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The local language contains no cognates with Koiné or Nahuatl, but it contains two registers, one so simple it's more of a pidgin than a full language. You address Keimia that way because that's all you can manage. Keimia is laconic and clearly dislikes speaking except to give orders, but the man in gold and amber calls Keimia "daughter" and encourages her to speak. Keimia explains that the man in gold and amber, Chief Kothis, chose to protect you rather than leave you to be devoured by monsters.

The tiny herbalist—Vecla—treated both you and Alexius. You healed with near-miraculous speed with some help from local medicines. But Alexius suffered a grave head wound. Keimia won't say the word "dying." However, even though Vecla's porter laid Alexius in a healing grove and Vecla has done everything she can, it's clear that neither local nor Byzantine medicine can save him.

Rather than linger on that sad news, Keimia boasts of having captured the "false women," the controllers, and imprisoning them. She looks to Chief Kothis, who seems yet to decide what to do with them. That's going to be a problem.

Throughout the conversation, Chief Kothis listens with grave dignity, but Stralchus seems to grow ever angrier. Clearly the mystic has been stymied in his attempts to negotiate with these people.

You learn much from the hard-edged and practical warrior woman, but Keimia cannot explain where her tribe (she calls them the People of the River) are in comparison to any place you know. Keimia speaks of rivers, forests, monsters, and the silver-gray mountain that has appeared in the sky, but knows nothing of Byzantium or Mexihco.

At last Chief Kothis addresses you. He understands the general situation: you are lost travelers from a faraway land who need to contact your distant leader. But the chief proposes a solution, speaking with the confidence of someone who knows exactly how to solve a particular problem.

"You must," Chief Kothis says, "speak to the Apostolic Mound."

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