"There wasn't any interesting talk at all," Jade Flower said.

I threw her a sharp glare then told Black Otter, "I'm going to be a sister!"

"Yeah, so, what's special about that?" he asked.

I pushed his shoulder in mock outrage. "My mother's having a baby."

"But you said she couldn’t have any more."

"The Feathered Serpent blessed her," Jade Flower replied and this time I elbowed her for interrupting me.

Black Otter raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

I nodded. "He's given her and the king a son."

"That's splendid!"

Jade Flower snorted. "Don't listen to him, Papalotl. Brothers are the bane of every girl's life, slinking along the walls like rodents and shooting arrows at your dolls."

I was about to argue against her when her brother Itzcoyotl came up behind us and snatched Jade Flower's little jeweled flower basket from her hands. "Give it back!" she screamed, turning on him with clawing fingernails.

But he cackled and shoved her back with his foot while holding her basket up out of her reach. "Weeping Woman! Weeping Woman!" he chanted once she dissolved into tears.

"Give it back to her," Black Otter said.

"Shut up, Lake Monster," Itzcoyotl said with a sneer than returned to taunting Jade Flower.

In response, Black Otter punched Itzcoyotl hard in the gut.

Itzcoyotl doubled over, holding his stomach and moaning, but when Black Otter reached for the basket, he threw a fistful of dirt into his eyes. Then he lunged at my cousin like a jaguar mauling a deer.