Author's Note: *I got the size of the ball from the following link. I'm not certain how big the ball actually is in the movie, but so as not to undershoot the size, or to missmatch weight and size, I went with the largest they had listed.
ht
tp : / / w w w . ancient .eu / article / 604 /
CHAPTER 4: (Miguel's POV) Broken Rules
Tulio had held my shirt sleeve tight the whole trip to Cheif Tannabak's palace. I have always had a sense of wanderlust when traveling to a new city, or revisiting one we've been to before, only to find something new has been errected. Knowing this, he wasn't taking any chances on my wandering off into the city, now.
We arrive and Tulio asks to speak to the chief, directly. The gaurds lead us to him without question. He greets us cheerfully, with a bow.
"My lords, to what honor do I owe this visit?" he asks, "Is there something you've found to your dissatisfaction?"
"No," we say in unison.
"No, no, no, not at all," Tulio assures him, "Everything's just fine. It's just, Chief Tanni... Do you mind if I call you Tanni?" The Chief shakes his head. "Good. Um... Is there somewhere we can sit and talk? We have a favor we need to ask of you."
The chief smiles and leads us to his throne room, as he took his place on his throne, Tulio and I sat on a stone bench, cushioned with pillows across from him. Tulio explains that we need a boat to return to Xibalba and take the gold with us. "A boat?" the chief asks in confusion.
"Yeah, we really hate to be ascending so soon, but, uh, some urgent business has come up," I start to explain, pointing toward the sky.
"Family matters," Tulio tosses in, "and it's just a bit..."
"Yeah, family," I stammer.
"Badda-bing, budda-boom, you just have to be there, know what I mean?" Tulio says.
"Oh..." Chief Tanni sounds surprised, "We expected you to be staying with us... for the next... thousand years."
"Well, as we say in the spirit world," Tulio says, "there's your plan and then... there's the gods' plan. And our plan calls for a boat.
'Cause we're gonna' ascend... kind of in a horizontal pattern at first." I cover my mouth and do my best to dsiguise a laugh as simply clearing my throat. "And then we're gonna' go vertical, as we get further out to sea."
"Hm..." the chief stops to think, "To build a boat large and glorious enough... would take... a week."
"A week?" Tulio asks.
"I wonder how long it would take Tzekel-Kan to do it?" I ask. Tulio flashes me an approving smile.
"But-But for the gods, three days," the chief offers, quickly.
"Well, if that's the best you can do..."
"Or, perhaps, if you were not burdened with so much tribute, you could leave sooner?" the chief suggests.
Tulio and I exchange glances. "I like it here, Miguel?" Tulio says.
"Yep, yep. Three days is just fine," I agree. We settle the arrangements with Chief Tanni, who assures us the work on the ship will begin immediately. Tulio and I will be by to check in on how the progress is going, periodically. Once everything's settled, we take our leave and head back to the temple. Again, Tulio's keeping me on a tight leash on the way back. I can sense my partner's growing unease as we walk.
"No, three days is NOT fine," Tulio says, once we're back at the temple. He absentmindedly scoops up a pair of gold earrings and starts pacing, bouncing the earrings in his hand, as if feeling their weight. "This is a real..." He stops as he walks by Chel, who is digging through the gold, looking at earrings, and tossing them aside. He looks down at the pair in his hands, smiles and leans in, presenting them to her. "These-these are the ones," he allows himself to be distracted long enough to say before finishing his first sentance with the word,
"Problem."
"Oh! Thank you," Chel says, in delighted surprise, as she takes the earrings from Tulio.
"Miguel, how are we gonna' keep this up for three days?" he asks, desperately. I'm not even sure he heard Chel thank him.
"You worry too much," I tell him.
"No, I worry exactly the right amount," Tulio insists, "You can NEVER worry too much. We just have to lie low."
"But, Tulio," I argue, "This place is amazing! I mean, I wonder what's..."
"NO!" Tulio insists, "Don't even move!"
Now that's not fair. Stuck here for three days, and can't even see the sights? "Tulio..."
"You're moving!"
"A little, but... Come on..."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Tulio shouts, "I said no."
"I gotta' I..."
"Stay! Just... stand there!"
"Wha... For three days?" I ask, toppling over from the position I've frozen into.
"Yes, exactly," Tulio sighs, "for three days. Don't even breathe, all right?"
I give a defeated sigh. "All right, we'll lie low," I conceede, crossing my arms.
