Skill - Orator

She spoke wisely, and with a forethought he felt could only be attributed to some great effort, even if not an effort others had cared to perceive as such. Hotep tilted his head, forcing back a faint smile in answer, There are many kinds of discipline. If you have found a way to bring mortals comfort in the arms of a goddess, that is no small thing.

Then he ground his teeth faintly behind sealed lips. Better she believed he had found fulfillment in such an oath. It might avert much uncomfortable gazing in future days. As well as the worse cousin, uncomfortable questions. She'd comforted him once before, and he felt that was all the burden he could politely afford to extend to her.

But he did not want to lie to her, even if he did not want to tell her the full truth of it. In Sitamun, he felt he sensed something of the Divine, and that made it seem a sin. He had no scarab to speak for him, and a mouse would not suffice as replacement in this regard.

His eyes turned to the gently lapping waterside, and the reeds that rustled faintly together on the edge of that black expanse.

I did not choose to be a Priest. He said, finally, and tried not to feel as if he was throwing stones at crocodiles. It was the responsibility asked of me by those with the power to decide what is best for Ma'at. He looked up at the moonless sky, I found great comfort in the work, until I did not, and sometimes now I even miss it.

Here his nose wrinkled, cracked lines forming over his snout. But it is no oath of abstinence which stays me. Nor do I intend you offense. You are beautiful Sitamun, any eye could see it, and I am sure well-skilled in the arts you take joy in... An inhale, Nevertheless, I cannot indulge. That must be answer enough.

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throwing stones at crocodiles omg <3

her laugh rippled the surface of the air, low and languid as her body felt. i will not seek to seduce you, setemhotep. you and i share another sort of intimacy. though even more she was intrigued by the carefully guarded hungers of his flesh, they did not run to her. i am not insulted, though of course i will allow you to speak on my beauty at length.
the ironstone eyes glowed, and sitamun was off again in firm motions which cast her beneath the stream several times until she was winded. then, chest heaving, flushed with the exertions of good exercise, she returned and shook out her coat a second time, down from setemhotep. this time she was content to loll there beside him, eyes half-lidded, mouth tilted to the darkened heavens.
i learned to favor soldiers, sitamun said plainly, that same frankness which had so shaken their lady queen, at least in the servant's mind. they are often simple men. not foolish, but not complicated by the demands of gods, as we have both come to know exist.
touching lightly to setemhotep as priest -- pulling away.
sitamun did not wish to be burned, understanding as she felt the two of them had become between one another.
sometime it is a conduit i am seeking, not the other way around. i do not know if you have ever sought that in any life -- it is, she mused, as if i want to be free of that divine connection for the pain it causes. in simplicity i am free if only for a time. i am more unchained as a peasant than i ever was as a priestess.
oh, damnable agonies. she would not suddenly go to shattered pieces before setemhotep. when i say i want more, when i ask of you -- i mean: did you ever want only to be a father? a husband? did you want only to know the fertile earth and be buried by your many children? her eyes seemed to blur and she set them back upon the water. is it selfish to turn away from a calling? those things, setemhotep; those things occupy me and i feel shameful for harboring them.

Her answer eased him, and he even managed a faint twinge to the smile in regards to permission for compliments. But he was glad when she took to the waters again, and let him think.

Not that he felt very much settled in himself when she returned. I learned to favour soldiers. And he had never learned, only been afflicted with desire for things beyond his reach, whether bound in godly service or not. He was not offended by her frankness — the physician in him outweighing abandoned courtly inheritances. If she spoke of herself, he need not speak of himself. But he felt something akin to jealousy at her confession. To seek relief in another's arms so easily, to find distraction without wondering if, if if. Without hoping for more, and grieving for less.

A misplaced jealousy, it turned out. At last came the moment he was meant to offer counsel. A balm upon the conscience, or a fire beneath the feet. Yet he felt her question strike to the core of him, and wondered if he was not now a man blind all his days attempting to grant sight to another...

Perhaps. He said finally, some distant weight in the words. With others, he would not have spoken. With Sitamun, he found himself answering, as much to himself as to her, I think if the gods have called one to a purpose, then it is an evil to ignore their appointment. We talk of simpler lives, as if we miss something that was never given to us to begin with, and I fear there is a lie in the reverie. You and I were raised upon mysteries and sacred truths — once learned not easily forgotten. We might touch a different way of being for an hour, or an evening, but it is only dreams which occupy us.

His ears splayed back, smile turning grim, That is not the answer I think you hoped for. I am not sure of it myself. I know I work the earth now, and feel most often lately the weight of my own helplessness. As Greatest of the Seers I failed once before, and now bereft of the title I wonder what good I could have done had I kept it. That smells of arrogance, does it not? But I do not think you should be ashamed. You — His breath caught.

Hotep shook his head, choosing instead, You have a freer spirit, and might unbind it without giving offense to the goddess. Perhaps she places the desire, herself. I was told once by another that I have the attitude of an old hermit who lives in rocks on some desolate mountain, and I do not believe any would dare even think the same of Sitamun.