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Kinich never thought that he’d live very long.
As a young child, he’d thought that maybe his father would be the death of him - either from gambling all their family’s money away, or from hitting Kinich just a little too hard in an alcohol-fueled rage. If he’d struck Kinich with the same force as his mother, he’s certain he would have been severely concussed at best.
After that, he’d thought that he would die as all warriors of Natlan do, struck down in battle. The first time he participated in the Pilgrimage, he was killed quite violently, and he was dazed to wake up whole and healthy in the Stadium of the Sacred Flame, without a single injury save for the scars he’d had before he left, and with a Dendro Vision to show for it. He didn’t have time even to stand before Mualani tackled him into a hug, almost knocking both of them down, sobbing with relief. He flinched reflexively, veins humming still with adrenaline from the battle, but she was not deterred.
(Kinich’s skin seemed to burn for hours after that, in the shape of arms around his back, even though he wasn’t injured after waking. He wondered if it was a side effect of being resurrected by the Sacred Flame, an overdose of phlogiston, or something.)
Kinich has never planned far ahead. His plans for the future consist mostly of “keep going” - hunting, fighting, eating, sleeping, repeating. It’s a routine he’s always had - the only difference was adding Ajaw into the mix. Kinich was dumbfounded when some of the elders questioned him about settling down someday to raise a family - he’s never had any desire for romance or raising children. Archons know he’d be a terrible father, and he’s not sure what romantic attraction feels like at all, only that he’s never felt it.
Now, his twentieth birthday is in two weeks, and he’s not sure what to do about it. He mentions it offhandedly once - Ajaw remarks that it’s a nice round age to die at.
-
Kachina dies, and she doesn’t come back.
Kinich can feel the whispers around him when the resurrection ceremony fails, feels the faith of a nation falter, unsure, like an approaching storm darkening the sky.
Mualani and some others go after her, and they return safely, although only barely. Kinich has always been practical, maybe excessively, but he’s found himself appreciative of her infectious enthusiasm. She’s a lot like Mualani, in that way. Kinich would have helped her if Mavuika didn’t have another task for him.
And despite his detachment, it takes an invisible weight off of his chest to see Mualani safe and sound upon their return, and during the battles that followed.
-
Mualani invites him to the springs, wanting to go on a short camping trip with him and Kachina. Kinich thinks it might be an excuse for a surprise party, but his birthday isn’t for another week yet.
Unfortunately, Kinich is late by a few hours, due to an unexpectedly tedious commission. When he finally arrives, Kachina and Mualani are tossing around a ball in the hot springs with some of the other locals.
Kachina looks up at him and smiles. “Kinich! You’re here!”
“You’re late,” Mualani huffs, but there’s no bite in her voice, so she’s probably not really mad. She stands. “What held you up?”
“Work,” he says simply. “...Are we going camping?”
“We were,” Mualani sighs. “It’s getting late, though. We won’t get it set up in time.”
Kinich follows Mualani’s gaze to the horizon, where the sun is beginning to set. “Oh,” he says, stupidly, a twinge of guilt settling in his gut. “Sorry.”
“Aw,” Kachina mumbles.
“Don’t worry, we’ll just go tomorrow,” Mualani continues brightly, picking up the ball.
And so Kachina sleeps on Mualani’s couch, and Kinich, unable to sleep, goes outside and waits.
“Camping? Really?”
“Shut up, Ajaw.”
“Just sayin’! You didn’t even ask them to pay you for it.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
Ajaw makes an indignant screech. Kinich feels the corner of his mouth tick up a little bit. At the end of the day, there’s always antagonizing Ajaw.
“Be quiet, or you’ll wake them up.”
“Ooh, if I wake them up, you think they’ll finally be mad enough to kill you?”
“Mualani’s not gonna kill me.”
“That’s what you think,” Ajaw grumbles, but he does shut up, then. Kinich rolls his eyes.
-
Kachina always wakes up early, Mualani always sleeps in late, and Kinich never sleeps for more than two hours at a time.
He’s not sure when exactly that started; he guesses maybe when he was small, since it could be dangerous to fall too deeply asleep, living away from the village with only his mother, who wasn’t a fighter, and his father, who was a fighter. Or at least, he had been. (This was unfortunate for all the instances in which his father was fighting something that was not a monster. Namely, his mother.)
