Frangipani

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. But, then again, that was also true for Citlali and her tribe. It did not matter that they had been taken to this strange land more than 13 years ago, or that Citlali herself had been born there, they looked and felt like outsiders.

Citlali has sneaked out this morning, like many others, to go to the portal station in the lake. Every Wednesday she makes sure to leave before the sun rises, to ensure no one notices her leaving. She walks by many timber framed houses, like the one her family currently serve in, buildings almost as tall as the pyramids built by Citlali’s Mayan ancestors. The houses have many windows within wooden frames. The windows can polarize to block out light, but right now they are clear and she can see some lights on inside. There seems to be a new shipment today, Citlali stares in anticipation as she hides behind a rail bar.

A giant ship is coming through a neon purple and blue portal on the lake, the edges static with electricity. Strong winds coming through provoke vicious waves on the water. As soon as the wooden ship makes it through, the portal instantly closes. Now that the wind has stopped and Citlali can keep her eyes wide open, she gets a better look at the new dragons that have been dragged in. She can make out at least five dragons caged on the top of the ship, they are grandiose beasts unlike anything Citlali had ever seen before. Living close to the portal station had given Citlali the opportunity to see many different creatures come through, but nothing compared to the awe and intimidation these creatures inspired .

One dragon in particular grabbed Citlali's attention, a dragon with pink feathers covering its slender body, wings and long tail, much bigger than the others. It has two branch-like horns on each side of its head, and in the middle a white iridescent gem protruding from its skin. Citlali had never seen something like it on any other dragon before. The creature is pulling at its chains violently, hitting the rail bars of its cage. Just as it seems it could break free, a “blue” man hits it with a long stick that sends shock waves through her body. This makes her stop and slump in weakness. Citlali winces and looks away.

Citlali notices the town is starting to get busy. Carriages with their android horses start populating the streets. The first sun is starting to peek into the horizon and Citlali decides to make her way back before anyone notices her absence. Citlali thinks of her mother and her grandfather, how it must have felt when they were first brought here. Both of them with skin the color of terracotta, and their long braided hair, one of the few customs they were allowed to keep from their old world.

Citlali’s mother had conceived her before being teleported to this world, and only realized she was pregnant three months after. Citlali had never met her father, according to her grandpa Yaxkin, he had been left behind in their old world. Her grandfather once told her that Akna, Citlali’s mother, once had a fiery spirit. She would do the opposite of everything she was told. Although she gave him a hard time when she was younger, he misses that fire in her. The fire that had dampened once they were brought here.

The “blue” men came into contact with them in the five most unlucky days of the year, days her grandfather calls Uayeb. It should have served as a warning to the tribe, but they were intrigued by their peculiar appearance. Although very similar in shape, they had blue skin, white hair and yellow eyes. They had a ship that would appear and disappear in an instant, strange clothes and curious black staff that emitted lightning. All magic that her grandfathers’ tribe had never seen before. They believed them to be gods, and only realized their true identity and motives when it was too late. They stole anything of worth from their cities and made them slaves in a world that turned out not to be magical at all. A place where their gods did not dare visit.

***

Once Citlali makes it to the master's home, she enters through the back door, keying in the combination for the lock. As she silently scurries her way through the kitchen, she notices Xotchil, Tikal and Itzel already banging cabinets and skillets to prepare breakfast. They are all, like Citlali’s mother, wearing a similar uniform. Their uniform consists of a light colored linen dress under a metal corset engraved with the Santos crest, signifying their owner.

The metal corset is only used amongst slaves. They are only ever allowed to remove it in their private quarters. Citlali would watch her mother put it on every morning when she was younger and shared rooms. Akna would put the corset on through her head, and once positioned correctly she would press a button in the front. The corset would then shift gears and become smaller to fit the user tightly. It also had a loop in the back to make it easier for the slave handlers to control them. Citlali did not wear one because she was considered too young, but now that she is turning thirteen in a few weeks it wouldn’t be long until she, too, was required to wear one.

Citlali is too busy watching her back to notice that she and Lucia have both turned on the same hallway going opposite directions. It isn’t until Citlali bumps into her cold golden corset that she turns to see her. Lucia is only a few weeks older than Citlali. She, like all the natives of this world, has light blue skin, white hair and yellow eyes. Her hair is styled in a bun on top of her head, with bangs and two long strands of hair framing her face. Now that she has recently become thirteen, she is wearing an attire common to the royal ladies of the town. Her dress is made of red cotton, it has long sleeves with golden flowers embroidered by Citlali's mother. On top of it all, a golden corset, much lighter than the ones worn by the slaves, but she seems just as uncomfortable as they do with this new addition in her attire. Lucia stares at Citlali with disgust, looking at her lowly beige linen dress. The only thing of color is a white and yellow frangipani flower Citlali embroidered with the help of her mother on her left chest.

