Sister of the Sun (29 page)

"Then practice diving for pearl shells. Nika enjoys collecting them."

"I know a good place for that," Maukiri answered. "And perhaps you can teach me a few other things that will help keep him here. I am waiting to learn about that long walk you took on the beach—when you stayed out until dawn."
 

"Maukiri!" Tepua could not help the single tear that slid from her eye.

"So my guess was right," said her cousin. "I do not blame you for whatever you did that night. But you had your man. You should be happy!"
 

"Cousin, you do not realize the trouble these sailors face. If they go on breaking
tapu
, I do not know how much longer I can keep them safe. Worst of all. Cone-shell wants to adopt Kiore."
 

"Don't let him!"

"I can hold him off awhile. In the end, Cone-shell may win."

"But Kiore will want nothing to do with Varoa Clan."

Tepua sighed. "If he does not like the idea, then he can sail away. But you will also lose Nika."

Maukiri groaned. "How can we stop this?"

"I do not know yet. For now, say nothing to the sailors. If we find a way out of the trap, then we will not have to tell them."

"How long can you delay?" asked Maukiri.

"Perhaps a month."

"Then we must take advantage of that time. We must make plans for both of us. How soon is Nika coming?"

 

 

 

SIXTEEN

 

The next morning Tepua rose early and sat outside her house, listening to the palms rustling gently. All seemed quiet today. After Cone-shell's visit, she welcomed the respite. Yet she felt a prickle of anticipation, a hint that the peaceful moment would not last.
 

In the distance she heard gulls calling, then footsteps, then a faint cry. Alarmed, she hastened toward the path just as a sentry came running. She recognized him as one of Pararu's sharp-eyed lookouts, coming from his post on the outer shore. Tepua's guards clustered about to hear his news.
 

Panting heavily, the sentry fell to his knees. "Sails sighted!" he managed to gasp. "Pu-tahi!" The warriors howled in anguish. "Not attacking!" the sentry added.
 

Tepua felt a rush of the old fear. "How many? What are they doing?" She remembered too many raids, when she had been hustled into a canoe and forced to flee. She could still hear the wails of the women whose men were lost in battle.
 

"Just one
pahi
," the sentry said. "The men aboard carry...a sign of peace."
 

"
Peace
?'' Tepua stared at him, her hands itching to hold a weapon. She wished she had not scoffed at Paruru's warning.
 

"They shouted a message. Their chief wants to heal old wounds, come here and talk of friendship."

"Friendship? How is it possible?" she asked. She recalled the recent reports from traders, including one that claimed the Pu-tahi had given up their old ways. Paruru had insisted that this was another of their tricks.
 

"The
pahi
carries gifts. For you,
ariki
."
 

She scowled. No Pu-tahi had ever made an overture to her people. "And if I accept these gifts, I must agree to their chief's visit."
 

The warrior raised his eyebrows in assent. Recovered now from his run, he stood up and brushed sand from his knees.

Tepua took a deep breath. Her fingers were trembling and she wished she had some way to steady them. The men stared at her, waiting for orders.
 

Paruru was gone, but she knew what his opinion would be. She had no time to gather other advisers, no time to discuss the question in the usual leisurely manner. A decision was needed quickly. The Pu-tahi vessel must be sent off, or allowed to land.
 

"Wait here, and I will give an answer," she said, and then went alone to sit inside her house. She remembered what the elders had told her when she doubted her ability to assume the high office.
The sacred power will enter you and you will become wise
. Yet the wisdom did not always come when she needed it. Her hospitality to the sailors had already caused harm to her people. A mistake now could be far more serious.
 

For a few moments she sat quietly in the comforting shade of her house. It would be easy to send the Pu-tahi away. But nothing like this had ever happened before. She began to nourish a hope that the offer of friendship was sincere. If she could only have a sign...

She reached for the loop of cord that hung on a peg behind her mat. The last time she had looked at string figures they had shown her nothing. If the gods meant her to rule wisely, they would have to help her now.
 

