down on my knees

Control. 

It was all about control. 

A leash, metaphorical, binding her to a man she had no interest in. Her face amongst a sea of others. Given away, and for what? Food? Status? Her life treated as though she were nothing but an object to be traded in? 

Haku was choking on her own tongue. On words she wished to say. On the Emperor's blood. On her own.

He deserved it, she knew. Had seen his abuse. Had lived it, herself. 

Damn him. If there was a hell, he deserved it. If there was a hell, they would go there together. 

Haku was choking. On blood. Both the Emperor's and her own. 

It wasn't a bad way to die. 

Her chest rose and fell in uneven gasps. She could hear him, as well, gurgling where her teeth had ripped out his throat. She would not belong to him anymore - it was a wonderful comfort in these last moments. 

Her lungs were filling with liquid. Her body felt heavy. 

And then...

Her head burst from the surface, and she was swimming. Drowning? Haku gasped in a full breath of air above the surface of the waves she suddenly found herself in, frantic as she tried to orient herself. It took a few precious seconds, but there was land. A beach? It did not matter. Haku had always been a good swimmer, even disoriented as she was, and swam toward the shore. It was as though the waves were helping her, the current moving her body until her paws touched sand and she collapsed onto dry ground. 

Choking, hacking salt water up onto the beach, Haku collapsed, shaking. 

This was new. This was...

This was not the mountain she was used to. Sandy beach stretched for miles in either direction, illuminated by a brilliant sun above. Placing a paw to her throat, Haku was both pleased and surprised to find it fully healed - as though the injury had never been there in the first place. 

Was this hell? Heaven? There was no sea of fire, and Haku was not in pain, so... perhaps the latter? 

A dream? 

Regardless, she would not take it for granted. Getting to her feet, Haku shook herself off, still breathing hard, but significantly more relaxed now that she was no longer at risk of drowning. 

As long as he was not there, she would be fine.

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Having spent enough time exploring the center parts of the oasis, he decided to venture outward to seek the shores. Maybe it was an excuse to give him the barest hint of a "break, but he still considered it part of his duties nonetheless. 

The mazoi walked a slower pace than usual, taking in the sights of the waves and enjoying the way the sands crested beneath his feet. Nothing could deter him, save for the faintest sounds of splashing ahead.

Eyes narrowed, he traipsed closer. It took a minute, but soon his gaze honed in on a distant figure.

Wary, he approached. Transfixed, in a way. But at this moment, it was too early to decide if they may be friend or foe of the kingdom that lay in the desert land.

“Halt! You near the land of Akashingo—” But, wait. They were... wet? No, drenched. Had they just come from the fucking ocean?

Suddenly, his manner changed. Stone-faced soldier turned to concerned man. “Hey... you alright? I thought I heard some splashing, but I didn't think I'd find someone nearly half drowned.” Was it on purpose, or was that how some came to be in this world? The question remained yet unanswered. 

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She was approached while she was still catching her breath, dripping wet like a drowned rat. Initially, the man was stiff and formal, like a palace guard chasing out an intruder, and the fur along her spine instinctively raised. Had she somehow been dropped into someone's domain? Trespassing without any awareness of it?

Her muscles ached with the thought of trying to fight again. She was too tired for it, too worn from the battle and the paddling that she did not believe she would be able to defend herself if necessary.

That did not mean she wouldn't try.

And then he changed, face and voice softening in a way that relaxed her somewhat. Not entirely, as her posture remained exhausted but guarded, green eyes locked firm on the stranger, but enough that she wasn't trembling with tension.

"I just... I don't know how I got here," she admitted, voice rasping and ears pressed back to her head, uncertain and confused. "Where am I?" She tried to sound as confident and demanding as she could, but the tremor in her words betrayed her.

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She trembled, eyes filled to the brim with exhaustion.

He took a step closer, suddenly with the urge to comfort her, as though he would for Sobek. But he stopped himself, assuming his stature as mazoi once more.

“This is the oasis, home of Akashingo, ruled by Pharoah Toula and Semer-wati Ramesses.” He speaks with a firm tone, that of a soldier. Not of a friend. Despite how much he knew she probably needed one right now.

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His mask fell back on. Good. Haku could work with this - this statue of a man, treating her as though she were a threat rather than something fragile.

This was much better.

The words he spoke meant very little to Haku, who had experience with rulers in the past. Just moments ago, actually, unless time moved differently in this place.

