Episode Sixteen: Not Ready To Celebrate

As the daylight slipped off to an afternoon dim, Lakia began to feel cold. "Hong, do you have a fire going? It's kind of cool for Summer, don't you think? Perhaps it's the ocean breeze here."

Hong patted Lakia's hand. "You better sit down. Let me get you a blanket." Hong gave Lakia a blanket, the same one she woke up on that morning, but hadn't really noticed. "You have been sleeping for months. It's almost winter time and the rains will be upon us soon."

The young woman stared at him as if she were waiting for the rest of the joke to be told. "Go on." she replied, but soon realized that that he wasn't joking.

"When you arrived here you fell fast asleep in the coconut grove. The Great Sea Spirit comes here every few days to see if you're awake. He will be back again soon."

"Great Sea Spirit!" Lakia was a little scared. "What does he want with me?"

Before Hong could continue, the large sea creature slid softly up the shore and touched Lakia's foot. In fear Lakia lifted her hand to her heart and ended up touching the medallion piece around her neck. A cloud of sparkles filled the air as the great fish began to transform. Hong stepped between her and the monster and moved Lakia backward...


"I'm not ready to celebrate." Dodo told the Elders. "There will be time for that later. Right now, I need to find out who is in that statue! There is a winding passageway inside and I'm certain that he either is still in there or we can find him if we go after him." Dodo looked through the crowd. He felt alone. No one stepped up to go with him. "Go home everyone and get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day." Dodo hugged Shuka and thanked her for the warning. After she went on her way to start plans for the floating hut, that they are now calling a large boat, Piku and Jem approached Dodo.

"I'm going with you." Piku declared. "I owe you my life."

"And I'm going too." said Jem. "I believe that Lakia's life is at risk, and that inner room has something to do with it."

Both Dodo and Piku stood in awe of Jem's statement. "Well, then we should pack up some things and prepare to leave right away." Dodo looked over to the clearing and saw Samar awakening from his earlier fainting. "We should take Samar too." Dodo decided.

"What?!" asked Jem. "You saw how Samar froze in the face of uncertainty. What if something happens to one of us? Are you sure that you want to invite him on your dangerous journey?" Piku agreed that that didn't sound like a good idea.

However Dodo had a different thought. "Samar is a direct decendant of this shore's greatest leader. Perhaps he will come in handy..."

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Episode Seventeen: Isola History

Shuka knew what she needed to do. She quickly gathered up all the herbs and food she needed for a Revitalizing Stew, as was customary when visiting the elderly. She placed a large amount into a carrier and took it to the hut of the Waterfaller Family. She was invited in by Lakia's grandparents, Leia and Weeko, and sat down with them and their son and daughter-in-law, Akio and Kali, Lakia's parents.

"I need your help. But first, my grandmother had always wanted to share with you her story," Shuka began, "and I think it's time that you know the truth anyway."

The Waterfallers all looked surprised. They respected Shuka and her family very much. When they had discovered her and her family hidden in the wilderness, the village was barely thriving. There were a lot of questions about their disappearance, but no answers aside from the occasional story telling by Shuka of the olden days. Some believed that she was indeed the granddaughter of a great leader. Others simply admired her for her leadership skills.

"Go on, dear, please." said the grandmother, Leia.

"The medallion was given to our first Leader by the Great King, and the gong to the whole village by the Great Queen. But we haven't seen the King and Queen since then. After my grandfather Hong died and Samar was not choosen to be Leader, the people rang the gong over and over to try to get help. Without the medallion the gong was unpredictable and the villagers became weary. They started packing up their things to seek out the King and Queen for help. Many of my married aunts and uncles went with them with their families. Some fashioned rafts to go by sea and others made hiking gear to go over the mountain.

"As you know, this western shore is only one part of Isola. However, the various shores of the island and inner villages were connected to one another, and had a purpose. For instance, where you two lived on the south side, was where we used to hold our yearly religious ceremonies. Villagers from all over the island would come there. When the volcano errupted on your ancestor's island, Isola was greatly shaken. A huge boulder fell over our passageway and we couldn't get back to our Ceremonial Site.

"Anyway, a few families stayed in the village to take down and break apart the gong, and hide it's pieces. They purposely planted thorny briars to keep anyone from returning the gong to it's proper place until the King and Queen could be found."

Shuka had a far away look on her face. Then she looked as if she were about to cry. Kali handed Shuka a cloth to wipe her tears.
"One day we heard the gong sound. But this wasn't possible so we all went running to look. A cloud of sparkles and smoke filled the air just outside the statue. In it we could see a large group of people and a little boy, who looked just like the King, wearing golden clothes, walking across the water of the Ceremonial Lagoon!"

"The Golden Child!" whispered Leia to Weeko.

"My family and the other families wanted to see what was going on at the Ceremonial Site, so they packed up a week's worth of supplies and left through the passage in the statue. Because some of the little ones didn't need to make the short trip, the Elders put their youngest adult, Tofo, in charge of them..."

Weeko jumped up, unable to take the suspense, "So what happened to Tofo?!"

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