She uttered her prayer and began to make the first figure. As she brought her hands together and apart, picking up strings or letting them fall, she soon made the shape of a double-hulled canoe. She wondered if this was the canoe of the Pu-tahi chief. Staring into the strings, she recalled occasions when the figures had sparked a vision, bringing images of another place or time.
 

But the pattern before her was only an interweaving of cord. She could not see what lay hidden aboard the vessel, or what sort of men rode it. Disappointed, she let the string slip from her hands.
 

It was better if she did not try to choose a specific figure, but let her fingers weave in and out until a shape emerged. She closed her eyes, working by feel. When she opened them, a simple pattern had formed in the crossing strings, so simple that she thought at first she had made nothing. Then she saw the young coconut frond, a symbol of peace between enemies or strangers.
 

This time the vision grew vivid. Instead of strings, she saw pale green leaflets, and blue-black tattoos on the hand that held the frond. This was a Pu-tahi vessel, she realized, and the man who lifted the frond was the chief of their tribe. But was his offer a cover for deceit?
 

She studied the canoe, wishing she could see what lay within its thatched cabin. Gifts? Hidden weapons? She groaned in frustration, but found no answer.
 

Then the vision shifted and she was looking at the scene from far above. She recognized the shore, that of her own lagoon. Where were her people? The lone Pu-tahi vessel was surrounded not by Tepua's war canoes but by a host of sharks.
 

The water was so clear that she could see the tail fins waving smoothing. As she watched the graceful movements she realized that these sharks were the kind that protected her—great blues. She thought they would attack her longtime enemies. Instead, they led the Pu-tahi canoe toward her beach, then moved aside while the visitors landed.
 

Spirits of my ancestors...leading the Pu-tahi ashore
!
 

When the vision ended, Tepua rested for a moment, trying to grasp what she had seen. Then she emerged, feeling disoriented as she looked at the crowd that had gathered about her house. Warriors edged in on all sides; she faced them uneasily.
 

"The Pu-tahi remain outside the reef,
ariki
," said Sea-snake, who had been left in charge of the warriors. "Their paddlers are fighting the current."
 

"I will not let them land," said Tepua firmly. The men turned to each other with expressions of relief. "Launch a canoe," she added. "Take some drinking nuts out to them for their journey."
 

"You are generous,
ariki
," said Sea-snake. "We will toss those eels the drinking nuts and send them on their way." He turned to shout an order.
 

"There is more," said Tepua. "Tell the Pu-tahi that I will accept nothing from them now. When their chief comes to me, let him present the gifts with his own hands. Then I will see how sincere his offer is."
 

The warriors seemed stunned by her answer. The captain opened his mouth to protest, but fell silent under Tepua's glare. "Tell their chief to come after the moon is new, no sooner," she added sharply. "Go now. Before the Pu-tahi boatmen grow impatient and try to paddle into our lagoon!"
 

 

For several days no one spoke of anything but the impending Pu-tahi visit. As the news reached other clans, chief's and elders came to confer with Tepua. One day, her brother appeared in her yard.
 

"Umia!" She embraced him eagerly. "Are you also here to discuss the Pu-tahi?"

"Yes, Tepua," he answered in a somber voice. "And for another reason."

"Then you know about your uncle's scheming."

"I only know that he is hiding something. A ceremony was held at the
marae.
Nika and Paruru went there, but everyone else had to keep away."
 

"I will explain. But first, tell me if the priest is satisfied with the outcome."

"Raha and my uncle both seem cheerful. Nika and Paruru also seem relieved...about something."

"Good," said Tepua. "Let us walk, and I will clear up a few mysteries." As they followed the beach she told him about the turtle incident and Cone-shell's attempt to use it against her.
 

"My uncle was right about one thing," Umia said sadly when she was done. "He warned mat these foreigners would upset our ways, and they have. But to my thinking, Cone-shell's offense is worse man Nika's."
 

