(Chapter 9: Clemency)
Three Days after the Full Thunder Moon (July), Room of an Amini, Inside Temple of Mixcoatl, City of Tenochtitlan
The serpent, the great beast of the sky, was watching the worthless world beneath him. Dirty Two-ears-Two-Legs-Land-Creatures withered before his glistening eyes and slithering scales. The monster landed alone on an outcropping of rock. He had always been alone. This place still smelt of a Land-Creature-Child-Bearer-female, and it incited him as his nostrils flared. The same scent had been on the female with his prey. The serpent smiled and shifted on his weak feet. He hated the feel of the Break-Bone-Ground beneath him. His maw opened and blew a thick stream of smoke. Oh how this place was so much dryer and uglier than his island homeland and his sea waters. Scales bristled, yes the moon would fade soon and with it so would he.
How long was she going to continue like this? Citlali watched over her once more as she lay unconscious in his arms. Before his bed, the lazy sun drifted slowly mid-sky. They both had slept in the bed; he wanted to keep her near for more reasons than he would admit. Well, that and he wasn't going to give up his nice comfy bed. Citlali sighed and hissed through his teeth in frustration as he tightened his hold on the small Xochiyotl. She was huffing lightly as she slept and moved a little more than usual. It had been an interesting three days. Xochiyotl had lost weight, you could tell by her layer of muscle and fat, and she had simply not talked. Everything else had been almost normal besides the unusual silence and coldness of the air around her. The fire in her eyes had died out and her movements didn't seem to have the life they used to. Seeing her like this, withering away, made Citlali's heart hurt. It would have hurt him less to see a Hunter's interest in Hunting die. Something stirred the wind into his room and he noticed that clouds had begun to gather in the sky. It would storm soon. Finally deciding to get out of bed, the Hunter threw his sandals and leg guards on and lumbered out into the hallway. He barely remembered to lock the door behind him in an attempt to keep her in the room. A small laugh escaped his lipless mouth when he remembered her first attempt to escape the room.
She had decided to climb out of the window after learning that the door was locked from the outside. The small teen had almost slipped off the side of the temple to the skull wall and path below. It would not have been pretty to clean up and it would have bothered him to an extraneous extent to see her splattered corpse. So he had shouted and growled and hissed at her to never to such a thing again.
The Hunter stopped walking abruptly and hissed to himself. Those had been happy days for him. Nothing had been stressful, nothing abnormal, every day had been the same and yet something entirely different. Citlali looked up and saw several priests staring at him. He growled and threw his right fist into the wall next to him, breaking off a chunk of stone in his apparent frustration. The human men jumped in horror and fell to the ground in bows and prayers, groveling to please the Hunter. Then something popped into the Hunters head. Perhaps a gift would help her in some way? It would take a few days to clean, what with his hunting gear on the ship and all, but maybe he could manage it. After all, she had hated her step-father. Without another thought for the humans on the floor at his feet, Citlali strode toward the Death Chambers. (Place where they keep all of the dead bodies at the bottom of the temple. Usually underground)
Xochiyotl could barely breathe. She didn't have the courage or will to do it anymore. She was death, and illness, and all things lithesome and unclean. She couldn't look at herself in the mirror anymore. As the small broken girl lay in the bed, she willed herself to fade away. She had caused the death of another. He had not been a sacrifice to the Sun! She should be the dead one. A tear withered down Xochiyotl's cheek as she huddled closer to herself. It was all her fault. Though her body was fevered, the teen felt cold and lifeless in the silken sheets of luxury. Shaking her head, Xochiyotl shifted and rolled to her other side. She was stiff and hoped she could move after three days in bed with no food or water. She almost laughed as her stomach grumbled and her throat croaked of its own accord. As Xochiyotl's heels touched the floor, the temperature in the room plummeted. Before her, in a veil of red and white ribbons, stood the single most beautiful female on the planet. She was not smiling, in fact she looked dazed and slightly confused, but she was beautiful all the more for her blazing eyes. Xochiyotl took only a second to register her appearance. Black hair, teal colored eyes with a red eye shadow, and a voluptuous body covered in only a silken red dress that flowed around her though there was a lack of wind. Then the questions came. But Xochiyotl found herself speechless, more from lack of nutrition than of shock.
