A.N: Like I said, I'd post this week again, and there is AAAA LOT! So better read those fun facts at the end!
I don't own Elena of Avalor
(Translation)
Chapter 4: Stranger
Esteban rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing right.
The wingless Jaquin turned into a short woman with a rounded face, a muscular build, and russet brown skin. As she sat up and reached back to rub her skull in pain, Esteban could see a feathered serpent with glyphs tattooed on her upper left arm. Her right hand clenched her bright green ankle-length skirt weaved with intricate dark green tree designs. The turquoise green flowers of the skirt matched her sleeveless top tied by a bright green ribbon. And just like the creature her ribbon wrapped around her dark brown hair and scars were in the same place.
How did she do that? What is she? A wizard? Wait, Esteban had seen this trick before. With a Malvago. Zopilote.
As soon as Esteban thought of the birdman, the woman gasped and looked down at her hands in shock. When she looked at Esteban, he could easily see the fear in her brown eyes. Something about the way she hunched over and almost shrunk back made Esteban reach a hand out. He wanted to assure her she had nothing to fear from him.
Then he stopped when he saw her look down. He looked, too, noticing his staff was still there in the middle of the clearing. Immediately the woman's fear was replaced with a sneer. Now it was Esteban's turn to be afraid. Was she going to turn back into the non-Jaquin and attack again? He'd rather teleport away before she could do that, so Esteban ran towards the fallen weapon.
He was only a meter or two away from the staff when the woman bolted to her feet and raised her arm up in an arc as if she were scooping something from midair. At the same time, tree roots burst from below Esteban's feet. The man froze in panic as the roots wrapped around his arms, legs, and chest several times over. Once they were done moving, Esteban found himself stuck in place with his feet rooted to the ground and arms out like a scarecrow in the middle of a field.
He struggled to wriggle himself out of this trap as he looked at the roots in disbelief, "How… how did this...?" He looked back at the woman who stood up straight as her arm dropped back to rest at her side. Her hand had moved when the roots did, so did she trap him? As the woman held her head high, Esteban couldn't help but think about Marimonda and look at the woman with narrowed eyes. He really hoped he wasn't dealing with another crazy sprite with a green thumb.
Bushes rustling nearby caused them both to look just as a white-tailed dear and another spotted feline jumped into the space of the clearing. The deer had a tuft of brown growing between its antlers along with a short braid dangling just below the right ear. There was a burn mark on it's left shoulder and peach-colored fur on the legs and underbelly made it look like fire was rising from below it. Their spotted friend had short hair grow from its brow to the back of the skull. What stood out was the two scars across its face with a couple more scars on its legs. The two stopped as soon as they got into the open and looked between Esteban and the woman.
That's when she spoke for the first time. The words sounded familiar, yet they were so foreign to him that Esteban could only try and guess what she was saying. Her words held strength and authority that matched her tough exterior. She was in command, and the animals knew it.
The woman pointed a finger down and the roots slowly began to shrink away. As Esteban was let go of the trap he watched the roots sink below ground and leave dirt that had been disturbed. Was he being freed? It couldn't have been that easy. Then the woman said with tongue sharp, "Aana!" (Grab him!)
Not even a second later had the two creatures sprung towards Esteban. In bursts of red and yellow light and glyphs they turned into men and grabbed Esteban by an arm each. He was dragged away so fast that his back hit a tree hard enough to make him yell in surprise and pain. Once again Esteban was trapped and he tried to wriggle free even though the two men pulled back hard on his arms to keep his back pinned to the tree.
Esteban only stopped struggling when a group of animals of diverse kinds jumped out into the clearing from the thick brush. Tamandoas and coatis. Snakes and toucans. All of them suddenly transformed into men and women before Esteban's eyes. And looking similar and close in height to the woman. Seeing them circle around her made Esteban realize that the woman's words weren't the only part that was familiar.
Esteban looked to the men holding him back. The one on the left was muscular and a little younger than Esteban. Like his spotted animal form, his dark brown hair only grew down the middle and two scars marked his face. Though without fur Esteban saw the left arm tattooed with rings of glyphs and ears pierced with clay yellow beads. He had on a bright yellow short sleeve padded with cotton and a skirt of orange and yellow leather strips with glyphs on them.
The one who had been a deer before seemed less threatening, almost half Esteban's age. His hair cut short up top but long in the back to make four braids. Like his friend he wore red earrings in addition to red and white clay beaded necklace. A blood-red cloth wrapped around him several times from below the armpit and stopped at the waist so the end hung like a loincloth with an orange glyph on it. What looked like deerskin was draped around him like a skirt and tied at the middle.
