of him she had been allowed to see, and she wondered what it meant, if he would seize what she saw there. She stalls at a fresco, tracing the marks with her eyes, imagining him painting it.

Into the Queen’s quarters she comes now, Toula reclining in glittering light with Tuna and Inji on either side. Eset moves to join with them, with great fulfillment and purpose blooming in the presence of these women.