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The sun hadn't yet risen over the horizon. He and his friends-unaware of the conditions they could be stepping into-walked a little closer to the ocean's edge, and dared the waters. He inhaled deeply, the smell of salt tingling his senses deliciously. The lapping waves licked their feet as they stood on the edge of the earth; for this had to have been what those people of the fourteenth century had meant. It was amazing; seeing the point so far off where the starry heavens collided with the earth. He almost felt, as he looked out to their meeting point, that if he reached out his hand just far enough, he might be able to touch it, and to bring back his own piece of heaven...
"Lij," Sean ventured, his voice only a dying breath, as if it were unwritten code that the serenity of the water required whispers and silence. "If we want to, we can swim now... No one's on the beach; not yet."
Elijah looked to his friend and smiled. "'Course," he replied, and while short, it was not unkind. The five standing there at the ocean's edge took another step towards a blackness that seemed never ending. Indeed, at this time in the morning, there was no light to make the waves glow cyan, or to make the waters clear as they should've been.
Ordinarily, Elijah and the friends he'd made from the filming of Lord of the Ring wouldn't have even considered waking up at this ungodly hour of four thirty in the morning. However, their plane had landed several hours ago in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the boat ride to Kauai, with its cool night breeze rustling through their hair, had more than woken them up. Especially Billy. Billy's dinner hadn't quite agreed with the constant rocking of the boat, and so he and it had had a second meeting.
After the boat had docked in a small town by the name of Haku A Ku-U Makua, all of them, Elijah, Orlando, Billy, Dom, and Zach had gone to their hotel rooms. Perhaps the only one who had been tired at this point was Zach, and he quickly fell asleep to the midnight Hawaiian air that streamed in through the open window, and to the rushing waves of the ocean only yards outside his room.. The other five found the notion of sleep inconceivable while in a tropical paradise, not to mention on their first night
They first decided on looking for a club, or perhaps a small bar or tavern. Every town had at least one good tavern. They had begun walking up and down the dirt streets of the small town (of course, pending they were streets. They seemed more trail like than road like. Elijah doubted that a car had ever been down any of them, let alone whether one could fit or not), only to find several small, ocean side shops that looked as if they'd been made from driftwood, a restaurant by the name of Hale 'Aina, and an ice cream parlor called Pua's Haukalima. The town felt deserted at this early hour; Elijah almost felt as if he were walking through a ghost town. None of the houses or small businesses looked alive, not one had any lights on.
It had been Dom's brilliant idea to go swimming in the wee hours of the morning. "Besides," he'd countered their protests "the sun'll be up soon. We can just swim for a bit, then come back here and sleep for a while... We'll miss a good deal of the tourists and probably most of the residents as they go out surfing and such. That way, we can make this vacation entirely about relaxing." He noticed the odd looks he got from his companions-ones that clearly asked if he had no respect for the fan base, or perhaps if he was insane for wanting to swim in a deserted ocean. He held up his hands in defense. "I've nothing against the fans... How could I? I'm just saying that some of them make it mighty difficult to relax, wouldn't you all agree?" (AN: Yes, I am probably one of those fans... Hehe. :-)) He cleared his throat, then continued. "And what could possibly happen? We'll be together, and as long as we don't go any further than we can touch..."
They all seemed to be taken in with the idea... Orlando had agreed first, then Elijah, and reluctantly, Billy had consented. "Good, then. Let's get changed."
So here they stood, looking at stars that would soon fade into the night sky as the sun rose, daring themselves inch by inch further into the expanse of water before them. It was Orlando who took the initial plunge.
"Wooooooooooo-ie!" He cried, the western cry sounding foreign on his lips. He laughed heartily. "What? The waters fine!" He called back to them, treading ever deeper.
Soon thereafter, they had all followed him into the water, splashing and swimming merrily. Maybe half an hour later, they saw the sky tinge purple, then slowly pink. Before long, there was an explosion of light on the far off horizon as the sun rose to all its glorious, Hawaiian splendor. Yellows and oranges that none of them had ever seen etched themselves flawlessly onto their canvas of clouds and electric blue sky. Elijah stopped a moment, awe-struck by the sight before him...
"You know it ain't safe to be swimming after dark, don't you?" It wasn't a voice they'd heard before. It was tinged with a slight accent; one that none of them could place. They all spun around, scanning the shore for its owner. A tall boy in a pair of trunks looked back at them through chestnut eyes. His onyx hair met his shoulders in an untamed mane and his lips were pursed tightly together. His skin was a perfect tone of copper; evidence of years in the sun.