“What are you doing?” Lucia barks at Citlali.

“Umm,” Citlali thinks hard on what to say next “Um, I’m… I was just running an errand.”

“What errand?” Lucia asks as she furrows her eyes with suspicion.

“Oh, miss Lucia, I don't want to bother you with such boring stories like my errands!” Citlali says quickly as she walks past her with a big smile and waves her hand “Bye!” She quickly disappears from Lucia's view. As she walks up the stairs to the slave quarters, she sneaks into her and her grandpa’s room. It is a small four-walled room with just enough space for a bunk bed on the right and a small rack for clothes on the left. Her grandpa is snoring as she climbs up to her top bunk bed and just as she lays down he wakes up with a cough.

“Is that you?” Yaxkin asks with a raspy voice.

“Yes, nool” Citlali answers her grandpa after a yawn, pretending she just woke up.

Bang, bang, bang. Citlali can hear her grandpa hitting the metal of the bunk beds with his crane in a rhythmic form. Citlali giggles as she starts making her way down again. Once her feet touch the ground she starts stomping her feet in the same rhythm. Her grandfather, who has been sickly for the past few months, seems to forget his ailment as he stops the banging and joins Citlali in the dance. Mirroring their movements they stomp and raise their feet and legs, their arms swaying in the air. They spin with the right foot in the air, once they make the full turn they stomp the right foot hard and raise their arms. They then stomp both feet rapidly as they sway their arms side to side and chant. They perform this Mayan dance nearly every morning, the best they can in such a small room. Her nool says that this is how they call their gods. Yaxkin had once used this same dance to call for their help when he was younger, and the fire god answered him and saved him from a vicious jaguar. Or so he says, Citlali thinks.

Citlali isn’t sure if she believes her grandpas’ stories. She has never seen magic, and she had come to learn that anything that seemed like magic actually had a perfectly logical explanation. Like the portals looked like magic at first. The azulians, also called the blue ones by the slaves, had discovered the technology by accident.

One day a lightning struck some metal bases for a bridge that was being built on a lake. The power was so great that it was able to bend time and space, opening a portal to another world. The azulians were scared at first, but once they learned to manipulate it that fear was replaced with intrigue. They were able to make the destinations more predictable, coming to the conclusion that certain dates on certain parts, with different degrees of voltage lead to different places. Large masses of water had to be the base for this to work, as it is a great conductor of energy. They learned much about life in other parts of the universe, bringing with them souvenirs from their expeditions into their planet Azulia.

Although Citlali had her doubts, she enjoyed performing this dance with Yaxkin. They’d chant words Citlali didn’t understand, but she could feel the emotion in them. The words made her feel powerful and complete. Just as they reach the end Akna opens the door, bumping Citlali's butt.

“Wha-” Akna starts “What are you two doing? You two are making so much noise again. The first sun just rose for the gods sake”

At the sound of this Yaxkin quickly lays back on his bed, looking at Akna with his hands in the air in an I-don't-know-what-you-are-talking-about manner.

“We,” Citlali starts trying to explain, “we were just doing our morning exercise.”

“Well, the doctor said your grandpa can’t be over exerting himself, it’s the only reason why he has been excused from the farm.” Akna scolds Citlali as she walks across, touches Yaxkins’ forehead and adjusts the blanket.

“Oh Akna,” Yaxkin complains in between coughs “It was just a little fun we were having. No need to scold the girl. I was the one who started it.”

“She knows how sick you are yuum.” Akna says to her father. “She needs to be more considerate.”

“I am the eldest one here, I do what I want. No one makes me do anything!” Yaxkin rebukes “Now, shouldn’t you be cleaning and attending to that spoiled child, Lucia?”

“Now, now,” Akna waves him off “No need to get worked up.” Akna steps away from him and heads to the door. “Grab your shoes,” she commands Citlali.

Citlali quickly puts on her sandals before her mother notices how dirty her feet are from taking her morning stride barefoot. Just before they leave the room Akna warns her father “No over exerting!” and closes the door behind her.