For mere moments they simply stared at each other, as if sizing each other up. Then, the bright crimson lips of the beauty opened and what sounded like music flowed.
"You don't pray anymore. You say it hurts too much. Your heart like one of those fragile cactus flowers cast amongst thorny ribs. So be ready to hurt."
A whisper and yet it was clear and loud as Xochiyotl's own heartbeat.
"What? I have no heart anymore. I cannot pray. I am not worthy of such things." She looked downward. "How could I apologize to him after so long?" she added as an afterthought.
There was silence, only the soft breaths of the beauty, who seemed to glow, and Xochiyotl.
"Steady yourself, love, steady yourself for victory is near. Shut the world out with its tyranny and noise."
And with a single blink and a return of heat into the room, the beauty was gone. There had been no flash of light, no boom of noise and echo of a laugh. Silence and a blink and she was alone in the room. Alone again.
The hairs on Xochiyotl's arms erected and bumps formed on her skin. She stared to where the girl had been only moments before and simply sat. With hollowed footsteps in the hallway, Xochiyotl stood and stumbled to the bathroom. She had made up her mind. It was time to change. She would no longer be the damsel in distress, she would learn to fight and wear armor on her soul. Steady yourself, love, steady yourself for victory is near. Words rang in her mind as if bouncing off the walls, an echoic noise.
The water was hot and yet soothing as she relaxed into it. Steam filled the mirrors along the wall and collected at the ceiling. A single sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and felt her muscles ease. An hour passed before she stood weakly and brushed her silky hair strait, draining the water from the tub with a slosh. Xochiyotl decided to braid her locks and curl it into a bun at the nape of her neck as to keep it out of the way. She smiled for the first time in days, her white teeth yellowed a little. Almost shrieking at her fangs, the girl quickly brushed them thoroughly and smiled again. White, Good. She strode from the bathroom in her usual rags and found the usual tray of food on the table by the window. The only table in the room. Gently and selfishly, she strode toward the tray and lifted some fruit to her lips.
The Seventh Heaven
"I HATE talking in riddles!" Xochiquetzal huffed.
Quetzalcoatl merely smiled from his current seat at the head of the stone mirror. The God of Civilization and Learning was in a playful mood. According to many of the Gods and Goddesses, this little human "Mayahuel" was starting to be an interesting subject. He leaned over the table, resting his tan elbows on it and propping his head on his palms.
"Why would you hate riddles?" he smiled wryly.
"She didn't even get what I was saying! And it was frickin' hard to come up with them in the first place!" she threw he hands into the air out of frustration.
"Maybe you didn't say it right? Or maybe you did not say a riddle at all?" Quetzalcoatl asked, still smile plastered.
"I did too say a riddle!"
"Then how do you know she did not 'get it'?"
"The blank look in her eyes!"
Xochiquetzal stared at him with flames in her teal eyes. Her hands were in fists by her sides and her arms shook slightly.
"Calm down, Beauty." Mixcoatl shook his head as he walked the rest of the way into the room. He had only just arrived and sighed at the scene before him. Everyone on every level of Heaven knew that Quetzalcoatl made it as hard as possible to learn something. He never gave you a straight answer. Usually he answered a question with a question. For that, many Gods and Goddesses refused to work with him after the first time. Lesson learned, they always said.
"Why should i? I should have told her right out. Ugh"
"Told who, what?" Mixcoatl frowned.
"Who are you studying…not helping?" Quetzalcoatl was still smiling.
"Shut up Quetzalcoatl." Both other deities echoed.
There was nothing for a moment, silence boomed around the dimly lit chambers of the Mirror Room. Odd that there was no noise other than the rapid breathing of someone outside the door. The breaths got louder and louder as that someone neared the room with light footsteps and a clicking of heels. The door clanged open in a rush of air, crack of wood, and whine of metal hinges.
"They're interfering!"
The Holy personages were stunned. This particular person had not made herself known for some time in the realm of the Gods and Goddesses. Her sudden appearance stirred up some unwanted feelings. Behind her, the God of the Wind rushed up, his face red and puffed with anger.
