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"Careful, careful, careful!" Maya exclaimed, carefully lowering the rope held by Ximena and her brothers. "Oh dear, we needed the support of the other kingdoms. This situation could have been handled with more diplomacy," the queen expressed to her husband, lamenting the lack of alliance from the fearful other kingdoms.
"Diplomacy? Do you expect Lord Mictlan to sacrifice Maya and let him take Ximena from us?" questioned her husband, shocking Maya.
"Hold her, Daggers," Lance whispered.
"I've got it, Shield," Daggers replied, smirking at the easily teased Shield. Shield glanced back at his brothers. "No, I'm Shield, I think." Ximena and Maya hushed the three, focusing on the discussion between the King and Queen of Teca. "We should've revealed the truth to them years ago," mumbled the queen, her tone filled with guilt.
"Whose hands are these if I'm not Shield?!" Shield anxiously questioned, releasing the rope to inspect his hands. Ximena, unimpressed, rolled her eyes and glanced at the frantic triplet. "Shield, those are your hands," she reassured, reflecting on how she managed to tolerate them for so many years. "How can you be so sure, Ximena? Are you even Ximena?" Shield questioned, shaking her front and back.
Lance and Daggers let go of the rope, bursting into laughter at Shield's minor freak-out. Ximena, pulled forward, struggled to hold Maya up. "Uh... guys?" she called, straining a bit. Before she could say more, her body was tugged over the edge along with Maya.
Maya landed on her balcony, while Ximena landed on her feet, glaring sharply at the three jaguars with sheepish smiles. When she pointed her finger at them, they cowered, disliking the scowl on Ximena's face. "Ow. Ay! I don't think my arm is healed yet," she muttered, lifting her gaze. "Thank you, helpful strangers!" she yelled.
"Any!"
"Time!"
"Sister!"
Maya chuckled sheepishly, and Ximena stood there, suppressing a smile. Ximena extended a hand to help Maya up. "Why would you do such a foolish thing?" her mother asked, chuckling a bit, though reminding herself to maintain composure. "I... we overheard everything," Maya admitted. Her parents sighed, exchanging glances. "This... this isn't easy to discuss," her mother said, her eyes flickering between her daughter and Ximena.
"Well, papa, could have said 'and by the way, Maya, the gods do walk among us, and I cheated on your mother with one of them, and then boom you were born'." Maya mimicked her father, stomping around the balcony with a low tone to replicate his voice.
