Trecena 3 runs from 1 Mazatl through 13 Quiahuitl, rain, the day sign that opens Trecena 7 later in the count, its thirteen days moving the sequence forward through deer, rabbit, water, dog, monkey, grass and reed before closing on the storm sign. Its third position in the twenty trecena sequence places it early in the full 260 day round, still close enough to the count's opening under Cipactli that the tonalpouhque treated the first several trecenas as together setting the tone for the year's reading before the more difficult central trecenas, such as those governed by Itzpapalotl and Tlazolteotl, were reached.
The pairing of a gentle overall augury with the pulque day 2 Tochtli embedded within it illustrates a general feature of the system Boone's study of the painted books of fate describes: a trecena's stated character was a summary judgment, not a guarantee that every one of its thirteen days read identically, and a skilled diviner distinguished the week's baseline from the sharper or softer readings individual numbered days carried within it. The deer week's span also carries the day sign Tochtli itself, one of the four year bearers, meaning a year could open within this very trecena in the separate 365 day solar count that ran alongside the 260 day tonalpohualli.