"Anything for a Sister" Log Date: 7/20/00 Log Cast: Alamoana, Kaiulani Log Intro: With great difficulty, Kaiulani has restrained her activity in Haven to the halls and courtyard of the Atlantean embassy, the Korallion. Only in the company of her appointed guardsmen does she venture out into the lander city. But for all that she's grudgingly permitted her body to remain under guard, no such restraint has been placed upon her mind and heart. Thanks to an overturned wagon in the Rialto, she has had a passing encounter with someone who she is certain must be her mysterious unnamed guardian--for all that she got but a glimpse of him before his strong arms pulled her out of harm's way, and he vanished out of her sight. And someone, again unseen, has slipped her a lovely gift through the currents near the docks--a carved comb ornamented with the polished tooth of a shark. Offsetting her joy at these encounters, though, comes the fear that her cousin will bring harm to her unknown protector. Sarojin has said point-blank that her guardsmen are to capture him... and if they cannot, then to kill him. Little does she know, however, that her sister has had a fascinating encounter of her own with a man to whom she must admit to having been drawn... but who may well be Kai's protector. And for all that she found this stranger beautiful, if he _is_ who they both suspect, Alamoana will unhesitantly cede him to Kai--and unleash her wrath upon Sarojin--because just as with Kai, so with her. She will do anything for her sister.... *===========================< In Character Time >===========================* Time of day: Night (Dawnside) Date on Aether: Friday, October 24, 3906. Year on Earth: 1506 A.D. Phase of the Moon: Waning Crescent Season: Fall Weather: Chilling Rain Temperature: Cool *==========================================================================* Rainbow Cavern - Korallion - Haven Refreshing waters fill this room, which is fashioned of coral and lit by florescent, multi-colored algae. Decorating the walls is an elaborate scene of guardsmen dressed in their finery, riding on the back of sea horses. The mural itself begins at one end of the cavern and continues to the opening at the other. Upon the other wall is a mural depicting a great feast on a large table. Many merfolk swim and dance around the grand table set for the ten Decemvirs--the kings of Atlantis. In the foreground is the famed city of itself. All in all, this cavern seems well lit and frequently trafficked by schools of brightly colored fish. The gentle pull of the current tugs at you, beckoning for you to come into the next chamber. Above you is a small opening that allows dim light to enter the room, presumably from the surface. Another opening at the far end of the cavern is another opening, rimmed in an elaborate pattern of shells. Contents: Alamoana Obvious exits: Grotto Entrance Surface Though she didn't tell you where she was going to be gone to all day long, now is your chance to ask. Alamoana enters from the direction of the open sea, looking a bit wearied as she wanders lazily back home. Perhaps her fatigue is the reason you are not spotted right away, or maybe simple distraction from within her own mind. It's an ungodly hour of the night -- but then again, Kaiulani has never claimed to follow Pasiphae, and to be sure, she's received no more education about any of the lander gods than you have. And somehow, describing this particular time of the day as 'unwaterly' somehow fails to pack the same punch. Nevertheless, Kaiulani is up and about, lingering in this cavern out of sheer desire to be somewhere else besides the sleeping pool she shares with you. Her guards are not here, willing enough to leave her be as long as she pledges to stay within the Korallion -- and so for the time being she's had some time alone to herself. That time is willingly ceded, though, the moment she catches sight of her older sister entering this stretch of water. *!* peals forth through her thoughts, a wordless hail, as her slim form shoots closer through the currents. A glance around soon finds you, together with a questioning thought. A mental smile. *Kai* she greets, eventually, *What are you doing up so late, hmmm? You should be sleeping, preparing for tomorrow.* What you should be preparing for she doesn't say just now. It's probably meant to be a suprise, since this is the first mention of anything special. As she used to do when she was little, Kai swims in an agile circle about you, her radiant hair surging back and forth in a pearlescent cloud about her head until she settles into place just before you. The expression she makes through the strands hanging in the water before her face is a rueful one, though -- is it your imagination, or has she become more practiced at lander expressions, since she's come ashore to Haven? Or perhaps even since the two of you had joined the Pandion fleet that had blockaded the lander city? Her mind bubbles over with restlessness, though, and not a trace of desire for rest. Curiosity spikes up within that mix as well, brought on by your hint. *I couldn't sleep,* she admits. *Kept having dreams... oh, Moa...! Preparing? What for?