A Citlalmina guard pointed to the figures near the bank.
"Do you see that? Intruders on out territory!" Obviously, the young guard was excited at the prospect of intruders. It meant that he would have a chance to prove his worth in battle.
His companion, an older and obviously more experienced warrior, sighed with a small smile on his lips. "Intruders that they may be, I do not think they mean us harm." He paused, squinting his eyes to see better. "Ahh yes...just as I thought. Merchants. Judging from their transportation, they traveled up the river. Seeing as they stopped before the water snake border, I'm guessing they've been here before."
"So...we have nothing to worry about?" moaned the younger guard.
"Patience young one! You'll get your chance to prove yourself in battle. Just not with them. However, we should report this news to Quetzalxochitl."
"Why? You have said yourself they are no threat to us, unless- do you mean...?"
"Of course. Today's the day they open the caskets of wine. If we do not warn her before she starts to drink, she'll be in no condition to greet them tomorrow." 'She' obviously meant Quetzalxochitl, their queen.
"Quetzalxochitl won't like this." The guard said sadly.
"Exactly. That's why I'm sending you to give the message to Nopaltzin. He'll warn her about it." The younger guard smiled at his elder. Wisdom really did come with age.
He quickly jumped off the watchtower to deliver his message.
***
"And so the people of Citlalmina descended from the great heavens after the year of agony. There, they meet our snake brothers and since then, the two have become inseparable..."
Yaotl yawned slightly, not particularly sitting very royally on her throne, gently rubbing Tlanextli on the nose. Before every wine opening ceremony, there was storytelling. It was not that she didn't enjoy the storytellers, but rather that she had heard the myth of her people at least a thousand times during her short life.
Moreover, the particular storyteller tonight was not doing a good job of keeping his listeners excited. Even the elders, who where used to talking and listening, where showing signs of fatigue. There was no tone of emotion during his story, everything told as a matter of fact. He didn't have a costume nor had he hired helpers to act out the story. The festivals this month where not starting out well.
"Quetzalxochitl!" yelled a voice from the long stone corridor. Yaotl sat upright again. Finally, something to stop this horror.
"Nopaltzin?" she asked with a slight tone of surprise. "What is the matter?" Nopaltzin first bowed quickly to his queen before answering.
"Nothing very serious. Some of my scouts have seen trespassers on the western border. Merchants no doubt. We suspect they have set up camp and will probably be coming in to trade tomorrow or they have taken refuge on the water bank and will be on their way when the sun rises."
"Thank you Nopaltzin," she replied, with a slight tone of both annoyance and disappointment. She knew there was no way she could drink tonight, even if the merchants might be gone by tomorrow. A drunken queen was no way to greet visitors. Besides, if they where coming to trade, the wine would be a welcome item. "Tell the wine keepers that the caskets are to be opened only tomorrow night." She heard a slight murmur of disappointment from those around her. "I'm sorry," she told them. "However, I promise that tomorrow night, we shall drink as much wine as we can hold, merchants or not. Everyone is excused for the night, to tidy up their places and to prepare for tomorrow."
"What about my story?" demanded the storyteller, furious that his story was cut short.
"You are also excused," she said, thinking, and thank the snake gods for that!
"What?!? This is an outrage to the gods! I demand--"
"You *demand* what?" she murmured, her eyes narrowed. The storyteller paled.
"N... Nothing Quetzalxochitl. I am sorry."
Yaotl grinned. There were advantages to being queen. "Good. Goodnight elders," she said bowing to them. She turned to the rest of her audience. "Goodnight everyone."
"Goodnight Quetzalxochitl" they replied, bowing to her. Yaotl exited the throne room and began the walk to her sleeping quarters. Maybe the timing of those merchants was not so bad after all...
Rushing water... rivers... lakes... water gliding around her body. Chilali found herself standing in what seemed to be a huge lake, surrounded by a field that stretched into the distance. A few tiny fish circled around her feet. The water reached only up to her ankles and lapped around her legs. It was an intense blue green, and cool like a trickling stream. The sound of water filled her ears...
Chilali gasped awake. She found herself back in her miniscule pup tent, with the gentle sound of the river nearby gliding along. However, the rushing water sound in her ears was much more intense. She put hand on her stomach. It had the funny feeling one gets when they drink too much water in one sitting. Her right hand burned slightly from the riverstone on top of it. It was warmer than it had been before. She put her other hand up onto her forehead. That strange lake--it hadn't been in her dreams before. Why did it appear?
"Oh Chili, stop agonizing over it." She scolded at herself. The rushing water sound and the hot feeling on her hand dissipated. "You're worrying over a silly dream. Dreams have nothing to do with real life, Uncle Yahto has told you that many times. You're probably just ready to go back to Turtle Island. Stop worrying."
