Chapter Summaries

Divine King Avet stripped Xolotl of the Alliance’s inheritance and named Xolotl’s eldest son, Xiuhua, as his successor. Xolotl accepted the loss to protect his family and the wider Mesoamerican future, leaving him isolated as the nobles swore allegiance to the two suns.

• Avet demanded that Xolotl salute Xiuhua as the Alliance’s rising sun and surrender his claim to the inheritance.
• Xiuhua questioned why his father had to salute him, while Alisa wept and Xolotl silently faced Avet’s ultimatum.
• Xolotl bowed and swore to protect the royal house’s two suns, accepting his role as Death God who would guard the noon sun and escort the next sun’s rise.
• Avet promised Xolotl a divine throne beside Alisa and directed Xiuhua to touch his father’s hair.
• Avet proclaimed Xiuhua the Son of the Sun God and heir to the Alliance’s Sun Divine King position.
• Acap, Gilim, the Priest Elders, nobles, and warriors knelt before Avet and Xiuhua, while Xolotl only saluted.

Xolotl confronted Alisa over her silence about Avet’s plot and tested whether she still supported him. Alisa confessed her fears and urged him to wait for Avet’s death, and the two reconciled in the prince’s palace.

• Xolotl demanded to know whether Alisa knew of Avet’s scheme and why she had never warned him.
• Alisa confessed that she feared Avet would kill Xolotl and revealed that he had prepared to mobilize a hundred thousand Alliance Warriors.
• Alisa admitted she knew about Xolotl’s other wives and children and said she forgave him.
• Alisa urged Xolotl to restrain his ambition and wait until Avet was gone, arguing that Xiuhua would inherit all under heaven.
• Xolotl embraced Alisa, and they reunited as early-summer rain and thunder sounded outside the palace.

Xolotl reunited with Alisa and visited his father Xoloc, discovering that Xoloc had ten more children and that royal elders were protecting him in the Lake Capital. In private, Xoloc warned that Xolotl had defied his grandfather’s instruction never to return while Avet lived.

• Xolotl woke beside Alisa, and she told him their son Xiuhua was studying with Granduncle Cacamatzin and staying at the palace most days.
• Xolotl and Alisa set out to visit Xoloc under the protection of Copper Axe Guards sent by Cacamatzin, and Xolotl considered the elders’ influence over Avet.
• Xolotl met Xoloc’s eight children in the courtyard and learned that two more young children were inside, bringing Xoloc’s total to ten children besides Xolotl, White Eagle, and Grey Dog.
• Xolotl left Alisa with the children and followed Xoloc to his study, where Xoloc recited a poem and then warned Xolotl that he had violated his grandfather’s letter by returning while Avet lived.
• Xolotl told Xoloc that he had returned because he feared for his father and younger siblings.

Xolotl told his aging father, Xoloc, that he expected the prophecy of white-skinned demons to reshape the world and keep him from being imprisoned in the capital for long. He also warned that Avet’s endless ambition would eventually become the Divine King’s greatest weakness, and resolved that he would one day stop standing at Avet’s side.

• Xoloc urged Xolotl to accept his imprisonment and put the Holy City Lineage’s inheritance ahead of his younger siblings, while Xolotl said he had returned to prevent a destructive civil war.
• Xoloc recited a poem about time and warned Xolotl that leaving the capital could take ten or twenty years.
• Xolotl reminded Xoloc of his prophecy about white-skinned demons arriving from the Eastern Sea and said he had made preparations there.
• Xoloc feared that the prophecy coming true would intensify Avet’s wariness of Xolotl.
• Xolotl argued that Avet’s ambition would drive him to wage wars against the People of the Clouds, the Maya, and the demons, eventually leading to his downfall.
• Xolotl concluded that Avet’s unrestrained desire for conquest and control was his greatest weakness and vowed to overcome his own soft-heartedness and stop standing beside him.

During the spring-plowing season, Xolotl and Alisa visited their five-year-old son Xiuhua, who was studying with Tidan at Cacamatzin’s residence. Xiuhua charmed and teased his parents, leaving Xolotl astonished by how sly his son was and Alisa blaming Xolotl for passing on his nature.

• Divine King Avet traveled through the Lake Texcoco region with four thousand Shorn Guard to inspect spring plowing and conduct sacrifices.
• Xolotl and Alisa visited Cacamatzin, who called Xiuhua out of his lessons to see his parents.
• Xiuhua emerged holding Tidan’s hand and praised her intelligence while teasing Alisa about her looks and temper.
• Alisa pinched Xiuhua for teasing her, while Xolotl hesitated to intervene and Cacamatzin watched with amusement.
• Xiuhua pretended the pinching hurt, then explained that his mother’s feelings were hurt and he shared her pain.
• Alisa pinched Xolotl and blamed him for Xiuhua’s clever, flirtatious nature.

