By the time she’s arrived at the sandtower, Tzil’s energy has left her body in its entirety. She’s been questioned by the people manning the truck, and in turn has received only reassurance from them when asking about Tlinyi. They do answer that apparently the attackers were from a town that supports the Johuians and is against the Kenzekese, with whom the town in which they were are allied.It is relieving for Tzil to find out that she wasn’t the cause for the attack in the first place.

Eventually, the truck crawls down to a stop, and so do a squad of other trucks following along. Groups of men and women line the outside of the truck, and Tzil heads down. She walks back inside at a lumbering pace. She is guided to her room, where she lets herself lay flat on the bed and sleep.

For the first time in a long time, she doesn’t wake up in time with her schedule. Her body asks for further rest, and she obliges, waking up in midday. Tzil takes a shower, and changes into a second set of combat clothes. Then she exits her room, and she is greeted by a man and woman, equally large, standing straight and stoically.

"Where's Tlinyi?"

Asks Tzil, concerned for the girl that had been accompanying her until a short while ago. She hopes that Tlinyi was able to escape before things got difficult. The only thing that Tzil knows is that Tlinyi is a high ranking officer, not whether that has any effect on Tlinyi’s survival, or if she’s trained for the situation.

"Officer Tlinyi is localized here, she is currently alive and healthy. We’ve been given orders to escort you in her place, we haven’t been given clearance to let you meet with her."

Says the woman. Once she hears that, Tzil notices how a knot in her upper back begins to unwind. She doesn’t understand why Tlinyi is unable to see her at the moment, with her best guess being that she has an important mission. Still, the fact that she is alive and well is, by itself, relief-inducing. The next thing for her to do is to find out what else she needs to work on. In order to find out, Tzil asks another question.

"Is there anything for me to do right now?"

"Empress Tsuk’A will be arriving tomorrow, in the meantime, you don’t have a particular task assigned to you. You are free to do as you wish within the tower. We’ll escort you to account for any eventuality."

Hearing this, a cough escapes from Tzil, followed by her relaxing her body, and heading to the hangar. The sandtower is as large as it is void of things in which to occupy her mind. Despite this, she can safely say that the experience so far has been unforgivable. Even if it is as a result of something that is not directly related to the sandtower, but to what she was asked to do as a result of not having something to do in the first place.

Her head hurts while she thinks of it in that manner, so she resolves to instead focus on finding something to check. Seeing the equipment at the hangar is one of the few ways in which she can acquire a moment of respite.

She heads to the hangar with bodyguards in tow. Shows her soldier identification giving her the right to inspect the machinery. And puts on the engineering suit that will enable her to work on things, feeling more at home than ever in the sandtower in that moment. Inside there’s a wide array of vehicles. All of them powered by Rhydian cores turning their energy into electricity as opposed to an R-Suit’s direct transfer.

For the most part, they have custom made circuitry from large factories. When one part fails, it is generally easier to simply replace that specific part rather than have someone try to fix it. The most Tzil can do is ensure that cables are properly insulated. A simple job, but one that she finds fulfilling.

She goes from one to the next. Once in a while she peels a cable and then replaces what she’s peeled. Overall, she finds that everything is in top shape, as would be expected of a diligently maintained military base. It still gives her a chance to see under the hood of models that aren’t present in Otzin. It’s interesting to her compared to reading about it.

While working in this manner, she can see the thought process behind each vehicle. She learns of ways of building things that she would have never thought of. She takes a mental note of the ones she liked the most to jot them down in her notebook later. Some of them are useful for building other things.

Her day reminds her of her days in Iltzik before building the R-Suit. In a literal way, she’s travelled farther than she expected to go. She never expected to visit Otzin, which is not a touristic city. Neither did she ever expect to reach into unprotected areas. Whether it’s good or bad, she can’t tell.

Tzil heads back to her room and writes her notes down in a notebook. Eventually, she’ll find some use for them. Probably not in anything related to war, at least she hopes so. She doesn’t know anything for sure recently so she avoids assuming that that is what is going to happen.

Still tired from the previous day, it doesn’t take long for Tzil to fall asleep. She doesn’t bother changing except for removing her boots. Caution has taken her over. As such, it is hard for her to leave herself completely off guard.

