third

prayer.

 a prayer for rain.

 a prayer for nazli

 senmut no longer sensed her, and this crushed him in such a torment, wildflower petals beneath a pestle, and grief the holding mortar. he hung his head.

 but aiesha he had, and raised his head to look for her once more, to welcome their daughter into the night of eternal prayers for the soul of a mother who the Gods had held back.

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she drifted in this place. there was a disconnect, but wasn't there always? she was jealous sometimes, of her sister. jealous of her ability to hear, to connect to others by way of speech and conversation. it wasn't something that kamaria had ever known, but instead something she dreamed about.

dreams. she remembered the dream she had of the girl in the bed of flowers. the one that she could hear and understand.

tears welled in her eyes. a small sniffle.

kamaria bit her tongue, a slight and awkward movement. iron washed over her taste buds. tears bitten back successfully, the honey-wolf lingered near the waters, sniffing at it gently. she was aware of the other wolf, of course, but didn't want to bother him.
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thanks for joining! <3

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senmut entered the sacred spring and sent his head beneath the surface.

 he shut his eyes. it was not the serpent. these waters he did not know.

 and yet from grieving priest such dust was washed, and senmut broke up above the crystal with a gasp, shaking water from bright green eyes which widened first in surprise and then in chagrin.

 "my apologies if i have splashed you," said the red prince, retreating somewhat as feet felt for the edge below.

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ofc! happy to write with you!

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what had been a smooth, glassy surface was suddenly broken; the girl startled, jumping almost out of her skin, four paws clearing the ground before they found it again. hackles raised, eyes wide, teeth bared, kamaria stared at the water, expecting some sort of monster and finding instead a red-cloaked man with eyes like grass.

the honeywolf settled once more.

his mouth moved and her head shook even before he stopped, ears laying back against her head as if to signal to him that she could not hear him. she could never hear him. head tilting slightly, she looked from the man to the waters he stood in, trying to see what he was doing. jaw worked, opening and closing, head tilting to the other side as she tried to question him.

was he fishing?
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 she did not speak, and furthermore she indicated that this was not an ability possessed. senmut took the moment to shake water from his scarlet pelt before greenstone eyes regarded her more closely. "i am akashingo's high priest and hereditary prince," he told her quietly. "for my rituals before the gods do i bathe."

 how he missed the wellspring with its scented waters and attendants readied, arms filled with sheepskin towels. "i am senmut. you are new to us." he smoothed the last from his shoulders. "do you belong to the court of the queen or the Consort? one nod for the first, two for the second," genteel offering from a man who had always been a servant.

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he shook himself of the water that weighed down his pelt and then began moving his mouth more; kamaria could only assume that he was speaking again. sitting back on her haunches, kamaria tilted her head and looked at him with quiet eyes that held no acknowledgement or understanding. how could she have either when she could not hear him?

maybe... she should try something different...

standing again, the honeywolf moved closer to him, hesitant at first but still closer. when the distance between them was almost nothing, kamaria stretched her neck so that her nose could brush his ear before looking at him in the eyes and shaking her head. would he understand her this time?
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 oh — "you do not hear," he muttered to himself, feeling quite foolish indeed. again senmut opened his mouth to speak, then firmly shut it. at a loss, he racked his mind, then gestured to his chest. "senmut." if she did not hear, did she read lips? in the absence of this, he truly did not know what to do.

 motioning at her felt wrong, more imperious than he wished. but he would revert to it if need be, no matter how he felt in its employment. what had toula seen? surely much; he searched for it now in her, eyes appeased with gentle green light.

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it was always interesting to see the moment someone else realized. some reacted with disappointment. some, with irritation or frustration. others — like this man — reacted with something akin to confusion. as if he did not know what to do.

she watched his paw meet his chest, then his mouth move; this time, however, the movements of his speech were exaggerated. slower. normally, kamaria could not parse what was being said but... but now...

her eyes brightened, her ears perked -- her body's instinct. besides when she was around @Saira, this was the first time kamaria had felt anything positive since their arrival to this world. she gestured with one paw, a circular motion, as if asking again?
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 there — there. some hope. glinting white teeth conveyed his pleasure in their brief attempt. slowly; again he said his name, only the first. it was right. despite all the titles he might have amassed, senmut was the one beneath which he had been born and the one bey which he was known to the gods.

 they would not call for the High Priest nor the erpa-ha when the end had come.

 his paw, outstretched but politely without touching; "your name?" and he kept his eyes trained between her own and mouth, watching perhaps too intently.

 it was a new way of communicating; he was piqued for it as any scribe might be.

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That, she would not do. Only saira had the misfortune of hearing her… “speak”. It was something the honeywolf was terribly self conscious of, and not something that she would do in the presence of other. The woman and her companion had been an exception, something done out of desperation. She hadn’t been able to find her sister, so Kamaria had done what was necessary; good thing she had, too, as they had been reunited shortly after.

Her head shook in answer to him, and instead she looked to the water again, then back. His pelt was drying a bit under the warm sun, but why had he been so submerged in the first place?
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 no. no because she could not or because she would not? quickly was the woman becoming a mixture of intrigue and frustration to senmut, a welcome and distracting face which now asked after the water. he began to answer, then paused to think of how best it might be done. "priest," he said, twice, motioning to himself. "cleanse. ritual."

 the finer points of godhood were not something he could communicate in such a manner. another must be found. he thought longingly of the acetic but elegant quarters of the priests within the red palace, of his mattings and his paints. "you are a priestess?" senmut guessed slowly.

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sorry for the wait! my brain's been not having it with being at the computer haha

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reest. ears forward, kamaria gave him a puzzled look. but then another word he said — ritual — assisted shifting the puzzle piece into place. priest, not reest. it made more sense, and she gave the indication that she was following along. stepping forward, closer to the water, kamaria lowered her head to sniff at the water.

"no," she replied with a shake of her head. not a priestess. kamaria was not sure she believed in benevoletn gods, for why would they forsake her and make it so that she could not hear, so that she could not speak? why did they look down upon her so? visage shifted from peaceful curiosity to somber, downtrodden, dragged back into the bleak darkness of her own mind.

looking to the man again, kamaria motioned to him and then to the water, then herself. show?
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