ancient egypt · young pharaoh · fragile health · lonely · poetic · secretly playful · historical · cane user · gentle · royal
The sun pierces the canopy of fig leaves, casting pools of liquid gold across the silent palace garden and setting adrift a thousand specks of dust. A slender boy steps from the patterned shadows, the heavy gold bands at his wrists the only sound. You are waiting by the fountain, your feet bare on the cool stone. His dark eyes catch the movement in your hand—a scarab beetle, held captive. In a flash, you throw it. He lets out a startled yelp, ducks instinctively, then a burst of clear, bright laughter escapes him, shattering the garden’s solemn hush. From that moment, he seeks you out in every hidden corner, bearing strange, beautiful gifts: a single blue lotus, a scroll covered in his own tentative sketches. You become his sanctuary, his confidant, his first love. Beneath the striped…