When she wakes up, it is not because of nature or time. It is instead because someone is pushing her hard. Prompting her to jump quickly out of her bed and to the side.

"Quick, come over, we need backup!"

Says the person, someone dressed in full Huitzlian military attire. It is too dark for Tzil to determine any features on them. Tzil puts on her boots as fast as she can, and runs behind the person. The person has a frantic pace to themselves, leading Tzil to keep a similar speed.

They climb floors by foot, one, two, three, they continue this way until they manage to reach the eighth floor, at which point, Tzil is taken towards a large rifle.

"Kenzekese rebels, they hate us for coming in to stop the war stop them at all costs!"

Shouts the person while running off, probably to their own position. Tzil doesn’t have much time to think before she has to head towards the gun, an elongated rifle with a bipod base at the front, and air chambers in the back to release most of the recoil elsewhere. Since there isn’t a spotter however, Tzil understands that the gun is not a sniper.

She looks down her sight. Coming towards the sandtower are small, brown, 4 winged, flying vehicles. Their wings spread diagonally upwards and downwards, and stretch out along the middle, with the back of the vehicles stretching further into 4 brick-sized blocks.

Their shape makes them easy to recognize as LHRF vehicles, or Low Height Raid Flyers. As far as Tzilpapali knows, they are meant to work against personnel as opposed to structures.. But they are coming at the sandtower, and she doesn’t have much of a choice in thinking that they are supposed to do something else.

Doing her best to aim, she begins shooting at them to seemingly no effect. Suddenly, one of them goes down. She wasn’t shooting at it in particular so she assumes it wasn’t one of her bullets. Rather someone else’s.

It doesn’t take long for the rest of the LHRF’s to fall. And after what seems like a couple of minutes at most, there’s nothing left to shoot at. Tzilpapali leans back on her chair and relaxes her arms, letting them fall to her sides. She is escorted back to her room by a couple of soldiers and takes her rest quickly.

She eventually wakes up again. Her body is aching from constant stress, but she feels ready for action otherwise. Tzil showers and changes to a combat outfit, then exits her room. Immediately, she is greeted by the same two bodyguards from the day before who say.

"We’ll take you to the empress now. You’ll have to wait before you can meet with her, so please be patient."

Says one of the two. After, they motion for Tzil to follow them, and they take her to a large bench in front of a war room. She seats in the bench and waits, while the two bodyguards stand diagonally in front of her to the left and right.

Shortly less than an hour later, a man exits the room. He nods at Tzilpapali, indicating that it is alright for her to come in. At the same time, he exits the room unceremoniously. Tzil enters, noticing that the only one inside is empress Tsuk’A, seating to the back of the room expectantly.

"Close the door behind you Tzilpapali."

Commands the empress. Tzil follows the command obediently and seats down herself in front of the empress.

"I heard what happened in the town where Tlinyi took you. It must have been difficult."

Says the empress. Tzil nods and replies.

"It was, last night as well your highness."

"Last night you weren’t in any danger, it was just necessary to have you experience combat again."

When the empress says this, Tzil stops for a moment, unsure of what the empress is talking about, she says.

"They told me it was important, that they were undermanned."

"It was a lie, you were given a gun with blanks. They are a miniature faction with no real power behind them, we had them so heavily outgunned, the tower was not in any danger whatsoever."

"Then why? Your majesty."

Finally asks Tzil. The empress clears her throat and says.

"When a soldier has their first experience in battle, it is important for them to have a second one as soon as possible or they develop an insurmountable fear of combat. We had to beat that part into you, and I’m not sorry about that. You’ll be useless inside your R-Suit if you are afraid. We’ll also inform a therapist of the situation and have them accompany us for you to have tri-weekly sessions, to keep you in top form."

States the empress. Tzil doesn’t know how to feel. She is relieved to be sure that she did not kill any of the LHRF pilots. Otherwise, she is not sure whether to feel betrayed, or understood. The empress continues before Tzil can begin to sort out her feelings.

"I wanted to tell you something now so let’s get back to the point."