"No, ah, ah, ah, ah! Promise?" Tulio asks.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" I wave him off, "All right, all right." Somebody's getting something other than booze to drink at dinner tonight,
that's for sure.
Tulio's whole body visibly relaxes. "Great! Good. Okay," he sighs as Chel steps back up behind him, wearing the earrings he'd given her.
"Now, if you'll excuse me..." He smiles at her, grabbing hold of one of the earrings and looking it over. She giggles and blushes. "I have to gloat over my gold."
Oh, now what was that? So much for off-limits! But I don't want another arguement, especially not in front of Chel... Especially when she would be the subject of discussion. Instead, I give a sigh and lean against a pillar, staring off at the horizon. You can see a lot of the city up here. It'd be amazing to go see it first hand. I don't like being cooped up any more than Tulio likes being locked up, and he knows it. I can't stand to sit still for long. I sigh and try not to think about it. I can hear Tulio making all kinds of noises in the background as he digs through the piles of gold.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Chel asks, slipping up next to me.
"Yeah," I nod.
"You know, you really shouldn't miss it," she coos.
"I know. But I..." I point toward Tulio's direction, "I couldn't."
She smiles. "Go ahead," she urges, with a wink, "I'll cover for you."
"You will?" I stop and think for a second she smiles, nods, and waves her hands to signal for me to go. "Oh, good, thanks!" I break the rule just enough to give her a light peck on the cheek.
She giggles and rubs her cheek. "Run along, now, while he's still distracted," she whispers.
"Right. So... What happened to Altivo?"
I glance over my shoulders to see her shrug hers as she settles in on the couch and hear her say, "I dunno' know."
I turn the corner, and make my way down the flight of stairs as quick as I can. I was right. This city is beautiful to behold. However, it's strange. There doesn't seem to be anyone out on the streets. Yesterday, the city was so lively and full of energy, today, it's dead silent.
Every once in a while, however, I think I see someone moving in the shadows. I eventually come across a guard and approach him. "Excuse me, excuse me?" He turns and bows. "Hey, where is everybody?"
"They've been cleared from the streets, my lord, so the city can be cleansed, as you ordered," he explains.
"Cleansed?" I ask. I don't think he picks up on the confusion in my voice. Who gave this order? It certainly wasn't me. I'm not even sure I understand what it means.
"Yes, so the Age of the Jaguar can begin, as you ordered, my lord," the gaurd explains.
"Get back in! Where are you going?" I hear some gaurds in the back yelling at someone.
"Hey? Hey, stop that!" I say, approaching the area of commotion.
"Move," the gaurds order.
"Hey, stop that!" I say again, pulling the gaurds away from the man they're assaulting, "What are you doing? Stop that!"
"But, my lord, anyone who disobeys your orders," the guard says, "Must be bunished, as you ordered." Our comotion has brought out a small crowd of towns people, curious as to what's going on.
As I what...? I can't believe what I'm hearing. "It seems I've been giving a lot of orders, haven't I?" This didn't come from me. Surely not from Tulio, either. Especailly not from Tulio, he wouldn't have been so worried that I'd give us away if he'd ordered this.
"Tzekel-Kan has made your commands clear, my lord," the gaurd says.
Tzekel-K... I should have known. "Really?" I say irritably. High priest and 'Speaker for the gods' and he's using OUR names to run things as he sees fit, now is he? "Here's an order. Take the day off!" I dismiss the gaurds. They look confused for a brief moment, but turn and leave. I turn back to the man whom I've just rescued. He looks up at me, breathing heavy, and extremely frightened. He's wearing a pair of gold earings, with green stones in the center, like the ones Tulio gave Chel. Now that I think about it, the earings she was wearing before were just the green stones. Are the earings around here a status symbol, or something? No, no, now's not the time to think of such things. This poor man's just been rough housed by a pair of gaurds, in my name, for no reason than just walking along the street. "Are you alright?" I ask, holding out my hand to offer a helping hand up.
"Here!" he gasps, taking off his earrings and offering them up to me.
"Oh, no! It's alright," I say, "Please..." The man scrambles to his feet and runs away. "Hey, wait...? Uh..." Well, I can't blame him for wanting to get the hell out of dodge after what just happened, I suppose, and if I give chase, I'll probably on frighten him further. As he runs away, he knocks over a few things; a small drum, a couple of sticks, and some string. I smile, as an idea occurs to me. I pick up the items and find a place to sit as I fashion them into a guitar. I see some movement out of the corner of my eye and look up. "Oh, hey Altivo,
there you are!"