Chili knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so she crawled out of the tent. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, giving her enough light to survey the campsite. The firepit from the night before was now nothing but ash. No one else was up yet. She yawned and stretched, working out the stiffness of sleep. Reaching into her tent, she pulled out her spear and her gathering bag. She wandered down to the bank of the river and waded into the water and started to gather plants for the morning meal as the other Carriers woke up.
Mato crawled out of his tent groggily. "Chili? What are you doing up?"
Chili smiled and waved cheerfully, a long thick clump of water plants in her hand. "Couldn't sleep. C'mon, get up, today's going to be exciting!" Mato gave a little groan and sat on the ground for a moment before getting up to help Chilali.
A half an hour later, the five Carriers were all awake and finishing up the last of the morning meal of water plants and freshwater clams that Mato had found while helping Chili. They packed up the tents and left Etu to watch over the Carriers' canoes. The remaining four Carriers, Abey, Mato, Naida, and Chilali, then began the walk to the other river and to the city of the Citlalmina.
Chilali practically buzzed with excitement. She skipped along, frequently running ahead of the other Carriers and talking in a breathless, wavering voice. Naida frequently tried to keep up with her friend, but Chili was just too energetic to match for very long, and Naida didn't particularly enjoy walking on the hard ground. Abey simply smiled and made a remark about how the youngest always seem to have the most energy. After about an hour's walk they came within view of the great city. Even from a distance the city was impressive. Already she could see huge stone temples and the palace, which seemed to glimmer slightly in the new light, framed against the majestic mountains.
"Wow!" Chilali shouted, pointing at the structures, "Look Nai, look at it!"
However, Naida had her eyes on the river, and looked a bit ansy. "Chili, maybe it's just my imagination, but the river has started to look quite snake infested. I just saw five swim by."
"I wouldn't be suprised, Naida." Abey interjected. "If I remember correctly, the people of the Citlalmina use the river next to the city as a sort of barrier, and keep a bunch of water snakes in it to ward off enemies."
Naida shuddered slightly. "I'm not fond of snakes."
Chili rolled her eyes. *So you've told me.* She thought.
"Guess that means we won't be swimming across, eh?" Mato asked.
"Darn it, the river looks so nice, I was kind of hoping I could go for a swim while we were here." Chilali remarked.
"No, I'm assuming there's a bridge somewhere that we can use to get across," Abey mentioned, squinting into the distance. "Yep, I think I can see one from here."
They walked on. About fifteen minutes later, they found themselves approaching the large wide stone bridge that spanned the width of the river. A pair of watchtowers flanked the bridge. Before the four could cross the bridge, a large green haired warrior in the left watchtower aimed his javelin at them and stared down menacingly. Another warrior also stared down at them.
"Halt!" The first warrior shouted. "You are trespassing on the land of the tribe of the Citlalmina! What business do you have with us?"
Abey stepped forward and shouted upwards to the guard. "We are part of the Tawana Carrier team of the Allowat Sakima! We wish to ask for passage into your city to negotiate a possible trade run!"
The warrior turned to his companion and discussed something for a moment, then turned back to the four on the ground. "Very well. You may pass. You will need to go to the palace to negotiate permission to trade with Quetzalxochitl."
"Thank you!" Abey called up.
"Yes, thank you!" Chili yelled, waving and smiling. The other warrior smiled slightly at the girl. The four started across the bridge. Chilali continued her excited bounding, darting ahead, and looking over the side of the bridge to look at the water below.
"By my birthriver, Chili, calm down!" Abey said, sighing. "Can you be any more overactive?"
"Say, aren't they going to send us somebody to help us find the palace?" Naida asked.
"I doubt it. I think it's pretty easy to find the palace here," Mato replied, smiling. He closed his eyes, and outstretched his arm, whirling it about for a moment. "I think it's right...over...there." He pointed at the palace, which was easily seen over the lower buildings and opened his eyes. "See? You've got Mato the Directional Navigator on your side!"
Chili, who was leaning over the bridge again to look at the water, looked over at Mato and gave him a skeptical look. "Mato, you can't navigate your way off of Turtle Island," Naida replied.
Within a few moments they found themselves off of the bridge and entering the city. Chili stared in astonished awe at it all. It was even more incredible than she could have ever imagined. The simple stone, straw and mud buildings that she was so accustomed to seeing in other tribes were made works of art by the bright colors they were painted. As they wandered through the city, they found beautiful statues and pottery scattered throughout the city. Chili took extra attention in admiring the pottery, attempting to figure out what sort of technique they used to create the clay pieces. The large solid stone temples and the palace that they headed to both instilled in Chili an even bigger sense of awe. Never in her life had she seen such large, beautiful buildings, which truly did seem to glimmer slightly with the gold and semi-precious jewels embedded in them.
