The Cronica Mexicana by Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc relate show Motecuhzoma consulted various seers and magicians to learn whether the omens meant an approaching war or some other crisis.They could not give him a satisfactory answer. However, a poor macehual (common man) arrived shortly afterward from the Gulf coast, bringing the first word of the appearance of "towers or small mountains floating on the waves of the sea." A later report said that the mountains bore a strange people who "have very light skin, much lighter than ours. They all have long beards, and their hair comes only to their ears."
Motecuhzoma was even more distressed by this news than he had been by the omens. Therefore, he sent messengers and gifts to the strangers, believing that they might be Quetzalcoatl and other divinities returning to Mexico, as the codices and traditions promised they would.