The horse comes around the corner with a small group of children. Seems the man from earlier and I aren't the only ones breaking the rules today. I could be mistaken, but I believe they're Cheif Tannobok's daughters, as I'm certain I saw at least one of them during our visit to the palace. I start strumming the guitar and entertain the kids. As they begin to laugh and dance, the other townspeople start to emerge from their homes. Most of them are wearing the gold earings with green stones, some are gold with red stones. One man with a pair of green stone earrings with red stones in the center comes up and leans in to look at my make shift guitar with curiosity. I stand and hand it to him. He begins strumming at it. As the people's attention turns to him, I decide it's time to leave and try to see more of the city.
The more I see, the more I learn about these people and their way of life. I've never felt as at peace somewhere as I do here. I run out of one crowd, right into another. There's a group of people standing across from me, on the other side of a pond full of colorful fish. One boy waves to me and the other peopel give me friendly, happy greetings. I approach, and ask them what they do for fun around here. I'm lead to a large wooden pole with strings tied to the top. There are some men tied to the teathers, swinging about in the air by their ankles. I approach a man with gold and red earrings and ask him about it.
Before I know it, I've convinced him to tie me to the pole and let me, quite literally, take a spin. Is this what it feels like to fly?
It's amazing! I'm a bit dizzy, when I come down, but I manage not to show it. I wander away from the crowds and find a place to rest until I regain my footing, then move on. I come across a couple who are throwing feed to some birds. They hand me one of the bowls of feed and I start to scatter it on the ground. It's really a shame Tulio's missing all this. Suddenly, I'm taken by surprise, as some large, colorful birds, taller than I am, sneak up behind me and begin eating right from the bowl. Startled, I flinch, until I realize what's going on and hold up the bowl for the birds to reach it easier.
Before the day's over, I even get to ride on the back of a large turtle, and set up a large set of dominos. Before long, I'm reunited with Altivo, who now, instead of the three girls, is accompanied by a small group of boys with a rubber (latex) ball. "Well, hello, there," I greet them.
"Hello," they answer, as one picks up the ball.
"What have you got there?" I ask curiously.
The boys smile at me, and hold up the ball for me to see. "Would you like to join us, Lord Miguel?" they offer, "We'd be honored to have you."
"I'd like that, very much," I nod, "What are the rules."
The boys look at each other for a moment. "My lord, the gods created The Ball Game," one said.
I smile. "We may have created the game. But that doesn't mean I know how YOU play it," I say, "Not everyone uses the same rules." I wasn't sure how true that was, but the boys laughed and nodded in agreement with me.
"I hadn't thought about that. Forgive me for questioning you," the boy said.
I smile and wave a dismissive hand. "Quite alright, quite alright," I assure him. "No harm done. Now, how do we play?"
"Well, we don't really have any hoops to kick it through out here, so we're just passing it around. The only rule as we're playing right now is that you can't use your hands, only your elbows, head, knees, hips, and feet."
"That's it?" I ask. The boys nod. "Alright. Sounds simple enough. Let's play." Even Chief Tanni eventually joins us in the game. I can go back to Spain, and officially, truthfully, say I've played ball with a king. But... I'm begining to wonder, do I even want to go back?
Chief Tannie hits the ball with his hips and I chase after it, only to slide to a halt, as I nearly run into a very angry Tulio, and a frowning Chel. "Oh... Tulio..." The ball hits him on his head and bounces away.
"What...are...you...DOING!?" he growls at me through his teeth.
"Laying low," chuckle with a shrug of my shoulders.
He growls and reaches both hands out twoard my neck. "Tulio," I hear Chel quietly hiss through her own teeth.
He takes a breath and waves his hands in the air. "Look, change of plans." He pats my shoulders and then leaves his hands there as he leans in. The anger in his eyes is gone, and has been replaced with concern. "We have to grab what we can cary and get out of here now!"
"What? Why?" I ask. What happened?
"Because the high priest is nuts! He wants..." Tulio whispers.
"This is unacceptable!" Tzekel-Kan's voice rings out.
"Yeah. Yeah, like he said!" Tulio shouts, pointing over his shoulder.
"The gods should not be playing ball like this!" the priest continues.
"Well, exactly!" Tulio huffs, folding his arms.
"Everyone follow me!" Tzekel-Kan exclaims. We all exchange looks, but follow him anyway. He leads us to a large arena like area, carrying the ball in his hands, all the while. Tulio and I find ourselves out on the playing field, as the towns people begin crowding into the spectators area. "THIS is how the gods should play ball!" the priest proclaims.
