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Chapter 33: Aunty's Surprise
Pika was humming to herself as she was organizing the scrolls delivered by the messengers this morning. Since the remaining guards were still adamant to keep Penina in the palace, the messengers were the best way for them to gather information and issue commands. It made for a lot more paperwork, but Pika was easily up to the task.
She felt a presence behind her, but rather than react immediately, she tried a different tactic – waiting for the being to come closer. Biding her time and making herself look busy looking over the scrolls, she noticed a figure swimming closer and closer out of the corner of her eye. When she felt the being was close enough, she turned around and laced her body around the intruder, “Hah! Got you!”
Mele shrieked in surprise and try to squirm out of Pika’s coils. “I knew there was someone here, always watching. Are you a spy? Who exactly are you?” But the tiny Undertide was in a panic state, and gave a series of squeals.
“Mele! I told you to leave Pika alone. What happened?” Penina said and rushed into the room. Mele finally squirmed free and swam straight into Penina’s arms. “Wait, you know this creature?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to know about Mele. It’s complicated…” Penina struggled to find her words. “I’ve got time to listen,” Pika replied, and she coiled her body comfortably with head fins stretched out in attention.
Sighing, Penina told Pika about the death of her mother and then how Mele hatched from her mother’s pearl. Pika did not interrupt her, but her eyes and fins gave away her reaction to what she was told. Mele had settled down as Penina absent-mindedly stroked it and now was looking at Pika with a keen interest.
“Wow, that is a lot to take in. And no one else knows about Mele?” Pika finally spoke after a silent pause. “Not another soul,” Penina answered. At this point, Mele swam away from Penina’s arms and was just a fin length from Pika.
“I never heard of such an occurrence in all the stories I’ve heard across the kingdom,” Pika murmured as she held a fin out to Mele. Mele pressed its nose against the outstretched fin and then did a flip in happiness.
“I think it likes me,” grinned Pika, and Mele snuggled against her side with a purr. “Maybe we can see if the palace library holds anything that can explain how Mele came to be. It’d be quite fascinating to research.”
Penina smiled as she recognized how Pika’s energy to learn was bubbling to the surface, “Sure, you can check that out. But we’ll have to finish the day’s tasks first.” Pika nodded, “Of course! I’m almost done sorting the messages, and we can get started.”
“But one more thing – you can’t tell anyone about Mele! I don’t want it to cause any confusion or scare. I have no idea how my dad would react at the news,” Penina said, eyes worriedly looking at Mele. “Never fear, my lips are sealed! Aunty will keep you safe, ain’t that right, Mele?” Pika said as she tickled Mele.
“Aunty?” Penina asked with an amused face, but Mele chirped happily at the idea and swam circles around Pika. “Okay, easy, Mele! You can stay but we have to get our work done,” Penina said.
But now that Mele didn’t have to hide, it was so much happier and enjoyed playing with Pika’s fins. Pika always made a point to make the work a sort of game to balance between getting the tasks done and keeping Mele occupied. All in all, it was a win-win to everyone involved, and the day turned out much more pleasant.
Tusitala felt hopeless. He could not come close to harnessing the trident in the way that Dakila showed him. The beast never came to him when he tried to summon it without words, and so he was left atop of a large stone, alone and frustrated. He did this for days, weeks even, and it made him wonder if he wasn’t cut out to be a king of Nan’nalu.
It was another day of failure, and he was mentally exhausted. The sun was setting, so the waters were darkening, especially without the moon in the sky. Laying back and holding the trident on his side, he looked at the shimmering surface and let his eyes grow heavy until he fell asleep.
The dreams he was having were fragmented and chaotic, jumping between memories of his family to imaginations of his failure. However, tonight’s dream was different. He was swimming in pitch blackness, but he could see his own body clearly.
A voice was singing from a distance. It was a melody and voice that Tusitala recognized immediately, “Fetia?” He decided to swim towards the voice, and the song got louder. Eventually he made it to a place where the voice sounded like it was right beside him, but the blank space around him did not change in the slightest.
“Fetia? Where are you, my dearest? I can hear you, but I cannot see you!” he called out, but the echo of his voice died down quickly and the singing stopped. Feeling utterly alone, he murmured in disappointment, “No, you died…I failed to protect you…”
Then he heard laughter and saw his two daughters as hatchlings, swimming in the distance and playing, “Penina, Kailani! Wait there, I’m coming!” And he swam as quickly as he could towards them, but as he got closer, they got older until they reached the present age that Tusitala remembered. A large shadowed creature was swimming up behind his daughters, and their faces were lined in fear.
“No, NO! Not my daughters! Keep away from them!!!” No matter how hard he swam, he could not get closer, and he watched helplessly as the shadowed creature swallowed them whole. Again, he was left in complete darkness, but there were tears falling from his eyes, “Why? Why can’t I save them?”
A whisper started echoing in the darkened world around him, tickling his ear and causing him to stiffen in surprise, “You failed at reaching your full potential. You need to let go of everything if you want to grasp the ultimate power of the trident.”
“But I want to use the trident to save my family -” Tusitala replied, but the whispers interrupted him. “You will have nothing to save if you can’t get past your feelings. Don’t you want to destroy your enemies?” The whisper came from a different direction with each question, “To make them pay? To prevent them from doing any more harm?”
Tusitala clenched his hands into fists, “Of course!”
“Then let go of everything else. Purge your mind and heart of the life you had and grasp onto the future, your future!” the voice urged, and the trident appeared in front of him.
Tusitala looked at the trident and lifted his arm to reach out for it. His whole body felt extremely heavy, as though weighed down by an invisible force. Still, his determination and rage pushed his hand forward until it finally touched the handle and grasped it firmly.
The darkness around him started to ripple and took shape in the form of the beast. Its eyes glowed and faced Tusitala, awaiting a command. “Come to me,” Tusitala ordered, and he suddenly woke up. The trident was still firmly grasped in his hand and his heart was racing. Was it all a dream?
But in the distance, he saw a shadow coming closer. The beast was approaching, and it stopped in front of Tusitala, its immense body snaking around the rock he was laying on.
Finally! he thought with a triumphant look on his face,
Let’s see what this Dakila can teach me next. Without a word, he had the beast lower its neck so that he could grab on. They swam off towards Dakila’s lair, and he was eager to charge towards this new future of power, his power and his story.
next
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Petall @
Aquasparky @
Reshiramu
Well, some discoveries for more characters today. Cabaletta started her meddling, although nothing too dark...yet. =3 Some coli pulls brought Pika, Anuenue, and Ahohako to level 4!
No worries on the lightning challenge delay! If you need someone to bounce ideas to help you with your writer's block, feel free to PM me!