"What?" Elijah called, swimming forward a few yards to hear the Hawaiian boy more clearly.
"I said," the boy retorted, his voice beginning to turn icy as if he were speaking to children, "it ain't safe to go swimming at night, hupo."
The five swimming friends shot each other puzzled looks. "Um... Forgive me, but... What was that last part? I don't believe I caught it." Billy asked as politely as he could.
"I called you a hupo." His voice was turning more bitter by the moment.
"Iokua, wai ku au wala'au ia?" Another male's voice, this one deeper than the first though. Elijah's eyes wavered a moment on the first boy, then scanned to the next. The second appeared older, stronger, more well built. He also seemed more clean cut. His hair, which was probably longer than the first's was pulled back in a tidy ponytail, and he wore a T-shirt with a pair of baggy jeans that were only held in place by the belt around his waist.
"Nei wahi hupo wai 'au ma po." The first replied...
The second looked at him a moment before falling into fits of laughter. For the first time, he addressed the boys-who were more confused than ever by the odd tongue they had just spoken in. "So you were swimming at night, were you?" His voice was heavily laden with the same accent the first had carried, which the boys now understood to be Hawaiian, though none of them had known that Hawaiians had their own accent, let alone such a complex language.
"What's wrong with that? We're not disturbing anyone..." Sean replied, his face etched with worry lines that only his friends would've been able to distinguish.
"What's wrong with that is..." the first boy began, his voice rising in heated anger. The second boy cut in.
"What my friend here is trying to say," he shot the first boy a meaningful look, "is that it isn't safe to be swimming yet. The sharks swim at night, not to mention that's usually when the undertow is the worst. In fact," he paused a moment, and his eyes began to hold a little worry in their mahogany depths, "I'm surprised you're all all right. You are all right, aren't you?" They could hear the concern nipping at the edges of his voice, and all of them nodded fervently.
"Yeah, we're fine... When do most people start swimming 'round here?" Dom asked, feeling the four other pairs of eyes drilling into his back accusingly, each of their looks reading the same thing... 'We knew this was a bad idea!'
"Well, 'round now, actually... You shouldn't be in there any earlier though. It's 'bout six or so now... How long you been here?" The second boy began picking up driftwood absent mindedly, and throwing them into a tweed bag behind him. It seemed that even the larger, bulkier pieces were no problem, as if he were expert at what he did, which, Elijah had to remind himself, he probably was.
"We got here around four thirty or so..." Elijah supplied hesitantly, watching the first boy still. The second boy caught his glance.
"Don't worry about Iokua... He doesn't like tourists much. You are tourists, aren't you? I mean, you haven't just moved in or anything?"
"No, no, we're tourists..." Elijah replied, working the first boy's name in his mouth almost silently. "I-oo-koo-a... I-oo-koo-a..."
The second boy laughed. "You're Hawaiian's a bit rusty, ain't it? Just call him Josh. That's his English name. My name is Kilika... A bit easier to people used to English words, but if you can't get that, you can call me Chris." His voice was laughing almost the entire time, as were his eyes. Elijah smiled at him.
"I'm Elijah," he called, and began pointing to each of his companions. "This is Dom, Sean, Billy, and Orlando."
"A pleasure, I'm sure." The first boy, Josh, bit out to them sarcastically, his back turned to them as he too picked up pieces of drift wood. Chris gave him a silencing look.
"It really is. Anyhow, enjoy your time in Haku A Ku-U Makua... Beautiful town. Lived here all my life. We don't get many tourists, though... Most people go to the main island, and if they come here, they usually stick to the larger cities... It's not too common for people to come this far out into the country... Anyway, I have to get back to picking up my wood. Carving it to sell. Nice little side income, actually... But, I'll probably see you later at the beach."
"Yeah, more than likely," Dom called, waving and smiling. As the two Hawaiian boys walked off in the direction of a small cabin-like hut, Dom turned to his friends. "Nice chaps, weren't they?" Orlando and Sean looked at him, incredulous, and shocked beyond words.
"Chris was kind enough, I spose... Josh was a bit..." Billy trailed off, scraping his mind for the right word.
"Hupo-ish." Orlando supplied, smiling one of his million dollar Cheshire cat grins.
"We don't even know what hupo means, Orli... Don't go throwing it around." Sean replied, speaking for the first time since the Hawaiian boys had left. "We know it's nothing good..."
