Sitamun.
Like a thing obsessed, he could not get her from his mind.
It impeded his work. It impeded his want to be away from the palace overlong.
Yet he would not be drawn into the wedding preparations; they were not his wheelhouse, nor did he pretend to hold an opinion for one floral arrangement or another. He owed a rare measure of gratitude to the queen’s insistence— perhaps the only flicker of warmth he had ever permitted himself toward Khaemwaset’s otherwise fruitless wife.
He continued his circuit of the parapets, tail set high as he trotted out toward those who had approached into the courtyard below.
Only a girl, it seemed, yet appealing in her bearing and softened by grace, flanked in guards and attendants. Sapair fixed his attention, an imprint of royalty evident. “Who has come upon the domain of Pharaoh?”
These things too were not unnoticed by the jodai, whose office it was to observe every detail. An emissary from a wealthy kingdom would arrive in grand fashion. But he found himself enchanted by the young voice; the smooth and pliant beauty of a woman devoid of hard edges, and dipped his chin in reverence of high blood. “Welcome, princess. I am Sapair, commander of the army for Khaemwaset Khafraemka-wehemibre, Pharaoh of Satriya. You seek an audience with the divine?”
If she affirmed, he would lead the princess and her retinue first towards the subterranean pools.
Jodai displayed a near proprietary pride in the works and open galleries, and the acacia and tamarisk which framed the promenade in shade for cornflower, jasmine and papyrus. At the very center was the axis of earth and sky, the obelisk with its reach into heaven ornamented by a pure gold capstone. “Yes, princess. The altars and shrines were raised by the fellahin, the gardens sewn and tended by the paw of Pharaoh himself.”
He did not lead the tianlong girl into the throne room, where Pharaoh and queen sat in court, but instead into an arched chamber where water streams into wide pools. “You may wish to bathe.” The guard spoke, calling for one fellahin to assist her while another brought down a selection of furs from the stores: oryx, antelope, and barbary sheep. Sapair would wait in the hall.
