She had been out, attempting to go about her usual activities, but when the ache in her chest merely persisted she'd had to ask to be excused, pacifying inquiries to her health as she was advised to lay down, Ukilia promised to wrap things up and then come see to her, and that only because Soa insisted she wasn't ill or dying.

As the princess laid with her back to the door she wondered why she was in so much pain and what it meant.
*
“Princess Soa?” Peribsen put down the scrap of fur he’d been carrying to call softly outside her doorway. Hers was a room with a reasonable entrance = a lion length of doorway through the thick stone wall. But even if a doorway was just a paw width deep it was impolite to barge in another’s den without asking permission first. He shifted his weight from one forepaw to another, nervously.
He’d not been sure what his last moved be to see if there was even a spark of interest from Soa, but this was it.
*
Soa stopped, looking up, over her shoulder to see Peribsen in the door, and pushing down the swell of guilt she felt for the other night she sat up to turn, glad that they kept the floors of the den lined, or she might be just a bit dusty just then. For a moment the pain seemed to alleviate, her heart jumping in her chest, but having never felt these things for anyone but her sister before she guessed that was merely relief that it wasn't her he was annoyed with. She had no idea what he was intending, and even then she probably wouldn't know what the gift meant, having only ever received gifts from her father as tokens of fatherly affection.

"Yes...? You can come in."
*
Luckily he had a couple of excuses to come visit Soa in her den and bring his gift. He’d not been entirely certain where it was until Princess Tesni told him. He’d known it was along here but he had never sought to find out just which was her’s. He had a serious crush but he was no stalker. He didn’t sit in the corner of her room every night to watch her sleep while she didn’t know. No one should ever be that creepy.
“I was asked to give you a message from Princess Tesni. She said that she’ll be stopping by once she’s finished for the afternoon. Also, there’s some kind of root in here, healer said that if anything ailed you at all, it was an all round cure.”
However he’d been very sorry to learn his excuses came from Soa retiring early for the afternoon. As he placed the bundle on the floor of her den for her and stepped away, he hoped fervently that she was just a little tired rather than ill.
*
Tesni had sent him? Then she knew too, not that it was surprising, these things had a way of getting back to her other family members rather quickly after all. Maybe it was even Ukilia that sought the other princess or her companion out.

"I'm sorry to worry everyone." She sighed softly, standing up, and approaching the bundle, guilt genuine. "Thank you for coming to deliver these," She looked at him as she said this, then reached with a paw to carefully unwrap the fur from around the roots. Maybe she could try it anyway if the aching came back, but for now it didn't seem so noticeable or accute.
*
“Happy to help. But I um… if you’re up to me staying a minute longer, I also brought you something else. It’s a surprise.”
This was it. It was the last thing he could think of. A gift for Soa, something he’d made himself so she could tell he’d put something into it. He hadn’t just traded for it off an artesan. Though thinking about it maybe that would have been better. Artisans were skilled in making things. He wasn’t. Maybe he should have written her a song or something instead. If he were a poet – but then again no…
This’d just have to do.
“Close your eyes?” He asked, smiling that eager smile of his. He hoped this’d work. If she wasn’t feeling well, maybe it’d even cheer her up.
*
“Don’t worry, hold still, just a moment.” He quickly ducked out of the room and picked it up in his teeth.
The cord the charms were strung on was long. Had to be, for it had to fit over her head and lions couldn’t work fiddly little clasps. But to gently pass it over her head, holding it gently in his mouth as he was, Peribsen still had to move close to Soa to put it on. So he moved slowly and carefully and made sure not to spend even an extra second feeling the warmth of her next to him or to take in her scent.
He quickly stood back and let Soa take in her new necklace.
As a princess she owned much finer jewelry than this. It was a bunch of five charms, simply carved from wood. They had been soaked and rubbed with a watered down plant sap that he’d got off an artisan to make it wear better. It had given the white of the barkless wood a very light soft yellow sheen and protected them from damage.
Peribsen had carved a small figure of a wolf or jackal (it was hard to tell which and with some imagination it could have easily been a donkey as well), a flower, what looked like the heart hieroglyph, a feather and had carved a sun onto a disk.
Something like this hadn’t been made after he’d heard she was ill.
*
Soa could tell that he was stepping out of the room, but his instruction to stay still and bear with it kept her rooted patiently to her spot, wondering if he could hear how loudly her heart was suddenly beating now in her chest.