Tulio glares at me. "Well, don't blame me," I whisper.
"I blame you!" Tulio scowls accusingly, pointing a finger at me. "What is the object of this game, pray tell?"
"You've gotta knock the ball throug the hoop," Chel says, sheepishly. Interesting, I didn't realize she could pull off that emotion, she always seems so self confident.
"What hoop?" Tulio turns to her.
"THAT hoop," she points to a hoop mounted on the wall, just above our heads.
"That's impossible! We're gonna' loose," Tulio groans.
Chel shakes her head. "Gods don't loose!"
Tzekel-Kan snapss his fingers. Suddenly a group of rather large, intimidating looking natives meets us out on the field, all wearing gold with red earrings. It's at this point, I also notice Tzekel's are gold with yellow. It makes me wonder even further if I was right in my assumption that earrings are a status symbol around here. "My lords, Chief Tannabok's warriors are the finest ballplayers in the city," he states,
"Fifteen mere mortals against two gods... I realize it's a bit uneven, but I DO hope they'll challenge you enough to make the game...
interesting... Play ball!" He sets the ball in the center of the court, then gets right in my face. "Crush them into the dust! Enjoy," he then takes his seat next to Chief Tanni. The ball bounces and it feels like an earthquake as the team rushes toward us. They send the ball flying at us in an amazing speed and Tulio ducks underneath it, laying on the ground, letting it whizz past his head. "My lords, were you not supposed to put the ball into play?"
"Oh, well... No, no, no, no, no. We were merely demonstrating the, um, traditional, uh, first avoidance maneuver," Tulio explains.
"Ah...?" Tzekel-Kan stops, "I've never heard of such a thing?"
"Excuse me, who invented this game?" I ask, scoldingly.
"Why, the gods, of course," Tzekel-Kan grants, nervously.
"Come here, you," Tulio growls, grabbing me by my sleeve and pulling me back. "I'm warning you," he whispers, "Don't push your luck with this guy!"
I still have no idea what's happened between Tulio and the priest, but he seems even more highstrung than usual. "But, Tulio," I say calmly,
a slight chuckle in my voice, as I bounce the ball around with a bit of flair, "We're the gods!"
We start the game, once more. I loose track of how long the game's gone on. We occasionally hear Chel shouting from the side-lines. The home team has gained SEVERAL points, and we haven't scored even once. "New ball!" The ball bounces out of bounds and just narrowly misses Chel in the process. As much as it hurts to have this *30 cm, 3.5 kg ball hit us in the hips as fast as it's going, I hate to think what would have happened if it had hit Chel.
"How long does this go on, anyway?" Tulio asks breathlessly, the two of us leaning on one another.
Chel approaches us with a ball in hand. "The game is over when the shadow touches this line," she explains.
"We need a miracle," I grumble.
"No, we need to cheat!" Tulio answers.
Chel smiles at us and holds up the new ball. We both stare at it for a moment as we realize what she's done. It's the armadillo from earlier,
the one we saved from the snake back in the jungle. Tulio takes the 'ball' from her, with a smile. "Go get 'em, boys," Chel giggles.
The 'ball' bounces out of Tulio's hand, runs circles around the other team as they try to kick it, dances around me, then propels up the wall and through the hoop. "Yes!" we both exclaim. The crowd cheers. "If anyone asks, we were waiting for the right time, to make a dramatic come back and give them a fighting chance, right?" Tulio suggests.
"RIGHT!" I agree.
The armadillo works beautifully for us, more than making up his 'life debt'. The other team becomes unable to score, as the armadillo repels itself from the hoop whenever they nearly make the goal, yet using it's feet to push itself through if we seem as though we're going to fall short. Soon, Altivo has jumped in to give us a hand. Tulio and I almost look as though we're dancing with the 'ball' at this point. The home team stops and stairs in disbelief as the armadillo rolls through the hoop, nearly drops, only to roll up and back through the other way,
before bouncing back and forth through the hoop several times. Such is the "power of the gods". Before long, we're tied with the locals.
Chel begins cheering and dancing at the sidelines. Tulio and I bump into each other, back-to-back, cheering each other on, we bounce the 'ball' back and fourth, with a small celebrational dance. The armadillo bounces out of bounds, back to Chel.
