Chapter Eleven

 

Olmec date 4.15.10.12.7 8 Manik’ 10 Ch’en (26 November 1231 BCE)

Ix’s family’s huts, Lord Ajaw’s lands, ancient Olmec (Juluwik, modern Mexico)

Ix rolled the rubber ball to Kat, happy to sit for a while. The new maize child growing in Ix’s womb was enormous. At just eight moons, it was already larger than Kat was at ten moons. By the Lords of Maize, it had to be a boy!

Ix and her sister Tzikin had worked for hours alongside their mother, Imox, to prepare a celebratory feast for tonight. Bowls of maize, beans, squash and sweet potatoes pressed against piles of turkey, fish, rabbit and deer. Ix’s favourite dish, avocados mashed with chillies and cacao, begged to be scooped up by tortillas, and washed down with blue corn juice. Ix’s stomach growled at the thought.

Ix, Tzikin and all their children were gathered at Imox’s house to mark the first moon time of Tzikin’s eldest girl, Akna. As they’d prepared the ceremonial soups, Imox, Tzikin and Akna looked ready to burst with pride, while Akna’s twin sister, Xmucane, pouted.

Chimalmat, Ix’s eldest daughter, sat in the corner of the hut with Akna and Xmucane, whispering furiously.

‘It’s not my fault I got mine first!’ Akna yelled at Xmucane.

‘Girls!’ Tzikin admonished her daughters. ‘Enough bickering. Go outside and check on your brothers and sisters.’

‘And you, Chimalmat,’ Ix added. ‘Go with them and check on your sisters.’

‘Yes, Mother,’ Chimalmat said.

Tzikin huffed as the three girls left. ‘She’s so obedient, Ix. How do you manage it?’

‘Ix was always more obedient than you, Tzikin,’ Imox said. ‘Why should her children be any different?’

‘Mother!’ Tzikin protested. Ix grinned.

‘It’s hard on Xmucane, though,’ Ix said, ‘having Akna come first in everything.’

‘And how would you know?’ Tzikin teased. ‘You always beat me at everything!’

‘Is that true, Mother?’ asked Kat.

‘Yes,’ Ix answered, rolling the ball to her again. Tzikin punched Ix playfully on the arm.

‘Kimi’s here, Kimi’s here!’ Ix’s other daughters ran through the door in a tumble of limbs.

‘Girls, don’t run inside,’ Ix said. ‘Kimi had to attend a birth last night. I’m sure she’s tired. Let her rest and eat before you pester her to watch you play.’

‘Yes, Mother,’ they chorused, running back out the door.

When she entered the hut, Kimi looked exhausted. The midwife’s aged face was slick with sweat.

‘Have you slept?’ Ix asked her.

‘No. It was another breech birth. Poor Iqchel, may Lady Midwife soothe and heal her.’ Kimi shook her head. ‘Another perfect girl, just not breathing. We had to sedate Iqchel afterwards.’

Imox handed Kimi a bowl of soup and a tortilla. As Kimi ate, the four women chatted about Lord Ajaw’s great new ceremonial site, where Ix and Tzikin’s husbands were working. They wondered if any of their children or grandchildren would grow to compete on the new Great Ballcourt.

Ix smoothed a hand over her swollen belly. If this was a boy, he would certainly play the Ballgame. And, with Ix for a mother and Aqabal for a father, he would surely win.

Their break over, the women began to boil maize in lime for tomorrow’s tortillas. When Ix stopped for a drink, Kimi handed her a gourd of strangely sweet, cold tea.

‘This is new,’ Ix said.

‘Yes,’ Kimi replied. ‘It will help the child to take form.’

‘Surely he or she…’

‘Or both of them!’ Imox interjected.

Ix smiled. ‘…is fully formed now?’

‘They still grow in the last moon or two. You know that.’

The women had boiled about half the maize when Ix felt a ripple in her stomach. The child was certainly strong. Ix squirmed uncomfortably. Liquid began to seep from between her legs…

‘No, it’s too early!’’ Ix cried.

Imox was by her side instantly. ‘What is it?’

‘My womb waters…look. It’s too early, it’s only eight moons.’

‘You’re strong,’ Tzikin said, ‘and your babies are strong. It will be fine.’

‘But it’s an inauspicious day to give birth!’

‘Then we will name him or her after another day,’ Kimi said. ‘Come, you can’t birth here in Imox’s hut.’

‘Take her to mine,’ Tzikin instructed.

Please, please let this be a boy, Ix prayed, and let him survive. Make my husband A Man Who Has Fathered Sons.

‘I’m here,’ said Imox, squeezing Ix’s hand. She put a hand on Ix’s belly. ‘I will pray to the Lords of Maize for you.’

Ix closed her eyes. She had faced death many times on the Great Ballcourt and survived. This child of her womb and Aqabal’s fire would survive, too.