Lion Head Mesa i go forwards, you go backwards, and somewhere we will meet

set directly after this

zaahira returned to akashingo empty-handed and furious.
near immediately she sought a moment with @Toula and her children, wishing to sit with them simply for the sake of not being alone. her pelt was tousled with dirt and with blood, her gaze distant and dazed with a near all-consuming, unknowable knot of emotion. she ushers any guards who linger after her arrival away, to sit outside; this was a conversation that was not for anyone else's ears. only her queen.
she seats herself adjacent to pharaoh, bowing down to press a greeting kiss to her cheek. malakti.
the children were so strange looking; so, so small. she fixes her gaze against the dark curve of one of the girls — satakhetem, maybe? — as she draws in a fragile breath.
there is something that i think we must talk about.

dirt, blood—her heart was in her throat. she wrapped her fed, slumbering cubs in mink furs warmed by her and, after ensuring their comfort and that they slept deeply still she moved them to where they might not know her distress this day.
it was not Zaahira’s blood. she smelled the blood of her Hebsut! she reaches for a paw, bright eyes wide with worry. what had happened? and was her Jodai alright?! words caught in her throat—she could not yet ask what she wished, for that same worry created a knot in her throat that bobbed as she swallowed. but very clearly was each concern written across her face!