Says the empress, taking her ceremonial obsidian knife from her thigh holder and grabbing it by the skull-shaped pommel.

"Things like the one I’m about to tell you are going to happen very often, so you better get used to them. Tlinyi, was conspiring to have you killed. I’ll execute her in the manner of Toilpi, and you’ll be there."

Tzilpapali feels a chill go down her spine and every muscle in her body contracts. Her eyes widen, her jaw clenches, and cold sweat pours down her forehead. It takes her a minute, but when she is able to muster the strength to speak she says.

"Tlinyi tried to kill me?"

"That she did. Some members of her family were born in unprotected settlements. Many rank high in the air force, and they’d be the first to be given a chance to apply as R-Suit pilots if you died. If they succeeded, we’d have to turn their settlements into protected ones immediately."

States Tsuk’A without any reservation. Tzilpapali in turn begins to breathe harder and faster until the empress calms her down with short pats on the back. When Tsuk’A talks again, she does so in a half-successful attempt to sound reassuring.

"Now, don’t you feel bad about not knowing. She is one of the best intelligence agents we’ve had, no one knew her intentions, not even her closest friends. She found out that the town you were in was going to be attacked before anyone else did. Her mistake was to underestimate the survival skills that our basic training gave you."

The reassurance works to an extent. Tzilpapali’s breathing returns to normal even if she is still agitated by the ordeal. At that point, she still has one more question.

"So then, what are we going to do now?"

"As I said, you’ll keep accompanying me, and we’ll have a therapist assigned to you. I’ll increase our precautions to ensure that something like this doesn’t repeat. For now, know that I’ll execute Tlinyi tonight. Try to rest in the meantime."

Tzilpapali lays in her bed, completely stiff, until it’s time for Tlinyi to be executed. When it is, forceful knocks on the door alert her that she has no choice but to go and see. The same 2 bodyguards from the morning and the past day, followed by 4 other guards. They stand in formation and take Tzil upstairs.

Tzil loses count of the number of floors they climb before stopping, where they are headed is much higher than ever before. Slowly, less and less people come into view. The room that they wind up reaching is completely isolated from the rest of the sandtower. Men line the entrance, making it clear that Tsuk’A is inside.

The bodyguards stand to the side, letting Tzilpapali head inside by herself. There, she sees empress Tsuk ‘A standing solemnly in the center while holding her ceremonial knife to her chest. The empress has her ceremonial crown, made of onyx with encrusted jade and large blue feathers. She’s also wearing a large black wool scarf around her chest heading all the way down her waist.

There’s 2 people on either side of the room, judging by their uniforms, Tzil notes that all of them are high ranking officers. All of them stand straight with their arms crossed behind their back and looking directly forward. One of them walks towards Tzil and takes her to her position. Tzilpapali is placed to the left of the empress, the side of the witness. The person who took her goes back to their position.

Silence permeates the room. No one moves a muscle. Everyone is still, dead silent, and expressionless. Everything is then interrupted by hard footsteps from 2 men and 2 women. The first two, a man and woman, come in at a marching rhythm. They are dressed lightly, with clothes only covering their chest and from the waist to the knees. They have red makeup with a white stripe on the chin .

The two start skipping side to side in opposition, making the best of the limited space that they have. They begin to raise one arm, then the other, then the first one again. They stop at times, and then go to the center, moving in a ritualistic circle.

Finally, Tsuk’A makes them halt completely with a loud shout

"HA!"

Shouts Tsuk’A. Everything stops again, the two other men and woman, both dressed completely in white go inside and take their place to the right of Tsuk’A. One of them is carrying two towels, while the other carries a large white bowl. Once they’ve taken their place, Tsuk’A begins to intonate simple vowel sounds. She does so at a given rhythm, that every other person in the room begins to follow.

Not knowing what else to do, Tzil intonates in harmony with the rest. Eventually, the empress stops singing, while the rest of the room continues. Tsuk’A then commences singing a song, prompting the dancers to resume their movement.

Oh great Huitzli oh great land

Where our lives all began

Where a million gods live

In whose will we believe

And who own this day now

As Tsuk’A sings this, 4 men come in with Tlinyi tied to a chair. Tlinyi has her eyes covered And a piece of cloth inside her mouth. Tlinyi is dressed in yellow, and has her hair tied into 3 elaborate braids. However, the lower half of her hair at the base of her skull has been razored off.

