Silver Jungle

Chapter 3

"This is place that people would trade during the day in this capulli. The small markets are called tiyanquiztli. Each capulli had its own tiyanquiztli for the its denizens. The twenty capulli were split between the four large camps. This meant that the Aztec had a very organized city layout, especially for a city as large as this was." Levi announced, sipping from her water bottle. Dani rolled his eyes. 'It's not obvious or anything' he thought sarcastically.

"And can you tell us about any of the culture of the Aztec?" Señora said, trying to keep herself excited, but even she was fading quickly.

"Not really, there isn't much to tell about the marketplaces of the Aztec." Levi sounded confused. "It's mostly information."

"Okay." Señora replied, a bit discouraged. "If you don't mind, Levi, we might start getting back to the hotel."

"Señora, what's that?" Dani caught sight of something in the distance. It looked like ruins of something that had once been impressive.

"Good eye Dani!" She responded, regaining some of her pep. "That's the Templo Mayor. Inside the Sacred Precinct, there are many smaller temples to gods, like Quetzalcoatl, as well as major temples like the one to Huitzilopochtli. Now, does anyone remember what those two where the gods of? Martha?"

"Um, Quetzalcoatl was the god of wind and wisdom, while Huitzilopochtli was the god of war, right?"

"Yes, that is correct! Plus Tlaloc, god of rain was also an important deity to the Aztec." Señora cheered, and the whole group seemed to brighten. "We will be going there tomorrow, so you'll see it again."

"That will be fun." Dani remarked.

"I certainly hope so." Señora said, smiling. Levi seemed to get sullener, the spotlight taken from her.

"I'm not really a fan of the tour guides that tourists get for the Templo. They're very superficial." Levi seemed to pout, as Señora started to lead them back to the bus. No one responded to her, unwilling to hear her voice. Then after a minuet; "Aw, shoot."

"Is something wrong, Levi?" Señora turned around to look at the boring woman, who was frowning at her water bottle.

"My water's empty."

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Dani felt a pull on his navel when they passed the Templo in the bus. He winced slightly, looking out the window at the Templo. He touched where it had hurt, but it didn't twinge like the plaques did. It had been momentary, but he still felt the pain were it had been.

"Dani, are you alright? Your mother did sent a you with some kind of lidocaine cream, correct? Do you need to use it?" Señora inquired, very close to Dani's ear.

"Oh!" Dani jumped, surprised. "No, I'm fine, I must be hungry or something."

"Alright." Señora said, bust something in her voice told Dani she didn't believe him.

Dani watched as the sun set behind the top of the ruins. It looked like it was on fire.

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Later that night, with Keyes in the other bed across from him, Dani was wide awake. He checked his clock, watching the red colon blink. It was two in the morning, and he was so tired, but he couldn't sleep. His navel still buzzed, like a muscular twitch that wouldn't go away. Finally, he threw the covers back, and pulled on some clothes. As he got out of the room, Dani made sure to shut the door quietly, so he didn't wake Keyes.