The chap­ter opens with the cihua­coatl, Tilipo­ton­qui, nav­i­gat­ing the chaot­ic after­math of polit­i­cal deci­sions made by Emper­or Moctezu­ma, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing the arrival of the Cax­til­te­ca (Span­ish con­quis­ta­dors). The empire is beset by crises: veni­son short­ages due to Otomí war­riors dis­rupt­ing hunts, a Tex­co­ca civ­il war affect­ing lake trade, and the resur­gence of the Quet­zal­coatl cult. Beneath these sur­face issues puls­es a deep­er tension—Moctezuma’s wan­ing trust in Tilipo­ton­qui and rumors of rebel­lion. The emperor’s iso­la­tion­ist ten­den­cies, replac­ing offi­cials with loy­al­ists, have crip­pled gov­er­nance, leav­ing Tilipo­ton­qui to man­age incom­pe­tence and unrest. Mean­while, the Coun­cil con­venes mys­te­ri­ous­ly, sum­moned by Tilipotonqui’s own son, Tla­caelel, sig­nal­ing a shift in pow­er dynam­ics. The cihua­coatl grap­ples with the impli­ca­tions, sus­pect­ing his role is being under­mined as the empire teeters on the brink.

Moctezuma’s errat­ic behavior—hallucinogen use, para­noia, and detachment—contrasts with his past bril­liance. Flash­backs reveal his obses­sion with the Caxtilteca’s “cahuayos” (hors­es), which he views as key to impe­r­i­al dom­i­nance. His sis­ter, Ato­tox­ili, cri­tiques his short­sight­ed­ness, warn­ing that inter­nal strife (rebel­lions in Tex­co­co, Tlaxcala’s defi­ance) out­weighs the new­com­ers’ threat. Yet Moctezu­ma, swayed by priests and visions, insists on diplo­ma­cy. A piv­otal meet­ing with the Major­do­mo of the House of Dark­ness under­scores his tac­ti­cal genius but also his grow­ing reliance on manipulation—spreading myths of Quetzalcoatl’s return to con­trol the nar­ra­tive. Tilipo­ton­qui, though skep­ti­cal, aligns with Moctezuma’s plans, only to lat­er regret enabling the Caxtilteca’s advance, which desta­bi­lizes the empire fur­ther.

Par­al­lel to polit­i­cal dra­ma, cul­tur­al ten­sions emerge. The Span­ish, led by Cortés, oscil­late between awe and bru­tal­i­ty. Cortés, inse­cure about his impend­ing meet­ing with Moctezu­ma, asserts dom­i­nance by rap­ing Mali­nal­li (La Mal­inche), his trans­la­tor, while dream­ing of Chris­tian­iz­ing the city. Mean­while, Jazmín Caldera, a Span­ish cap­tain dis­guised as a Col­hua noble, explores Tenochtitlan’s mar­ket and tem­ple com­plex, mar­veling at its order but sens­ing impend­ing doom. The Mex­i­ca, too, are divid­ed: Cuauhte­moc, Moctezuma’s son-in-law, pre­pares for war, while Ato­tox­ili nego­ti­ates with Mali­nal­li, offer­ing pro­tec­tion in exchange for intel­li­gence. The chap­ter high­lights the col­li­sion of worldviews—Spanish prag­ma­tism ver­sus Mex­i­ca spirituality—and the per­son­al betray­als that mir­ror larg­er con­flicts.

The chap­ter crescen­dos with rit­u­al and fore­shad­ow­ing. Moctezu­ma, high on mush­rooms, con­sults the god Huitzilopochtli in the tem­ple, receiv­ing cryp­tic advice about “many pos­si­ble futures.” Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, Cortés and his men des­e­crate the tem­ple, vom­it­ing at the sight of sac­ri­fices, their hubris con­trast­ing with Aguilar’s cau­tion. Caldera flees the Span­ish camp, sym­bol­iz­ing dis­sent with­in the con­quis­ta­dors. As drums sig­nal night­fall, the city’s bridges rise, trap­ping the Spanish—a metaphor for the empire’s clos­ing grip on its fate. Tilipo­ton­qui, Cuauhte­moc, and Ato­tox­ili con­vene, acknowl­edg­ing Moctezuma’s decline but cling­ing to loy­al­ty. The chap­ter ends with Moctezuma’s detached murmur—“Hmm, it’s late for my bath”—underscoring his trag­ic blind­ness to the cat­a­clysm approach­ing.

Themes: Pow­er ero­sion, cul­tur­al dis­so­nance, and the ten­sion between strat­e­gy and super­sti­tion dom­i­nate the chap­ter, set­ting the stage for the empire’s down­fall.