Naamah's Blessing

with ours, and we saw our first travelling Nahuatl merchant party.
    Pochtecas
.
    The merchants were unassuming; later, I would learn that it was their way to appear modest and conceal their wealth. Indeed, whatever goods they carried would be hidden upon arrival in Tenochtitlan. Therewas a long line of porters—or more likely, slaves—carrying bundles in the same manner as ours.
    But the warriors guarding the expedition—now, they were as resplendent in their own way as our company. They wore curious armor of quilted cotton that had been soaked in saltwater to stiffen it, and carried wooden shields on which devices had been worked with bright feathers. One of them was dressed head to toe in the skin of a spotted beast, and a great headdress of feathers towered above him.
    I was so fascinated, I forgot to be frightened at first.
    Balthasar held up one hand, and we all halted. The Nahuatl party halted too, conferring amongst themselves. Then the spotted warrior and the others strode forward, clearly intending to engage us in some way. At a glance, their numbers looked to be even with ours.
    Now my heartbeat accelerated, and I silently cursed Porfirio Reyes for planting seeds of fear in me.
    “They look like they’re ready for a masquerade, don’t they?” Clemente DuBois said nervously.
    “Shut up, Clemente,” Balthasar said in an absent tone. “All right, let’s see what they want, shall we? Denis, you’re our translator.”
    Surreptitiously, I strung my bow.
    “No foolish ideas, Moirin,” Bao warned me. “You’re staying behind, and I’m staying right beside you.”
    “I’m just being prepared,” I retorted.
    The Nahuatl carried throwing spears and club-like weapons set all around the sides with rows of sharp obsidian blades. The good thing about the latter, Denis had told us, was that obsidian was brittle and shattered easily, especially against steel. The bad thing about the former was that the Nahuatl used handheld tools to hurl the spears with exceptional force, which Denis reckoned might be sufficient to pierce brigandine armor.
    I made myself breathe through the Five Styles and remain calm.
    The two parties met where the roads converged. Balthasar’s men didn’t draw steel, and the Nahuatl didn’t raise their weapons. At one point, the spotted warrior glanced over at me. His expression wasstoic, but there was a spark of curiosity in his eyes. He gestured with one arm, making an inquiry.
    From atop my mount, I watched Denis reply. I did my best to keep my own face empty of expression.
    After a brief exchange, the
pochtecas
and their porters advanced to join the warriors. Denis de Toluard beckoned to us. “Moirin!” he called. “They wish to meet you.”
    “Bad idea,” Bao muttered.
    I glanced down at him. “I’ll never command respect if I show myself to be a coward at the outset.”
    He sighed. “You have a point.”
    I rode forward slowly, Bao walking beside me. Septimus Rousse stayed behind with our porters to keep a hand on the pack-horses’ lines.
    The Nahuatl eyed me with interest, but they made no move, threatening or otherwise. When I reached them, I drew rein. Bao moved a few feet away and held his staff in a deceptively casual defensive pose. My former pack-horse stood stock-still beneath me. I met the spotted warrior’s gaze impassively.
    “Lady Moirin, this is the Jaguar Knight Temilotzin.” Beneath his steel helmet, rills of sweat streaked Denis de Toluard’s face, but his voice was steady. “He is in command of this expedition.”
    I inclined my head a fraction. “
Niltze
, Temilotzin.”
    The spotted warrior gave me a fierce grin and touched his brow and his chest, speaking too rapidly for me to catch more than one word in three.
    “Temilotzin says that it is clear the women of Terre d’Ange are braver than the women of Aragonia, who cower on the far shores of their ocean and dare not show their faces in the Nahuatl Empire,” Denis translated for me. “He thanks you for allowing their party to precede us, since our progress is woefully slow. For our courtesy, he will put in a good word for us with the Emperor’s chief advisor.”
    “
Tlazocamatli
, Temilotzin,” I said politely. “Tell him I am honored by his gracious words, and I thank him for his kindness.”
    Denis obeyed.
    The spotted warrior chuckled and repeated his gesture, touching his brow and chest, then turned to his party and issued a sharp order.
    “Fall back to let them pass!” Balthasar