Xolotl learned that Tidan had lost her mother while fleeing the Xiu tribe, and Little Xiuhua tried to comfort her by asking Alisa to become her mother. Xolotl explained that Tidan’s fate tied her to the Mexica royal house, and the chapter ended with Xiuhua pledging to marry and care for her while Alisa blamed Xolotl for their five-year-old son’s boldness.

• Tidan told Xolotl she was born in a Cocom village near Chichen Itza and that her mother disappeared after giving her to her father during their flight from the Xiu tribe.
• Little Xiuhua comforted Tidan and asked Xolotl to let Alisa become her mother.
• Xolotl explained that Tidan and her brother Tilan were destined to join the Mexica royal house as part of a merger with the Maya royal house.
• After Xolotl formally asked whether he would accept that destiny, Xiuhua agreed to marry Tidan and promised to care for her.
• Tidan cried and leaned against Xiuhua, while Alisa grabbed Xolotl’s face and scolded him for their five-year-old son’s behavior.

Cacamatzin urged Xolotl to stay in the Royal Capital and avoid a conflict with Avet, warning that division in the Mexica royal house could destroy the alliance. He apologized for Avet’s treatment of Xolotl and promised that the elders would protect him and that power would eventually pass to him and Xiuhua.

• Xiuhua asked Cacamatzin for art supplies so Tidan could paint a red divine bird while he painted a golden pyramid as her home.
• Xolotl and Alisa shared a meal with Cacamatzin, who encouraged Xolotl to rest in the capital with his family.
• Cacamatzin praised Xolotl, Avet, and Xiuhua, then warned that rivalry between the royal branches could split the Mexica alliance as the Tepanec Alliance had fallen.
• Xolotl recalled how royal infighting could enable foreign invaders and plague to destroy the alliance, and he struggled to hide his distress.
• Cacamatzin apologized to Xolotl on Avet’s behalf and promised that the royal elders would keep him safe and ensure power eventually passed to him and Xiuhua.

Xolotl promised the royal elders that he would forgive Avet’s past actions and avoid a civil war, after Cacamatzin secured Avet’s guarantees of Xolotl’s safety and his western lake fief. With the elders’ pledge in place, Cacamatzin sent Alisa away so he could speak privately with Xolotl.

• Cacamatzin bowed to Xolotl and urged him to prevent a split and civil war between the Holy City Lineage and Avet’s main royal line.
• Xolotl promised before the ancestors and the Main God to forgive Avet and wait rather than start a conflict.
• Cacamatzin vowed that the royal elders would protect Xolotl in the Royal Capital and said Avet had promised not to threaten his western lake fief while he remained there.
• Alisa prayed that Xolotl and Avet would honor their oaths, while the chapter explained the royal elders’ influence over the nobles, army, and priesthood.
• Xolotl thanked Cacamatzin and the elders, and Cacamatzin asked Alisa to check on Little Xiuhua and Little Tidan so he could speak with Xolotl alone.

After years apart, Xolotl and Alisa reunited at the lakeside estate and spent the evening with their grown animal companions, Avilot and Xiao Qing. Beneath the stars, they promised to stay together until death and to be buried together in the Pyramid of the Moon.

• Avilot returned with a fish, interrupted Xolotl and Alisa, and playfully pinned Xolotl down before Alisa called it to her side.
• Xiao Qing emerged from the lake, recognized Xolotl, and coiled around him as the reunited family gathered for grilled fish.
• Alisa told Xolotl how much she had missed him and wished they could remain together forever.
• Xolotl promised Alisa they would stay together until death and be buried together in the Pyramid of the Moon, where he had been born.
• As night fell, Avilot flew into the sky and Xiao Qing returned to the lake while Xolotl and Alisa stayed together.

Xolotl told Alisa about The Elder’s sealed succession edict and reassured her that he would not seek to open it early, choosing instead to enjoy their life together. Alisa proposed a fertility rite at the Goddess of Spring’s Temple, leaving Xolotl eager but warning him that he must remain faithful to her.

• Xolotl and Alisa woke together at midday and talked about what Great-uncle Cacamatzin had told him.
• Xolotl revealed that The Elder had left him a testamentary edict, which Great-uncle would hand over only after Avet died unless a violent upheaval occurred.
• Xolotl told Alisa he would not try to obtain the edict early because doing so could provoke a split and civil war in the Alliance.
• Alisa invited Xolotl to a Goddess of Spring rite at the lakeside Temple, where she had arranged for the priestesses to perform the Twenty Spirit Fox Dance.
• Alisa teased Xolotl about his interest in the rite, then warned him not to leave his divinity inside another woman without her permission.