"Explain."

Umia's brow wrinkled as he stopped to prod a piece of coral with his toes. "Tepua, my uncle put us all at risk. When he learned the truth about the turtle, he should have sent his priests at once to beg the gods' forgiveness. What disaster might have struck us?" He raised his eyes, gazing sharply into hers.
 

Tepua drew in her breath. "Now you see clearly, my brother. Cone-shell put his ambitions ahead of the best interests of his people."
 

"Yes." Umia clenched his fist. "I have seen him do such things before, but I said nothing. Even after what he did to you, I stayed at his side. Ah, Tepua, I have let him bully me too long."
 

"There is something you can do." She paused, waiting, hoping.

His eyebrows rose. "Twice you asked me to leave my uncle, and twice I turned you down. You need not ask again, Tepua. I am here. This time, I am staying."
 

Tears streamed down her face as she embraced him, pressing her nose against the firmness of his cheek. "Ah, brother, you have come just when I need your help."
 

When Paruru returned with Nika, he wanted to know more about the Pu-tahi visit. He asked question after question of the men who had gone out to deliver the provisions—how many warriors, how had they been armed, what else did they carry. He could not accept the answer that no weapons had been seen at all.
 

Time and again his thoughts returned to his first encounter with the man-eaters. He was a young warrior then and new to the ranks. One moonless night, standing guard along the shore, he heard a blow and a groan. Then the cries of warning sounded, far too late. In the dim light it was nearly impossible to tell raider from friend. Paruru bashed in one Pu-tahi skull and wounded another man severely. Other defenders came, and soon the beach was wet with blood.
 

Paruru trembled with rage as he remembered the companions he had lost that night. Where had Tepua been? A child, safe with her guards, far from danger. Throughout her life she had been spared Pu-tahi terror. That was why she did not understand the raiders. That was why she had agreed to hear their lies.
 

Despite his lingering feeling of disgrace, Paruru went to speak with his chief.

"I am glad that all has gone well," she said coolly when she saw that he was back.

"
Ariki
, I beg you to listen. My problem with Nika is small compared with what is coming."
 

She offered him a seat in her shaded yard. "I understand your fears," she replied. "My family has suffered the raids as much as any other. But we have something new here. No Pu-tahi chief has ever asked for a meeting of peace."
 

"It is a ruse. So they can slip their warriors into our lagoon."

"Mine was no light decision, Paruru. It is true that I sent my answer in haste, but afterward I spoke with the priests. They tell me that the omens are good."
 

And priests are sometimes blind
! "You are determined to let the man-eaters through the pass?"
 

Tepua stared at him in that stubborn way he had often seen, her back straight, her chin high.

"Then,
ariki
, I am obliged to prepare for the worst. I must make plans to defend my people. Otherwise—"
 

"Otherwise, you will ask again to be relieved of your duties." Her mouth twitched, and he thought for a moment that she might free him. What would he do then? he wondered. Would he dare to join the voices that opposed her? Would he even take up arms to force her out?
 

"Prepare your plans,
kaito-nui
. I will not stop you from performing your duty. I ask only this. There must be no open show of distrust. Keep your weapons out of sight."
 

"As you wish,
ariki
. My men will stand ready, but we will be discreet about it." When she dismissed him, he felt only a slight lifting of his burden. Whatever defense he mounted, he knew that many of his warriors would die. There was only one way to avert the disaster that the raiders would bring. He needed Nika's help....
 

Paruru turned first to settling his adopted brother into a new way of life. The sailor was no longer a guest. Now he would stay with Paruru in a house of warriors, eating food the men gathered and prepared for themselves.
 

Paruru was not certain that Nika would fit in, but he had seen encouraging signs. Nika had finally given up his foreign garb. He bathed at reasonable intervals and often remembered to follow the little rituals mat the gods required. Paruru knew now that he could never make an islander of this man, but he was willing to accept Nika's faults.