Unsung Lord of Siyah Chan

By Joan C Wrenn

"Unsung Lord of Siyah Chan" is the first sequel to "Young Lords of Siyah Chan", which told the story of three young men growing up as ancient Maya princes. 


As this book begins, the aged Lord Itzamna Balam has died, and his eldest son

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joan Wren
• Release date: Jul 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088158852

Book preview

Preface

T

he story you are about to read is a fictionalization of the lives of Maya people who lived in the 8th century AD at a place whose ruins are now called Yaxchilan, located on the Usumacinta River in Chiapas, Mexico. Across the river is now Guatemala. Other ancient sites in the area also figure in the story.

Some of the characters and events in this story are attested on the inscriptions found in and around the ruins of Yaxchilan by archaeologists and deciphered by epigraphers and art historians. Yaxuun Balam was a real Lord, or Ahaw, as were his father Itzamna Balam and his grandfather Yaxuun Balam before him. Other prominent characters in my story are named in the inscriptions, and I have begun with the characters and events as known by Maya scholars, epigraphers and archeologists as of 2002, adding characters, events and places to flesh out how people might have lived and the experiences they might have had in those exciting and intriguing times.

I have taken the artistic license to call Yaxchilan Siyah Chan in my story, meaning Sky-Born. At this writing, scholars do not know exactly what the ancient Maya called Yaxchilan, but refer to its Emblem Glyph as the Split Sky glyph. Since the Maya often used the split earth symbol to signify birth or resurrection, I envision the Split Sky Emblem Glyph as denoting their belief that they originated from the Gods through a Split in the Sky, or Birth from the Sky.

A note on dates

The ancient Maya reckoned their current cycle of time beginning with a mythical date in

3114 BC, counting forward from that starting point, in years called tuns (or tun'ob), k'atun'ob (periods of twenty tuns), bak'tun'ob (periods of twenty k'atuns), uinal'ob (periods of eighteen days) and k'in'ob (days). Thus, at the time of the beginning of this second segment of the story, a long count of 9 bak'tuns, 15 k'atuns, 10 tuns, 17 uinals and 14 k'in has elapsed since the beginning of the current 5126-year cycle. A process of synchronization of ancient Maya dates with our own calendar indicates that this is equivalent to June 19, 742 AD.

The ancient Maya had two concurrent calendars, one secular 365-day calendar (haab), one religious 260-day calendar (tzolk'in), which when superimposed upon one another produces a calendar round of 52 years of unique combinations of months and days. In inscriptions they used the calendar round month and day names and numbers along with the long count to designate the dates on which events occurred; as this book opens, the date is designated as 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in. The four extant ancient Maya books, or codices, indicate that the Maya assigned ritual significance to their dates. These remnants of ancient calendars have survived to modern times, where they play a role in the rituals of the Maya people.

I have used these two Maya ways of notating dates, the long count, and the calendar round with its pair of month and day names and numbers, at the beginning of each section of the story, followed by the approximation of that date in our calendar.

Although the current 5126-year date cycle that began in 3114 BC finishes in December 2012, there is no reason to believe that the ancient Maya considered this anything but the end of a cycle, albeit a very large cycle, a potential time of ending and renewal. In fact, there are inscriptions containing mythical dates many many bak'tuns prior to the current 5126-year cycle start date, back in the mists of very ancient and mythical time.

Attuned to the skies' inhabitants as they were, I see the ancient Maya deeply involved with the celestial cycles, noting unusual conjunctions and giving them meaning from their myths. As a people, the ancient Maya appear to have been ready for elaborate festivals to celebrate both cyclical and unusual sky events, and had their civilization survived to the present, would have celebrated the momentous cycle event of December 2012 with long rituals and feasts, as will their descendants, the contemporary Maya.

A note on pronunciation

The letter x represents the sound sh as it comes from the early Spanish transliteration of colonial Mayan words.

The apostrophe in words represents a glottal stop, similar to how some folks pronounce moun'ain or impor'ant in English, replacing the written t with a glottal stop. When the apostrophe or glottal stop follows a consonant, the word is pronounced with a glottal catch after the consonant.

Vowels in Maya are much like those in Spanish. Each vowel is pronounced separately, as there are no diphthongs. When a vowel's pronunciation is elongated, it is doubled, as in Yaxuun (Yash-OON), Xook (SHUUK) or K'awiil (K'ah-WEEL).

A note on names

We really don't know what ordinary Maya people called themselves. We do have names and/or titles for many Lords, gods, some captives, and a scattering of others in inscriptions on monuments. Starting with Maya scholars' current transliterations of those known names and using the vocabulary for colonial Tzotzil Maya from Robert M Laughlin's The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of Santo Domingo Zinacantan (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), I have generated names for people in this story, based on words for common objects and concepts. I have also used this vocabulary to provide Mayan names for objects in the story.

