Chapter 11

In simple jeans and a light flannel, Zalli sat in the van Yoltzin had lent out to her with some of his workers. They were on their way back to her house from dropping off the bouquets with Festival Coordinator Poton.

There was no doubt Zalli was nervous when Sra. Poton had inspected her product in the late morning. The need to fiddle with her blouse was strong when the coordinator only gave a curt greeting and scooted to the bouquets. She had no intention of wasting time with small talk. But the farmer restrained herself, not willing to display her emotions given the context. It also helped that she could focus on appreciating the lack of idle chit-chat; though she could execute it well, she usually found it to be taxing.

Sra. Poton’s eyes were serious with a laser-focus as she circled around the arranged flowers Zalli and her family had assembled together with meticulous care. When the inspection was done, a gleeful smile appeared on the older woman’s face. With the coordinator’s approval in the form of a generous payment, Zalli gave her thanks and finished her morning by helping place the flowers in their designated areas.

With that portion completed for her day’s agenda, Zalli sat with ease in the passenger seat. All that was left to do was enjoy the festival with her family.

The van slowed down to a halt as the group arrived in front of Zalli’s home. She gave her thanks and goodbyes to the others before she hopped out. The workers never gave her their names, but she enjoyed spending time with them and the conversations they had. They always left it open with an invitation for her to join when she wanted to, and they didn’t mind if she had nothing to say at all.

As the van moved up the slight incline of the hill leading away from her house, Huizi walked up to Zalli. Her wagging tail swished in the air as her head stayed low to sniff for nearby scents. Zalli bent over to scratch her soft head.

The maiden entered her house to find only her Tia Xilo sitting on the couch facing the front window. Zalli walked over to her and kissed her cheek before speaking her greeting.

“Hola, tía. Where is everyone?”

Zalli sat down and observed her tía embroidering flowers into some fabric. The pink thread she pulled from the material appeared to be forming roses that protruded out, giving a lovely sculptural effect. As always, Tia Xilo didn’t look away from her work as she responded to her sobrina.

“They are getting ready for the festival.”

“Is anyone using the bath?”

Her tía’s arm stretched upwards, then she stabbed the needle back into the fabric.

“No. Mamá used it earlier and Tepi just got out. I was going to use it next, but you can use it first.”

“Are you sure? I can wait.”

Another pull and stab came from Tia Xilo.

“Claro, mija. I want to keep working on this.”

“Okay.”

Zalli stood up with a small hop and went around the couch she sat on to go up the stairs. When she came back down with her clothes and bathing necessities in hand, her tía spoke to her from over her shoulder.

“Mija, to see the light, you need to see the dark.”

The maiden halted and turned around to stare at Tia Xilo from behind. She had processed what her tía said, but it made little sense to her. Zalli furrowed her eyebrows as she asked a question to clarify her tía’s statement.

“What did you say?”

“I said, there is no light, so you’ll be in the dark.”

“Ah ... okay. Thanks.”

Zalli was confident that was not what Tia Xilo said, but she did not counter it. Still, more and more odd things had been occurring around her. It could not hurt to question her tía. As she opened her mouth to speak, Tia Xilo was faster than her, and her words came out first.

“Take a candle with you.”

Zalli released a deep sigh.

“Sí, tía.”

The maiden accepted she would have to let the question at hand go. She left her Tia Xilo alone in the living room to get ready for their family outing to the Mid-Summer Festival.

Not much happened for the rest of the day for Zalli. Once it had become the late afternoon, she and her family were ready to leave for the festival.

The plan was to take the rose cart with Churro into town so they wouldn’t be so tired from all their walking. When she brought Churro out from the barn, she made a point to not look over to the forest beyond her rose fields. But Zalli found that if she threw a glance in that direction, she would feel a recognizable heat rise in her cheeks and the back of her neck.

