The Maahes who watched Kush rise. Wennefer-Kay was born in the south and raised among the Nubian watchers, the first Maahes in the roll to have grown up on the Southern Road rather than traveled it. He spent most of his 73 years in the mantle at Napata, near the great sandstone mountain of Jebel Barkal, and he saw a small frontier chieftaincy become a kingdom.
His great gift was patience. The chieftains of Napata were ambitious, devout and watchful, and more than once they offered the Pride a place at court. Wennefer-Kay answered each offer with the Rule of the Empty Hand: the Pride would stand beside the kingdom, share its knowledge and defend its people, but it would never serve under its crown. The chieftains, to their credit, respected him for it.
The result was a bridge no earlier Maahes had built, a friendship between the Pride and a rising power that was not a bargain. Wennefer-Kay's guest house at Napata became the Pride's first permanent home in the south, and the Rule of the Empty Hand held.
What he left behind: the friendship with the rulers of Kush, built on the Rule, and the guest house that became a seat.