A note on history

The contemporary Maya people of Guatemala and Chiapas Mexico and the surrounding areas are the descendants of the people who inhabited the hundreds of ancient Maya cities that are now in ruins, most covered by jungle.

Current scholarship analyzes the ‘collapse' of this marvelous ancient civilization as the result of multiple factors, including the weaknesses inherent in a political system that relied on the authority of the gods and ancestors as the basis for power, a complex array of ritual, propaganda and warfare to maintain that power, drawing upon the labor of the common people to support the royal programme. Once people see the falsities in the propaganda of the powerful, they may no longer provide their support for essentially meaningless ritual and

monumentbuilding. Nevertheless their traditions continue and flourish under a different, more localized political system. These potent Maya traditions were observed by the Spanish conquerors before battle and disease decimated and marginalized the Maya people. However their traditions still flourish today, in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico, where visitors can observe their farming, handicrafts, rituals, and languages, and know their warm hospitality.

Although no one knows what the lives and lifeways of the ancient Maya people were truly like, I have attempted to imagine those very lives and lifeways in this story. My presumptuous purpose in writing these stories is to engender for oppressed Maya people the respect and honor they deserve. Dignidad ala Gente Maya! And indeed for all the indigenous peoples of the earth.

Read, learn, and enjoy!

The People

The Places

The Events

Part One

9.15.10.17.14 - 9.15.14.4.17

19 June 742 - 14 September 745 AD

CHAPTER 1

Na K'abal Xook

9.15.10.17.14 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in

19 June 742

"N

a! Na!" the soft but insistent summons finally penetrated into the depths of her sleep, and Na K'abal Xook slowly relinquished her nightdream of mythical birds with long brilliant blue-green tail feathers and grating raucous voices and surfaced to the immediacy of the early morning.

The voice was that of her servant woman, Ukum, the gentle, quiet granddaughter of Saay and Cheche who had served them for so long. It was still too dark here inside her house to see the details of Ukum's face, but K'abal sensed the glitter of tears.

Itz? she thought, taking a quick breath, not quite a gasp, as a sliver of apprehension shivered through her. Had he finally left this world, was he flying even now toward the vast skies, to walk the Great White Road of the Ancestors?

K'abal thrust the blanket aside, as Ukum's strong arms helped her rise to sit on the side of her sleep bench, then gently wrapped K'abal's shawl across her shoulders. Her old bones always ached in the early morning while there was still a chill on the stone building, her home and work place, built for her by her husband the Ahaw all those tun'ob ago.

How is it that the gods allow us to live once we become so frail, she wondered once again, remembering these long years of Itz's aging, steadily diminishing physical functions, while his mind remained sharp and active. Well, she thought, it seems it's finally over.

As always, Ukum remained patiently beside her until she was ready to stand and walk. Slowly they made their way out her doorway and across the wide staircase that led up to the Ancestor Temple, separating her house from Itz's, then carefully up the few steps into the sleep room she and Itzamna Balam had shared for so long.

Xate, Ukum's tall husband, had lit candles to warm and light the dark chilly room, and K'abal could see Itz's lanky frame laying on his sleeping bench, covered with his favorite red blanket, just as she had left him when she went to bed, but unnaturally straight and still.

We have prepared the Ahaw, Xate said unnecessarily. Of course they had. Itz was past caring, but all would come to see him for one last time; she was but the very first.

Call Yoaat, and the girls, she said. They had been right to call her first, but all the family must know, and mourn. Xate and Ukum left to do her bidding, and she was alone with the body of the man who had been her dear husband for nearly three k'atun'ob, and K'uhul Ahaw of Siyah Chan for longer than that. Five K'atun Ahaw they had called him for tun'ob now, as he had survived more than halfway through his fifth k'atun, nearly unheard of among the People.

Yet he had still been younger than his own mother was when she joined the Ancestors.

K'abal could remember her arrival in Siyah Chan like it was yesterday: a child of six, with her mother and father, her mother's brother and his daughter, who was also married to one of the three Xook brothers who had brought their families to Siyah Chan to start a new life.

Then she was grown up: a young woman married to an older man, not any man, but the respected Warrior and Ahaw, the great, the glorious Itzamna Balam of Siyah Chan. She had never lost her awe of the honor. And now in a quick moment her role had changed. A glint of fear returned, and K'abal fought it down as she had always fought off unpleasant emotions. She had too much to do, and too much at stake, to let emotions hold any sway.

She looked at Itzamna's face, touched his cooling cheek, then backed away. This was not the man she had known. This was a cast-off husk. The man was with the Ancestors, an Ancestor now himself. She would not grieve.

Soft footfalls sounded on the steps, and her son Yoaat entered the room, coming quickly to embrace her.