Either way, Kinich’s irregular sleep schedule is efficient - most Saurian hunters operate on the typical day-night sleep cycle, which is inconvenient for doing anything at night or traveling long distances. Kinich sleeps when he’s not working, and works when he’s not sleeping, and that’s the way it goes.
(It’s also convenient for Ajaw, who gets bored if they’re not doing anything for too long. Kinich… doesn’t actually know if Ajaw has to sleep or not, but sometimes he does disappear for a few hours, either to sleep or maybe just to stop talking to Kinich for a while.)
Eventually, sitting on Mualani’s front porch, Kinich dozes off leaning against a fence post, which is probably a rather odd position for Kachina and Mualani to find him in later.
He’s awoken from incoherent dreams of cliffs and darkness by Kachina gently shaking his shoulder.
“Kinich, wake up.”
“Nnh.” He opens his eyes; Kachina’s sitting with him, and Mualani is dragging out what looks like camping equipment.
“Sorry,” Kachina says. “We didn’t wanna wake you up, but we probably should get going soon…”
Mualani looks at him, and laughs. “You don’t have to sleep out here, you know. I have a perfectly good bed, I’d share if you asked.”
Kinich shakes his head, wincing slightly as mild pain shoots up his neck from the odd position. “It’s fine.”
“You’re weird,” Kachina observes as she stands. Ajaw’s not here right now, but Kinich swears he can hear his laugh in his head like a second consciousness.
“Yeah, whatever.”
Mualani carries the tent, Kachina takes miscellaneous utensils and cooking equipment, and Kinich carries the bedrolls. Mualani appears to already have a spot in mind.
“Ta-da!” Mualani exclaims, after an hour or so of hiking, holding out her arms dramatically at the view.
Kachina gasps. “Woah.”
Kinich is inclined to agree. He’s never had an eye for art or beauty, but even with his untrained eyes, he can tell it’s gorgeous. Blue and gray hills roll out on one side - Kinich can just barely see Coatepec Mountain from here - and the other side faces the water.
“You should see this place at sunset,” Mualani adds.
Even before he was friends (are they friends now? They are, right?) with Mualani, Kinich always liked the ocean; the fresh salty air provides a nice contrast to the stuffy air of his childhood home. He never got a good view of the sunset from the mountains or the rainforest. The People of the Springs get to see it every day.
(Kinich’s never wanted much out of life, but he often feels as though something’s missing from it, like phantom pain, only from a limb he’s never had. Maybe not wanting much is the problem.)
-
Kachina and Mualani are more experienced at camping than Kinich is - mostly because Kinich, if he spends the night in the wild, either sleeps on the ground or stays up all night. He can’t remember the last time he had to set up a tent. He’s never minded sleeping under the stars, and carrying around a tent is just kind of impractical for the kind of work he does.
It also appeases Ajaw, who crows about looking forward to Kinich getting ambushed by passing monsters and dying. In practice, though, Ajaw has always woken him up when there’s danger.
(He wonders sometimes how Ajaw actually feels about him, because he clearly doesn’t hate him as much as he says he does. If Ajaw really did just want Kinich’s body out of this, he would definitely have let him die before now.)
Kinich gathers wood for a fire. Ajaw threatens to kill him several times. Mualani brings out some kind of small fluffy blue things that Kinich has never seen before, which turn out to be extremely sweet. They turn gooey when she holds them over the fire. All in all, not a particularly unusual day.
-
They’re pretty far away from the village, so he offers to keep watch while Mualani and Kachina sleep, just in case. Mualani only agrees reluctantly. He suspects she knows he’s using it as an excuse not to sleep, but she doesn’t press him about it.
When the fire is mostly burned out, and the night sky is pitch-black, Kinich hears a noise from inside the tent, like a sob or a gasp.
Kinich is no stranger to nightmares. It’s half the reason he can’t sleep for very long. Sometimes, when he wakes, the stab wound in his abdomen and the claw marks on his back hurt so badly he can't stand. He doesn’t even have scars from those, since the Sacred Flame healed him, which makes it even more disorienting when he comes to.
The noise repeats itself, and Kinich goes inside the tent to investigate.
Kachina is curled on her side, breathing shakily through soft noises of distress. Mualani remains asleep beside her, but that’s not much of a surprise. She’s always slept like a rock.