* A hint of the grin edging her thoughts also peaks through on Alamoana's lips. Gills flash carnelian for moments as she takes in breath much-needed after her long swim. And only after this is all done does she begin a reply. *You shall find out tomorrow. After you've had some rest. But first...* Curiosity. Questioning. *What's got you so excited? Has something happened with your secret admirer?* That's what she's sure he is now, of course. No doubt about it, Kaiulani's been learning from the commoners on the fleet -- or perhaps from the lander men, women and children she's met in her own forays out into the city. The look in her eyes is decidedly secretive, as she casts a glance left and then right; it's not as if someone would really need to be in sight to overhear their mindspeech, unshielded as Kai tends to go, but this does not seem to occur to her. Directly on the heels of that she surges closer, a hand coming up to reach somewhere within the swirled waves of her hair to produce a small comb she'd hidden within her tresses. *This happened, for starters,* she sends eagerly, and with more effort at targeting your mind and your mind alone than she usually exhibits. *After I was going to race you, out by the pylons -- remember? It just... floated down through the water at me...!* Keening interest, suspicion. *Did you see who it was?* she wonders, something hidden behind her words, something she will only hint at with *Has he ever given you flowers?* Yes, sister has an idea brewing somewhere, but Alamoana is not letting on. Not here. Not now. It's all part of her plan. It's a dainty thing, this comb, crafted from a shell and decorated with bits of coral -- and a gleam of white bone. A shark's tooth? Kaiulani cradles it in her hands with obvious reverence, whisper-sending into your thoughts, *Is it not lovely? I didn't see him -- not then!* Her gaze shoots up, eyes alive with the barely suppressed agitation still roiling through her mind. *But I went into the marketplace, and one of the landers' carts lost a wheel...* Kai slides into wordlessness, then, too excited to remember to form actual distinct words; instead, she proffers you still-vivid recollections and images. Herself, striding through the market with Akane and Ronan on her trail. A sudden commotion -- barrels, falling helter skelter off a wagon as its wheel gives way, falling between herself and the guards. And from out of nowhere, a pair of strong arms lifting her, moving her, only to quickly set her aside once she is out of the barrels' path. *He moved so quickly but I think I saw the back of his head...! I'm not sure though... I couldn't _find_ him and there were so many landers in the market, he could have been _anyone_...!* Then she stops, head tilting to one side even as she regards you bemusedly. *Flowers...? Land plants? No...* A hand reaches out for the comb, sudden confirmation following. But... of what? *A shark's tooth? Like this? Carved?* And the appropriate image is given to your mind. The gift given to her by the one she suspects. In the marketplace, when they first met. To this, Kaiulani goes very still, her hands and the comb they cradle within their finned fingers freezing within your own. *I... don't... have a shark tooth,* she affirms in a mind-voice gone strangely blank, as if the impact of your suggestion has just struck her, leaving no room in her conscious mind except for the effort needed to make the words in her thoughts. *_You_... _you_ have one? Like this?* Wide-eyed, she taps with one dainty fingertip the tooth upon the comb. *The one there...* Alamoana prompts, pointing to the one you begin to tap. *Is it the same as the one I just showed you? I can't see it clearly..." She waits impatiently for an answer, mind brimming over with excited agitation. */He/ gave it to me in the marketplace...* And then she sends you a picture of a muscular, dark-haired, dark-eyed Atlantean, hovering in the water as he sends petals down to shower around you. It was her, of course, who received the petals, but she only knows the vision in first person. Your parents -- and Cousin Sarojin, more recently -- have been rather apparent in their opinions that your little sister has a head full of ridiculous childish notions about her mysterious guardian. Girlish daydreams, your mother has called them, for the last three or four years now. Your father has been less gentle, using sterner words like 'foolish empty-headed nonsense'. And perhaps, at least up until now, they've been right. But at that image that swirls from behind your eyes to behind Kai's, your little sister rears back involuntarily in the water, her own gills going dormant as she seems to forget to breathe. *Who... who is that...?* Her mind's voice changes, something sparking up within it that hasn't been there before. But whatever it is, it flows back out of the forefront of her mind as soon as it registers itself, overwhelmed by the shock still dominating her thoughts. Waiting patiently for the onslaught from your mind to finish, Alamoana winces once or twice, but otherwise remains serene as she floats in front of you. *I can't recall his name...