Mother, he whispered, and she sensed that his emotions were not in check, but that he was feeling strongly, too strongly, the impact of the moment. They parted, and he turned to kneel before his dead father, his head hanging beside the sleep bench, his cheek brushing against his father's blanket. She felt his sobs beginning. This would not do. He was now the Ahaw, he must be in command of himself. No one must see him giving in to his sorrow.

Yoaat, rise, she commanded, tugging on his elbow. This is hardly unexpected. Ah Poxtah has told us for uinal'ob now that the end was near.

I know, Mother, but it's a shock to me just the same.

You must be strong, Yoaat. You must appear in control at all times. You can grieve in your own privacy, if you ever get any.

Men grieve, Mother, it's natural.

Of course they do. But your position is unstable, and you must do nothing to give the Kimi'ob any excuse to . . . to do anything. Especially after what happened last Turning.

I know that, you've been drumming it into me for, for, for-ever! I am the Ahaw now, Mother, and I am capable of making my own decisions. Her son turned to leave his father's house, then stopped.

"This is now my house," he said firmly.

Before she could respond, the first of her daughters arrived, Ch'ix the Scribe, the oldest. Dressed for night as they all were, in her sleep robe and a shawl Ch'ix embraced her brother, then her mother, then turned to her father with deep respect. Goodbye, Father, walk well among the Ancestors, she said softly.

Just then Sak and K'eelil arrived, there was more hugging, some tears, but K'abal was glad to see that her girls were strong, just as she was. Of course she called them girls but they were all mature women, respected in Siyah Chan in their own right, and not just as the daughters of the Ahaw. Ch'ix was an accomplished scribe, Sak had taught generations of young Siyah Chan nobles, and K'eelil was an admired weaver. All four of her children were intelligent, creative members of the Siyah Chan Royal family, and she was particularly proud of them. That there had never been wife or husbands or grandchildren had not diminished how much she loved them.

But there was much to be done. They would all grieve later.

Yoaat, find the regalia for your father's ceremonies, she said, trying to find the right balance between suggestion and command, to honor his changed role. Something not too new, you will need those yourself in the times ahead, but nothing tattered or worn. Pieces that will remind people of his strength, not these years of decline. Yoaat nodded, seemingly relieved after all to be given something to do.

Girls, we need to begin notifying the people, the Nobles first, then word will get around. Xate and Ukum can pass the word among the servants up here. Those responsible for the ceremonies will do their tasks. But once word is out, people will begin coming, and we will have to speak to each of them on Itzamna's behalf. We've been through it before with Itz's brothers, but it will take much longer this time, for Itzamna himself. Her thoughts began to run down, and she sighed deeply at the knowledge of the day to come. And then the uinal'ob ahead, but she would not think about that now.

Are you all right, Mother? Sak inquired. We can take care of all this, once Yoaat brings the regalia, if you need to rest.

"Just speak to Ukum, to bring our breakfast, then to talk to the servants up here.

Perhaps Xate can go across the river to the craftspeople and traders there."

Mother, Ch'ix said, taking her arm, come out here and sit. K'inich Ahaw is up and the porch is warming. Ch'ix always seems to baby me these days, K'abal thought. Surely I'm not that infirm yet. But she went gratefully, and found that Ukum had already brought sliced fruit and sac ha, and some small stuffed wah left from last night. Ukum was even better than her grandmother Saay had been at anticipating her every need, if not quite as good a cook. It was helpful to sit in the warming rays, the ache melting from her bones.

Then Kuy arrived, Itzamna's youngest son, with his wife Hinam, who was crying. They must have left the children with the servants, K'abal thought. Kuy came directly to her, and gestured respect, Hinam likewise just behind him. They are good children, she thought, although they too were grown adults. Why does everyone seem so young? She wondered.

Na, we are deeply saddened, Kuy was saying. No one alive in Siyah Chan has ever known a different Ahaw. It will be a huge change for everyone. But for you, his Hoy K'uhul Na, the hugest of all. The young man leaned over and embraced her shoulders, kissing her cheek softly.

This was Yoaat's younger half-brother, the sons of the other wife of Itzamna, Na Ik Kimi, who had married in from Chanil, accompanied by her two brothers who were the bane of K'abal's existence. Sure, there had been Kimi'ob in Siyah Chan from the beginning, but these newer Kimi'ob had brought violence and dissention, and K'abal did not thank them for that, not at all. Itz had been a man of peace, she felt, mentally discarding his fame as a Warrior.

But Kuy was different, he was more a Balam than a Kimi, and was Yoaat's Observer, a role he took very seriously. Some tun'ob ago he and Yoaat had visited their other brother Yaxuun at his diplomatic posting downriver in Yokib, and Kuy had come back a True Man, with a Falcon Waay, a Spirit Helper, and the ability to walk in the Otherworld. K'abal admired this young man a great deal, even though his mother was a Kimi.