With all her attempts to forget about the almost-sex-dream she had with Yoltzin, it seemed like it was not something she could easily erase from her mind. No matter how much effort she used to ignore it, even as she rode Churro with her family sitting behind her, her brain would always return to thinking about it—against her will.

Because of this internal dilemma, Zalli was silent throughout the entire trip.

It felt wrong to consider the CEO in an intimate nature, much less like a romantic option. Though they had found some ground to be on peaceful terms, it was only temporary, as far as Zalli knew.

A relationship based on an exchange of equity and capital was not one to have a solid foundation, in her opinion. She did not even think she found Yoltzin to be of relationship material. So, to have a dream of possible fulfillment at its core with someone improbable, must show that Zalli is lacking in her love life.

Yes, that had to be it. It had been so long since she last satisfied her needs that her subconscious was desperate to attach to the closest attractive face in physical proximity.

Then, in order to solve her issue, maybe she needed to find someone to have fun with. She needed a good time.

All the stress she has had in the past month was finally catching up to her. If she found someone to have fun with, she could release some steam and enjoy some momentary relaxation before worrying about her farm again.

Zalli then wondered if she should try to find Axolin at the festival. She needed to apologize to him for her rude behavior from before. Maybe she could offer a pseudo impromptu date between them and see how the night goes for the two.

“Aurozalli. Why are you so quiet over there?”

Her abuela spoke to her from behind her back. She sat closest to Zalli, next to Tia Xilo.

“I’m just—excited. To see the reaction of the festival guests when they notice the bouquets.”

The cadence of her speech was odd in her response. Zalli left herself absent-minded to her family. So, when her abuela spoke to her, it caught her quite off guard.

“They might not even notice, Zalli.”

Tepi was next to speak. She was somewhat closer to her usual self today; her energy seemed to have increased compared to the last week. Perhaps she finally received some rest last night.

“Oh really, and that’s good?”

To an outsider, the tone Zalli used might have seemed snarky, but Tepi knew her older sister was only teasing.

Tepi sat the furthest away from Zalli. She uncrossed her legs just to cross them in the other direction and adjusted her light green mini skirt. She then leaned back with her elbows relaxing on the side of the cart and spoke in a ribbing tone herself.

“If they cannot tell the difference between these bouquets and our past ones, then we did a very excellent job in our weaving that they are practically identical to each other.”

Tepi swung her upper black boot up and down as she sat with comfort on her hay bale with a blanket covering it.

“Yes, I guess that is one way to put it.”

“Oh, look! We’re here!”

Tia Xilo spoke with enthusiasm, interrupting their small conversation. She turned away from Tepi, sitting opposite to her, kneeling with her hands gripping the rail, to get a good view of the town. The skirt of her blue dress was long enough to act as a cushion to her knees, so the poky nature of the hay barely bothered her joints.

Out of the four of them, Tia Xilo was the most excited about the festival. Each year, the organizers add fresh additions to the entertainment line-up, and each year she eagerly anticipated discovering them.

“I heard the committee could acquire a traveling zoo. What do you think, Zalli, is it true?”

Tia Xilo’s gloved hands gripped the rail in a tight hold, and she bit her lip with a smile while she inquired to Zalli.

“It’s possible. I did see some large vehicles earlier that had plenty of ventilation. That could have been the animals.”

“Oh, how lovely! And of course there will be the rides, too. This year is going to be so much fun!”

Her tía sat back down with a bounce and fixed the puffiness of her short sleeves so that their structure remained stiff.

“Tía. You say that every year.”

Tepi twirled a strand of her blue hair as she chatted idly. Abuela Ezi peeped in her opinion on the rides.

“I don’t know how you can get on those crazy machines. They look so dangerous and like-like they could fall apart at any moment!”

She brought a hand up to flick it downwards in distrust. With her other hand, she fanned herself with her yellow accessory, which matched her dress. The loose grey strands of her updo flew away from her face with the movement of her fan.

“Abuela, they are not that bad. One is just a little car that goes up and down on a wavy track. Churro could move faster than it. And the other one just takes you up and drops you a little down. It doesn’t even go up that high.”