"Mayahuel! Why are you running? What is WRONG with you?" Ehecatl roared from behind her.
"They're doing it! They're meddling!" the Demigod Mayahuel threw her hands and brought them down hard on the Mirror slab.
"Hey hey, little Demigod, don't break the mirror." Mixcoatl was one of the only Gods that Ehecatl allowed to talk to her that way.
"Stop them!"
"Stop who?" Xochiquetzal frowned.
"The Japanese Goddesses!"
"Why?" Xochiquetzal asked in a whisper.
"They sent him! They're meddling!"
"Why? Who did they send?" this time Mixcoatl spoke up.
"Does it matter?" Quetzalcoatl whispered to himself. No one paid him any heed.
"Mashii Hoshi!" Mayahuel hissed and paced.
Behind her, the God of the Hunt and God of Wind sighed and frowned, crossing their arms and then re-crossing them.
"Brave Star? I'm assuming he's a Dragon then?" Mixcoatl smiled kindly to attempt to calm Mayahuel down.
"Why would you assume such?" Ehecatl switched his gaze to the God.
"Those Goddesses only ever give names associated with the sky to Dragons."
"Oh, well then yes, I agree."
"Will you listen to her so she'll shut up!" Xochiquetzal was screaming now too.
"Do not talk to her that way!" Ehecatl roared.
"Yeah!" Quetzalcoatl backed, though his heart was not in it.
"I wasn't talking to her, I was talking about her!" Xochiquetzal hissed between her teeth.
"There is no difference." Mixcoatl slumped forward a little in anger. He was only half-human after all.
"Like you're one to talk Mixcoatl!" Xochiquetzal growled at the God.
"Why are we fighting?" Quetzalcoatl asked to no one in particular.
In the amiss of the fray of anger, the God of learning sat and smiled a little. It was entertaining to watch them all fight. Until a war broke out that is. He sighed and slumped a little further in his seat, relaxing and worrying at the same time. A sky Dragon had been sent from the Japanese Goddesses of the fifth level of Heaven. Silently he wondered what the Dragon looked like and what he had to do with the human girl and the Hunter. By the time he had figured out the relationship, he was out of the temple and down the steps.
The Dragon was going to attack, probably on the new moon, for most of them loved the dark of night and clouds for a fight. After all, they could see in the dark. Quetzalcoatl sighed and picked up his pace as his thoughts ran back to his study of Dragons and the Japanese Gods and Goddesses.
The road to the Temple of Knowledge was lined with statues, each one of a different animal, one of the several he had appeared on earth in. Heels clacked on rune stone cobbles of the pathway between the large crystal statues and the sound echoed in the space that was the haven of his temple. As the God stepped up to the large mahogany doors of his home, he smiled. Turning back to the gardens and statues, his smile grew. Unlike the other Gods and Goddesses of the Seventh Heaven, Quetzalcoatl had actually cultivated his temple and gardens from the "soil" of the heavens with his own two hands. He had not simply wished them into being. The God smiled wider with pride and turned back abruptly, walking into the temple with a simple wave of his hand on the knob of the door. The inside resembled a library greatly. Bookshelves upon bookshelves lined the main hall, each one blending with the other flawlessly and carved to resemble instances in history. Quetzalcoatl's smile faded when the stench of flowers and moondew hit him hard. As he rounded the L shaped curve of the hall, the God of Learning hissed through his teeth and shook his head. She was one of the only Goddesses that could actually get to him. Quetzalcoatl sighed a little louder as he stepped down into the little stop-sign shape that was his throne. In all actuality, it resembled a couch more than a throne, with cushions and a footrest with a throw blanket over it. And the Goddess was lying on the couch, her feet propped up, shoes still on. Now, Quetzalcoatl was annoyed. She was going to stink up his temple!
"Are you lost, Moon?" he sighed.
A first she did not answer. Quetzalcoatl took her silence to notice that her skin was in fact tanner and glowed less than the last time she had made herself known. Her eyes were a bluer color, still mostly purple, and she shook slightly as if from cold.
"I want to stop them…"