Just then Yoaat returned with Xate, their arms full of feathers and jade-and-gold necklaces, a huge colorful backrack, more regalia than Itzamna could possibly wear at one time.

They placed the things at the side of the patio, and Yoaat greeted his brother Kuy.

Oh! Yoaat! K'abal called out, you need to send a message to Yaxuun! We have to get him back here from Yokib right away.

It's taken care of, Mother, Yoaat responded, moving over to the table where the fruit and sac ha were. That's partly what took me so long, he said over his shoulder, taking a bite of juicy patah. She hadn't actually realized that he had been gone long, but she had been noticing that her sense of time wasn't what it used to be.

"I think the blue-green toh-feather rack and headdress, with the matching loincloth, dyed green armbands and calf-bands, Yoaat informed her, walking over to where she was sitting, carrying his cup of sac ha. Xate will paint Father's skin with tzohal and warrior markings, and the toh feathers will set off the tzohal, just as if he was going to battle. How can you attach the back rack when he's lying down?" K'abal asked.

Don't worry, Mother, Xate and I will take care of it. You will be proud of how he looks.

Already Yoaat seemed more self-confident, more in control. Perhaps it will all work out, she thought.

Yoaat Balam

9.15.10.17.14 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in

19 June 742

Yoaat Balam stood solidly at the head of the line, regaled in red, orange and yellow K'inich Ahaw mo' feathers, which he considered fitting for the Ahaw he planned to be. Weighed against his Father's toh-feather Warrior regalia, his, Yoaat's, would be what the people remembered, for a reign that honored learning over fighting, knowledge over violence. He would be the Ahaw that history remembered, following Itzamna Balam with a time not unlike that of his namesake predecessor, the founding Ahaw of Siyah Chan, a time of peace.

The people had been filing past for some time, but Yoaat still felt strong. He supposed it was all those times standing in the blazing sun or torrential downpours, doing the rituals as the Ahaw on Father's behalf, that had hardened him.

Each person approached him somewhat in awe, for the regalia of the new Ahaw was stunning. Multiple chains of huge jade beads carved in the shape of jaguar heads, K'awiil heads, and penises for his name, hung heavy on his chest. And the feathers in his headdress were the finest, longest scarlet mo' feathers that had been brought to Siyah Chan from the outlying villages in the last tun'ob, waving far into the air above and around his head. He liked the way they felt, swaying when he nodded his head to each person who approached.

He admitted to himself that his Father's death had been a shock when he first learned of it, when he first saw the old man lying there on his sleeping bench, covered by his tattered red blanket. But Mother was right, he thought: as the Ahaw I have to show the people strength, not the strength of violence and battle, but the strength of self-control, discipline, and knowledge.

The people just did not stop coming; the line was endless. But Yoaat knew he was up to it. Beside him, Mother had finally agreed to sit on a small stone bench, and he knew that his sisters had been taking turns going off for refreshment.

First had come the Nobles, men of his Father's council, with whom he had been meeting for tun'ob, as his Father was no longer able to sit upon the Jaguar Throne for the hours needed to arrange the affairs of a City as large as Siyah Chan. And then the families of the Nobles: Balam'ob, Xook'ob, Kimi'ob, sons, daughters, daughters' husbands, children, grandchildren. All dressed in ceremonial finery, as befitted the mourning for an Ahaw as great as his Father had been.

Then came the Craftspeople who were not Nobles, the Traders and Merchants, and their families, followed by the Warriors, Administrators, Fishermen and Hunters, and finally the Farmers, the Servants, the Laborers. All accompanied by their entire families.

Even those Kimi'ob had come, those Chanil Kimi'ob who had rejected him as his Father's Ba Ch'ok, the First Prince, resented him becoming Ahaw, he who was not a Warrior, but a Learner, a Scribe, an Artist, which they considered somehow beneath an Ahaw. Reject him they may, but he was now Ahaw in name, as he had been in fact for some time.

Seeing the Kimi'ob, old Chak Kimi and his aging brother Leom, Chak's son Lom with his son young Chak, whom his Grandfather Chak called Ch'ok, the Kimi Prince, and the daughter they called Na Chak, who was now a very young K'uhul Na, one of the women of Siyah Chan who oversaw the rituals and the teaching of the youngsters. Seeing her brought back memories of the last Turning, of Na Chak's momentous feat, a vision that surpassed even that of his own mother, Na K'abal Xook. And that a Kimi girl should have been the one to do it was appalling. He knew his Mother didn't even want to discuss what had happened.

But the Kimi'ob had been respectful as they greeted him and Mother, had given the proper condolences, nothing a bit out of custom. And he greatly appreciated that, for a time of mourning was not a time to bring out old animosities. Let them bury Itzamna Balam, and then he would meet the Kimi'ob head on.