Chel throws the ball back to us and we rush up, riding on Altivo's back. Bouncing it around in the air with our arms and heads and rolling it over our shoulders. We look up, toward Chel, who we just faintly hear calling out to us. She's got the armadillo, meaning this ball that just bounced off Tulio's head is the real thing. Now we're in for it. Altivo jumps in the air. Tulio's elbow strikes the side of my head as he bounces the ball into play. This is a play of desperation, we can't afford to miss it. I stand up right and hit the ball toward the goal. I then do my best to kick it. The ball lands inside the hoop, just as we land on the ground. Tulio and I jump off Altivo and look up. The ball stalls, neither rolling one way or the other. Everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting with baited breath to see what'll happen. I hear Altivo's back hoof strike the wall and the ball rolls forward, scoring us the point, before landing on the ground.
"Yes!" we both exclaim, bumping chests with each other.
"I love this game!" Tzekel-Kan can be heard exclaiming as the onlookers break into an uproarious cheer.
Chel runs out to us and throws her arms around Tulio, who picks her up in his arms and spins her in the air. Well, I guess there's no need for me to try playing matchmaker when we leave. They seem to be getting along quite well. "Well done, partner."
"You did it!" Chel laughs, squeezing Tulio's cheeks. She looks like she's about to lean in and kiss him.
"My lords, congratulations on your victory. And now, you will, of course, wish to have the loosing team sacrificed to your glory." The home team bows in reverance.
I roll my eyes. "Not again." I'm loosing my patience with this man. "Look, Tzekel-Kan!" I point at him, irritably.
"Uh, Miguel?" Tulio whispers.
I ignore him. "Forget the sacrifices."
"Miguel!" Tulio urges again.
"We don't want any sacrifices," I insist.
The priest looks confused, and his voice isn't too far off from that of a child who's answering a scolding parent, "But? All of the sacred writings say that you will devour the wicked and the unrighteous."
I put my hands on my hips and shake my head. "Yeah, well, I don't see anyone here who fits that description!" Except maybe you, you blood-
thirsty loonatic.
"Well, as speaker for the gods, it would be my privilege to point them out," Tzekel-Kan offers.
You've over used and abused that privilege, I'm afraid. Now I'm really angry. "The gods are speaking for themselves, now!" I push my way past Tzekel-Kan and over to the warriors. Seriously, these are your city's best ball players, and your chief's own warriors, you would throw their lives away in the name of the gods, just because they lost a ball game? Who would defend your city if someone worse than us suddenly came along? Someone like Cortes? I urge the men to rise to their feet and turn back to the priest. My face red, and my blood boiling.
"This city and these people... have no need for you anymore! There WILL be no sacrifices! Not now, not ever! Get out!"
He stares at me in complete shock for a moment as the people cheer and Chief Tanni waves 'bye-bye' to him. I feel something on my forehead,
but assume it must be an insect or something and try to ignore it. Tzekel-Kan bows. "As the... gods... command," he says, turning to leave.
The men lift me and Tulio onto their shoulders, tossing us in the air victoriously. I playfully elbow my partner. "Not bad for my first commandment, huh?" I laugh.
"Miguel, the little voice...?" Tulio starts. He rolls his eyes and waves me off, "Yeah, fine."
They carry us back to the temple and announce Cheif Tannabok will be preparing another feast for us, soon. Tulio stops and stares at me for a moment, and once we're alone, he grabs me by the shoulders. "Geez, Miguel, you're bleeding!" he says.
"I'm what?"
"Right here, above your right eyebrow," Tulio says. "When did that happen?"
I shake my head. "I dunno." Maybe when Tulio's elbow hit me?
"Chel, get me something I can clean this up with, please, before someone walks in and notices," Tulio urges.
I roll my eyes. Of course, he's more worried that this will give us away, than the fact that I'm actually injured. I should have known.
Chel disappears for a moment, before returning with a rag and a bottle of Pulque. Pouring the alchohol onto the rag, she pushes between me and Tulio and begins dabbing my forehead. "Ah, that sort of stings," I complain.
"Shh... It'll prevent an infection," Chel explains. Tulio walks away, letting Chel do whatever she needs to.
"Thank you, by the way," I say.
"For what?" she asks.
"For this, for one," I chuckle, "For convincing me to slip out, for another. I had more fun than I'd hoped."
She smiles, "You're welcome, Miguel."
"And more importantly, thank you for helping us at the game today. That was quick thinking, and it really saved us," I finish.
She blushes an adorable shade of red. "Well... I..." She giggles. "My only wish is to serve the gods," she says with a wink. "There, good as new." The blood's stopped, and the wound is small enough that it's not visably noticable unless you know to look for it.
