Days And Nights (Book of Life and Maya and the Three One Shots)

At All Costs

Chaska finds a baby in the woods.

Chaska and Estrella were in the mortal realm walking through the jungle. It was a normal night until Chaska heard what was definitely a child's cry.

The two wolves looked at each other. Chaska led the way as they, following the cries. The cries became louder as they got closer. 

When the cries were loud enough, the two wolves stopped. No more than fifteen feet away, was a basket covered in a blanket. There was no doubt an infant moving underneath. 

Chaska was about to investigate when she heard snarling. A jaguar was stalking closer to the baby. She could hear the low growling coming from the large cat.

She lunged in front of the jaguar, shielding the baby, her teeth bared as she snarled loudly. Seeing the unnaturally large wolf, the jaguar growled as it turned around and left.

After the jaguar was gone, Chaska turned her attention to the baby. She gently grabbed the edge of the blanket with her teeth and uncovered the baby. The infant had tan skin with small tufts of dark brown hair. By the scent, female.

Strangely, when she saw Chaska as a giant wolf, she almost instantly stopped crying. Chaska tilted her head in confusion, especially when the baby reached for her. Estrella came closer to observe. 

Chaska tried doing what Estrella does with babies, nudging their face gently with her nose. The baby giggled at the touches, making Chaska smile. In a flash, she changed into her true goddess form. The baby didn't seem phased by the sudden transformation.

Chaska picked up the baby from her basket, “What are you doing out here?” Estrella looked around and yipped, “Ay… I hoped that wasn't true.”

…

Chaska and Estrella returned to the celestial realm with the baby. They went to La Muerte, Tezcatlipoca, Zatz, and Maya to talk about the situation. The infant looked at the gods with wonder in her eyes.

“Aw, she's so cute.” Dawn gushed as they all looked at the baby.

“What's her name?” Dusk asked.

“She doesn't have one.” Chaska said, “She was alone and abandoned in the wilderness and would've been jaguar food if it weren't for us.”

“This isn't how I imagined we'd start a family, but this is more than-” Chaska growled at Tezcatlipoca, “Kidding, kidding. You think you'd know by now.”

“What do you mean ‘family’?”

“We just assumed…” Maya said. She and Zatz glanced at each other, “Are you not keeping her?”

“What?” Chaska and Estrella exchanged glances, “No, of course not.”

“But why not?” La Muerte asked, picking up the baby, “She's already here and you went through the effort of saving her.” 

“Yeah.” Tezcatlipoca said, “Candle Maker and I can whip up some ambrosia and we'll-”

“I just saved her, she can't stay. I'm gonna look for the nearest orphanage and drop her off.”

“An orphanage?” Zatz asked, “She won't be guaranteed a family that way.”

“She belongs in the mortal realm.”

“Well… well, we can look for her family ourselves.” Maya said.

“What?” Chaska asked.

“We go to the mortal realm and look for potential families. We'll even go with you.”