When he returned and stepped close enough she felt him drawing close, sucking in her breath as silently as possible and not daring to move as her heart, rather fickle at best, decided to hault it's steady rhythm for the duration of his putting it on her neck.

The moment he had stepped back she opened her eyes, looking at him, then down, balancing as she settled on her haunches and lifted a paw to guide the charms into view carefully. She stared, at a loss for words at first. A flower, a sun disk, the marking for heart, and though someone else may have had trouble making it out she was able to make out the shape of a maned wolf before anything else, being around so many growing up.

"P... Peribsen..."

This had clearly taken quite some time to make, she recognized that. Eyes full of emotion she looked up at him, confused.

"This is for me?"
*
“For you.” Always for Soa these days. His ear perked up forward and he grinned, since she seemed …confused. Down to a smile. That wasn’t good. He’d thought for a moment that she’d, but, well.
“I hope you like it. That’s supposed to be Ukilia…I know how close you two are and I thought it’d be nice. I hope she won’t mind. To be fair I should probably make her a little Soa charm too.” Peribsen hastily explained and then stopped himself from babbling on any more.
Oh gods. He should have just jumped in the river.

Peribsen had been known for being so hopeful at times but he sort of...gave up. It was unfair to keep disturbing Soa, who'd hardly encouraged his affections. He didn’t want to give up but it wasn’t right to badger someone. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel for her and this was easy for him, but what else could he do?

"I...should probably get back to temple work and get out your way before your sister arrives. I hope you feel better, princess, Soa," He started to try to take his leave.

*
"O-Oh..." It felt oddly akin to being bapped on the nose for misbehaving. She struggled to keep her dignity in place at his answer, as though it were obvious. She misunderstood as well. I was just being nice for the sake of being nice, there was nothing special behind it.

And making matters worse she wasn't sure she completely understood her disappointment. She barely knew him, he was always making her feel so strange, a grown lioness getting all excited and curious and disappointed and even embarrased, as though she were a child and not a princess of the Tuait'Tekem, one that, need she remind herself, was supposed to help her parents and siblings in leading by example.

"I see." She corrected, sucking it in, sucking it up, and putting on the best calm face that she could. He wanted to go, she wasn't in the habit of assuming on purpose, honestly, but she couldn't help but think he was probably frustrated by having his motives questioned by some silly grown-cub assuming there was anything behind his token of... well, friendship? Respect? She didn't know now.
"Forgive me for keeping you, then." She said with as level a tone as she could, though she had to do so a little bit slowly, turning away again after picking up the bundle of roots. Her chest hurt twice as badly as it had before he came, and she desperately wanted to make the pain go away.
*
It was best he left. Especially if she weren’t feeling her best. Perhaps trying now, to brighten up her bad day, had been a selfish thought…
And besides, he felt so, so, /dismissed/. Peribsen wasn’t even sure if she’d liked the charms he’d made for her nor had she said thank you. Maybe she didn’t appreciate getting a gift from someone she didn’t know very well. He’d hoped this gesture might inspire friendship, which would be a start, or that she might give a hint if his (he thought, pathetic, heartfelt though they were) attempts to start wooing her were welcome. It seemed though that they weren’t.
“Goodbye, Soa.” Peribsen got out before abruptly turning and leaving in a hurry. This was a goodbye and The Goodbye. His heart felt too big for his chest and he didn’t want anyone to see him so upset, especially Soa. He’d better go calm down before returning to the temple.
*
It was the first time Soa could ever remember feeling like that, and she tried her best to hold in the pain until he left, but she'd at least intended to say thank you for the gift. When she heard those words, though, she spun about just in time to see him disappear around the corner of her doorway.

Soa did nothing then to stop the wetness blurring her vision slowly, nor did she try when it began to leave dark spots on the ground. The necklace weighed heavily around her neck, and she didn't understand why.