K'inich Ahaw was now straight overhead, and Yoaat hoped his sweat dripping from under his cloth headband wasn't making ugly tracks in his face paint, a usual hazard he had never figured out how to avoid. His sister Sak had brought him a cup of kakaw, for which he was deeply grateful. The ceremonial drink of Royalty seemed especially appropriate this day, and Sak had chosen from a batch with a kick Yoaat found very relaxing, not that she would realize it, of course, never having drunk kakaw, the beverage of Ahaws and those they honored, but rarely women, even Royal women.

Soon enough this part would finish, and then they would carry his Father up the stairway to the Ancestor Temple, where he would be buried near his father, the Ahaw Yaxuun Balam, and his father and father's father before him. Soon Yoaat would design a new treestone for the Ancestor Temple to commemorate this day, this day of mourning for the man Itzamna Balam, who was K'uhul Ahaw for over three k'atun'ob, who had been a great Warrior, had pacified towns and villages in a huge radius around Siyah Chan, and then had ruled over the City in time of peace. What a great man his Father had been, Yoaat thought. He would honor him well.

Sak Balam

9.15.10.17.14 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in

19 June 742

After bringing her brother Yoaat a fresh cup of kakaw, Sak resumed her place in the mourning line between her sisters Ch'ix and K'eelil. She could see that the line was nearly exhausted, so that they would soon move on to the burial, under the brightest rays of K'inich Ahaw. She was pleased that Yoaat had chosen K'inich Ahaw regalia, and he certainly did look regal today, standing strong and straight as he received the condolences of the many mourners, scarlet mo' feathers bobbing over his shoulders.

Sak hoped, and prayed to K'uhul K'awiil that Yoaat would be able to stand up to the Council in the coming k'in'ob and uinal'ob, as many of them angled for new power positions. She and Mother had been working with him all these tun'ob as he had taken their Father's place as Ahaw in practice, if not in actual fact until today. They never spoke with Yoaat directly in front of the men, of course, but before and after Council gatherings, reviewing the issues and the various viewpoints, possible solutions, how to present his preferences while appearing to take all the men's opinions into account. It was a lot like the old days when Father would present issues to Yoaat at the evening meal, the whole family entering into the discussion, and Sak smiled at the memories.

The Council membership had remained pretty much the same since their Father's time. Although the Master Carver, her mother's distant cousin Hasaw Chan Xook, and his agemate and colleague, his father's nephew Hoch Te' Balam, the great carver of wood and stone, had joined the Ancestors only months apart some six tun'ob ago, Xaman Xook and Mo' Chak Balam had been well able to keep up with all the carving needed, assisted by Hasaw Chan's son Na'el Xook, and his distant cousin, Huh Xook. Many of the other Council members were growing elderly, and Yoaat had his eye on other younger men as their successors in the various crafts and trades when those Elders too joined the ancestors. Eventually he would have his own Council of men more his own age.

Sak glanced between two mourners to look down the hill from where they all stood in front of her Father's, now her brother Yoaat's house, toward the house her Father had built for her. She could just barely see one corner of it behind the school buildings. She had never really known what had prompted Father to build a house for her, like he had built for his wife, her Mother. It had been such a long time in the planning, on and off for tun after tun, until it had been finally dedicated on the tun ending nine, fifteen, seven, almost four tun'ob ago.

It was a cheery three-room house facing a small courtyard, with three more rooms facing the river. They had had a fire ceremony, like the one for Mother's house, and then the final dedication on the tun ending. Sak supposed Father thought that she needed more room for teaching, for preparing lessons, for storing schooling materials. At any rate, she fondly remembered his pleasure in giving her this house, where she now lived and worked. It was a great joy to sit in her own courtyard with classes of children, explaining a point of history, or the meanings behind the parts of a ritual.

The stream of mourners kept coming, barely interrupting her thoughts as she accepted their gestures of respect and sorrow. Most of the people were coming from viewing Father's body, which had been well regaled in the rust-red war paint and blue-green toh-feathered headdress, which would remind everyone of the great Warrior Father once was. Still, at the end of his life Father had lost much of the musculature of his younger fighting years, as he had become a very effective peacetime ruler.

Here near the end of the line came the Chanil Kimi'ob, the very ones Sak most expected to make trouble for Yoaat in the uinal'ob ahead. Yoaat and Mother must have adequately charmed them, for their expressions were neutral, not hostile. There were the old brothers Chak and Leom, and Chak's son Lom with his wife P'ilix and their two children, young Chak, sometimes still called Ch'ok despite his upcoming manhood ceremony, and the pretty daughter Na Chak, who had startled the entire City with her vision last Turning. And Chak's second son, Elk'in Kimi, one of the City's strongest Warriors, who had not married.

