Uprise of the Rebellious Princess

Dip Into The Mud

“Here you are! I thought you were lost, my good Yacanex,” said Itzcuintecua as he embraced Yacanex, taking him away from the dark corridor, “I found myself talking to myself. Hmgh! Oh, I know you’re not pleased to be at these gatherings summoned by the Domain. Mhm! But hear at least this old man’s advice; our world is filled with unwanted duties – if you will. Bundles of them, agh! Things we ought to do and comply.”

Now that his good old friend has found him, Yacanex knew he had to go through the ordeal of meeting with the elite from every land. So, he sighed as he left the corridor behind. He went along just to accede with his good old friend. After all, he was there for that purpose, to meet the people he otherwise would have preferred never to mingle with. Itzcuintecua enthusiastically led him to a group of prominent people. Just when he was going to explain who they were, Yacanex interrupted him, “So only duties await in this world? What about ideals and glory?”

“Oh, there are!”

“Fit for another world, or even for the upper heavens, perhaps?”

“No –no, my good friend! Mhm! Come here! Listen –glory comes when you fulfill your duty tailored for you in this world. Aha? Hmgh! Now, you may wish to commit to the aid of others’ duties, dear Yacanex –those are ideals.”

“And what do you say of duties not of our own, like those which Xolotl requires us all to engage upon? The desires of a sole man become the duties for all people to carry them on.”

“Well –now, my little friend. What you talk about are not duties, no, no –they’re laws! And hush now, because that’s a different thing, and you don’t want any of these fine personalities hear you. No, no! Hmh, come now!” old Itzcuintecua said softly to his ear, quite jumpy at such topic.

He pulled Yacanex towards a crowd in the middle of the Great Hall. The group cleared the way for both Itzcuintecua and Yacanex to join. All of them exhibited proud postures and careful movements as if they thought great of themselves –and sure they were great, many of them were rulers or related to ruling houses. Men and women alike, since many of their wives, were intrinsically part of their current high status. Other ladies were simply much powerful than their husbands.

Good old Itzcuintecua presented him with great respect to these powerful pipiltin. Yacanex felt trapped in a social cobweb abundant of so many salutations and falseness. It was painfully uncomfortable for him, to the point that he forgot about the dream lady he saw.

There was Chiconcuauhtli, the Hñahñu Tlatoani of Xaltocan and the most powerful ruler of the northern part of Domain. He was accompanied by his wife Lady Cihuaxochitl, daughter of Xolotl. Along with her was her sister, Lady Cuetlaxochitl, which received many compliments and salutations because she and her husband –Tlatoani Acolhua of Atzcapotzalco –were rising stars in the political map. Their eldest son was present too, Tezozomoc, a youngster that already eclipsed his father, not because of her fiancée Chalchiuhcozcatzin, but by his impressive wit. The Hñahñu Lady Tzipacxochitzin –daughter of Tlatoani Chiconcuauhtli –proudly joined the group and approached his husband Chalchiuhtotemotzin, a Tecutli of Chalco Atenco. They all briefly waved at Hñahñu Lord Macuilcotlochopantecuhtli of the northeastern realm of Metztitlan. Behind him came the tall Tochintecuhtli with his father Tlatoani Quetzalmazatl of Cuauhuacan. He inquired for lady Tomiauh of Tenayuca, which suddenly appeared behind him. It was horribly exhausting for Yacanex. One had to keep up with the intricacy of politics and the complex genealogical links but having to bear with the actual persons was the worse for him. His eyes were disgusted at their stiff faces and know-it-all arrogance. Much to his dislike, more of them made their entrance into the Great Hall. Tlatoani Tzontecomatl’s appearance into the dinner party caused a halt. He approached along his kin and numerous retinues. In a slow but stately pace, the old ruler approached the circle where Yacanex was confined. Everyone greeted him with the highest of salutations.

“Come –come, here approaches Tzontecomatl! And his wife, Coatetl! Come!” said good old Itzcuintecua anxiously.

“Let him come, it is he who should assert his authority not the other way around,” responded Yacanex.

“Hush, hush, oh dear Yacanex –it’s just politics! After all, if you wanted to play with mud…” Itzcuintecua said. He then changed his tone to a more amiable one as he addressed the Tzontecomatl: “Oh, Lord of the Acolhua people! Great guide to the eastern cities of the Grand Valley! Head of the bright Coatlinchan, sister city of Colhuacan.”

“If we are to throw mud then we shouldn’t mingle at elegant palaces,” murmured Yacanex at Itzcuintecua’s shoulder.

“Oh, Yacanex!” Itzcuintecua swiftly turned again to Tzontecomatl. “Yes, we must deal with the mud problems during rainy months aided by your engineers perhaps, oh Tlatoani Tzontecomatzin!”

Poor Itzcuintecua craftily switched the words of Yacanex into a real issue. Tzontecomatl listened carefully to Itzcuintecua, not in a careless manner, but actually interested. He was old and evoked respectability with his white hair and easy-going politeness.