"Are you a guard, then? Meant to keep the pests away?" she asked, taking a step back, eyes narrowing. He seemed so like the Emperor's guards that it was eerie, set her on edge. Another fight. She'd have to fight another wolf, larger and stronger than she, or try to run away on legs that felt too shaky for her to even walk at the moment.

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The woman was skeptical, guarded. As she should be. In fact, he commended her for it. Internally, of course.

“I am mazoi here, a guard among the palace and protector of the divine. But I would not speak so low as to name yourself a pest.” She was certainly far from it. And she had spunk. He couldn't help but admit to himself he was intrigued.

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A guard in the palace, protector of the divine. Was that what their rulers called themselves? Perhaps it was a theme from her home to theirs, another similarity. The Emperor had been divine, as well, but his blood had still been red as it pooled on the earth.

Haku had always wanted to believe in something. But experiencing it firsthand... experiencing the cruelty and the flash of teeth and the brutality...

Perhaps their god had been a cruel one. Perhaps his was different. She didn't want to assume them the exact same.

Instead of addressing the topic of rulers and divinity as she wanted, Haku sat down, her limbs a bit too shaky to hold herself up now that the adrenaline had flushed from her system. It would be a rather cowardly thing to do, should he attack her like this, but nothing in his body language suggested he would do so.

"Others have named me that before," she said, then, a tiny quirk of her lips betraying the light tease in her words.

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He would likely be correct to assume how uncomfortable she probably was in this instance. She, a woman who had just dragged herself from the ocean. And he, a soldier abruptly berating her for being on their land.

Thinking for a moment on how to best ease the situation, he took a slight step back, then lowered to a sit, mirroring her own stance.

He could tell then the way her lip moved and the light humor barely put on display with her words. “Yes, well, I gather most pests would also he considered foul in appearance. To which that, you are not. Greatly the opposite, in fact.” Yes, he was a coward; incapable of calling a woman pretty to her face. “I wouldn't worry of what those others said about you. They don't matter here.”

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If she hadn't been so unmoored and so exhausted, perhaps Haku wouldn't have been as willing to entertain the man. But he didn't seem a threat, and she couldn't have done much even if he was, and so she remained settled on the shore, fur slowly drying in the sun.

His words were... flowery. Decorated. Calling her pretty in a sort of roundabout way - or at least, not ugly. Was this an attempt at flattery?

She'd always been a little weak to it. Before her stint as a concubine to the Emperor, she'd indulged in men just like him and women not so similar. It had been fun. She wondered what she could get away with, now.

"I suppose it's good to know I'm better to look at than a pest," she hummed with amusement. He was right, too - about the others. There seemed to be neither hide nor hair of them here.

Haku sank a little lower, chin resting on her front paws as she studied the stranger. "And what do others call you?" she wondered, finding herself a touch intrigued.

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He succeeded in plucking a second hint of humor from her. Even a more relaxed posture. She felt safe, to an extent. But if he were truly an enemy to her, would he not have called the other mazoi near to aid in chasing her away? Though, he may have not even needed them.

He chuckled quietly at her returned comment, head tilting curiously to the side. “It's a pity if you really would think that low of yourself.” And yet, he didn't pity her. He knew the truth of it and that was enough for him. Fuck, he had to force his eyes elsewhere, lest he really make her uncomfortable by continuing to ogle her.

Glancing off toward the water, he cleared his throat, resembling a school boy who'd just been caught doing something naughty. “I'm Tahrosek.” Somehow, his stupid brain forget what it meant to be a gentleman and ask the lady what her name was. Regret filled him instantly, his teeth bearing down over his tongue in scolding.

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Fortunately, Haku enjoyed being ogled. She wished she had a bit more energy to take advantage of the situation. Free from the Emperor's grasp, she could do whatever she wished, and whoever she wished.

"And you think higher of me already?" she asked, wheedling a little, waiting to see if he'd compliment her further in this funny little way of his.

He glanced away, cleared his throat, and Haku snorted a little with amusement. "Tahrosek," she said, testing the different syllables on her tongue. It sounded different from any words she'd heard before, but it was nice. Her own name wasn't requested, but it would be rude not to offer it, wouldn't it? "I'm Haku."

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His eyes eventually flicked back over to her, a grin dancing along his expression. “I wouldn't say higher. Not just yet, anyway.” But he certainly thought something.

He offered his name, and so did she in turn. “I imagine you are exhausted and hungry. Our Pharoah is quite generous. I imagine she would welcome a guest and provide to you a meal and some time to rest, if you accept it.”

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