Then came Chak and Leom's sister Na Ik Kimi, Father's second wife, Sak's own colleague as K'uhul Na and teacher, and mother of Yoaat's two younger half-brothers, Yaxuun and Kuy. She and Na Ik had always had a tenuous relationship, although the other woman had softened somewhat in recent tun'ob. Accepting the woman's condolences, and offering them back to her father's other widow, Sak silently hoped that with the death of her husband, Na Ik would be able to find some happiness in life.

Kuy Balam was there in the line with them, just beyond K'eelil. He was a wonderful young man, smart and thoughtful, caring and helpful. Sak was inwardly proud of her part in urging him towards the Observer role serving his older brother, which had worked out so very well. Kuy would be an important part of Yoaat's Council in the time ahead. And Yaxuun! It would be so good to see how he had matured, after all this time in Yokib, soon to return to become Yoaat's most important Sahal. She hoped his time in Yokib had been as good training as Father had always claimed it was. Yoaat was going to need his expertise.

Sak glanced back past Yoaat, to check how Mother was doing. They had finally convinced her to sit on a stone bench, but from time to time she had risen to greet good friends and family members. It would soon be over; she would urge Mother to have something to eat, quickly, before walking up the staircase to the Ancestor Temple for the burial rituals.

Kuy Balam

9.15.10.17.14 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in

19 June 742

Kuy was the last of the Royal family in the mourning line, next to K'eelil, his much older half-sister. The people had come by to pay their respects, and he had followed the lead of his sisters beside him, recalling the experiences of the mourning times following the death of Father's brother Ch'u Te' back around the time Kuy had become a Man.

It had been a very long morning, woken early with the news of Father's death, then this long mourning line, and they still had the burial to attend before they could gather as a family and truly grieve. He was doing his best not to cry, but it was difficult when the people were so sad to have lost their beloved Ahaw.

Finally came the Kimi'ob, Kuy's cousin Lom and his wife P'ilix, Kuy's agemate, with whom

Kuy had gone to school, and their children: Chak practically a Man now, and little Na Chak, who was now Kuy's protégé in a way. She beamed up at him, her large brown eyes glittering with unshed tears, but a little smile of cousinly adoration on her lips.

Our sorrows, Kuy, she said softly, may K'uhul K'awiil grant you serenity. Ahead of her, her father Lom grunted, for despite Na Chak's determination to become a K'uhul Na like her great-aunt Na Ik, her father, grandfather and brother were not much taken with so much holy talk.

My thanks, Kuy answered her, taking her warm hands in his. And those of my whole family. Your good thoughts and prayers will be of much help in the days ahead, he said with true sincerity. Since last Turning, his relationship with this girl had become so much deeper than almost any other relationship he had ever had, even with Hinam. He doubted there was anyone, except perhaps Na K'abal Xook, who truly understood how that was, and what it meant to the two of them.

Behind Na Chak came Kuy's mother, Na Ik Kimi. Once she had been married to the deceased Ahaw, and had borne him two sons. But in later years, she and the old man had been estranged, and Kuy saw little of deep sorrow in his mother's eyes. She took his hands, her own warm in the middle morning, and they murmured brief condolences to each other.

And then the Kimi'ob too had passed, and other Traders and Boatmen were coming by with their families. As he rotely greeted the mourners, Kuy's thoughts turned to that eventful morning not quite a tun ago.

In their star studies Yoaat, Ek' Chuuch, and Ch'ix had noted that the Chak Ek' called Nohoch Ek', the Great Star that alternately followed or preceded K'inich Ahaw in His daily rounds, would be making His first morning appearance at the Turning this tun, which would also coincide with the beginning of K'atun nine fifteen ten. It was a huge calendrical event, which everyone agreed required many k'in'ob of celebration.

Think on it, Yoaat had said. A new K'atun, a Turning, and the First Morning of Nohoch Ek', all on the same k'in. A Holy K'in, a sacred K'in. A most propitious K'in! Kuy's brother had been beside himself in his enthusiasm.

So they had decided to include a ritual to welcome the Nohoch Ek' in the Turning ceremony. It would be a revival of an old ceremony that Na K'abal had found in an old book, and she had suggested that their bright young student Na Chak Kimi was ready to be trained to participate. Somehow Na K'abal had even convinced Kuy's mother, her sometime adversary Na Ik Kimi, to join them.

It had been a fairly normal Turning morning, somewhat foggy up at the K'inich Ahaw Temple. The people had been told of the specialness of the K'in, and had assembled early in a great crowd.

The welcoming ritual for Nohoch Ek', the Sukun Yum, the Elder Brother of K'inich Ahaw, included chants thanking Him for his service to K'inich Ahaw, carrying Him through the Night, and now appearing with Him in the morning sky. Of course the Sukun was at this time too close to his Itz'in to be visible to the people, but the people accepted all the Bakab'ob told them that the star charts proclaimed.