“Of course, Itzcuintecua, we shall look into the matter. Right before I departed from Coatlinchan I readied a contingent of engineers to organize an efficient system of water works. We are truly committed to the High Ruler’s plans of bringing back Toltec technology and agriculture modernity. I have a seasoned hydraulic engineer who studied here at the House of Science and knows about such problems. After all, we all love everything that comes out of Colhuacan. To whom shall I direct his team for further instructions?”

“Sir, you can send him to… come here! Send him to Yacanex, who is well knowledgeable in our people’s issues. Come! Come, Yacanex!” said Itzcuintecua.

“Yacanex?” asked Tzontecomatl, “Are you not the community organizer at Tepetlaoztoc? I think I have heard about you back in the Eastern Lands.”

“Yes sir, I am, amongst many tasks,” replied Yacanex.

“Well then, so it shall be done first thing I return back to my altepetl,” said the Tlatoani, wrapping things up. He began walking towards other people within the elite circle. Unexpectedly, he turned back smiling towards Yacanex. “Yacanex, your name was?”

Yacanex, stupefied –who was about to be introduced to Tzontecomatl’s son –swiftly turned to him quite off-balanced. He could barely utter, “Yes, uhm, yes… Tlatoani.”

“Yacanex! Mhmm,” Tzontecomatl pierced into his eyes and gazed his animal hide attire, “You and I know we shall hear more from you in the future. We will!”

“Sir?”

With a light chuckle, he said to Yacanex, “Years in politics have thought me not to let… mud, if you will, into my ears.”

Yacanex stood there, a bit embarrassed but ready for any valid explanation, a chance to open his ideas that had troubled his mind. But Tzontecomatl nodded affably and continued his own way. Yacanex remained astonished at the manners of Coatlinchan’s ruler –elegantly polite, quite refined personality, but nevertheless incisive. The powerful amaze more when humility rises than their actual rise to power.

“Yacanex! Come, come, this is Tlacotzin –son of Tzontecomatl –and his lovely Malinalxochitzin from the Chalca realms,” said Itzcuintecua.

In stark contrast to his father, Tlacotzin did not even pay any attention to them. Tlacotzin did not seem as an amiable pipiltin, but an extremely proud one. He wore a severe appearance that bordered in disgust, belittling everyone around him with his expressions. Tlacotzin barely nodded at Itzcuintecua without even looking at them, then he lifted his hand to them and hurried his pace to catch up with his old father.

“It is because of these wretched ones that the pipiltin have their honor blemished,” Yacanex thought. “Neither riches nor names, only gallantry should be inherited, solely then the world would amass a fortune of justice.” He sighed and turned around in desperation, seeking a pretext to get away from them. It was unbearable for him to hush and pretend something he is not. He saw Ocotoch and went for him.

“What happened earlier Yacanex? I enter the Great Hall and I see you running through the crowd! I urge you not to create problems. We need this! I leave you for a moment and you trip and push people.”

“If what you see is what it is, then my friend, you’re condemned to never question.”

Ocotoch whimsically took Yacanex from the shoulder, “Then what should I understand of you running through a Palace Hall full of pipiltin?”

“There was, or I think there was, a young woman,” said Yacanex a bit wary. “But not any woman, one of much beauty.”

“You ran to catch up a girl?” interrupted Ocotoch with irony.

“I saw her twice –on these stairs and on the way to that dark corridor. I don’t know if I saw visions, although I was more intrigued by her beauty than her existence. She had a sort of beauty we simply don’t see in this world. The alluring rarity of her ample looks and a semblance of an awe-inspiring free mind.”

They reached their companion Coacuech at the steps of the main stairs of the hall.

“A girl?” asked Ocotoch.

Coacuech jumped in, “What girl?”

“A girl so perfect! So complete!” insisted Yacanex.

“There’s no girl” joked Coacuech, “Maybe you were trying to escape the party. Think of it Ocotoch, what sort of girl will be perfect for our grumpy friend who sees flaws everywhere? No Yacanex, if there’s one for you –doesn’t matter who she is, or where you find her –don’t let her go.”

Those playful words from his friend took hold in his mind. But his thoughts were interrupted by the Palace Guards running in a single file up the stairs. They came from the palace entrance and rushed to the opposite side of the Great Hall, to the main stairs. The stairs were painted white with red bands as the rest of the inner and outer walls. It connected the chambers with the rest of the palace. All eyes turned to those stairs as the Guards occupied them.

“What now?” asked Yacanex anxiously irritated.

“The time has come. Straighten up, friend!” old Itzcuintecua surprised him, as he patted his back.

Yacanex turned around as Itzcuintecua drew away while nodding and wearing a playful smirk on his face. He probably chuckled but wasn’t heard, because Huey Tlatoani Xolotl and Colhuacan’s ruling family were being heralded out loud. Xolotl, the supreme ruler that governed the vast Chichimec Domain, appeared imposing. The High Speaker of all leaders was exceedingly aged but with a spark of youth in his manners. His bony timeworn hands waved as the world’s elite applauded. Solemn but affable, he turned to the herald and nodded with a wink. It was extraordinarily surprising for Yacanex to see such an old man still be able to move by itself, and with such energy.