Zalli was next to speak. Even though her focus was on finding an available spot to leave their cart with Churro to guard it, she still had something to say in the discussion.

“Ay, but why even do any of that? Aren’t the swings enough?”

“If it bothers you that much, then don’t watch us while we go on the rides. You and Zalli always go somewhere else to do something, anyway.”

Tepi delivered her offer with a helpful tone.

It seemed this was all that needed to be said as Zalli brought the group to a halt in a shady area. She got off Churro with no worry of flashing anyone as she wore dark shorts underneath her short dress.

He shook his head with minor aggression, displaying his irritation at being put to work in the later part of the day, but as soon as Zalli shoved a bucket of hay and chunks of bananas in his face, he forgot what he was complaining about. She placed a bucket of water next to him, too, just in case he got thirsty.

While she hitched the donkey to a nearby post, Tepi got out of the cart first with a step stool in her hand. She set it down to the ground and offered her hand to Tia Xilo before offering it next to Abuela Ezi. With this help, the two older women could get out with ease, especially since they wore flats.

Together, the family unit walked to the entrance of the festival, which was in the outer ring surrounding the town square. The further they moved in, the denser the area got with the bustling crowd.

“Mijas, your tía and I are going to visit the vendors first.”

Their abuela spoke with authority before leaving with their Tia Xilo. Zalli turned to Tepi to ask her sister where she wanted to go to first, but it was turned down before it could even happen. It seemed Tepi already had devised her own plans.

“I am going to meet up with my friends. I’ll catch up to you later?”

“Oh yeah, sure thing, Tete. I was going to meet with Necalli, anyway.”

“Yay. See you later!”

Tepi gave a kiss on Zalli’s cheek before she skipped away with a smile. Just like her abuela and tía, her younger sister was lost to Zalli in the crowd.

In truth, Zalli was not sure if she would see Necalli today. The last time they spoke, they did not leave off on good terms. She would look for him, of course, since they were still best friends. But she gave a fib to Tepi when it came to her plans.

Well, she thought to herself, I will just walk around and see what’s around. I might bump into Axolin. The moment she said his name, an image of Yoltzin being close to the side of her face appeared instantaneous in her mind.

The searing heat returned to her body like a flash. She attempted to rid her thoughts with a violent shake of her head. With a resilient exhale, Zalli weaved through the crowd in front of her in her knee-high boots.

The maiden was grateful for the wave-crashing noise of conversation that surrounded her while she took her stroll. It entertained her attention to focus on anything but her dream. As she moved lithely, she could pick up random phrases from the nearby attendees.

Zalli picked up on local gossip for the most part, but a prideful warmth settled in her heart when compliments on her bouquets would appear.

When she looked at pottery in a side alley, she heard how intricate the woven flowers appeared. As she ate an elote by the fountain in the middle of the town square, someone had said the bouquets were attractively assembled. While she played a feria game of darts, the person behind had exclaimed how excited they were to take a bouquet home with them.

It seemed like the festival committee decided to sell them off due to popular requests.

After finishing her game, Zalli carelessly turned around, lost in thought about her evident success. This caused her to crash into a tall individual and had her fall on her rear. It made her exclaim in pain.

“Crap ...”

“Oh, Zalli! Are you okay?”

Eyes strained from her lowered position, the maiden couldn’t see who she had bumped into because of the setting sun casting a dark shadow on their face. She could see an outstretched hand, so she took its help in helping her back to her feet.

After she dusted the dirt off of her black-clad rear, Zalli got a friendly glance at the mysterious person before her.

To her surprise, it seemed she had knocked into Axolin, of all people.

“Oh. Hi. Axolin. How are you?”

The pounding of her heart caused her to punctuate her sentence in an odd style. If Axolin found it bizarre, then he did not show it.

“I’m doing good ... how are you?”

The man stood at a confident 180 cm, but his voice faltered in apprehension.