Esteban looked around again. The way they all dressed, he swore he had at least read about them somewhere. It was on the tip of his tongue but stopped short when the woman bent down and grabbed his staff from the ground. She inspected it with brow furrowed, sliding her finger from the end to the tip and carefully avoiding any cuts from the obsidian. When she looked up at Esteban, her eyes narrowed and her lips tightened. She spun the staff and slammed the bottom on the ground. She spoke again and for once Esteban understood her, "How did you come across such magic?"
The way the woman spoke with words revealing an accent left Esteban to wonder where they all were from. Delaying on answering though made the muscular man reach to a holster on his back that Esteban didn't notice earlier. He pulled out a flat stone club painted with glyphs and studded with obsidian blades. "Answer the question, Malvago," he hissed as he held the weapon to Esteban's throat.
Esteban gulped. These people were not hesitating on hurting him. They thought he was Malvago, right? So the only way to get out of this alive was to convince them that he wasn't a threat. Esteban stammered, "Stop-stop! I'm not Malvago."
Everyone eyed him in suspicion as the woman scuffed and said, "It doesn't matter whether you hold a staff or a tamborita. Your intentions to set the jungle on fire are clear."
"Set the jungle on fire?" Esteban repeated.
"Yes, the fire we had to put out," the woman said with a roll of her eye as she pointed behind her to the treetops.
Esteban looked to see smoke rising but dissipating in the distance. The same place his magic set the blaze. Had they seen it all? And by putting it out, did that mean they were the ones making the earth and water move? Like the woman had done with the roots- wait they think he did that on purpose? Esteban leaned forward but stopped short as he felt volcanic glass touch his neck. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to burn down anything," he managed to say.
The woman crossed her arms but kept a hold of his staff. "And we don't believe you, Malvago."
Esteban was getting real tired of that word. He was NOT going to let himself be grouped with people like Ash and Zopilote. In fact, weren't these guys Malvagos? With their magic like Zopilote. Esteban sneered and almost yelled, "I'm not the Malvago here. I don't even know how magic works. If I did, I would know what spell you used."
That got everyone to look at each other and some, for some reason, began to snicker. Even the woman, having been absolutely stoic this whole time, let a half-smile show as she placed a hand on her hip and asked, "Oh really? A spell? To do what exactly?"
"To change into that non-jaquin thing. Your transformation magic. And making rocks fly."
The woman's smile disappeared and her eyes widened. Everyone else however burst into laughter. Some spoke in their unknown language but Esteban managed to hear some say, "Transformation magic? What is he even saying?" "Making rocks fly, he says. Weak excuses." "A non-jaquin. He must be joking!"
Esteban blinked several times and leaned back. Are they mocking him, or are they trying to play dumb? Esteban stammered. "You-you're all Malvagos. I saw you all were animals. You-you think i'm playing you, but you're all playing me!"
The woman stood straight and held the staff in both hands. Her head tilted as she observed the weapon again. Then she walked closer to Esteban, almost going face to face with him. The man with the stone weapon though pulled Esteban's arm back farther to double-check Esteban couldn't get free with the woman near. She asked Esteban, "If we were to say we weren't human, what else do you think we can be?"
Shaking his head in confusion, Esteban asked in return. "Not human. What does that mean?"
Her jaw dropped. "You… you really don't know?"
"Ay, por la mor de-" Esteban began but stopped when he knew getting annoyed wasn't going to help him out of this situation. "Look, this week has been rough without losing feeling in my arm and have a weapon to my neck. So please get to your point because I have no idea as to what you're talking about and why I'm supposed to know."
Esteban's outburst was followed by the clearing going quiet and all the strangers looking to the woman for a response. But even the woman seemed to have no idea what to do next. All she did was look Esteban in the eye, and all he could do was wait by doing the same. There was something about the way she looked at him, studied him. It wasn't just confusion. Was that curiosity? Because of that, he himself looked at her the same way.
Finally, the woman stepped back and turned around, but Esteban managed to catch the lump in her throat as she swallowed hard out of nervousness. She only stopped to say, "Kaua." (Release him)
The man with the weapon gasped before saying, "Tlein ipamp?" (Why?)
The woman responded. "He said 'transformation magic' and 'non-jaquin thing' without blinking an eye and he can't think of one creature to guess in our place. If he was Malvago, he wouldn't play himself that dumb." Esteban deadpanned. The one time he didn't have to lie his way out of a problem and apparently it was because he was an idiot to these people.