In the midst of cheers and much applause emerged the Tlatoani of the city of Colhuacan, with arms wide open and an open smile in his face. He bowed to the High Ruler. Achitometl, a middle-aged man, who judging from his attitude fully enjoyed these lavish events. He kept waving incessantly with wide open arms.

“I can’t stand this, I am leaving,” shouted Yacanex right into his friends’ ears in order to be heard amid the noise that inundated the Great Hall.

“Oh, come on, you should stay a bit longer,” proposed Ocotoch screaming with high pitched voice.

“Now let us all extol the respected ruler of the sacred city of Cholula! The High Priest Itzacima, keeper of the relics of Quetzalcoatl!” proudly announced the herald.

Yacanex approached Ocotoch and said, “What is there to miss but a folly exhibition of old men with fancy titles.” As Yacanex was leaving with great difficulty through the now crammed Great Hall, Ocotoch reached him and tried to stop him. “No! I don’t want to be here!” said Yacanex. “There’s nothing for me here, less for our town Tepetlaoztoc. Surely I won’t miss anything of worth.”

“You sure are stubborn. I’ve always known that! But now you're blind,” said Ocotoch exasperated. “Mounds of dirt always relinquish treasures awaiting to be stumbled upon. Don’t they?”

“Yes, at dead cities of old. Besides, you don’t understand –”

“Seize the moment! As barren a situation might appear, there is always room for opportunities. The limit is solely upon you,” Ocotoch said.

“You may be right though this is no dirt, but pure filth! See the debasement of our peoples lying in these few hands. Their oh-so-proud looks, their lavish parties, the senseless wasting, their devious snatching of titles and power, their petty –” Yacanex froze in awe as he attempted to point up to the main stairs, muted right into his very core.

“Are you feeling right?” asked Ocotoch worried, “What is wrong, Yacanex?”

But Yacanex’s wide, unblinking eyes were already turning dry. His expression turned from surprise into a divine admiration and wonder. He could barely move or speak, only his repented arm descended slowly. Ocotoch interrupted his vision by trying to check him up close. Yacanex bent a bit to the right to keep staring. He did not want to miss a thing. Yacanex was passionate about all matters, seeing true beauty wasn’t an exception, especially when carnal incitements appeal to every man’s will. And even as intense as Yacanex was, especially with the impulsive letch he felt for this curvaceous woman, he sensed she was an otherworldly beauty beyond man’s comprehension. She carried a face so sweet and pretty yet engraved with piercing lust.

“Perfection!” he uttered as he walked to the main stairs’ base.

He had no other word to describe the delightfully beautiful lady he once again encountered. The way her face was carved with beauty and innocence made Yacanex have an eerie sensation by observing such duality of pureness and sensuality in her physique. He stared at her thick, but straight-lined mauve terracotta lips that almost thirsted in ardor to be touched. And her eyes, oh her eyes! Elongated almond eyes so divinely black –a blunt beacon stirring the crave for savage lust amongst earthly men. Such precious stones framed by elegant pitch-black eyebrows a bit thick, straight, and just bent a bit downward where the eye ends. Prominent cheekbones and a firm jaw -marks worthy of her noble blood. A beautiful skin color overall amber brown, which at times seemed copper, and golden when her skin bright in full.

“What spell this must be! The heavenly and the mundane intertwined into one? But perhaps the thirteen heavens are playing tricks on my eyes. Or could it be that the high skies lost a treasure on this Earth?”

Although Yacanex was caught in a deep trance, he could still perceive he was not alone in his rapture of awe at such a wonderful lady. All present men were delighted as well with the allure of her profound sensual esthetics. All females in the Great Hall did acknowledge her charming fairness. Considering that women tend to be reluctant to recognize beauty so easily within their same s*x –or at least to be cautious not to overplay it –she was then indeed beautiful. But little did all know that Yacanex grew a stronger fondness toward her. An attraction was solidly strengthened, in part by the veil of mystery surrounding the identity of such a heavenly lady. The man of Tepetlaoztoc, being of passions uncontrolled, let this sentiment root into the deepness of his heart. Forget the irrationality of a man’s loins, for a human heart can become more zealously infatuated with someone –with no self-control for the heart is mindless. The heart heeds to no sound and sees no person, it only feels the blazing flames of love. Always tangled in endless everyday passions, now this new obsession will unquestionably alter him. Yacanex’s heart could become a dangerous asset not to be taken lightly. And still, his heart is solidly upright and frank.

Relentless by nature and will,

His heart took not a decision,

Coerced by any foul feel,

Just unescapable treason,

To dip into the mud, and find her real.

Relentless he crawled the filth hill,

Yielding to the need of his blood,

Of the heart’s ambition to fill,

To dip into the mud,

and rescue what is sought.