Two Eyes Cenote Leaf-nosed

an insensitive question for a moment deserving of some sensitivity. qiao watched the woman flinch, her expression remaining clinical. good. the first time -- you are lucky. the second time, you go with them. she brushed aside an errant leaf and continued her braid, content with the silence until eset prompted her further.

qiao was not one to reminisce. her life was an arrow's cruel trajectory -- always forward, never back, cutting down anything in its way. to think back on these women evoked their memories and awoke their spirits -- some of which qiao preferred remained dead.

a proud race. chwezi. the world has moved on from them. sister-wives to the earth, they drew from it their power and knowledge, which they guarded fiercely. they tended the dying by king's order, but were not his subjects. like mercenaries, they were hirelings and marched to the war-drums of whoever paid the highest cost. men were fearful of them -- worried they might run off with their women in the night. her light laugh ended with a clap. they would die to see the fellahin today.