a conqueror already conquered? ☥

aw! welcome to anyone, saltwoods members esp! still traveling with @Taliba & @Mesen-ka

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 after a while, the days began to meld with nights. only bone-weary tiredness and the resolution of the next morning forced khaemwaset onward. their fare became sparse and he was forced to hunt. that was an exercise he enjoyed very much, and returned to it when he had rested himself.
 the prince of akashingo had not before seen the ocean. the wilderness of the great hunt had been as far as he had gone. but now rocks paled and greenery pulled back; trees became smaller, and the ground turned to odd, shifting earth.
 then at last, the ocean.
 for a time he only stared at it, overcome. mesmerized. 
 reverent.
 a prayer was said there beside the salt, and then khaemwaset cried out for audience.

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 Weeks had come to pass that Maui had stayed (mostly) within the Saltwood's safe haven. There were small trips she'd take a little North, crossing the salty river that separated them from the mainland, and collect hoards of berries she could store and ferment for specific occasions, or honestly, any given day.

 Today's endeavors were not berry foraging but swimming in between the water that broke the Saltwoods from the Mainland, her dark fur meshing with the tide, soaked with salt and sand. One moment, she was above the water, and the next, below, diving beneath. Underneath, Maui's eyes burned, flashed open in the sea, a familiar sting, one she was used to, as they darted around her, waiting for that pesky... There!

 A shimmer of spotted scales flashed, the sun's flare in the midsky helping relay locations — in an instant, Maui's paws are cupping the turbulent water and muscular legs kicking. After a lifetime of doing this (albeit, usually looming over from a higher vantage point, but sometimes free-for-all swimming like she was now), it still required expertise, even if the ocean was as much as home as it was the fish's. Nonetheless, her powerful kicks had led her after the fish, its path blocked by a rock wall she'd built near the shore, with various-sized rocks. It wasn't completely stable; a large fish might have been able to knock it out of the way, but not the small ones she was picking off.

 The reward of her endeavor hung from her maw as she resurfaced: a spotted fish with a faded red line shimmering down its side, still flapping back and forward, flicking blood around. The movement was slow, her fatal bite settling in. She waded to the shore, just in time for a call to interrupt her snack. Her dark ears turned, realizing that it'd not come from far away at all. Stalking a few yards down the beach, she could see a small figure, a black ink spot against the sand.

 Maui let out a chuff, a friendly notion that she was around before trotting forward, not letting her reward go. She effortlessly treaded through the sand, nagivating her way till she was near enough to greet. The fish dropped out of her maw, letting it hit the ground hard, revealing a smile on the woman's face. “'Ey there, lil guppy.” She hummed in acknowledgement, tacking on a nickname that'd been tossed around her bloodline for generations for pups or teens. “Whatcha searchin' for?” She asked, her eyes picking at his appearance, shadowed but graced with bits of stray sun across his fur.

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the fish maui caught is a steelhead trout, around the size pictured here! (yes, this is a rainbow trout, but just for size reference!)
also this turned out wayyyy longer than i intended it to, don't worry abt matching length!!

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thank you for the reference & for joining! beautiful post!

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 @Merneith was a constant upon troubled mind of the young prince. he had meant to move Ma'at; he had not transgressed. he had kept the ways of his people, but this seeking determination was his own. and such sentiment did not allow him to move home. not yet. not when such a legacy sat great and weighted upon his very spine.

 at least the sea was beautiful. framed by draping foliage and laid out in pale sand, the land let akashingo's prince observe the crying shearwaters, the clipping crabs, the mollusks clustered onto dark old boulders so old that surely they remembered the gods.

 khaemwaset explored with the single-minded intent of one young, but raised to be more.

 and what he found was a darkfinned woman calling him a name meant for a child. he was taken aback, displayed by double blinks of his golden eyes. but then as all royals must, the boy recovered himself, offering her a small formal bow. 

 in this light, the blackstone eyes gleamed with gentle windings of blue, and he watched them curiously. "i am the crown prince of akashingo. my name is khaemwaset, and i have come not only to explore, but to seek trade."

 like those in the key, this woman too was fine-honed and muscular, a product of the environment in which they now stood. khaemwaset knew himself to be fit, but summarily comprehended all the same that life had not yet challenged him. "i have never been to the sea," he revealed; "i would enjoy some company as i recorded what i have seen."

 it was rashepses' smile he flashed her now, yes, rashepses' smile and toula's shimmering grace, a bounty that.

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