Falling for a God

Ch 13: Twilight

~Namora~

The jaguar's new laboratory was being built behind the little shack. Ah K'in and Itzamna came to help; they were good young warriors. Ah K'in had trained rigorously under Attuma's watch and Itzamna, the youngest, had barely been taken under K'uk'ulkan's wing.

Nala, the happy warrior, was finishing the last details of the laboratory and was chatting with Itzamna.

"And how did you learn English?"

She asked him, both putting together a table of some sort.

"K'uk'ulkan taught me how. At first, he didn't want to; He said there would be no need for us to understand the outside world."

"It looks like he changed his mind."

"Yes, and I'm happy he did because the outside world is cool."

"Cool? I'm sure K'uk'ulkan didn't teach you that."

"Don't tell anyone but... I read some books."

"Books!"

"Sh. Yes, books. He hides them in his room above the sea. They got a ton of stuff and they use words like that. Pretty cool huh?"

"What books are you talking about?"

K'uk'ulkan asked as he appeared under the door frame, leaning on his side while staring at those two with a raised eyebrow.

Itzamna was paralyzed from head to toe as he heard such a familiar and yet terrifying commanding voice. Nala widened her eyes and stood straight like a tree, then lowered her head and stood back. The boy saluted him, keeping his head down.

"I... nothing. It's nothing."

"What did I tell you about lying to me?"

K'uk'ulkan was now inside the newly built laboratory, standing in front of the frightened boy. I tried to keep a straight face; foolish Itzamna.

"I'm sorry."

The boy muttered. K'uk'ulkan's eyes softened as he placed a hand over his shoulder. He had a weak spot for youngsters.

"There's someone who wants to meet you all. Adria, princess of Wakanda woke up."

"The princess! The one you were all talking about?"

Itzamna asked, high-spirited.

"Ah yes. She was asleep, but she's now awake and ready to meet her fellow brothers and sisters."

"Brothers and sisters?"

I asked, confused.

"One of her parents is from Talokan. We talked about this, Namora."

A half-Talokanil princess from Wakanda was a title I didn't expect to hear in my lifetime. I saw her turn blue like the ocean and heard stories about her strength like ours, but it was hard to believe. No Talokanil would dare to meddle with a land dweller. In fact, none of us is allowed out unless by K'uk'ulkan's command, and if one doesn't return, we look for them till we find them. Who would dare to fall for the outside world? For a mere human?

The half-princess appeared and seemed surprised to meet us, her eyes staring at the complexion of our skin. I saluted her and she didn't know how to respond. Clumsily, the jaguar's sister mimicked our greeting. She didn't look like us; frail looking and with wires on her teeth so-called braces. In fact, she looked like K'uk'ulkan. Wings on her ankles and ears that naturally point to the sky. Her skin was brown like ours underwater, but no sign of azure. She breathed air like land dwellers just fine. Was she really a sister to us?