Sister of the Sun (22 page)

The thud of the coconut's landing made Tepua imagine a stronger blow—of Kiore himself striking the ground. She looked away from the sight of his body swinging against the sky. She felt dizzy; her brow was wet. Faintly she heard the rattling of fronds overhead. The rattling grew fiercer and the ground seemed to sway beneath her feet. Suddenly there came a louder thud.
 

Her heart was hammering like Ehi's food pounder as she spun around. On the coarse sand she saw only another coconut! From above, Kiore was shouting in triumph. "Come down," she called again, but he did not seem to hear. At last he began his slow descent. She caught herself gnawing at her fingers as she watched.
 

"Not hard," said Kiore when he finally reached bottom. "On the big boat I climb high every day. Up the tall masts."

Tepua suddenly found herself in his embrace, her cheek pressed to the smooth damp cloth of his shirt. She could hear the thudding of his heart and feel the rise and fall of his breathing. His broad hands pressed the bare skin of her back, holding her tightly against him.
 

Then she heard muffled giggling.
The boys
!
 

Tepua pulled away. She turned and saw grins on both youngsters' faces. "Go now," she told him. "Come back to my house at dusk and I will reward you." The first boy picked up his
viavia
. The second, with a sly glance at Kiore, hefted the nut that the foreigner had sent down.
 

"Good," said Kiore. "You take." The pair scampered off with cries of delight. "Now they talk," said Kiore, his brow slightly furrowed. "Tell about us. It is not good?"
 

"Nothing has happened."

He seemed briefly relieved, but then his brows knitted again. "Much is forbidden here," he said. "Touching someone's head...walking in the
marae.
" His eyes caught hers. "This too is forbidden?
Ariki
with a man? Me?"
 

Tepua let out a long breath. She did not know how to answer. Perhaps he would not understand the obligations of her rank. A liaison with this foreigner, a man admittedly of low birth, would please no one—except, perhaps, herself.
 

"It is not forbidden," she answered. "Only unwise. I have enemies, people who say I should not be chief. I must prove them wrong, if only for a short while. That is what the gods expect of me." She paused, knowing that she had not satisfied him. "It would be better for you to find some other woman. I know many—"
 

He shook his head. "Others are not the same. Only the
ariki
pleases me." The color of his eyes seemed to shift and she stepped closer, drawn by their curious hue. He reached for her and she took another step. Then she lifted her face, offering him the foreign kiss as she had days before.
 

It was different this time, warmer, like the taste of ripe fruit just plucked from a sunny bough. The tip of his tongue darted between her lips, but she did not pull back from that strange sensation. Her breath quickened. She put her hands around behind him and playfully slipped them up under his shirt.
 

Now she could feel the surprising smoothness of his back, and the quiet strength of the muscles beneath the skin. She leaned into him, wishing only to be closer, but there was an obstacle....
 

Pulling her mouth away, she stood back and began to laugh. "Too many clothes," she said, tugging his shirt upward. Obligingly, he tugged it over his head and tossed it aside. "You need tattoos," she told him as she stretched her fingers over the swirling hairs on his chest. "But these will do for now." The curls grew more densely in the center, thickening at his belly, arrowing downward. And below?
 

She stopped asking herself questions as Kiore began pressing his lips to her cheek, to her shoulders, to the tops of her breasts. His gentle hands made her shiver with delight. Each place he touched felt warmer, until she was aglow from the soft skin of her cheeks all the way to her belly. His hand was at her sash, undoing the fastening about her skirt, when a noise came that made her cry out in surprise.
 

She turned toward the shore and saw a bush quaking, though there was no wind. Furiously she raced toward the disturbance while clutching her loosened garment to keep it from falling. A knot of children erupted from the shadows. "I will feed you to the eels!" she shouted after them as they ran squealing down the beach. "Bait for eels, all of you."
 

Kiore's face and neck had reddened all over. He retrieved his own garment and pulled it back on while she retied her wrap. "Many children," he said with a shake of his head. "They tell about us."
 

"Nothing has happened,'' she said again, as if she could deny the feelings that still clung to her. The glow had spread downward, to her vulnerable place, and outward to her fingertips as well. What she wanted now was to run to him, to feel the pleasure of his touch and the strength of his embrace. But she did not go.
 

How will I control these strangers if one is my lover? she asked herself. She closed her eyes for a moment, recalling the plans she had made. Tahiti seemed so far off now; she could no longer convince herself that she would ever return there.
 

"We must leave this grove," she said sadly, "and stand where everyone can see us." She began to walk back along the shore and he came with her, carrying his foot coverings, his bare feet scuffing the sand. She glanced at his sober face and wished she did not have to say the rest.
 

"Do not think me cruel, Kiore, but I have been thinking about your friend Nika. I do not wish him to stay with you any longer. He will only cause you trouble."
 

"Take Nika away?" He flung the foreign sandals to the ground and glared at her.

"For a time. It will be better if Paruru takes him to live somewhere else."

"Not better!" He stood with his legs spread wide apart and his hands on his hips.

"I am sorry, Kiore. Later, when you two know our customs better, you can be together again."

He refused to listen. She glanced at his petulant mouth and saw the child in him again, this time a stubborn child.

She had not wanted to provoke a quarrel, and now she saw no way to undo the hurt she had caused. Perhaps Kiore would choose to leave her now rather than bear the separation from his friend. But if the two sailors remained together, she felt certain that they would soon be forced to leave her atoll.
 

Tepua felt a stinging in her eyes as she turned away and headed back alone. Behind her, she heard Kiore angrily pitching chunks of coral into the lagoon.
 

 

 

 

TWELVE

 

Paruru took Nika to visit Piho Clan, with hope that the sailor might find life agreeable on another islet. His sister Heka welcomed them both eagerly, arranged a feast, invited all the prominent people of the clan.
 

