Tlaltoca - to bury in the ground.

She had been crouched over a sheepshide, teeth stripping skin from softened flesh with practiced care when the earth began to rumble. The first tremor barely earned her attention; the desert shifted often in its slumber. But then it came again, louder and deeper like the thundering of a thousand hooves. Matzayani had barely the time to scream before the ground beneath her paws collapsed inwards, swallowing her whole in darkness and dust.

---

Ayahuitl.

When at long last the earth grew still, it did not release her.

Mud and sand pressed around her, stealing the air from her lungs until each breath came shallow and wrong. She clawed blindly, paws scraping against shifting soil that only closed in tighter, threatening to drag her deeper into the desert's dark embrace. There was no light. No sky. No sound but the frantic pounding of her own heart. Was she even moving the right way?

Ayahuitl—

The name steadied her. Turning her attention to the pattern of shifting grains, she forced herself upwards against their weight until-

Air.

She dragged it in with a violent gasp, body lurching forward as sand spilled from her throat. Her eyes snapped open against the light, chest heaving, bewildered as she struggled to understand.

Desert stretched endlessly before her. Above it, an open sky.

My name is Matzayani.
I am alive.

It was the only thing she knew for certain.