“I’m. Doing good. Too.” Zalli berated herself internally with a Come on, girl. Get it together. She used her breath to calm her nerves before continuing to speak. “Are you here with anyone?”

“No, I’m here by myself.”

Axolin rubbed his neck in a soothing manner as he looked down with his brown eyes for a moment.

“I am too. Well, actually I arrived with my family, but we separated in the beginning.”

“I see.”

Silence settled between the two adults.

“I guess I’ll leave, so you can enjoy the rest of your time.”

“Would you like to join me?”

They spoke at the same time. Axolin had the impression Zalli wanted nothing to do with him, but Zalli had high hopes of placing her plan from earlier in motion.

The maiden chuckled at the awkward moment they shared while Axolin smiled in return. He brought a hand up to Zalli to show to her she could speak first.

“I was—I was actually hoping to find you today. If you are open to it, it would be cool if you joined me.”

Zalli smiled. She beamed with friendliness and a genial attitude. It was enough to melt whatever protective wall Axolin had placed since she shot him down. In truth, though, the crush he had for her was still so strong that the wall came down the moment he realized who he had bumped into.

“Yes, I would like that.”

The maiden looped her arms around her companion’s and they began their stroll together. Though she had her hedonist thoughts earlier, her action held no manipulative intentions. Whether anything happened between them or not, Zalli wanted to convey her friendship to Axolin.

She peered up to speak to him, his height causing her to strain her neck slightly.

“So, I wanted to apologize about what I did, or, to be clear, about what I didn’t do.”

“Oh, you mean not getting back to me about where we should meet up, or when you were available to meet.”

Axolin spoke in a blunt tone. Though it was harsh to Zalli’s ears because of her heavy guilt, he only stated it as a fact. He was a candid type of person.

“Yes. That.” They moved as a unit on the outer edge of the town square, passing by more feria games. Some kid cried in glee from winning a huge stuffed animal from a ball tossing game. “It’s not right what I did, and I do not excuse my behavior. I should have at least reached out to you when I was getting too busy with my farm. But the fact is, I didn’t. And for that, I am sorry for.”

Zalli tucked her loose hair behind her ear, maintaining her bearings as she took accountability for her actions.

“That’s alright, Zalli. It was pretty flaky what you did, but I’m glad we are talking about it now. It gives me some type of closure behind it.”

She cringed at his honest evaluation, but accepted it. He turned to her to give her a smile, which showcased his symmetrical features. It was a type of handsome Zalli appreciated, but did not feel completely drawn to.

“So, I was thinking—”

“Ah, Aurozalli! I’ve been looking for you.”

A familiar masculine voice interrupted her; a voice she had been hearing way too often as of late. Out of nowhere, Calip Yoltzin stood before the two adults, who were about to establish their fledgling friendship in Zalli’s mind.

He smiled before bringing a hand up to greet the pair in a handshake. He went for Zalli first, but saw she made no attempt to bring her own hand up. In a smooth transition, he brought it over to Axolin, who shook his hand in a firm hold. Then he made a second attempt at Zalli, bringing it back in front of her.

She took it this time, but gripped it in a powerful grasp. Yoltzin held his dazzling smile, but Zalli saw his eyes crinkled more in a subtle movement. He did not show it outwardly, but Zalli could cause him some pain.

Serves him right, the maiden thought. She felt dignified upon seeing his reaction. Even though she was maybe overreacting to his sudden appearance, Zalli couldn’t stop herself from letting her strong emotions takeover. They had reconciled last night from their argument, but the dream she had made her freak out. So, she relied on her anger as a defense to avoid confronting the other emotions she had.

Now she would have to see what he wanted from her. Zalli was not sure how much more upheaval to her life she could take from him, but she would continue to be subjected to it for the present moment. At least, she should stay cordial since Axolin was present.

If she acted fast, she could get Yoltzin to leave them alone, and then she could spend the rest of her day with the kind man next to her.