Kinich inches over, hovering anxiously.
“Kachina.” No response.
“Kachina,” he tries again, a little louder.
Gently, he places a hand on her shoulder, and she flinches back with a sob, her eyes flying open and gleaming blue in the pale light from the lantern in the corner.
Kachina’s eyes flicker wildly up and down Kinich’s frame. He wonders if she recognizes him; he has some issues with that, after the Abyss. He almost stabbed Mualani once; luckily, she doesn’t seem to hold it against him.
Kachina backs away from Kinich, breaths coming too short and too fast. She whimpers.
“Kachina, it’s okay,” Kinich says, quietly. “It’s okay, it’s just me, you’re safe.”
“I -K-Kinich?”
“Mm-hm,” he hums. “It’s me. You’re alright.”
Kachina sobs, and throws herself at him in a way that’s awfully reminiscent of Mualani after Kinich returned from the Pilgrimage. She buries his face in his shirt, her shoulders shaking, and Kinich feels distinctly out of his depth.
She’s breathing too fast, maybe he should deal with that first. Kinich puts his arms around her, holding her to his chest, and she seems to relax slightly. She feels warm; Kinich wonders if she has a fever, or if he’s just not used to people touching him. It’s probably the latter. “Deep breaths, alright? You’re safe.”
“Wh - where -”
“Camping. With Mualani. Remember?”
“I -” A moment, then: “Yeah.” Kachina sniffles, and clings tighter to him. Adrenaline jolts in his chest as her arms tighten around his waist, suddenly, like he’s been attacked, but he doesn’t flinch this time.
There’s a shuffle from the other side of the tent; Mualani rolls over and makes a failed attempt to blow her bangs out of her eyes.
Mualani comes to sit next to them. “Kachina? What’s wrong?”
Kachina is silent, except for the shaky breaths. “Nightmare,” Kinich explains.
Mualani’s expression is unreadable, facing away from the lantern; she moves in front of him, and then hugs them both, holding Kachina in between her and Kinich. Her arm winds around Kinich’s shoulders. Kinich leans into it, just slightly.
“Mualani,” Kachina says, her voice unsteady. “I’m - I’m sorry -”
“Shh,” Mualani interrupts. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, we’ve got you, okay?”
Kachina sniffles again. “O - Okay.”
Kinich isn’t sure what to say, so he just hums assent. Mualani’s always been better with emotions than he has, anyway. She starts humming some kind of improvised tune, like a lullaby. Kinich rests his head on her shoulder and closes his eyes.
-
Kinich wakes on top of a bedroll, which is odd, since he’s pretty sure he did not fall asleep there. His mind feels fuzzy, but it’s a weird kind of fuzzy - not like blood-loss, concussion fuzzy, but sort of… warm and sluggish.
Mualani is sitting next to him, holding something in her lap. She glances down at him and smiles.
“Morning.”
Kinich sits up and tries to ask what time it is, but his vocal cords don’t seem to work for a moment, so all that comes out is “time is it.”
“Uhhh… I didn’t bring a clock or anything, but I think it’s around noon-ish?”
“What?” He tries to do the math in his head. What is that? Eight hours, at least.
“Noon,” Mualani repeats. “You know. Like. Twelve o’clock.”
“Oh.” He blinks at what Mualani is holding, hoping she doesn't think he doesn't know what noon is; it looks like a bundle of wildflowers. “What’s that?”
“We’re making flower crowns. Want one?”
“... Sure.” The fuzz in his head hasn’t gone away. He lies back down and closes his eyes again. That’s better.
Mualani laughs. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you rest this much.”
Kinich doesn’t feel like saying anything else, so he just makes an mmnh noise and listens to the wind rustle.
“Mualani, I’m back,” comes Kachina’s voice. “I got more of those purple ones for you…”
-
(Kachina gently places a flower on Kinich’s nose, which he blows off. “I’m not actually asleep, you know.” He hears Ajaw cackle. Mualani is warm where her leg touches his arm.)
-
Kinich doesn’t actually want Mora very badly.
He doesn’t feel that bad for asking for it, though. His father once said he didn’t have much of a sense of empathy; Kinich didn’t learn what that meant until a year or two after his death. When he sees someone upset or crying, he mostly just feels awkward, and keeps his distance.