Then they performed a simple sacrifice ritual, with Na Ik Kimi, Na Chak's great-aunt and sponsor, drawing the first blood with a new obsidian lancet, made especially for this ceremony. Kuy's sacrifice had been next, and after calling upon his Waay, his spirit helper Xik the Falcon, for steadiness of hand, he had made the small incision on his arm and watched his blood drip onto the bark paper Na K'abal had held beneath his arm. Breathing evenly, Kuy had handed the lancet to Na Chak next to him.

The girl had been well schooled in the protocols, and Kuy had taken upon himself to speak with his young cousin beforehand, to assure himself that she had none of the adverse reactions he himself had had when young. It was during their talks, several days before that special ceremony, that he had told her the story of his early aversion to blood and ch'ulel, how after his Manhood he had gone with Yoaat to Yokib for K'an Ahk's wedding and accession ceremonies, how he had met with the old seer Ah K'uunvanal, and had learned to control his spirit, gaining his Xik Waay at the same time.

Na Chak had taken Kuy's story in stride, having early learned of Na K'abal Xook's youthful summoning of the Spirit of the Siyah Chan founder, Yoaat Balam, after whom she had later named her son. That summoning as a young woman had gained Na K'abal enormous prestige and respect among the People, the deep and lasting love of the Ahaw Itzamna Balam, and eventually legitimacy for her son Yoaat as Itzamna Balam's Ba Ch'ok.

So then, with all that tradition surrounding her, at the K'inich Ahaw Temple on this Turning morning, Na Chak Kimi had taken the intricately carved obsidian lancet from Kuy's hand, and drawn it lightly across the skin of her forearm. Kuy had watched her blood bead into small droplets, then swell into a rivulet onto the bark paper. Then he heard her gasp softly, and take hold of his arm, gripping firmly, as before everyone's eyes had risen from the basket in Na K'abal's hands an intricately formed spirit, a Serpent Waay, dancing there among them for many seconds before drifting off into smoky waftings. Reacting quickly, in those few moments Kuy had summoned his own Waay to add strength to Na Chak's Vision Serpent, so that afterward there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it had truly happened.

After that the rest of the sacrifices had been made in a rush, no one uttering an extra word, until the final K'inich Ahaw hymn was sung and the morning rituals were complete.

Then chaos had descended, and Kuy had moved to protect Na Chak from all those who reached out to touch her, to speak to her, to implore her. Kuy never knew how he had managed to lead his cousin down the hill to his own house halfway to the Xook residential area, without the huge crowd of people following them. Had his Waay somehow conveyed or protected them?

Once home, his wife Hinam, who had stayed home from the ceremony with their young children, had soothed Na Chak's nerves, shattered more by the reactions of the people than by the vision itself. Hinam had offered Na Chak wah and sac ha, which the girl consumed gratefully. Kuy had wanted to talk about it with her then, but she was worn out and sleepy, so when Na Ik finally located her, Kuy gladly let his mother take her great-niece home.

The next day Kuy had found an opportunity to talk with Na Chak privately, as she was sharing a meal with his mother. Surprisingly the girl was the one least impressed by what had happened.

Where did that Serpent come from, Kuy? Na Ik and everyone seem to think that I did it. She was sheepish, as if rightly blamed for taking a piece of stuffed wah that was being saved for an uncle.

You don't think so? he asked, and she nodded her head vigorously in the negative.

What did you experience? Kuy was gentle with her, not brusk as Ah K'uunvanal had been with him, a brash youth. Na Chak was in the midst of a gentle girlhood.

I cut my arm with the lancet, Kuy, and it didn't hurt at all at first, she began charmingly, her large brown eyes bright with excitement. Then the blood was running into the basket, and it began to sting a little. But I remembered what you told me about ch'ulel and spirit, how our blood is our life, just as ch'ulel is the life of Spirit, and I wasn't afraid at all. Then all of a sudden the smoke coming from my blood burning on the paper in the basket, the smoke shaped itself into a huge Serpent. I gasped in surprise, and grabbed your arm, to find out whether you could see it too. Then I realized that everyone there could see it, so I was less afraid. Then it all broke up into regular smoke. She made a just-so gesture with her hands.

Kuy had met his mother's eyes over the girl's head, Na Ik nodding slightly, confirming his own surmises. This had not been a small occurrence, and his Kimi uncles and cousins would be very sure to continue to make the most of it in the coming days following the death of the Ahaw.

But now the last stragglers were coming up, greeting the members of the Royal family, and Kuy forced himself back to the present.

Lom Kimi

9.15.10.17.14 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in

19 June 742

Lom grunted as he saw the greeting between his cousin Kuy and his daughter. He had no idea what role Kuy had played in what had happened at the Turning sacrifice last tun, but in some ways he was thankful, if perplexed. His father Chak and Uncle Leom were overjoyed, and had worked hard ever since to build up a great deal of admiration and respect for Na Chak, even though his daughter firmly denied having anything to do with any visions.