Avet monitored Xolotl’s conduct in the capital while reviewing the southern states and weighing how to handle the distant Coastal Alliance. He ordered preparations for a campaign against the People of the Clouds after the October harvest.

• Avet heard that the Southern Three States were stable, their nobles were obeying his orders, and the capital’s artisans were producing gunpowder and bronze cannons.
• Chiwami reported that Xolotl had avoided political meetings and spent his time with Alisa, who planned a Goddess of Spring ritual to pray for children; Avet chose not to interfere.
• Chiwami reported that Flying Bird Saa had reached Cempoalli and that outreach to the Coastal Alliance had made little progress, prompting Avet to defer action on the coast.
• Avet ordered Chiwami to send merchants and Secret Guards to gather intelligence and map the Mixtec and Zapotec lands.
• Avet declared that the Alliance Army would march south after the October harvest to conquer the People of the Clouds.

Xolotl watched the Goddess of Spring’s ritual in the Lake Capital, where Achiyah led a fox sacrifice followed by the Goddess of Victory’s dance. The ritual’s chant then introduced the ancestral God-descendant warrior’s resolve to capture the Goddess of Victory and make her his wife.

• Xolotl changed into God-descendant warrior’s attire and followed Achiyah into the temple courtyard.
• Achiyah and the priestesses began the spring ritual with chants and flute music as a maiden offered a Red Fox.
• Achiyah sacrificed the Red Fox at the altar and placed its bloodied body beside the Holy Spring.
• The Goddess of Victory and twenty masked Spirit Foxes appeared by the bonfire and performed a dance before Xolotl.
• Achiyah’s chant described the God-descendant warrior deciding to capture the Goddess of Victory and take her as his wife.

Divine King Avet summoned Xolotl after hearing Shadow Dagger Chiwami’s report and found him sunk in drunken revelry. Avet rebuked him for disgracing the royal family and began beating him with the Divine Staff, leaving Xolotl kneeling before him.

• Divine King Avet returned to the Lake Capital and summoned Shadow Dagger Chiwami, whose report filled him with fury.
• Avet ordered the Shorn Guard to fetch Xolotl, who arrived drunk and disheveled from the Temple of the Goddess of Spring.
• The guards doused Xolotl with water and slapped him until he recognized Avet and the assembled ministers.
• Avet cleared the hall, kicked Xolotl down, and scolded him for ten days of drinking and debauchery that had become known throughout the capital.
• Xolotl admitted he was wrong and knelt as Avet raised the Divine Staff to punish him.

Divine King Avet beat Xolotl with the Divine Staff for abandoning his duties and indulging in the Goddess of Spring’s rites, then explained that he had kept Xolotl in the capital to protect him and preserve his place in the royal house. Reassured by Xolotl’s remorse, Avet offered him work among the Ministers of State Affairs.

• Avet struck Xolotl thirty times with the Divine Staff, rebuking him for betraying his ancestors, the Main God, The Elder, and his teacher.
• Xolotl admitted that he had fallen into despair and indulgence, and apologized to Avet.
• Avet told Xolotl he had brought him back to the capital to keep him safe and wanted him to help unify the land.
• Avet forbade Xolotl from attending rites at the Goddess of Spring’s Temple and said he would supervise him.
• Avet comforted Xolotl and offered him a place among the Ministers of State Affairs.

Xolotl was appointed a royal Minister of State Affairs and given charge of the Royal Capital's Artisan Camp military supplies. Avet ordered him to purge corruption and stop weapons from reaching the Cloud Tribes before the autumn campaign.

• Avet comforted Xolotl after beating him and appointed him to the Alliance council as a royal Minister of State Affairs.
• Cihuacoatl Gilim proposed making Xolotl director of the Medical Institute, but Avet instead assigned him responsibility for the Artisan Camp's military supplies.
• Avet explained that the camp supplied six legions and that nobles had been smuggling weapons to foreign states, including the Tlaxcalans.
• Avet gave Xolotl authority to arrest corrupt nobles and sacrifice them before the autumn campaign, ordering him to prevent weapons from reaching the Cloud Tribes.

Divine King Avet assigned Xolotl and the ministers preparations for the Alliance’s October campaign against the Cloud Tribes, then revealed his plan to bind the Coastal Alliance to the Mexica royal house through Xolotl’s daughter Light Snake. He left Xolotl to choose which of Avet’s sons would be betrothed to her.

