The wind blew through the Tree Sea, and the tall trees on the distant mountains rustled with waves of leaves, as if the sound came from the cloudy heavens. Though that leaf-sound of wind and trees was far away, though the camp was clamorous, Xolotl still heard it. He could not help stopping before the Royal Tent to gaze into the distance, where the mountain forests were like a sea, drifting as lightly as the clouds.
"Upon the endless mountains stand towering trees; within the long, narrow valleys, ancient tribes are nurtured. The Snake God came from the clouds and mated with the divine bird upon the Divine Tree, giving birth to the God-descendants in the clouds, whose lineage has passed through four eras until today!..."
Xolotl's expression was distant as, in a priest's cadence, he softly chanted the inherited myth of the Mixtec. At that moment, looking at the high mountain forests on either side of Cloud Valley, looking at free birds wheeling through the sky, he suddenly understood where the myths of the clouds had come from, and also understood why the Cloud Tribes had resisted to the death.
"The Cloud Tribes dwell among mountains, rivers, forests, and valleys. They sacrifice to divine birds and flying snakes, revere the Cloud God and Rain God, delight in gorgeous dress, and excel at carving gold and silver. These ancient, stubborn people of the mountain forests are just like the Chu People of the Warring States!... And yet the Alliance is like Qin marching south. A hundred thousand soldiers campaign in three routes, thunder cannons storm cities and break stockades. The Cloud Tribes will be destroyed, the God-descendants' line severed, and the rites of the Chu People will surely be cut off!..."
At that thought, Xolotl's expression did not change. He