For himself, Lom had mixed feelings about it all. He agreed with his father and Uncle Leom that the gentle, peaceful Balam'ob had put the City in dire jeopardy of raids to their outlying towns and villages, from rival Cities wanting more vassals and the extra tribute they would bring. He, Lom, as well as his younger brother Elk'in, had worked hard since becoming Men to help train up new Warriors, to join in their Uncles' Hoyihel'ob through the circuits of vassal towns, not only collecting their due tribute, but strengthening ties, doing what they could to raise Siyah Chan's prestige, especially among those furthest villages that could easily be swayed to turn to other Cities for their protection.

But during his entire Manhood, Lom had seen the Siyah Chan Lord, this now deceased Ahaw Itzamna Balam, decline in strength to retire into his stone house, leaving his weak son and Ba Ch'ok Yoaat Balam to attempt to keep the City together. Sure, Yoaat could easily take his

Father's place in rituals, and Lom had to grant that he did it well. He could also try to take his Father's place on the Jaguar Throne, trying to work with his Father's Council to keep the City together. But those men all looked to livelihood, fishing, hunting, growing, and trade, for the City's strength. They barely listened to Lom's father, Chak Kimi, when he told of conditions in the furthest reaches of their territory, so focused were they on matters closer to home.

Rarely had his father been allowed by the acting Ahaw and his Council to enforce Siyah Chan's authority with raids or other such punitive or proactive activities. What few of these actions they had taken had been direly needed and done surreptitiously, but well. Lom smiled inwardly at his memories of dawn raids, evening raids, even a couple pitched battles for towns on the edges of Siyah Chan's territory where certain important tribute goods like obsidian, greenstone, kakaw orchards, even the mo' feathers Yoaat so proudly wore today, were plentiful. Otherwise, how would they be ruling in Siyah Chan today? How would Yoaat be dressed so regally?

How could they ever get Yoaat to understand that?

Father had great hopes for improvement once his cousin Yaxuun returned from Yokib. Trained as a Warrior, then sent many tun'ob ago to their nearby rival City to work to assure their alliance, Yaxuun Balam had been lost to Siyah Chan for too long. But now that his Father the Ahaw was dead, Yoaat had taken the right action, and had recalled his brother home.

Perhaps it had always been planned that Yaxuun would come home when Itzamna died. Or perhaps Yoaat sensed the precariousness of his position as Ahaw, and his need for his brother's strength as his Ba Sahal. But it had never been a secret that Chak Kimi wanted his own sister's son as Ahaw in Siyah Chan after Itzamna. Perhaps that had been Itzamna's prime reason for sending the boy away, rather than any need to secure Yokib's alliance. Nonetheless, by recalling Yaxuun, Yoaat was playing right into their hands, bringing Yaxuun right into the midst of the fray, where they could use their Kimi influence to get him onto the Jaguar Throne.

Where Lom disagreed with his Father and Uncle, was in their use of this accidental ritual happenstance involving his little girl Na Chak as part of their power play, setting the stage, as it were, for events to move in a different direction. In fact, it surprised Lom that the great Chak Kimi would fasten onto any ceremonial, spiritual business to further his plans.

Nonetheless, he wanted his daughter out of the direct attention she was currently getting, he wanted her ritual role played down, not up. Seeing his cousin Kuy here today reminded Lom that there was something between his cousin and his daughter, coming from that ceremony. He needed to talk to Kuy, to find out what had happened, what was going on, and how Kuy could help get the attention off Na Chak, for he was fairly certain that Kuy felt as he did about that.

Na Ik Kimi

9.15.10.17.14 6 Ix 12 Yaxk'in

19 June 742

Na Ik Kimi stood listening to the burial chants for her husband-in-name-only Itzamna Balam with mixed feelings. She was sorry for coming here to Siyah Chan in the first place, but so happy with the sons Itzamna had given her. She was never properly honored here, never lived as Itzamna's wife, but rather lived constantly in the shadow of the ‘great' Na K'abal Xook. Yet finally she had found a niche as a teacher in Siyah Chan, and she felt fulfilled in many ways.

She had her brothers and their families around her, and now her son Kuy had given her three grandchildren that she doted on. His wife Hinam, although a Balam, was a sweet girl, attentive, productive, and a very good mother to Na Ik's grandchildren.

Actually, her attitude had turned from one of bitterness and sorrow to acceptance and happiness some eleven tun'ob ago, around the time of Chak's grandson's birth and naming. At that time she had had a brief romantic attachment with the baby's other grandfather, Puw Kimi the agriculture administrator, of all people. He was lonely too, having lost his wife long before, left to raise his daughter, Lom's lovely wife P'ilix, by himself. Somehow the two