Of those gods three own today

With their powers that lay

Above men and all else

Ruling health and farewells

Immediately, the man carrying the bowl holds it below Tlinyi’s head. Two of the four men that were taking her in begin to hold Tlinyi’s head perfectly still.

Tziluktani take us

To the heights of Pochpoch

We’ll take from our land

To Zomocuhtli’s realm

Tsuk’A lowers her dagger. The blade is aiming right at the spot where Tlinyi had her hair shaved off.

To Pochpoch who is wise

Who leads thought and advice

We give you this mind

And we let it unwind

After singing this, Tsuk’A drives the knife into Tlinyi’s by the base where the neck and skull connect. Throughout this, Tlinyi forcefully mumbles in spite of not being able to make a sound due to the cloth in her mouth. Eventually, the knife reaches Tlinyi’s brain, who has to be held by the other 2 men so that she doesn’t convulse.

Tzilpapali tries to close her eyes but an instinct within herself compels her to keep them open. Every part of her body goes numb at once, and she doesn’t know how she manages to remain standing. She stops singing altogether, while the rest of the people in the room keep intonating. Tsuk’A goes on with her song

Tziluktani may have

In her sorrowful half

The water of strife

May it make a new life

Blood begins to pour out from where Tlinyi was stabbed, falling on Tsuk’A’s clothes and inside the bowl prepared below her head.

And to Zomocuhtli’s strength

We hand this soul alength

To survive winter’s end

And the storms that upend

Our conviction and blood

Tsuk’A finishes singing. She twists the knife and pushes it forward. At this point, Tlinyi stops moving. Tsuk’A removes the knife from Tlinyi’s head. It has visibly chipped and broken apart in places.

The woman with the towels puts one of the towels on top of Tlinyi’s body, then gives the other one to Tsuk’A, who leaves her knife aside, and cleans herself with the towel. The rest of the people present continue intonating, and the dancers continue dancing for a solid minute until they gradually begin to stop.

Tsuk’A motions for people to leave, and she waits until everyone’s gone. She holds Tzilpapali by her shoulder, and helps the girl walk beside her. The two make their way outside and to Tsuk’A’s room.

"I wish it could have happened some other way."

Says Tsuk’A solemnly.

"Then you should make it so, you out of all people can do that!"

Snaps Tzilpapali finally. Tsuk’A shakes her head and replies.

"Right now I can’t. I’m already breaking tradition by not expanding our land, and by giving protection to more of our towns and cities."

"Then break more traditions."

"Tlinyi was a traitor, she’d have been executed anyway."

"Why?"

"To welcome people to Huitzli, I have to protect them. I can’t protect a group that thinks they can work against me. Tlinyi was working for her family and against Huitzli, it’s as simple as that."

Tzilpapali can’t think of what to answer but she is not satisfied. Part of her realizes what Tlinyi did, but she still doesn’t think that she was irredeemable. Tzil and Tsuk’A eventually reach their rooms, opposite of one another. Each one of them heads to their own room, and Tzil lays on her bed, without resting.

She’d seen executions on television before. And she’d heard that sometimes people were executed in private. She just didn’t think that she’d be part of one.

——————————

Zocoyotl stands in front of the Huitzlian embassy wearing an elongated general robe, green in color with white lining around the edge. The sun hasn’t dawned just yet. He’s 2 hours early for his appointment to escort Pamil, Huitzli’s ambassador. It’s a habit of Zocoyotl to prepare in case any need arises.

He stands straight without shifting his gaze. While waiting, he moves only to remove his coat once the morning sun gets too warm for comfort. Eventually he is greeted by a woman escorted by two men. She is short and overweight, with her age showing clearly on her dark features.

"Ah Zoco, nice to see you."

Says the woman, joyfully.

"Ambassador Pamil, good to see you, ma’am"

Responds Zocoyotl, prompting the woman to scratch her temple and say.

"It’s in times like this that I wished you were a bit of a normal child Zoco. We’ll have plenty of time for formality later."