What seemed to catch Chilali's eye even more though as they walked through the city, were the people. Immediately, Chili and the others found themselves dwarfed by the extraordinarily tall, green-haired Citlalmina. The group drew a few eyes, not exactly showing themselves to be from around the city of the Citlalmina. It seemed also to Chili that almost everyone was carrying a snake of some sort. She wondered how the people could form such close relationships with snakes. Naida clung to Chili's arm as they walked, trying to keep herself away from the snakes. A few of the snakes turned their head to look at Chili with a sort of curious, intense gaze. Chili felt a little uneasy at this at first, but then dismissed it as that they were newcomers, and were out of place, to say the least.
"So, who is it we're going to be seeing?" Chili asked as they walked through the city, with Naida still hanging onto her arm.
"Quetz--qui--quatzalzo--er--quitzezocoit--qutz--quatzi--"
"Chili, you are hopeless!" Mato declared as she struggled with pronunciation, "It's pronounced quatz--um--quetzacotl--quetzaxi--qu--qui--qualli--"
"Quetzalxochitl." Abey said.
"Yeah, that!" Mato and Chili replied in unison.
"I guess you'll find out in a moment." Abey replied. "We're here."
Chili stopped in her tracks and stared upward at the stone palace. She finally was able to see it up close. "Now I know what the other team talks about when they say it's incredible." She whispered. "And we get to go inside it?" She asked Naida.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Naida replied, also awestruck.
A guard standing at the bottom of the stairs to the entrance approached them. "Outsiders, state your business with Quetzalxochitl." He said.
"Oh, uh, we are part of the Tawana Carrier team of the Allowat-Sakima. We wish to negotiate a possible trade run, and we were told to go to the palace." Abey stated.
"Ah yes, I was told that some merchants were coming to the city today." The guard replied. "I will escort you to Quetzalxochitl's meeting chamber. Follow me." He turned and started to climb the stone steps. The four Carriers followed him. Chilali no longer bounded ahead, her energy subdued somewhat by the awe-inspiring palace. Her stomach, however, leapt about in excitement.
They were guided into what appeared to be some sort of meeting chamber, which also made Chili look about in amazement. She had never seen anything so spectacular, being more accustomed to much smaller tribes and villages.
Chili found herself standing in front of a regal looking throne, nothing like she had ever seen before. However, the person sitting regally on the throne was much more attention-getting. Chili couldn't help but look wide-eyed and open-mouthed for a moment.
She had to have been about Mato's age, maybe a bit older, yet she seemed to be much older than that. Her yellow eyes looked over the group, assessing them. She couldn't have been taller than the rest of the Citlalmina, yet she somehow seemed to make herself much taller. A golden crown sat atop her short, fiery red hair and she was dressed in a dark blue robe adorned with gems. On her wrists, where fabric didn't cover her body, Chilali noticed some strange, dark blue and green lines on her skin. *This has to be Quetzalxochitl. She must be a queen!* Chilali thought to herself.
Abey took a step forward, and bowed in the way the Allowat Sakima did when showing respect to the leader of another tribe, by bowing while placing their hands on their forehead, then their chest. The other three followed suit.
"Quetzalxochitl," Abey began.
*By my birthriver, I'm glad Abey's doing this.* Chili thought to herself. *I can't even pronounce Quetzalxochitl right. Well, I'll get it right eventually, no matter what!*
Abey continued. "We are part of the Tawana team of Carriers, of the Allowat Sakima. We know that normally the Malila team would be coming to your city, but because of some complications, we have ended up here. We would like to know if it would be possible for us to go to the merchants of your city and arrange transport for some of their goods."
Yaotl nodded to Abey's introduction.
"I know well of the Malila tribe," she acknowledged. "They are honest and excellent traders. For their sake, I shall honor our trading agreements." She smiled despite herself, rubbing Tlanextli on the nose.
It has been a long time since she had traded with younger merchants and the prospect pleased her. Except for the speaker, most of them seemed to below her age, which was dramatically different from the usual crowd the Malila tribe sent to see her. Not that she had no respect the Malila, far from it, but having young traders would make business more entertaining. Silently, she also wondered how many would be able to drink tonight.
"Before we shall begin the trade, it is customary for the Citlalmina to honor our guests with food, drink, gifts and a tour of the city. All of you are also invited to stay tonight for the monthly festivities." She paused, then got up from her throne. "However if you are pressed for time to leave this city before nightfall, we will begin trade right away." Yaotl raised her right hand and instantly, a woman on her left got right beside her.