While fires were heating the oven stones, Paruru and Nika sat with the warrior's uncles and brothers in the shade above the beach. Nika had recently told a fine tale of a sea battle. Paruru urged him to repeat it in this distinguished company. He wished everyone to hear how well the outsider spoke.
 

"It is better," said the sailor, "if I make little boats." He took a brown bit of palm leaf and folded it into the crude shape of a boat, then pressed it into the sand. He enlisted the aid of the other men in making more, some from dried leaves and some from fresh.
 

"These brown ones are of our enemy," Nika said, placing the "boats" in formation. "They are heavy and slow. The green ones are of my land. Light and quick." He spoke of the weapons aboard, which flung stones a great distance. He explained how the vessels had to maneuver to point the huge weapons at their targets.
 

Paruru watched the looks of amazement on his kinsmen's faces as Nika revealed the foreign methods of battle. Finally Nika reached the part where burning ships were sent at night to set fire to the enemy fleet. To demonstrate, the sailor made a crude palm leaf torch, igniting it at a nearby cook fire. With the torch, he set alight one brown vessel after another.
 

"
Aue
!'' cried Crabs-sleeping.' "That is a quick way to get rid of them."
 

"But those craft ride high out of the water," argued an uncle. "With so many masts and so much rigging, they catch fire too easily." He turned to Nika. "It is good that your enemy did not use
our
kind of war canoe!"
 

Nika laughed and said this might be so. The men kept raising new points over the tactics he had described, sometimes arguing heatedly among themselves. By the time servers brought the meal, Paruru was satisfied that his sailor had made a strong impression.
 

The next day, the
kaito-nui
found Heka with a group of women, seated on mats in a grove of coconut palms. When he asked to speak with her in private, she sent the women away. "Everyone is glad to see you again," she said pleasantly, brushing back long hair that glistened beneath a braided headdress of vines and lavender morning glory. "And I hear that Nika has found many friends."
 

"I am happy to be your guest, sister. And so is Nika. He is with Crabs-sleeping now, searching for the black-lipped oysters."

"I heard that he is fond of pearl shells," she replied thoughtfully. "And we have the best. Is that what you wish to talk about?"
 

Paruru did not answer directly, but began praising Nika's skills. "He is talented at working wood. The foreign tool does wonders in his hands. I would like to see him learn to build canoes."
 

Heka looked skeptical. "I thought that Tepua gave all the tools to Faka-ora for safekeeping."

"Yes. But a knife and chopper came ashore separately from the rest. Tepua put these in my charge."

"I did not know that, brother. You must be careful. Remember how Cone-shell cut himself."

"Nika knows how to use these tools. You should see how fast he can work with them."

"Perhaps Nika can cut faster than our men," she answered, "but skill is not enough. He must speak the proper chants at every stage or the work will fail."
 

"He will learn the chants."

"Perhaps he will." She paused, then spoke in a chiding tone. "Paruru, is this all you came to talk about? Should I call the master canoe-builder and offer him a new pupil?"
 

"There is more, sister." He realized that he must reach his point quickly as she was already losing her good humor. "I have thought long about Nika. Listen carefully before you answer. He has no real home on this atoll and I wish to give him one. I wish to have him adopted into Piho Clan—as my brother."
 

"
Aue
!"
 

"Do you find it so strange?"

"I know that you and he are good friends. But think what you ask!"

"I have good reasons, sister."

"Yes, I can see one. Half the treasures from the foreign
vaka
are his. Eventually Tepua must release those things. If Nika is part of our family, then the treasures will be ours as well."
 

Paruru felt his anger rising. He cared nothing for cloth and colored beads. The one foreign thing he wanted he already had, and Nika was the one who would teach him how to use it. "There is a more important reason," he insisted. "People are starting to question Tepua's wisdom in keeping these outsiders with us. And the sailors are growing restless. If Nika causes trouble, there will be more talk against her."
 

"So you think you can help Tepua by bringing Nika to us?"

"I cannot have him near me and watch him constantly. My duties for the high chief keep me too busy. But if Nika stays here, he can become part of our family. He will learn the proper ways to do everything. My brothers and nephews will teach him."
 

"I have heard them talking about your sailor."

"He has made himself welcome."

Heka looked at Paruru sharply. "Many of our men will support you. They will say that the sailor can bring renown to our family. But we must not forget the risk—that the outsider can also bring disgrace."
 

"Have I asked too much?"

Heka paused. "If this were for your sake alone, I would not take the chance. But I, too, wish to support Tepua. It will help her if this man joins our family and makes himself useful."
 

"Then you agree!"

Heka folded her hands. "I will speak to the elders in favor of your proposal. I may have to remind them about that strong foreign cloth!"
 

"Then I will wait for your answer." He stared at his sister a moment, wondering which of his arguments had been most persuasive. Surely she had not guessed the fate of the thunder-club. She could not know that the weapon meant as much to him as regaining Tepua's esteem.
 

 

Nika stayed on for several days, enjoying feasts, entertainment, and fishing expeditions. He amassed a collection of fine shells and a few small pearls.
 

Also, Nika had a chance to look over the young women of Piho Clan. At Paruru's urging they visited the sailor, encouraging his interest with shy, yet flirtatious glances. Following Paruru's instructions, however, they did not linger.
 

It was on the third morning of his guest's stay that Paruru decided to bring up the question of adoption. By now the elders had consented to Heka's request. Only Nika's agreement was needed.
 

Paruru found the foreigner sitting in the shade with his pile of treasures, tossing away those shells that had even tiny defects. Good pearl shells were prized here, of course, but they did not consume anyone's interest. And pearls, so difficult to pierce, were rarely used in adornment.