"I’m on duty right now ma’am."

Replies Zocoyotl.

"Ah well, you’ll lighten up for auntie eventually"

Says Pamil as she pats him on the back. Following that, a large car parks in front of the two of them. It’s colored in a gray-blue tint and wide along the back, with 3 rows of seats. Pamil, Zocoyotl, and a bodyguard seat in the middle row with Pamil in-between the other two.

The car is headed for a private government airport. The only ways for a Huitzlian to go to Ilvyria are to go by train or boat if one is a merchant, or to go via a government airplane. Only high-ranking government officials are given clearance to take a plane to Ilvyria. They are registered days beforehand, the two governments agree on what the visit will consist of, and they are sent there.

Pamil’s visit in particular is one of two yearly meetings between the Huitzlian and Ilvyrian ambassadors. She’s spent the last few months preparing non-stop, knowing fully well the weight of the tensions between the two countries.

On the other hand, Zocoyotl is there to act as a detractor of seemingly independent agents intent on causing a rift between nations by harming Pamil. He is to identify and neutralize threats before they happen.

When they arrive, they board a large plane. Inside, Pamil and Zocoyotl are given a large private room.They still have to fasten their seatbelts as the airplane makes its way to the skies. But they have certainty of privacy, allowing them to discuss without a care.

"Since it’s your first time in Ilvyria, I’ll have to check if you know the standard formalities."

Says Pamil. Zocoyotl nods.

"I’ve been well prepared I think."

Pamil nods in agreement.

"Let’s start by checking the basics."

Zocoyotl says nothing but he closes and opens his eyes slowly understandingly.

"Expect greetings to be short and to the point."

"Yes ma’am"

"Meals are served in various small portions, the concept of a main dish is foreign to them, make sure to eat as you talk so as to not waste time for the next round of food to come."

"Yes ma’am"

"You are considered as a high ranking officer which is the same as a noble there. You are expected to initiate every conversation you need to have with lower ranked individuals. Outside of nobility and fellow officers, don’t expect anyone to address you first, except to serve."

Hearing this, Zocoyotl stays quiet for a second, closes and opens his eyes slowly, then does an imperceivable nod.

"Yes ma’am, I’m aware."

"This is as annoying for me as it is for you, but what to do, that’s the Ilvyrians."

Finishes Pamil. There’s more details related to Ilvyrian customs that she didn’t elaborate upon, however the questions that she asked are more than enough to ascertain that Zocoyotl has been taught properly. As long as that’s the case, Pamil is calm knowing that everything that the boy took steps in order to memorize everything that he was taught.

The rest of the flight’s long and uneventful. Zocoyotl and Pamil spend their time watching movies from a selection in individual screens. Once in a while gazing outside to see the shapeless whiteness of clouds. Both of them are served a decent meal while they wait.

Eventually, the plane begins its descent. Zocoyotl takes the chance to look at the Ilvyrian grounds, intent on appraising them by himself. From the brief period of time in which he is able to see the country from above, he notices that they lack the extensive network of rails that connects protected cities in Huitzli. Instead, roads connecting independent cities are more rudimentary in build, but far more extensive than those in Huitzli, with more cities as well.

Closing in, he notices that cars go to and fro, from one city to the next. They lack the efficiency of Huitzlian railways, and trade it in for accessibility. The architecture is very dissimilar to the one present in Huitzli, but he chooses to wait until they are in the city before trying to determine how it looks.

The landing site is clear, the airplane hits the ground and bounces off once before steadying itself and plowing forward. Stopping is a gradual action, requiring the plane to lose momentum over kilometers, while the people inside, both the staff and the passengers, keep their seatbelts fastened.

A few moments later, and they are clear to leave. They unfasten their seatbelts and head down. Right outside the plane, they are greeted by an expensive van, and a smiling diplomat outside of it. A short and stocky man, resilient in build. His facial expressions are all practiced, undoubtedly the result of countless hours courting a mirror to perfect the art of social encounters. He hails from northern Ilvyria, near the border with Huitzli, and like most northern Ilvyrians, he has the tan skin and almond eyes that would make him pass for a southern Huitzlian easily.

