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 Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:02 am
 The hat flopped on Chena's head as she dipped her upper body down towards the stubborn root at her feet. Wrapping her teeth around it, she dug her hooves into the dirt, digging up the grass unintentionally into little mounds. On her back sat two saddle bags, pushed towards the center of her belly for easy reach by her head. With the children grown, the green mare had no little helpers to put plants and roots in her bag for her. Not that she minded. She had always been a solitary one, preferring her own rule to working with those of others. And she did still get to see them from time to time. Usually when she passed by where they were staying. Mairin moved on, but Holden still refused to leave his cave. On one side it would be nice to see him settle down somewhere and be happy-that wasn't completely alone. On the other he was doing research. And studies were best done by oneself, without the distractions of life to get in the way. Still, he should have a little fun now and than, right?
The root proved continually difficult as Chena pulled on it. She could feel the earth give a little with each tug, but the plant was stuck fast. The roots went deep, probably coiling around the thicker ones of the tree it grew beside. A little digging around the root loosened the soil just enough for her to pull it loose. Pocketing it in her right pouch, she walked on from the tree, eyes always scanning the ground. Her stores were getting low. Even with the scamming she did to save them.
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:16 pm
 A pharaoh was never lost. He was never stranded, or stuck. He was always precisely where he wanted to be. And he always knew where that was: it was a place where he was. And thus, the place was instantly made all the more important. Atsuseth reminded himself of this firmly after the third day lost from his home canyon on a grassland surrounded by unfamiliar plants (were those trees in the distance? Big strands of them? Was that an actual forest he could see over there? How barbaric!).
That had been four days ago. Now a week out from any place he could remember seeing, and the mantra was all that was keeping him from outright panic. It was too damp here. His dried-out body couldn't stand damp. It needed to be kept desiccated and away from bugs. Horrible, biting, chewing, gnawing bugs. Oh, he hated those. He stepped down angrily on a slow beetle crawling over the ground. He hated it. It wasn't a scarab, just some filthy foreign insect to crush under his feet. He snarled and hissed at it, trampling its squished corpse as he traveled on. So distracted was he that he almost didn't notice the green mare until he'd bumped into her. She was yanking plants out of the ground and shoving them in a bag. Huh. Some sort of herb-gatherer. He'd ask her where he was if not for the fact that, duh, he knew where he was. He didn't have to ask some commoner. Instead, he coughed to let her know he was there. An unsightly cloud of dust erupted from his throat.
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 4:02 pm
Chena advanced on a pretty flower to the left of the tree with the troublesome plant that now sat snugly in her bag. She bent her head down to clamp her teeth around the stem and was beginning to chew it off when something bumped her. Intent on her duty and lost in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed the sound or smell of another creature. By the feel of it, it wasn't a small one. Nor did it feel like any creature she knew of. Creatures around here usually had fur.
The mare stood up straight, turning her grey eyes on the stranger. The plant was still in her mouth, the stem partly broken around her teeth from where she had been chewing it. The dirt heavy roots cave way and dropped to the ground where she had been forced to pull the entire plant out of the ground by the unsuspected bump. The plant was still useful. She didn't want the roots, just wanted to avoid more struggles to release the plants she needed from the earth. Her eyes widened as she looked the stallion, she supposed it was, over. She had heard of ways to bring the dead back, but this would have been the first time she had seen it with her own eyes.
"Well, hello," she greeted pleasantly after depositing the plant in her bag with the others. The royal look of him was not lost on her, however she had never been one to follow what etiquette demanded of her when meeting someone important. She had not asked to meet him. He would not receive such silly rituals from her. "You don't really fit in with the scenery here."
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:08 pm
It had originally been Atsuseth's intention to huff at the mare, or yell at her, or otherwise pick a fight with her, for being a commoner who happened to get in his way, but the way the mare turned around to contemplate him made those intentions run away to hide under a rock somewhere. Perhaps it was the way she calmly regarded him with nothing more than widened eyes, or the way she put her herb away before she addressed him. He still rankled at her disrespect of the proper rituals, but he could also hear the old priest that their father had taught him and his sister about the gods murmuring about the divinity of green skin and hair. Geb, the god of the earth, husband to the goddess of the sky; Osiris, his son, the dead pharaoh.