"Why do you think I chose it? I mean, after all, he called US Hupo's... Well, he's a hupo!"
"Maybe its time get back to the Hotel... I'm kind of tired myself, now, and besides... I don't know if I like the idea of being out here alone anymore. Did you guys hear what he said? Sharks, and undertow!" Billy shuddered dramatically, curving away from the current conversation.
So the five boys raced one another back to land, and gathered their belongings as they headed back to the hotel they were staying in. Elijah took one last look back at the cabin in which Chris and Josh had entered, and watched as the two laughed, whittling their driftwood.
* * * * * She was riding down the beaten dirt path as quickly as she could. She was already more than twenty minutes late, a habit that seemed more of a characteristic than flaw, now. Of course, over the years, people had grown used to Ao's tardiness in all aspects of the word. Still, she pedaled as hard as her legs would take her, her surfboard neatly tied to the back, though the rope shook and rattled the board over the larger bumps, and her backpack strapped on equally as tight.
"Pana ki! Pana ki!" She cried, leaning forward on her bike, willing it to go faster than it was. The bend in the road was just a few more yards away... Once she got that far, she'd be more than halfway there... Only three minutes or so, at the speed she was going! * * * * * "I don't think they were trying to be rude, persay, Orlando... Just... Unfriendly. Doesn't seem to me that they're used to a lot of people coming around here." Elijah tried to reason with his friend, but it seemed as though he'd given up on logic all together. However, to Elijah's great relief, Orlando didn't rebuttal, and he didn't continue the conversation either. Instead, Orlando shrugged flippantly, giving Elijah a look that said "Whatever you say, but the guy was a prick, and you know it!" And of course Elijah had to agree. Well, he had to agree SILENTLY. Bashing someone-no matter how big a prick they were- was wrong in his eyes. So they kept walking along the beaten path, the conversation continually returning to the Hawaiian boys from the beach, the overgrowth of the weeds and trees brushing against their skin lightly from time to time.
"The hotel's just passed the bend in the road, right? I can't remember... It was dark when we left..." Sean stopped a moment, just near enough to see the bend itself, but not quite around.
"I think..." Billy had begun, but he was cut off as a biker hurtled towards them.
"Ka ku'u Makua!" The girl skidded abruptly to a halt, only short inches from Billy. She hopped off her bike and let it fall, surfboard, backpack, and all, to the ground with a sickening thud. "Are you all right? I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry... " She turned around, and muttered to herself "Ma'awa'a, Ao... Pela no Ma'awa'a..."
"Yeah, we're fine... Don't even worry about it..." She looked back at the five men before her... The one she'd nearly run over had been speaking to her, and she smiled lightly at him.
"You don't speak Hawaiian, do you?" They didn't answer, but she continued anyhow, obviously assuming the answer... "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to talk over your head that way... It's just... We don't get many tourists here..." As if for the first time, she looked at Elijah...
"My, you have really blue eyes..." She paused, thinking silently about what she'd said, and felt a flush rise to her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she choked out, keeping her eyes averted from his ever-growing smile, "we just don't see many people with blue eyes around here. Hawaiians are naturally dark... Dark eyes, dark hair, dark skin... It was just odd, that's all. Took me by surprise." She looked to the sky, and repeated, as if a mantra, "Pela no ma'awa'a!"
"Don't worry about it... You'd be surprised how often he gets it!" Orlando replied, getting a quick nudge to his ribs from his friend in question. He laughed. "So what's your name?"
"Hoku-Ao'." She smiled. "Call me Ao."
"That seems like the harder half of the name..." Dom replied; confused. He tried to sound it out, but his tongue tripped over the odd sounding vowels that he'd been taught all his life not to put together.
Ao laughed. "Well, I used to go by Hoku, but some cheap pop singer took the name... Whenever I introduced myself, that's how they recognized it. 'Like the star!' And I'd reply, 'Well, that is what is means...'" Again, she was met with blank stares. She laughed. "I'm sorry... Hoku-Ao means "morning star" in Hawaiian. Ao means morning, Hoku means star and..." she trailed off, realizing only a moment too late that she'd been rambling. "Yeah."
She was a pretty thing for certain. Her hair-a majestic sheet of rippling onyx glass-was pulled tight into a weaving braid that fell past the small of her back. Her skin was a deep caramel, and smooth regardless of the wear and tear of the sun, and by the looks of her surfboard, the beating of the waves. Her eyes were perhaps her most outrageous feature, as it were, however. They were a golden mix of honey and copper, much lighter than the two boys they'd met earlier on the beach.
