Lava: The Legend of the Volcanoes

F I R S T E R U P T I O N: T H E W A R R I O R

                                                              "Noyollo iiztaia, moyollo iiztaia."

                          m y  h e a r t  b e c o m e s  w h i t e,  y o u r  h e a r t  b e c o m e s  w h i t e.

                                     - Aztec saying. Hearts become white when they meet they love.

The princess' eyes strayed once again from their path, attracted by the sound of the obsidian blades clashing behind her back. Laughter and cheers filled the city's air, everyone fixated on the pair of warriors that fought good naturedly.

One of them was clearly winning, and Iztaccíhuatl's gaze landed in him more times than it landed on the pair of them. The warrior moved with an ease that reminded the princess of a divine dance, and the crown of quetzal feathers on his head seemed to be alive and flying because of the movement. He didn't have much on his body, just the basic clothing and a tilmatli*. He fought with a long obsidian dagger, most uncommon weapon, and his dark eyes shone with a joy that transfixed him.

The warrior shone almost as if the one and only Camaxtl* fought in him, and Iztaccíhuatl was breathless.

"Princess, looking at someone so blatantly is escandalous."

"Hmm?"

Iztaccíhuatl turned to where her nana, Zyanya, was looking at her disapprovingly. Zyanya was an older woman, though not so old, and had acted as her big sister since before the princess could remember. She wasn't married, and dressed only with a simple cueitl* covered by a large blouse.

"Looking at someone like that," Zyanya repeated. "It's escandalous."

Iztaccíhuatl was too distracted to care, her hands hanging still over the Chile* plant she was supposedly helping rid of its fruits.

She turned to look at the warriors again.

"Who is him?," she asked, watching her warrior defeat the other one. "The one who's winning."

"Popocatépetl," her company recognized him easily. "A handsome young man, isn't he?"

"Very handsome."

The fight had ended and Popocatépetl smiled brilliantly, shaking the hand of his opponent. Iztaccíhuatl felt a smile form on her own face when she saw him like that, so happy and confident. Like he knew she was watching, his gaze found hers.

                                                     everyone FELT what happened THEN.
    Like he was the sun, and she the moon, and the city exploded with their combined brilliance.

He smiled, and nodded his head to show her respect.

She smiled, and nodded her head too.

Whispers exploded around them.

A warrior nodding his head in presence of his princess, sure, okay, all right, it was normal.

But a princess doing the same for a warrior? Not sure, not okay, not all right, it wasn't normal.

"Princess!," Zyanya was flailing her arms around in horror.

"What?," Iztaccíhuatl didn't avert her gaze. "I was just showing my respects."

"To a warrior!," she shrieked. "Come on, stop looking at him. Your father will be indignant!"

Sighing, the princess did as she was told. She felt as if she were living from sunlight and it had been ripped apart from her.

"Very well, very well. Forgive me."

But Zyanya smiled.

"Will you ever be able to follow the rules?"

Iztaccíhuatl laughed, shaking her head.

"I don't think so."

A few minutes later, when her eyes inevitably searched for the warrior again, she found him already at the other end of the street, walking. Iztaccíhuatl rose, seized by an impulse.

"Wait. I have to talk to him."

"What?"

But she was already beside the warrior, walking casually beside him.

"Your name is Popocatépetl, right?"

He turned to her, just a little bit surprised.

"Yeah. You are Princess Iztaccíhuatl, right?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Congratulations. I've never seen a better warrior."

"So I've been told," he said, but his smile was humble. They walked in silence for a little while.

It was strangely comforting.

"How does it feel?" she asked out of nowhere.

"How does what feel?"

"Fighting. You seemed to enjoy it a lot."

"I enjoy it, yes," he grinned, like a child. "It's amazing."

"Teach me."

He stopped walking all of a sudden and turned to her, his eyes huge and his lips parted.

"Whaaaaaat...?"

Iztaccíhuatl grinned, excited.

"Teach me!" she repeated. "Could you, I mean."

"Buuut... but that's not traditionally done by women..."

"I'm not traditional," she shrugged. "And it's not like I'm going to become a warrior. I just want to see its amazingness for myself."

*Tilmatli:Large cape used by the aztecs and tlaxcaltecans (? people from Tlaxcala, Idk how they're called in English)
*Camaxtli: The tlaxcaltecan god of war. The Aztec one was Huitzilopochtli.
*Cueitl: Long skirt usually decorated by colorful handmade sewings.
*Chili pepper.

This was the first couple I ever shipped *fangirls* When I was just a little caticorn still living in México, this legend came upon my Civics book and I have loved it since...
Anyways, expect tons of complicated words and references here. Each will be explained, don't worry ;)  Also this is dedicated to my frouple @JaberaRahman (I know I dedicate tons of things to her but hey she deserves it)  because she wanted me to translate this and I did because she's amazing. Go check her stories out or I send Popocatépetl to hunt you down *epic Caticornic growl*
Tacos and chile,
-IAmACaticorn