A/N: Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, everyone! :D

"The Distance" is easily the most frustrating book I've had to work with. To help deal with it (with the setting and new cast), I have yet another drabble series. It focuses on the fictional K'ekchi Tribe. The tribe is notable in my Cause and Effect series and the focal point of "The Distance". Main, if not only, POV will be Coyolxauhqui, who will be Leonardo's future love interest. I may use her best friend Izel and brother Huitzi, too. We'll see...

Coyolxauhqui is pronounced "Cō-hōl-shall-ski"
Coatlicue is pronounced "Kwah-tlee-kway"

"INHERITANCE"

Coyolxauhqui stared up at Chieftain Coatlicue. The woman kept calm, her expression soft and her words gentle. All despite the brutal deaths K'ekchi Warrior Atl listed. How? Ever since the first name, a sting had coated Coyo's eyes. These were her people, her friends and family. And in her short life, so many of their faces had disappeared from the village…

"Thank you, Warrior Atl," Coatlicue said. She and her husband exchanged bowed heads before the man returned to his wounded troops by a large fire.

"My Lady," Coyolxauhqui whispered.

Coatlicue fingers squeezed Coyo's little hand. "A respectable woman always keeps composed," she said softly. "Never look away. Never drop your chin. And never cry in public."

Deep down, Coyo hated her tribe's traditional rules; they were hard to follow. But she tensed her jaw anyway, swallowing a lump in her throat that soon returned.

"You will be in my position one day, Coyolxauhqui," added the woman. "By then, you must contain your emotions."

That would be a miserable life, the child decided. Always being controlled, despite how hurt, terrified, or enraged she felt? It was like wearing a lie across one's face. Like how Coatlicue stared into the fire with vacant eyes—although Coyo knew she longed to scream at their Great Spirit.

"I do not wish to be Chieftain," whispered Coyo.

"Life is not about what we want, but what we are meant for. This war is our obligation. When I, your father and brother pass, it will be yours, too."

Forgive her crudeness, but Coyo wished her mother was wrong. War was a terrible inheritance, and she wanted nothing to do with it…

A/N: Which basically sums Coyo up for her book. Bah. I got so much to flesh out...By the time the book's complete, you may know her as intimately as the other girls. XD