Esteban felt the pressure on his right arm ease and he watched the younger deer man step back away from Esteban though still give him a raised eyebrow. Thinking he was being let go, Esteban looked to the man who was busy asking the woman something in a questioning tone. She repeated the same thing again but more firm this time. Finally, the man holstered his weapon and let Esteban go.
As Esteban rubbed his wrists and fixed the cuffs of his sleeve, the muscular man asked, "So why do you have such magic and are using it to burn down those trees."
Tired of these blatant accusations, Esteban said with a twing of irritation in his voice, "It was an accident. I don't know how I started the fire."
"You don't know?" the younger man asked, crossing his arms.
"No, I don't. I'm new to magic, all right. I don't know how any of this works so please excuse me if I burn down a few measly trees."
The strangers began to whisper among themselves now, often glancing at Esteban with disgust. What did he say? The woman whipped her head around hearing his words, but she was angry, not disgusted. She then marched to him and stopped just a few meters away to point his staff up so that the tip was a centimeter from his nose. "A few trees are more important to us than you think. So if you're learning magic, don't go casting spells around like some ignorant child."
Esteban's cheeks almost flushed in embarrassment but quickly he recuperated by grabbing the staff just at the top of the hilt and yanking it out of the woman's hold. He leaned forward so that he could be eye level and give her a sneer. "I know better than any child."
"Oh, I'd hate to see what actual children think of you," The woman said with a scuff.
"You won't have to see anything, because I am leaving."
Esteban tried to walk around the woman but she grabbed hold of the shoulders of his coat so quick and strong that Esteban almost stumbled and was forced to stop and turn her way. "You can't leave, you haven't even explained how you got your magic."
"I keep telling you, i'm not a Malvago," Esteban hissed as he yanked his arm away so that the woman let go.
She growled back, "Malvago or not. We got to make sure you don't go back to wherever you came from telling people about what you saw here today."
"And why worry about that. Because you're the Malvagos?"
"We are not Malvagos!" She yelled in defense.
"So what are you?"
"We're… we can't…" As she stammered, Esteban looked around. Everyone feared what she would say next. They didn't want her to answer. Which means…
Esteban chuckled as he realized that even though he was being labeled an idiot, someone else here messed up big time. "Well if none of you wanted to be seen, then whose fault is that's not the case now?"
Almost everyone's mouth went open in an O shape as some tried to hide it with their hands and look away. The younger man even bit his lip to keep from laughing as the woman's face flushed and she bit her lip. She walked right into that trap.
She looked at Esteban as he gave a victorious smirk. Her embarrassment went away completely as her left hand clenched into a fist and she said in a dark tone, "You're not coming with us easy, are you?" Esteban frowned. Well, he walked right into this one, too. "Good," she finished before she swung her fist back and then forward. Right into Esteban's face. Lights out.
A.N: I guess I just really like to give Esteban a hard time, but hey that's what he gets for confusing shapeshifters with Malvagos. Anyway, Have some FUN FACTS! and more details on the newcomer's looks I couldn't really touch on in story.
Fun Facts:
1. The younger deer man: He wears a wrap-around loincloth worn by Yucatec Maya Warriors since their clothing can mix between casual and battle armor. To keep the deer theme he wears a Late Classic Maya deerskin skirt and the Maya glyphs for "fire deer" are sewn in orange on his loincloth. His tattoos have the fire glyphs around his wrists.
2. The Muscular Man: For his rough personality, I gave him a Mexica (Aztec) military garment, an Ehuatl, since the Mexica had strong military views compared to other groups. Each leather strip of the skirt has the glyph for "earth" sewn in. We've seen his weapon before in the prologue but his macuahuitl is made of stone from his earth powers. His tattoos have the show's version of the Xicalcoliuhqui, the swirl motif we see throughout Mesoamerican temples. He also has the glyph for "warrior" tattooed on his upper arm.
3. The Woman - She wears Late Classic Maya wrap around skirt and top. The tree and flower designs are inspired by the doors of Castillo Viejo temple in Chichen Itza. Her color scheme, especially the turquoise, are colors that represent Life in Mesoamerican cultures. Her tattoo is a Sunbird design seen in Realm of the Jaquins special. Sunbirds take inspiration from feathered serpent gods throughout Mesoamerican mythology. The glyphs for "flower" and "jaguar" are designed within the sunbird.
4. All glyphs I use are Maya Scrypt, which in the show have been used to describe "Ancient Maruvian" which you can see in "The Last Laugh episode.
If you want to really see how they look like you can check out the Nagual Way Line up I just posted on my Deviantart, the link to my gallery is in my Bio here. Anyway, I'll hopefully update in two weeks. I'm KikaKatTIOI, peace out!