The next few days go by rather uneventfully, and no one hears from Tzekel-Kan. The work on the ship seems to be going smoothly. I take time to pose for sculptors who want to chizzel my game-winning move into the wall. Tulio and Chel seem to be getting closer. He's begun taking her out at nights, as though he were courting her. It's cute really. I'm happy for him. However, I need Chel to promise me something.
Tulio brings her back to the temple and she has a flower in her hand. He goes straight to bed, while she stands playing with the flower, gently running her fingers along it's petals, as though she were petting it. "You two have fun?" I ask.
"Oh, yes, we had a wonderful time," she answers, bulshing.
"Good, great," I say with a smile. "Look, Chel, I need to talk to you for a moment, in private, all right?" I motion for her to follow me back outside.
"Oh? Okay?" she says quietly, following me outside.
"Chel, do you love Tulio?" I ask.
"I beg your pardon?" she asks, looking confused.
"No, I mean it," I say. "I'm glad you two are having fun together. But, you see... Back home in Spain, there's this place called Barcelona.
Tulio had found a girl there, once, that he was simply crazy about. She practically had him wrapped around her finger but, he never introduced me to her. At the same time, there was a girl I was woeing in town. I wasn't nearly as serious about this girl as Tulio was about his, but I really did like her. One night, Tulio came to me, proclaiming that he was wanting to find a ring," I explain.
"A ring?" Chel asks.
"Yes, he wanted to marry her," I answer. "He disappeared for a couple of days after that. When I found him, he was sloshed drunk and misserable.
He'd nearly drank the tavern out of business and I had to wrestle the bottle out of his hand. That's when he told me, she had left him for another man. Some musician she had met."
"You?" Chel asked.
I stop and look at her for a moment, then nod. "Yeah, me," I admit. "I didn't realize it, though. I drug Tulio to a hotel room and kept him locked there until he sobered up. After a week of obscenities and other objects flying at me, he finally managed to calm down and I let him out. I then went to the girl I had been courting, to appologize for having been gone so long. I'd intended to explain to her that I had been helping a close friend with a family crisis. Instead, she admitted to me that she'd had a second suitor trying for her affections the whole time, but when, as she put it, 'the black-haired fool, who obviously had nothing of worth to offer, but to play man servant', had asked her to marry him, she broke it off with him and told him she was seeing someone else. Someone who had the chance to make something of himself with their gift of music. I realized immediatly that she was the girl who'd broken Tulio's heart and broke it off with her. Rather than giving her the original story of helping out a friend, I told her that it wasn't going to work out. I was a traveling minstrel, and she wouldn't be happy moving from place to place. She should find herself someone local, who would keep her in a stable position, then I bid her adou, and returned to my partner, offering him a 'job' we could pull a few towns over, to get him away from it all."
"That's sweet of you Miguel, but why are you telling me this?" she asks.
"Because, if you're going to come with us, before I can give you my blessings, I have to know," I say, "Chel, Tulio and I have been inseperable since we were old enough to walk. We literally lived right across the street from each other, until we lost our parents." I take her hands in mine. "You're a sweet girl, but I don't really know you. I want you to promise me, that if you love him, we won't wake up one morning, to find you've run off with half the gold and played us for suckers." The look on her face shows shocked offense, but before she can say anything,
I continue, "I'm not saying you would. But I'm smart enough to know the kind of conwomen back home that act as self confident as you aren't incapable of pulling such a stunt. I don't care as much about the gold, when there's so much to go around, but I need you to promise me, you won't break his heart?"
She softens and smiles. "You're really sweet, Miguel," she says, squeezing my hands. "I don't blame you for thinking that, as you said, you don't know me very well, yet, and I'm VERY capable of pulling such a stunt. But, I DO love Tulio," she assures me, her voice full of honesty, "and I've come to look on you as a brother." She smiles and pats my cheek. "Don't worry, I promise, I have no intention of hurting either of you."
I smile at her and give her a gentle hug. "Thank you, Chel."
She smiles and gives me a very chaste peck on the cheek. "Come, now, Miguel, I think Tulio worries enough for the five of us," she giggles,
looking toward Altivo and the armadillo, who've snuggled up together and already gone to sleep. "Now, you've got to go inspect that boat tomorrow morning, I think it's time we all follow their example and head to bed, don't you?"
"Yes, I suppose you're right," I agree, "Good night, Chel."
"Good night, Miguel."