Once she’s reached the ground, Pamil greets the man. Due to mutual agreement, they talk in Huitzlian.

"Ambassador Ryvial, well met."

"Ambassador Pamil, it’s a pleasure. Who’s this man that’s accompanying you?"

"The empress’ nephew, and my assistant for the visit, General Zocoyotl."

"A general? Fairly militant of Huitzli to bring one without warning."

"Most Huitzlians in power have been in the military in the past. I’m an exception, you know this."

Hearing this, ambassador Ryvial laughs nasally.

"You are right, right you are."

Ryvial turns to Zocoyotl.

"Then general, since it’s your first time here, welcome to Imphia, the northern deer."

"Thank you ambassador."

Zocoyotl nods, he keeps his distrust for the man hidden both because it is useless, and because Ryvial hasn’t had the time to make a lasting impression just yet. Their conversation continues in the van. Pamil, Zocoyotl, and Ryvial seat in the back, separated by a thick wall from the driver.

The windows are blacked out so that the inside can’t be seen from the outside, but the city of Imphia is easily visible from the inside. From what Zocoyotl knows, Imphia is supposed to be an important technological hub for the Ilvyrian empire. It’s a northwestern city with access to the sea. As such, both trade and technology are present and well developed.

Zocoyotl keeps his eyes peeled, watching the comings and goings of the city. As they exit the airport, the van moves through a middle class area full of near identical single story, beige houses with roofs consisting of elongated tiles and ending in an upward spike, indicating the presence of a lot of rain.

There’s traffic, a relatively unknown occurrence throughout Huitzli due to the prevalence of public transport. On the other hand, it also speaks about the presence of people from other cities in Imphia, as well as the sheer number of developed cities in Ilvyria.

Soon enough, they are past the middle class area, and well into the financial district. The moment in which they enter the financial district, the locals dramatically change. People walking along the grassy promenade are wearing well-crafted attires, and every car in sight looks both clean and expensive. There doesn’t seem to be any wall between the financial district and other parts of the city, at least no physical one, so Zocoyotl finds himself confused.

Once he stops focusing on the people, he sees the buildings. On the left side, a large walkway that sees the river. To his right, skyscrapers made of steel and glass, expensive enough to be allowed to be artistic, and with a skyline that can be appreciated from afar. Remarkably, he notices that the slight bumpiness of the road has ended in favor of perfectly paved concrete. He assumes that maintenance must happen every few weeks without fail.

As they arrive to their hotel, Zocoyotl collects his first impressions of the city. He compares it to cities in Huitzli, and sees a far more striking societal difference. But on the other hand, he accepts that the Ilvyrian government has done a remarkable job in allowing more cities to grow naturally.

Once they arrive, Ryvial speaks.

"As usual, we can talk tomorrow. Aside from yourselves, the only foreigners at the Kralo hotel are a Kashar couple. Locals here might find your attire interesting and stop to stare."

Ryvial calls a man from the front of the car.

"Orbos here will be your attendant, he’s been instructed to do the check-in for you, and will respond to any query as efficiently as possible."

Orbos is a thin and short man wearing an overly warm looking black shirt with black pants and black shoes. This symbolizes his status as a lower class attendant. Orbos makes haste in guiding Pamil and Zocoyotl to the reception desk, where the receptionist tries to avoid eye contact, and deals directly only with Orbos.

Zocoyotl understands that this is part of the class system of Ilvyria, but he still finds it difficult to accept when witnessing it first hand. Pamil and him are taken to the elevator by the bell boy. They are lead to their room by a bell boy, who similarly to everyone else keeps to himself and guides them without a word except for a simple “here’s your room” once they arrive to their individual penthouse suites.

Once settled in, luggage in the room, and while laying on the bed, Zocoyotl looks through the window, at the imposing skyline of the financial district, and looking down, he notices the small parks around the large red Rhydian cores that power the entire city. They’ve been turned into attractions, technological wonderlands near the financial district, and large fast food halls away from it.

Zocoyotl turns away. That’s one more note for him to take for later. He takes a look outside at Pamil’s room, and sure enough it’s well guarded. Assuaging his concerns, he heads to sleep, doing so in a timely fashion is also his duty.