Akna and Citlali work their way through their morning routine. Gathering the azulian family’s dirty laundry and cleaning their rooms while they have breakfast. The Santos family, the azulians they serve, are a family of three. It is known they hold a privileged position in the Azulian monarchy. The father is a gemologist and spends most of his time in the basement where he built a laboratory. He was assigned to live close to the portal to be able to analyze the different gems that were collected from their expeditions. The mother is a sickly woman and does not come out of the house often. Lucia is the only child they were able to conceive, yet she often lacked their attention because of her father’s obsession with gems and her mothers constant ailment.

Citlali does not particularly like Lucia. She seemed to gather pleasure from catching her red handed and telling on her. As she almost had that morning. They used to be play mates when they were younger. But once Lucia grew older and started taking classes from her governess she grew apart from Citlali. Citlali missed those days and resented Lucia for becoming so cold to her. There weren’t any kids her age around and she often felt lonely in a world of adults.

After finishing the morning cleaning they head to the kitchen where they enjoy a quick breakfast with other slaves. All the other ten slaves, inlcuding Citlali’s grandpa, gossip amongst one another what interesting things they’ve seen and heard. Itzel, one of the youngest, always has some new rumor to spread. Akna and her closest friend Tikal usually ignore her and whisper amongst each other. Citlali watches as her mother subconsciously tugs at her restraining corset, reminding her of the dragon she saw that morning. The dragon trying so desperately to break free but being subdued by a small blue man. Citlali sometimes wondered if her mother ever thought of running away. Rumors circled that some had attempted but were quickly discovered. Without access to the portals they had no true hope of escaping.

Once breakfast is done they head over to the main floor, where they start cleaning the big wooden framed windows in the main hall. Close by is one of Mr. Santos’ offices. Citlali watches as Mr. Santos along with other men in similar attire, embellished tunics and surcoats, enter the office. Mrs. Santos is walking quietly behind them with her small frame and sunken eyes, her golden corset making it even harder for her to breathe. Citlali assumes Mr. Santos must be getting new gems to analyze because his enthusiasm is overbearing. His mustache shakes as he welcomes the other men in. They close the door behind them, shutting the door on Mrs. Santos' face, she seems flustered but quietly walks away. To Citlalis’ surprise Akna was also observing them, but quickly continued her cleaning once they were out of sight. Citlali has noticed her mother being on edge lately, getting frustrated easily and even acquiring a harsher walk.

The day is almost coming to an end as they head to the kitchen for supper. Citlali is exhausted from the long day, but like always, Akna doesn't even seem bothered by all the work they’ve done throughout the day. Suddenly the lights start flickering and a loud humming is heard all around the now trembling house. This catches both Akna and Citlali by surprise, and they start walking faster towards the kitchen. They can hear Itzel whispering as loud as she can as they walk into the room.

“They brought one of the dragons here!” Itzel can’t contain her excitement.

“What?” Xotchil, Itzel's voluptuous mother asks in disbelief “Why would Mr. Santos need a dragon?”

“It’s not any dragon,” Tecum, one of the carriage coaches wearing his metal vest responds “this one has a gem on its forehead.”

Citlali’s ears perk up as she hears the description of the dragon, wondering if it’s the same one she saw that morning.

“How did they get it here?” Akna inquires, Citlali stares at her in confusion, she never participates in the gossip.

“It was too big to go in through the main door so they had to bring it in through a portal in the basement.”

Akna and Tikal quickly glance at each other and go to a corner to whisper as the group continues to talk about the dragon in the basement. All that Citlali can do is wonder if it is the same dragon she saw. A smirk forms on her face and she nods at the thought of sneaking in later at night to find out.

Once everyone has gone to their rooms and there is no sign of the second sun, Citlali perks her ear up to make sure her grandpa is in deep sleep. Once she hears slow and deep snores she carefully makes her way down the bunk bed so as to not make any noise.

Citlali walks through the quiet hallways, making sure the halls are empty every time she needs to make a turn. She steps on the stone basement stairs. The temperature quickly drops as she makes it down the long stairway and the smell of damp soil hits her nose. The basement is a spacious room with tall walls, carved completely into the stone. It is lit by a few electrical lights on the walls, following a line of black cords.

Citlali walks by a long table. A few lit candles help Citlali see in more detail the many curious objects and gems on it. Messy notes are spread all around. One of the objects on the table catches Citlali's attention. It is a collar decorated with many feathers made of gold. Some parts have holes and indentations where gems used to be attached. A big oval hole is in the center. Next to the collar are some matching rattling anklets. Citlali feels a fire coming from the center of her chest. She does not understand if it’s anger or sorrow. Looking at the Mayan collars and anklets being stripped of their gems and previous glory reminds her of everything that had been stripped from them. Even though she never got to see it first hand she was able to see the toll it took on those she loves. People who used to live freely and dance in beautiful ornaments are now reduced to wearing constrictive metal corsets and serve everyone but themselves. The fact that she might be getting a metal corset soon sends a chill on her spine. She decides to walk past the Mayan ornaments, afraid that she might do something reckless.