* And quickly then, to cover the uncomfortable lie, and hopefully leave you no time to see it for what it is *We met in the market place. He introduced me to beeef and carrrots.* Said the way they were given to her. Clear as shared thoughts and memories can sometimes be, especially between two sisters who are close to one another through ties of heart and mind, a memory is still a memory. Vulnerable to blunting by even a few days' passage, and vulnerable as well to being subtly altered even in the passage from one mind to another -- for what one person sees can be perceived differently, in the mind of another. What does Kaiulani see, in that glimpse of flower petals upon the currents and the shadowed figure behind, blurred by the movement of the water and the darkness of the ocean at night? Her eyes have taken on a strange rapt gleam, and for a long breathless moment she sends nothing more... but she does draw the comb back to her, clasping it with one hand against her breast. Then, slowly, as if in a dream, she looks down at the thing she holds. *The... shark tooth you showed me... was different,* she murmur-sends. *Rough... this is smaller. Polished... etched...* *And mine was carved,* Alamoana replies *He was working on it when I met him. Gave it to me as I left, for my guard.* She hesitates a moment, seeming unwilling to push things any further, lest your fragile, young mind break under the stress. And so, finally, she lets things lay as they are. Kaiulani makes no reply, stilled there in the water and gazing down at the comb in her hands as though she's never seen its like before. And then, like sunrise coming up over the horizon, a smile spreads out across her features. A big one, not only curving her lips but baring her teeth and reaching up to crinkle her eyes as well. As she finally looks up again, her gaze has gone strangely intent... or is that the impact of her thoughts behind her eyes, lending an urgency to her sea-green stare? *You think,* she guesses then, *this one you saw... is _him_...!* Like her expression, her thoughts have turned strange, tasting fey and marvelling and giddy all at once. *You... you _saw_ him....!* And still... she smiles. There is a long, long pause, in which Moe appears to decide that tempering this is the best course. *I cannot be completely sure, Kai. Please understand.* A pause, and then, *But the chance is great enough that... I will not allow myself to see the man again. Just in case.* So, indeed she does understand how Kai might be able to feel the way she apparently does. And she's not willing to risk her own heart on the slim chance that it's not him. Perhaps it's something in her sister's face that stops her -- has Kai learned to read the face as well as she uses her own to broadcast her emotions? But perhaps more likely it's the flavor of your thoughts, or simple long years of being your sister. Something more like Kaiulani's usual self returns to her countenance, and her dainty white throat flexes as she swallows hard. *He...* Her lip tucks under her upper teeth as she decides to reach a hand for you, then. *You... you're drawn to him? Moa... You... can find him?* For a moment, Alamoana begins to pull away, but then she stops, standing her ground mentally and physically. *I... think it is wise, Kai, if you stay away from him for now. I don't know that this man is really him. He'll come to you when he's ready. And.. besides, cousin Sarojin does not appear very fond of him. I fear he would be in danger at this point, if you went to him.* _That_ makes pain slice across Kaiulani's features, just as distinctly as it does her thoughts. *He said... oh, Moa... Cousin Sarojin said--* Once again her thoughts retreat to pure emotion and images, far more effectively relaying her fretful worry than any word she could form can do. You receive a palpable memory of Sarojin's mind rolling over Kaiulani's own... *Whoever your secret stalker is, I want you to avoid him at all costs. If he comes too near to you I will instruct the guards to capture him, and failing that to kill him.* The words have emblazoned themselves in Kaiulani's mind already... and now they flare up again, in searing contrast to the shadowed hand that sent petals drifting towards you on the current. The same hand that released the comb into Kaiulani's keeping? Is that you imagination, or did Alamoana just release a faint growl? It had to have been just in her mind. How could you hear it in the water? Still, her features darken as if a shadow had passed over her, and so does her mind. *Do you know* she questions, seething, attempting to keep her mind-voice even, *Where our... Dear Cousin is?