Technically, Atsuseth was Osiris himself, just in a somewhat more decrepit form. The pharaoh became Osiris when he died, when his son took the throne and became Horus. Atsuseth's consorts, unfortunately, had failed to produce a son during his reign. Only now did he wonder who had picked up the pieces of the kingdom after him... Introspection was an alien concept to Atsuseth. He didn't like it. Not one bit. "I'm not from here," he said stiffly. "I am from a great kingdom far to the south of here." I think? "Perhaps you've heard of it," he added. Maybe she could give him directions. Maybe she could tell me what became of the Land of Black and Red.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 9:09 pm
Chena watched him calmly, the smile plastered on her face despite the tone of voice. Behind the smile her mind was puzzling over the information provided to her. A great kingdom to the south didn't ring any bells with her. Not any with designs such as the jewelry he wore. The mare wasn't fond of heat or high places, so she avoided mountain regions and the desert. Unless a new herd had appeared with his kind of style in her absence of a few places, she guessed the desert? Last she checked in her directions, the desert wasn't to the south. She had heard of a few herds there with elaborate jewelry like his on the royal families. Strange that some herds called the ruling family the royal family while other herds didn't seem to care for such formalities. The leader was the leader and their family was nothing special. Perhaps one of the children would step up to take a parent's place. Ascension didn't seem to put much stock on blood in such areas.
"I know of many great kingdoms," came her answer, a black hoof extending towards a plant nearby. She dig gently around it as she spoke, her eyes still on the stallion. Chena had been doing this for so much of her life she knew she could do this blindfolded. If she had to. She wasn't going to wear a blindfold unless she had to. But she was sure she could. "Of which do you speak?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 10:13 pm
Once again, a commoner made him rankle. Atsuseth grit his aging teeth together for thirty seconds. Digging at herbs, the sacred skin. Witchcraft and sorcery, most likely. Atsuseth was an Egyptian--he didn't see magic as being anything evil or frightening. It could be used to frighten, of course, but while a magician was one to be respected, he--or she--was not one to be hated. Merely...shown respect. As much as one could muster. Unfortunately, mustering respect for another individual was one of Atsuseth's many, many failings in life. He just hadn't ever had a reason to be respectful since his father died.
Yes, his father. Now there was an asp nest right there. He preferred not to think of his father, not ever. Just...not many good memories right there. "Yes, I suppose you do," he grumbled. Like that one place with all the hoods and burnooses and stuff where they just lounged in the desert doing nothing but having a million bay foals. Well, okay, to be honest, he envied the luxury that Shah Ryar lived in now, even if it was but a tenth of the one he'd enjoyed in life. It would be nice to be rich again. Some inconsiderate tomb robbers had emptied his tomb of everything valuable long since. He was just lucky they hadn't been able to find his body, or even this damn emerald collar would be gone.
Atsuseth watched the mare dig at the herb without looking. Yes. Definitely had to be a witch, with that attitude. "I speak of one of pyramids and temples, great pillars of alabaster. I speak of a flooding river and the red desert, of cats and crocodiles, gold and lapis. Do you know of this place?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:56 pm
Chena looked off to the side, sucking a little on her lips in thought. her hoof still digging around the plant at her feet. Had she ever seen a kingdom full of crocodiles, pyramids, red sand, gold, or cats? She didn't think so. None of those things interested her too much. She couldn't concoct potions with them. Couldn't grind them up and learn their properties to write down in the little notebook nesting on the bottom of a bag. Maybe crocodile and cat blood could be useful. Maybe the gold had some special property, if she could even break it. The green mare finally looked down at her feet, using the tip of her hoof to dig underneath the plant. With a flick, she tore it from the ground, sending it upwards a few inches. It was deposited into a bag before she gave her attention back to the mummy stallion. "Can't say that I have. At least not most of what you say. Crocodiles and cats still exist. Gold still sits in the ground or around the bodies of other Stars. Rivers are aplenty." With the same now dirty hoof, Chena piled the dirt back into the hole and patted it down. She loathed to leave the earth looking so disturbed. "Of these other things....I've seen buildings which look like they have risen from the sand, in the desert. They are not these alabaster pyramids you speak of. They are the same color as the sand." With a smile, she added ," They are quite extraordinary if sightseeing is your pleasure."
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