"Well," she began, "it was a pleasure running into you all-literally-it won't happen again, I swear-but I do have to be off. I was supposed to meet my friend, Kala, at Pua's about half an hour ago... I really have to go." She stood her bike upright, and pushed it around the rest of the bend. She was so late now, she supposed it didn't matter when she showed up, if at all.
"Wait, so we don't even get your number, then? I certainly feel cheated," Orlando stuck his lower lip out in a mock-pout.
Ao turned back to them. "We don't have a phone, otherwise, I'd be more than happy to give you the number."
"Now, I've heard excuses in my time, but that has to be among the worst yet... Couldn't do any better than that?" Orlando crossed his arms smugly across his chest. His comrades bit chuckles back in their throats, trying hard to stop the laughter.
Ao gave him a small smile... "Well, actually, I just don't want you calling." Orlando looked taken aback, as if he'd never truly been rejected before. By his devilishly good looks, she had to assume that he never had been. "You like that answer better, no doubt?"
"Not quite..." Orlando looked more than puzzled... By now, his friends couldn't stop themselves from laughing out loud, poking and prodding at their friend, and his suddenly deflated ego.
"Well then, shall we stick with the former answer, being that it is true?"
"Wait, you really don't have a phone, then?" Billy asked, quieting almost immediately.
Ao shook her head. "'Fraid not."
"You don't have a cell phone even?" Dom asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Not even a cell phone..."
"Then how about a regular phone?" Dom continued, his friends looking oddly at one another.
Ao laughed. "No, no regular phone line, either. No need for one out here."
"What? How can there not be a need for a telephone? I thought all places needed a phone..." Sean asked, speaking at last.
"No... The island's so small that there's never really been a need. Most of my friends live in this town... Only a few live in others on the island... And a few, VERY few, live on Maui, but if I want to see them, I just hop a boat over and go to see them... But if you need a phone, there's a payphone up at the Hale 'Aina in town. That's the closest one..." She paused a moment, thinking. "Yeah, I think that's the only one in town..."
"No, we'll be fine... We have cells." Billy replied, touching his pocket out of habit.
"Yes, and cell phones as well." Dom added, holding his out for her to examine.
She looked at it a moment, not very thoughtfully, though. She didn't seem impressed, or even the least bit interested. "Auli'i," she replied, and after a moment, once she realized that they didn't understand her, she corrected with, "nice... I just said nice..." She pushed her bike a little further. "I really have to go..."
"Wait! One last thing..." Something had come to Elijah's mind, and he wanted to ask before he forgot. "What's 'hupo' mean? Someone called us that..."
"They CALLED you that? They didn't say you were hupo? Well, it has a couple of meanings... If they said you WERE hupo, they were saying you were stupid, or dull witted... If they called you a hupo, then they could've been calling you..." she thought a moment, searching for the words in her mind, "in English, that'd be 'idiot' or 'moron'. Why? Who called you that?"
"Some guy down on the beach... He and another guy were picking up drift wood..." Elijah answered, feeling a flush creep into his own face now, only his more of annoyance and agitation than embarrassment...
Ao snapped her fingers. "Kilika and Iokua?" She asked, her pronunciation far more accurate that Elijah's had been when struggling to figure out the words.
"Yeah, that was it... Do you know them?"
"Kind of... Iokua is my brother. He and Kilika were looking for driftwood this morning... They whittle it, and carve things into it, sell it off to people headed for the main island, so they can sell it to tourists, and have a bit of extra pocket change... I always said they didn't get enough for all the work they do..." She paused. "I apologize for him... He was probably an ass about things... He usually is to tourists."
"Don't worry about it. Not your fault." Orlando replied, stepping forward, over shadowing Elijah. Elijah chuckled slightly, and stepped back, allowing Orlando to try his luck with the girl.
"I really have to go, though... I hope you don't care... Maybe I'll see you all later, sometime... Probably at the beach..."
"Hopefully," Orlando replied, reaching for her hand. She pulled it away without thinking, and rode off down the road. Orlando watched her retreating back. "Well, she certainly is a pretty thing, isn't she?"
"Gorgeous," Sean agreed, also watching the girl ride off.
"Eh, I've seen better." Elijah replied, taking back off down the road, desperate now for a little rest.