Citlali notices a big pool filled with water and a big metal ring protruding from the top on the furthest left side of the room. That must’ve been what was used to create the portal, she thinks. On the opposite side Citlali spots a hurdled pink feathered creature. The dragon has its wings tied up with metal chains, another chain connects her neck and four legs, making it impossible to move freely. Citlali feels confident enough to approach the creature because it seems to be sleeping facing away from her. When Citlali is about five feet away she debates if getting any closer would be a wise idea. The urge to have a closer look at the face almost overcomes her. Before she can make up her mind she gets disrupted by a soft melodic voice.

“Who are you?”

Citlalis’ heart sinks as she looks around her, terrified at the thought of what might be the punishment for trespassing the master's lab. Then she hears the voice again.

“Don’t be afraid.”

This time Citlali notices the voice is not coming from a specific place, but all around her. More specifically, it is coming from inside her mind. Then she turns to see that the dragon is turning to face her, clattering her chains. Citlali gasps at the realization that it is the dragon who is talking to her. She notices her pink feathers have a glistening that seems to be slowly fading away. The gem on her forehead is framed by the branch like horns on each side of her head. The gem is white with a fluorescent shine, Citlali can see all the colors of the rainbow being reflected on it.

“Come closer.” The dragon says gently. Citlali is hesitant to get any closer, but she notices she has kind eyes, and frankly looks too weak to cause any real harm. Citlali gets close enough to feel the dragon's slow warm breaths, she fights the urge to reach her hand out and touch her.

“You may.” The dragon, as if reading her mind, bows her head down, motioning her to touch her. Citlali reaches out to the side of her face and slides it down her snout, the dragon's head makes Citlali's hand look tiny. Her feathers are soft like flower petals. The dragon leans into her hand and closes her eyes, and a small smile seems to form on her lips.

“What is your name?” The dragon inquires.

“Citlali.” she answers as she slowly pulls her hand away. “What is yours?”

“Tayen.” The creature answers. “I can see you sense me growing weaker, child.” Tayen continues. Citlali is not sure how she knows this but she gives a sad nod. “I do not have much time left, I can feel my magic leaving me, it cannot survive in this place. But I can see some in you, small but strong.” Citlali wants to ask her what she means but Tayen continues talking with urgency “I know we just met, but I must know if you are willing to shield something very important for me, promise you will protect it as if it were your own life.”

Citlali is not sure what the dragon means, but she can tell Tayen is in a desperate state. she wants to help in any way possible. “I am not sure if I have the power needed to do what you are thinking,” Citlali finally answers, “but I will aid you however I can.”

“Thank you child,” Tayen says with relief “that will suffice.” Suddenly, an egg the size of Citlali’s torso appears between the dragon's paws. It is a light yellow color with small pink and blue specks and it glows. Citlali’s eyes widened in surprise. “I have been concealing its presence with the small magic that I have left, I can only imagine what would be done to my child if the creatures of this world were to see it.” Citlali nods in agreement “Please, don’t let them find him.Look for a way to take him back to our homeland, called Pacha. This child will be crucial to the survival of our people back home.”

Citlali's breath grows faster as she realizes the magnitude of the task, a task she has already signed her name to. Tayan gently pushes the egg to Citlali’s feet. “I am not sure if my child will survive another space jump in this form, make him hatch if the egg seems to lose its glow.” Tayen warns.

“How do I make it hatch?” Citlali asks with real concern as she squats down to touch the egg. She rubs her hand through its warm shell.

“I will gift you my cosmic stone,” Tayen explains as she leans her head down to show Citlali the stone on her forehead, “although I have lost the ability to use it, you should be able to ignite its power. If it ever comes to it, promise me you will wield its power to make it hatch.” Citlali nods and before she can ask any more questions Tayen’s glow starts dimming rapidly, her voice is barely a whisper as she says “I feel my time is coming. Thank you dear child, I believe in you. Tell my boy that I will always love him dearly.” Tayen’s body collapses as she draws her last breath, the glow of her feathers completely gone.

The cosmic stone on her forehead slides down, leaving a gash behind. It slides just slow enough for Citllali to catch it before it hits the hard ground. The stone still keeps its fluorescence and she is surprised that it is not as heavy as she had imagined. As she holds the cosmic stone and looks down at the glowing egg she hears echoed steps coming down the stairs.