* The last is dripping with venom. One thing to be said for both your parents and your cousin, your Decemvir -- they've also all been right when it comes to Kaiulani's imagination. The maiden's always had one, and now she can't stop it from hurling forth an image, shadowed though it might be, of the half-seen figure behind the flowers dropping like a stone through the water, a blade in his back. She doesn't actually send forth that chilling picture, but its echoes resonate through her thoughts as Kai sends a tiny tendril of a 'no'. The surge of ferocity in _your_ thoughts chills her almost as deeply, and the younger girl seems to sink in on herself, arms wrapping loosely about her own frame. Even her hair seems to subside somewhat, as if the pearlescent strands grow heavier in the water. *But Moa... if you can find him... perhaps it'd be safer if you... if you told him? My guards are only ordered to watch over _me_...* She pauses. And then she finishes, *He... might be safer with you. If you wish to... have him?* Only here and now does Kaiulani's store of expressions, rather more vast than any proper Pandion maiden ought to possess, fail her. Her face goes almost neutral save for the bit of her lower lip still caught beneath her upper teeth... but what her features lack in relayed emotion, her mind sends forth. Kaiulani does not have your mental discipline; she never has. But her thoughts are full of a love for her sister, her only kin who has been close to her through eighteen years of life, a love deep enough that even if it meant yielding up this shadow-stranger who has haunted her for so long... she would do anything for that sister. Slowly, slowly, Alamoana softens as her eyes and her mind take you in. A bittersweet smile curls her thoughts as she reaches out with both mind and body to take you to her chest, cuddling you as if you were still her baby sister, half her size and still new to the world. Although, in this instance, the last is likely still true. Stroking your hair with gentle, loving fingers, she manages to keep her raging anger in check, a swirling black threatening just on the horizon of her thoughts, but never quite arriving. *He does not want me, Kaiulani. It is you he has watched over for so long. As I have. You needn't worry for his eventual safety, my dear. You /will/ be together someday if you so wish it. And he /will/ be safe with you. Or I will be dead, and thereby unable to see it so. And if such becomes the case, then you will know our Cousin to be a villain and a traitor to his family. If he is not so malignant a being, then he will reconsider his current notions. On that you have my word, Kaiulani.* There is an eddying silence at the end of this speech before she adds, softer, *But you must give it time, be patient. We mustn't endanger him too soon. You understand, yes?* One hand still clings to the comb, but this doesn't stop Kaiulani from flinging her arms about you and hugging you close, her face nestling there against your shoulder. Her hair swirls out to fill your field of vision, submitting to the stroking only long enough for your fingers to pass before drifting up again. And after that fervent sister's embrace she brings her head up again, nodding; the nod is awkward, but her eyes are earnest, and so is her mind's reply. * * All of these things bubble out of her, clear and bright and passionate. But there's something else there as well, a curiosity that for all its familiarity -- for Kai has spent many an hour speculating to you of her mysterious guardian's appearance, over the years -- now has a new and strangely shy flavor. *Moa... this... man you saw, the one you think... is him... he is... beautiful?* Summoning a soft, mental chuckle, Alamoana nods her physical head, whispering to your mind. *Aye, very. More beautiful than any I've seen. But now you should get to bed. We've things to do tomorrow, and you should be rested.* Releasing you back to the water, she starts for the surface herself, *Go and dream of your beautiful guardian, your sister is too tired now to tell you anymore of him. Your imagination can manufacture the rest, I have no doubt.* She has to remember, Kaiulani struggles to tell herself, that her sibling is not entirely convinced that the man she saw _is_ her nameless savior... that the shadow in the vision of flowers might not go with the half-remembered face she'd seen above her when the shark had bitten her, and her blood had sullied the waves. Or with the back of a dark head and the broad shoulder she'd glimpsed in the market, just before their owner had vanished into the crowd. _It might not be him...!_ But oh, how she wants it to be... and oh, she can feel her heart racing at the thought. If her sister has seen him, this makes him _real_... _He has dark hair,_ Kai thinks all at once, giddy. It's almost enough to make her miss her sister's ascent, but not quite. Her gaze snaps up. And then she sends sheepishly, *I will return to the sleeping pool with you... but I'm not sure I can sleep...!* *I will not be in right away,* Moe cautions, as she breaks the surface, *And I expect you to be sound asleep by the time I return.* It's not /quite/ an order, but close enough, at any rate. It's likely no secret to Kai where her sister is going, even without hints. The storm of her rage is still there, waiting to be unleashed. [End log.]