"Xotla Cueponi."
"They grow, they flower."
- Aztec sayingIztaccíhuatl's laughter filled the air, echoing everywhere like a song. In the center of the clearing, the princess and the warrior fought in a lethal dance, covered by thick vests made from animal skin so they would do no damage to each other.
Their tecpatls spun in their hands, rising above their heads, trying to get the other, and Popocatépetl's graceful swings kept the princess busy defending herself.
She understood now. She felt free, she felt alive, not like lava but like light. A sunlight explosion, safe in her own lethality.
Not like she was anywhere near Popocatépetl's lethality.His tecpatl got her at her protected waist, and she stopped, breathless and with a big wide grin on her face.
"No fair!", she put her hands on her hips, but the sassy pose was a bit forced with her tiredness. "You cheated!"
"I did?", he was stroking the blade as if it were a cat, confidently. He grinned at Iztaccíhuatl. "War isn't fair."
"Oh, so this is war?"
She didn't get him with his guard down.
Her movements weren't especially sluggish, but they were no match to a warrior's, and when the princess attacked him, the warrior caught her... and they both fell to the ground, Iztaccíhuatl's dagger just a few inches above him.
"Ha!", she cried out triumphantly, sprawled all over the warrior. "Beat you."
"No you didn't," he said, still grinning.
"Why not?"
"Because I stopped you."
"Psh. Lies."
He wouldn't release her wrists, so she let her head fall onto his chest to avoid making her neck hurt. She saw a little speck of light expand across the horizon.
"Ah!," she jumped up, freeing herself. "Zyanya will be waiting for me."
"Zyanya?"
"My almot sister, my friend, my guardian, whatever you want to call her," Iztaccíhuatl was already at the other side of the clearing, when Popocatépetl was barely getting up. "It's been a pleasure, Popocatépetl. Tomorrow at the same hour?"
"Sure - hey! Give back the armor."
The princess turned around, took off the armor and gave it back. Then she raced to her home again.
"Sorry, and thank you!" she yelled out.
Popocatépetl smiled, watching her disappear.
"No. Thank you."
Zyanya was waiting for her in front of her bedroom window, arms crossed and an unreadable expression on her face. Iztaccíhuatl stopped in front of her, breathing up to the sky and relying on her knees for support.
"Where were you?" demanded the woman.
"I was just...," gasped the girl. "... taking... taking a... a walk."
Iztaccíhuatl tried to get her breathing to be normal, failing. She had ran like her hair was on fire, not to mention how much exercise she had done during the night.
Zyanya assessed her appearance with a critical eye.
"Your cheeks are flushed and your eyes bright. You've lost the rebozo, or went out without it. You're too dolled-up to have been in just a walk. You've gone to see someone."
Iztaccíhuatl didn't feel guilty.
"I've gone to take a walk with someone," she said, hiding the lie with a bit of truth. She smiled, and her eyes sparkled. "And I loved it."
The tight atmosphere shattered into a million tiny pieces, and Zyanya smiled while shaking her head.
"In the middle of the night, girl?", she waved her hands as if to send her inside. "Go, your bath must be cold now."
Iztaccíhuatl did not stop thinking about Popocatépetl for more than exactly thirty seconds all day. She counted them, even if thinking about how much time she could stop thinking about him really didn't help.
She got a few glimpses of him throughout the day as both went through their businesses, even if hers weren't near as much as his, being both a woman and a princess, and those few glimpses got her waiting for more.
Iztaccíhuatl was in a ridiculously happy mood, smiling more than she normally did (which was a lot), and helping with more enthusiasm than she normally had (which was also a lot). When the small tasks people had for her (which were not a lot, considering her status) ended; Iztaccíhuatl went back home to sit on a log, pursing her lips and bouncing her feet, needing something to do. Finally, she decided on something: she would go to the community dinner.
It was held every night at the city's plaza; and she could take her own food so she didn't have to take anything from the citizens. She was a princess and it was a community dinner, she'd have no right over their food. Set in her idea, she sprang up and into the house to search for the things she'd need.
The one and only difference between the chief's house and a normal one was in its size, the simple round structure of the other houses had expanded into an enormous residence, full with halls and paintings and sculptures.
Iztaccíhuatl navigated the maze with ease, for she had been born there and knew it as much as she knew herself. She got a small bag from her room, ignoring the male voices coming down the hall.
"Izta!," called out one of the voices, its owner catching up with her. "Where are you going so fast?"
"Just to the plaza."
"To the community dinner?"
Iztaccíhuatl stopped to glare at him.
Citlatépetl was a warrior, son of a really good and really old friend of her father, and the princess knew him even before she could remember. He wore one half of his hair long and one short, signaling he had taken prisoners from the Empire, and wore his tilmatli with great pride.
He laughed openly.
"I don't think that would be a problem, Izta. Don't worry."
"I wasn't asking for your permission.

YOU ARE READING
Lava: The Legend of the Volcanoes
Romance"Tomorrow, Tomorrow when I die I dont want you to be sad. To this place, to this place I will return, in the form of a hummingbird Woman, when you look to the sun, smile fondly There, There I will be with our father, Good light I will send you." -I...