((This is just a little flash fan fiction. I don't intend to do anything else with the story of this particular tribe unless another image strikes me strongly the way this one does.))


Keola pressed her back against the decaying tree. Butterflies flitted around her, pressing against her skin as they tried to escape the drops of rain that filtered through the leaves. The girl with the brown hair, crowned by a small golden circlet, was a little thinner than she was less than a year ago, when she was still living with her parents.
She turned her head to see Ranui, nearly 10 years her senior and, the oldest person to have been chosen by the chieftain to go search for the cause of the island’s distress. It was not that Ranui was an old man – he was only 24, after all. But in experience and effort, he stood head and shoulders above the others that had been chosen. He started a bit, surprised, but then he smiled when he realized it was her, also come to wait out the rain.
“Keola! He exclaimed “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Yes, I suppose so. Everyone else seems to just want to get soaked out there.” She said, a faint smile spreading on her face as she spoke. He examined her closely for a moment, his brown-gold eyes boring into her own.
“What’s the matter? You look upset. Another experiment not work out?”
She hadn’t been aware she had let the thoughts that had been weighing on her show up so noticeably. She shook her head. “No… But we’re going to have to spend the rest of our lives here, aren’t we? I’ve looked at this tree! It may be years, maybe even decades, of study before we can do anything about this!” She waved her arms up at the branches. A single leaf fell with the raindrops, as if to illustrate her point.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He looked very calm, standing still enough that the butterflies landed on his broad, bare shoulders. She went on,
“And the chieftain – he knew! He knew it would take our lives and maybe even the next generation’s! More women than men, as young as possible except for you, and that’s because there’s no one in the world who works faster than you, and a kid!”
“He was aware that there was a chance we’d need to settle.” Ranui agreed.
“You knew? All along?”
“He told me, the night before we left,” Ranui answered, standing straight as a board.
“Why didn’t you say anything to anyone? Why didn’t he?” she demanded, tears pricking at the edges of her eyes. She pretended they were just drops of rain.
“He didn't know if you girls would still go if you knew you might have to give up your families...forever...” He paused and wiped the sopping wet strands of hair from around her face. “I didn’t agree with him, but I respected his wishes. I was waiting for you to say it, since now...you know...we’d know for sure.”
“Because if I said it, it must be true?” She laughed, ruefully.
“Yeah. You’re the best researcher we have.” He looked at her sternly. “So, what are you going to do? Turn back and prove the Chieftain was right?”
“No, of course not! I don’t like it, but it’s what we have to do. This land…it may not be livable for very long, but…”
“You think? I think all it needs is a little love.” He smiled. “I want you to close your eyes. I want you to imagine...All those little skeletal frames turned into big, beautiful huts. Everything’s repaired and cleaned, the food bin is practically overflowing – everything is green and full of life. Our kids – “ he caught himself, coughed a little, and added, “I mean, yours and mine and little Ati’s and everyone’s kids... are all running along the beaches and discovering all sorts of things you and I can only dream of right now...and underneath this tree, this big, beautiful tree, restored and full of life...are you and I, long after our hair’s gone grey, looking out over it all and remembering how it all started right here.”
She opened her eyes. The rain was letting up and the sky sent golden shafts of sunlight in among the branches. The butterflies all fled as she shifted slightly, going up into the air. The colors of their wings, the gold, the sunset pinks, and the delicate, bubbly blues, all beat the air in a flash.
“It’s beautiful,” Keola said, half-aloud and half to herself.
He smiled at her. “It’s a beautiful world, my little scientist. Let’s go build it.”