Hokulea

"I swear I didn't do anything!!" Cracao's defense sounded hollow, but he persisted as if he could clear himself by sheer will. "The sky was clear...there was barely a breeze...tell them, Hokule'a!" He looked to her to back him up.

That was a mistake. Hokule'a crackled with blue forks of lightning, causing her fur to stand on end like a cat with its tail in a socket. A very large cat. A very scary, very large cat.

Despite the wild energy encircling her, Hokule'a's voice sounded as soft and calm as always, if a little staticky. "It was a cloudless night, elders, and the moon so round and full..." She appeared a bit dazed, even now. Even still...

---

When Cracao discovered that Hokule'a had never been on a boat, he insisted on taking her out on the Sea of a Thousand Currents to view the full moon. It was the last supermoon of the year, not to be missed...so he said. He brought a picnic basket and a blanket and rowed her far enough to see Flotsam Town as a line of tiny lights on the horizon, the Reedcleft Ascent receding until it was barely a shadow to the south.

The Supermoon was stunning and Cracao made Hokule'a laugh as he tried to find constellations that matched the stars on her wings. "It doesn't work like that, silly!" she giggled but let him try anyway.

The lightning struck Hokule'a with the sound of Cracao's name. There was truly not a cloud in sight, no resounding peal of thunder. Cracao himself was all about her in a flash, checking both sky and sea for a predator, but the breeze and waves were as calm as the stars above. He hovered over her like a mother hen, but she didn't appear to be in pain.

"Tell me what you need, Hokule'a!" he pleaded, afraid to touch her through the tiny bolts of lightning that lept all over her fur.

It took Hokule'a a moment to realize she was still sitting in the boat, apparently unharmed, dispite the lightning vibrating all around, its static creating a buzz in her brain that made Cracao's voice seem very far away. Always the sensible one, she thought perhaps she was in shock. Clearly, neither of them were equipped to deal with this properly.

"Take me back, Cracao."

As Cracao rowed them back, frantic but grateful to have something to do, the Supermoon lit their path, silent and beacon-like. He made a bee-line, not for the docks in Triandria Bay, but for Cliffside Cove, which was closer. He needed a messenger, but both he and Hokule'a had left their familiars at home for the night of moon-viewing. Not far now...

---

They stood now within the Circle of Elders at Cliffside Cove, Hokule'a wrapped in Cracao's blanket and while it seemed to subdue the lightning encircling her, the sparks showed no signs of abating.

Dalas presided, of course, but Tessa of the Starwood Strand and Shoalin, a newcomer who hailed from the Shifting Expanse, hovered close by, conferring in whispers and gestures. Cracao's mother, Currio, had been sent for, but as Hokule'a did not seem harmed in any way, they all agreed that they would wait and inform Matriarch in the morning.

Hokule'a lifted a claw to delicately clean her ears, hoping she could hear what the elders were saying through the static, but all she got was clearer static. Instead she reached out for Cracao's claw; obviously the dejected Ridgeback was blaming himself for her predicament. She leaned in.

"I guess Light and Lightning are not so different after all, are they?" she gave him a smile. Reluctantly, he returned her smile, but that was all she needed. They would be okay. She would be okay.

---

When Currio arrived, the elders were debating calling experts from the observatory and weather station, but she quickly put a stop to all that nonsense.

"Clearly," she started slowly, like she was speaking to a group of younglings, as she circled Hokule'a, "the Stormcatcher has claimed this child for His own." She turned to her son, who was still standing claws clasped with Hokule'a. "Cracao, you shall teach your friend how to harness and control this new energy. Now I am returning home to my bed. I suggest you all do the same."

As she made her way back through the crowd of dumbfounded elders, both Cracao and Hokule'a heard her mutter, "Astronomers and meteorologists, indeed!" They did their best not to laugh.