down the gods road,

 they would begin again, anew. she would do as her father once had in this new land—and she would do it as well as he had, too. the Gods were good and brought with them her people. some had not yet risen, and were awaited—she thought of her Jodai with a heavy heart.
 her fellahin attended her in the waters of the Oasis. they called her Isis—and she wondered if they thought it was Her own magic that had brought them all here! certainly Iset was within her—it could be!
 but she thought also of the future. now, it felt limitless. she looked into the horizon and imagined what next they might find. home, she hoped!
 emerging from the waters, Toula was toweled down with soft furs that had already been skinned in preparation for her bath. she lifted a forearm and gazed at the golden gift given to her from husband in their past life.

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Their golden Queen and Pharaoh bathes. He feels the weight of her intensity from even here, and bows with a turned head as she dries from bathing.

Rashepses is a lucky man.

It is after the shuffling comes to a quiet that the guard approaches, just beside the river on submissive legs known only to that of the Pharaoh and King, low-headed and slow blinking. Their royalty can strike him into death a second time if they desire. "My Pharaoh," he addresses, dry mouthed as suspicion is casted from his eyes across the rest of the unknown land. Shrubs bloomed in small batches.
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 her head rose as she heard the approach of her husbands dearest friend. Toula loved this man a well for it, but has also come to love him for who he had shown himself to be—as brilliant a father as he was a man.
 “you reaffirm your vows to my husband in I, even in this lifetime?” comes her fond inquiry, eyes warm. she notes his suspicion, but does not yet speak on it. better first to keep them both anchored, and to provide him that same tether he had known in his last life.

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It's a sting that courses through.

"I vowed myself to your blood and honor in life, it is yours to take even in death." A bond stronger than any armor.

The tips of his ears feel hot, bring near her, but behind them also screams the voices of the palace. Voices, littered with terror and the walls stench releasing with the spill of blood. The waters sound bitter now.

It reminds him of the tunnels.

But Toula must not know his betrayal when he abandoned hers and Rashepses' side in favor of his children. Shame ruins him. "And yet I have failed you."
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“it is a sacred oath,” she breathed, “one you did not fail. you did as Pharaoh wished,” she soothed, “you protected our people.” and his children were just that, then and now. she would not have him feel shame for acting rightly!
 “we live again. in a place that will be better, I think. fairer,” all their hearts had been weighed, measured—and there was more life yet to live, she knew. and perhaps they had not died, but she had no desire to crawl through those tunnels to find out. they would be flooded in any event—to return was an impossibility she did not entertain.
 “here shall not be home, but… it does not feel right to leave, yet. we must build altars. and create a clear path for those not yet awakened to follow,” she looks to the soldier, to see what he thinks. to hear what he believes.

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What say the gods now? 
She says breathe.
He feels a million weights on his shoulders all at once, and closes both eyes with baited breath. 

This was truly it, and yet he had earned none of it. What was he now? A dishonorable kingsguard to his throned king. To the face of those wicked scoundrels who had riddled the desert and smeared their names by taking an eye, a face, it was he who had not swiftly finished the job. In the crumbling of their kingdom, their great palace, protected not his majesty but instead– 

His people, she says.

His children.


He knows.


"I know in my chest it is not enough. I would follow your honor to my last breath. For the people, I swear more than blood to you, and to the King. Test me. See to it that I will not break, my Pharaoh. I am yours, even in eternity."

He will not fail his goddess and hears her ideas strong as vibrant colors than any of the dreary blasts of sand at their feet. They should rebuild. "It is a good start. Hapi has taken us today, but it is you who's brought us back into the light. Altars are the least of where we can begin to light the right path. Perhaps this is part of your ascension, my Pharaoh."
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