Though Sakhmet had stayed far enough from the herd, skirting them to try and stay out of sight and sound, her plan did not work. Her pale coat giving her away to the very one she sought to avoid. It was only her name spoken on those precious lips that bring the grey mare to a halt, her head turning and lifting to look at the midnight mare that approaches her. And she is not alone. The two colts that accompany her could be no one else’s but Eness’ and the stallion she had given herself too. It gives Sakhmet so many emotions that she is unsure which one to grasp at first. So instead of trying, she blocks it away completely, her mask of indifference put perfectly in place as she looks to Eness with cold eyes.


Ra, who had been travelling at his mother’s flank, stops as she does. Looking to the strangers approaching but finds the encounter too much. Skirting around to her other side to hide from the onlookers, he peers around her chest so that he could gaze upon them from a safer vantage point. Though the other colts do not speak either, Ra almost feels as if he should demand that they do. Sayyida had not left silence to hang between them, as she had addressed him as equally as she had his mother. But feeling the tension, he remains silent, only an observer to this situation his mother clearly had not wanted.


“I do not want your apologies.” Sakhmet states, her voice crisp and clipped. “And I do not want your tears.” Though Sakhmet does not pin her ears, they are tipped back to show her displeasure at seeing Eness again. Her stance rigid, afraid that her legs would quiver if she did not stand so defensively. “My time of wanting anything of you has long since passed. I am only here to pay my respects to Sidika.” It is a lie and her heart twists with the pain as she says it so smoothly, feeling like the snake that she had called the brothers the first time she had laid eyes upon them. But as she looks to the colts at Eness’ side, she cannot help but feel the burn of jealousy once more.


Eness had been the one born of high privilege. Eness had been the one of true value. She had been the one to find her soul sewn. Her place among others of their kind even in a foreign land. To have been given the gift of sons, and the support of her husband, Mira and everyone that surrounded her. It was no wonder Eness had not come to find her when Sakhmet had left. What was one among many?


Sakhmet did not know such pleasures; having carried, birthed, and raised Ra alone. No one had given her the support she had wanted so badly when the pains of bringing Ra into the world had panicked her. No one had stood over them, to let the new mother rest after such an experience. But the grey mare knew it was not Eness that she should blame for her punishments in life. Sakhmet was not meant to do the things she had done. Was not given the lineage or the blessings her Beloved had been granted.


“I am glad you’re marriage has brought such fruition to your life.” Sakhmet said, no traces of sarcasm in her voice. Having nothing else to add, and no reason to continue to stay, the grey mare turned her blood marked face away and continued on her way to the final resting place of Sidika. Her heart bleeding, and her legs threatening to give way beneath her. But Sakhmet feigned confident strides and held her head high, refusing to let the one who had caused her such pain know what she had done.