• Avet ordered Xolotl to oversee the Artisan Camp, improve gunpowder and mortar production, and provide ten Thunder God Mortars for the southern expedition.
• Avet tasked Gilim with inspecting grain stores, Chiwami with monitoring nobles and supplies, Ksoro with summoning city-state nobles and their sons, and Stanley with organizing the expedition’s forces.
• After the ministers left, Avet asked Xolotl to call him teacher and questioned him about his daughter Xo Guangshe, also known as Light Snake.
• Avet explained that Light Snake’s marriage to a Mexica prince would help secure the Coastal Alliance and extend Mexica influence along the coast.
• Avet asked Xolotl to choose whether twelve-year-old Chimalpilli or four-year-old Cuauhtemoc would be betrothed to Light Snake.

Avet and Xolotl settled Cuauhtemoc and Light Snake’s betrothal and established Xolotl as a powerful leader of the new Medical Academy. Avet declared his ambition to conquer the continent with Xolotl as his Legalist Chief Minister, then told him he had passed his test.

• Xolotl asked Avet to betroth Cuauhtemoc to Light Snake and let him teach Cuauhtemoc, and Avet agreed to arrange the sacred marriage and student rites.
• Xolotl requested the Medical Institute directorship to prepare for the coming white-skinned demons, and Avet instead founded a Medical Academy with Xolotl as dean and created ranks for Medical Priests.
• Avet urged Xolotl to serve as Minister of State Affairs for decades, comparing his future to the immortal Elder who had long led the alliance.
• Avet recalled Xolotl’s story of the Divine King of Qin and vowed to conquer the lands between the seas, naming Xolotl his future Legalist Chief Minister.
• Xolotl pledged to support Avet’s conquests, and Avet praised his performance and told him he had passed.

After meeting Avet, Xolotl returned home and laid out the powers and burdens the Divine King had assigned him, while recognizing that their political alliance was secure. As Xolotl reunited with Alisa and anticipated upheaval from the east, an unexpected ship carrying gifts from Asia approached from the west.

• Xolotl dreamed that he and Avet had exchanged places on the stone throne, then woke as his guards brought him to the residence.
• Xolotl told Ekat that Avet had appointed him Minister of State Affairs, put him in charge of military supplies and corruption reform, and entrusted the Medical Academy to him.
• Xolotl explained that he would support Avet’s southern campaign and planned to spread songs and rumors that portrayed himself as humbled by the Divine King.
• Alisa found Xolotl’s staff wounds, embraced him, and heard him say that his conflict with Avet was over.
• Xolotl anticipated dark clouds arriving from the east, unaware that a Zheyang Ship carrying gifts from Asia was struggling westward across the sea.

Scholar Miki learned that Zuwaro had returned from the Divine Revelation Continent aboard a fast sailing ship, carrying skilled captives and sailors. After inspecting the ship and its crew, Miki went to learn how its complex sails worked.

• Scholar Miki realized the Zheyang Ship had sailed six hundred li to God Volcano Island in four days and marveled at its speed.
• Chakapu Shijian introduced the four Wagoku captives and explained that Murakami had escaped by swimming to Divine Snow Mother Island because he feared dying far from home.
• Miki said the translator Watanabe, blacksmith Ootani, and horse keeper Ichiro were valuable talents who needed close supervision.
• Shijian identified Park as the ship's skilled sailmaker, who had been teaching the Unangan sailors to handle its three connected sails.
• Miki went to question Park about the sails so the kingdom's ships could learn to travel as fast.

Scholar Miki inspected the Zheyang Ship’s rigid lanteen sails and questioned sailmaker Park Sun-pan about how its design harnessed the wind. Park could explain the inherited sailing techniques but not their principles, so he summoned Shipwright Kim Seon-su to answer Miki’s questions about the shipbuilding regulations.

• Park Sun-pan angrily taught Unangan sailors how to adjust the Zheyang Ship’s sails, but they struggled to understand his instructions.
• Watanabe told Park that the Rubber People’s Priest had arrived, and Scholar Miki greeted the sailors and examined the ship’s three masts and sails.
• Miki asked Park why the sails, masts, rigging, and materials were designed as they were.
• Park explained that the rigid Tang-style lanteen sails could be angled to borrow wind, but admitted he knew the techniques through practice rather than understanding their principles.
• Park said the ship’s design followed regulations passed down from Great Ming’s Shipbuilding Department in Kamikuni, then called Shipwright Kim Seon-su over to answer Miki’s questions.