Despite that, he does care, at least about the life and death of others, and about justice.
(He’s found himself caring more recently.)
-
Mualani does throw him a surprise party. It’s fairly obvious the moment she invites him to her house, on his birthday, with a vague note about some job she wants him to do and no other details except a winky smiley face.
He arrives at the house and braces for a loud noise; around a dozen people yell “Happy birthday!” in unison, and Mualani pulls him into a tight hug that makes his skin burn again after she lets go.
Kinich doesn’t have a lot of friends, so it seems Mualani has invited some of hers and Kachina’s, too. He recognizes Xilonen and Chasca.
He doesn’t receive any presents, which he’s fine with. Someone has made a truly impressive cake - it’s tiered, and is decorated with frosting designed to look like little trees.
“Why does it say ‘HAPY BDAY’?” Kinich asks.
“Sorry,” Kachina laughs. “We, uh. Lost some of the letters.”
They have also acquired a piñata; it is shaped, though somewhat crudely, like a Yumkasaur. Kinich takes the first swing at it, at Mualani’s request, but swings the bat with too much force and almost breaks one of her lamps.
“I want a turn!” Ajaw declares, after several other people have taken theirs.
“You’ll incinerate it. That’s no fun.”
“What are you talking about? Incinerating things is the most fun!” Kinich sees Chasca nod in reluctant agreement in his peripheral vision.
“You can wait until everyone else goes.”
Ajaw grumbles a bit, but then shuts up. He doesn’t tell Kinich to kill himself even once, maybe as a birthday treat.
(They let him at it eventually, but only after one of Mualani’s friends has already broken it, scattering sweets everywhere. Ajaw almost sets Mualani’s floorboards on fire, and grumbles about not being allowed to burn her house down.)
-
After the sun sets, most of the invited guests leave, except for Kachina, who falls asleep on the couch, and Kinich, who makes up his mind.
“Mualani?”
“Mm-hm?”
“Can I sleep with you?”
Mualani freezes. “Uh,” she laughs nervously, “what?”
“I mean -” Kinich feels himself go bright red. “That’s not what I meant - not like that, I just mean. Sleeping.” He thanks whatever gods are watching over him that Ajaw has decided to shut up for the time being.
“Oh.” Mualani relaxes, but gives him a quizzical look. “Why?”
Kinich shrugs, caught between uncertainty of how to explain, and not wanting to. “I just…” I don’t want to walk all the way back home tonight. Weak excuse. I haven’t slept more than six hours in years, but I did when I fell asleep on your shoulder. Hmm, no, too direct.
“It’s okay,” Mualani tells him, maybe worried that she’s scaring him off. “Yeah, you can.”
Mualani’s bed, as it turns out, is extremely comfortable. (Maybe you’d sleep more if your bed was actually nice, says a voice in his head that sounds like Ajaw. Kinich tells it to shut up.) Kinich’s bed at home is… less comfortable, mostly because it doesn’t really need to be. It just needs to be functional, and he doesn’t even spend the night there, most of the time.
He stays near the edge of the bed, not wanting Mualani to get mad if he accidentally kicks her in his sleep or something. It’s not that unreasonable, he’s done it before. Also, she probably hasn’t forgotten the time he almost stabbed her.
“Kinich.”
“Huh?”
Mualani has an odd look on her face. "You’re freaking out.”
“I’m fine,” Kinich says, even as his heart hammers like he’s been running for miles.
Mualani holds her arms open, like she’s going in for a hug. “C’mere.”
Kinich hesitates, then scoots closer; Mualani wraps her arms around him and pulls him in so his head rests under her chin, in the crook of her neck. She smells nice, something light and floral.
A wave of inexplicable, overwhelming relief washes over him. He makes a small noise.
“Are you alright?”
Kinich doesn’t know. He presses his forehead against her collarbone.
“I got ya.” Mualani exhales into his hair. “Go to sleep, okay?”
“...okay.”
(The houses of the People of the Springs have an open-air sort of construction; Kinich can hear the ocean waves as he closes his eyes.)
-
Kinich wakes to sunlight streaming through a window. Mualani is gone, but he hears her and Kachina laughing about something in the other room.
He sits up for a moment, but the fuzz in his head is back, and Mualani’s bed really is very comfortable.
Kinich goes back to sleep.