"This is Malinalxochitl. She is my primary advisor. If you wish to stay for a night or two, she shall take care of arranging your sleeping quarters." Malinalxochitl nodded, acknowledging her name, putting her left arm on her heart and bowing. She backed up and a man took her place, his height even towering above Yaotl.
"Nopaltzin, my head officer. He takes care of my army." Here, Nopaltzin bowed respectively as well but Yaotl continued with a small grin. " He is also engaged to Malinalxochitl."
Nopaltzin gave her a strange look. "What does this have to do with trading?" Yaotl smiled and giggled slightly.
"Nothing in the least." Nopaltzin simply sighed, obviously used to random comments from her. "Toltecatl where is he?"
"He at his home working on pottery."
"This is just like him to run away from presentations," Mumbled Yaotl. "HmmToltecatl is my master artisan. If you are staying for the night, I promise we'll visit his workshop and you will be allowed to ask any question about our artworks to him." She grinned. "That'll teach him now" she pointed to eight older members of the tribe sitting around her throne. "These are our elders. Many of our visitors have told us that they are extremely wise, which I do not doubt." She introduced all eight of them, but paused before reaching the last one, her mother. "This is Coaxoch, head elder and my mother." The elders all nodded towards the strangers and bowed. "WellI think that's everyone except myself and my friend." Yaotl nodded to her guest, sure she probably surprised some of them by bowing to them. It was not every queen that would respectfully bow down to others.
"My full name is Quetzalxochitl Yaotl Xiuhcoatl. However, most visiting tribes have taken to calling me simply Yaotl, which is what you may address me as if you wish. I know that saying Quetzalxochitl tends to be rather a mouthful for most tribes. If you wish to stay, I shall be your guide along the city, along with Nopaltzin and Malinalxochitl. You can ask me anything about our culture or our traditions. My people are proud of their history and are more than happy to share our crafts with others. Finally" she took her python from her neck and brought it to her hands. "This is Tlanextli, my friend and snake brother. As you probably noticed, we all carry snakes around with us. This is for several reasons, which I'll be glad to answer if you wish to stay. "
"Now that everyone has been introduced properly" she sat down on her throne again." I await your answer and shall honor it. Do you wish to trade right away or stay for the night?"
Abey glanced over at the three other Carriers.
The moment Chili started to hear about staying for a while, learning about the city, and getting to join the people's celebrations, both her heart and stomach started to do cartwheels in her body. The prospect of being able to stay for a while in this wonderful city, and learn about the people who lived here, and even join in one of their celebrations thrilled the blue haired girl to no end. When Yaotl asked if they wished to stay the night she immediately started nodding her head vigorously, trying to get Abey's attention so he could see her and perhaps persuade him to let them stay.
The older man glanced over at Chilali and smiled slightly. Well, that was one vote for staying. Naida looked a bit uneasy about the idea of staying in a city literally crawling with snakes. By the way he stood, Mato appeared to be interested in the idea of staying for a while. He smiled, and bowed again to Yaotl.
"Thank you for allowing us to trade with your people. We are touched by your hospitality and would be honored to stay in your city for the night. We aren't running on any particular schedule at the moment and could probably use the rest."
Chili let out a whoop of joy at Abey's decision. Unable to control her happiness, she spun about in a sort of half pirouet, nearly smacking Naida upside the head and drawing the attention of everyone the hall to her. When she noticed what she had done and that everyone had seen, she smiled sheepishly and blushed bright red, and sunk behind Mato.
There was a small moment of silence, quickly followed by a heartfelt laugh from Yaotl. Malinalxochitl and Nopaltzin quickly exchanged gazes as the snake queen swiftly put her hand to her mouth to stop laughing.
*It isn't like Yaotl to laugh out loud like that* mouthed a confused Nopaltzin. Malinalxochitl nodded.
"..Ahem" she managed to say between giggles. Breathing in swiftly, she suddenly stopped her laugher and smiled at her guests. "Well then. We are pleased to hear you are more than thrilled at staying. I shall personally take care of giving you the tour, if you can wait for a while." Yaotl got of her throne and exited the room.
"I shall take you to the dining area while our queen changes," spoke up Nopaltzin. "I do hope you enjoy our food. Many of our guests have found it ratherstrange?"
"Nopaltzin! Do not scare them!" Malinalxochitl scolded harshly . "They are our guests and deserve respect!"
"Yes I know Malina." He mumbled to himself. "You can never have fun around here when she's around," he whispered to them. "Now follow me."
x
