~Follow the Birds~
She watched their chiseled, sun kissed bodies standing in the shallow water holding
handmade spears and nets. Hinewai’s brothers held the notion that being the king’s sons meant
they themselves were gods embodied. They did their father’s bidding with hopes of one day
ruling over the people of their small island, but only she knew the king’s true intentions. The five
princes did the work of enforcers and hunters, so in truth, they only reigned over pain, fear, and
death.
Hinewai’s last vision of Ihu flooded her eyes with tears five nights ago. The battered,
dark outline of his body clashed with the white sand of the moonlit beach. He fell victim to her
brothers’ brutal blows, and when they dragged her away screaming, she didn’t know if his
crumpled body still contained the soul she fell in love with as a child. She reran memories of
playing with Ihu on the beach as a little girl; even so long ago, she knew they were meant to be.
Before either was conscious of what love meant he professed to her, “I dream of the gods every
night, and they tell me you are my destiny.” This scrawny boy didn’t even have the size to work
his parents’ crops, and Hinewai was untrained to what it meant to be a princess, but she believed
Ihu.
The older youths gathered on the beach every day in the late afternoon watching over the
playing children while the elders discussed the tribe’s future, but Hinewai didn’t pay the children
any mind today. Instead, she scanned for Ihu among the taro boys who gathered on the large
dune under the palms. They didn’t frolic playfully, or hunt the sea life like the children of the
royals. The taro boys only washed black soil from their bodies in the surf after tiresome
mornings of laborious farming. Too tired from mindless work for horseplay, hunting, or
swimming, they rested under the shade of the wind-swept trees while their sisters and mothers
prepared the taro for meals in the village proper.
For five days now she hoped to see Ihu with the other boys, but every day he was absent.
Hinewai thought more and more about the ocean surf dragging his lifeless body out to sea while
the water twinkled with the reflection of numerous stars. She snuck out from her family’s thatch
hut and met Ihu on the beach so many times to gaze upward at those same stars. They sat
together and watched the white birds disappear toward the open sea and wondered where they
flew off to. If her father knew how many times they rendezvoused like this it would have
happened long ago, but their last secret outing was only the third time they had been caught. She
remembered how her father’s viscious words cut down to her heart after Ihu’s vicious beating at
the hands of her brothers. The king was furious when the princes dragged her through the door
and shoved her down onto her mat in the corner of the hut, “I hope now you realize I’m serious
when I say you will not give your love to the lowly son of a taro farmer.” Hinewai’s father
claimed when she was born the gods told him his sons would not be kings, but his only daughter
would rule over a great civilization one day. When she came of age he told her this prophecy, but
he forbade her from telling the princes, fearing what they might do.
Hinewai had no interest holding power over their people; she only wanted the feeling of
unconditional love Ihu provided since childhood. The older the two young lovers got, the harder
it became, but there was nothing he wouldn’t say or do to spend even the shortest moments with
her. Once, Ihu even disguised himself in a grass skirt to look like a girl, and while her brothers
fished, they sat together on the beach in broad daylight. It was the daring plans Ihu concocted
that grew her love for him, and now, it was her turn to do something impulsive. Hinewai had to
see if she could determine his fate. She must sneak away while her hunting brothers tried to
prove their dominance over the endless sea surrounding their tiny island. She had to talk to the
other taro boys and find out if anyone had seen Ihu, or if he was sleeping under the reflective
sheet of ocean for time eternal.
First, Hinewai moved down to the group of younger girls and boys chasing each other
around the beach. She stood near them, pretending to watch the mixed classes of children
playing on the fine sand. Thinking she could never make it the full distance to the dune where the
taro boys shaded themselves without being noticed by her brothers, she decided to sit a while.
The young children of royals and taro farmers alike played indiscriminately, not realizing one
day they would be torn apart by social standings. This only made Hinewai think of how
idyllically wonderful things between them once were. She took a deep breath and stood up. Her
brave soulmate had taken many more dangerous chances trying to be with her, so she watched
her brothers closely. Slowly, she inched towards the taro boys’ palmed hump of sand along the
edge of the jungle foliage, and every time she felt one of her brothers may turn around, she
paused. In the middle of this inching journey to retrieve the possibility of mournful information
about Ihu’s fate she heard a limb snap in the thick jungle behind her.
“Hinewai, you must listen, but don’t turn around,” his familiar voice stunned her.
She couldn’t help but look, and when she saw his face deep in the underbrush she gasped.
The bruises under his eyes were a deep purple surrounded by greenish yellow, and his bottom lip
was split through, but healing. “I thought you may be dead!” she shouted louder than he wanted.
“Shhhh, I’m fine. Well, a bit swollen still, but you need to hush and turn back around.
Pretend I’m not here, but listen closely”
Tears of joy mixed with her tears of sadness from his appearance and rolled down her
cheeks, and she sat silently listening while watching her brothers’ every move.
“I have something amazing to tell you. One night soon I will come to your hut, so be
ready.”
***
For the next three nights Hinewai lay awake in the corner of their hut waiting for Ihu to
scratch at the thatch wall next to her sleeping mat. This had always been their secret signal he
was waiting outside. To fight her tired eyes, she imagined what crazy plan Ihu had fabricated for
them to be alone. If they got caught this time her father would surely have no mercy, and her
brothers may be ordered to finish the job they almost accomplished with their last beating.
Hinewai wanted to be alone with him badly, but she feared for his safety. Ihu didn’t care though,
and this is why she loved him.
On the fourth night his signal relieved her anxious anticipation. She followed her usual
routine of making sure everyone in her family was in a deep sleep. Fortunately, her father and
brothers snored with a drunken slumber caused by the kava kava they indulged in that night.
Without making a sound, Hinewai crept her way through the hulking bodies sprawled across the
floor of the royal hut. When she finally stepped through the bamboo door frame the feeling of
freedom from her father’s rule overwhelmed her, and she scanned the foliage for Ihu. The dark
silhouette of his head poked from the jungle slightly down the trail leading to the beach, and she
walked as quickly as she could without making any noise that may alert the royal family of her
escape.
She buried herself in his open arms and planted a heavy kiss she had waited nine days to
give him, but he pulled back immediately. In a whispered tone he told his disappointed admirer,
“My lip and nose are still tender. Please, be gentle with your kisses.” Ihu’s statement coaxed a
sympathetic hand through his dark hair, and she gave him a the lightest of pecks on his bruised
cheek. “What crazy scheme do you have for us tonight?” Hinewai whispered with the eagerness
only a coy, young woman possess.
Ihu grabbed her hand, “Keep quiet until we reach the beach. I’ll show you when we get
there.”
Hinewai remained quiet until she felt the safe, soft sand of the beach between her toes,
and she dropped his sweating palm. She squeezed him tightly and began sobbing in his ear, “I
thought they may have killed you! Nobody knew where you were, I didn’t see you on the beach
with the others, and I, I thought you were dead! I thought we may never be able to sit on the
beach again staring at the sky, and we would never find out where the birds went. It was awful.”
“I am here now Hinewai. I’m not dead, and I have a plan. It’s down the beach a way; in
the surf.”
She squeezed him tightly one more time before they began walking, “It better be a good
plan. If we get caught this time it could be the end of you; my father is serious. So, are you going
to fill me in on this big secret, or are you going to keep me in the dark forever?”
“This is going to sound unbelievable Hinewai, but it’s not my plan at all.”
“What do you mean? I’ve never known you not to have some sort of strategy. My
brothers will kill you if they find us together. I couldn’t live with myself if I was responsible for
your death. Maybe I should just go back.”
“No Hinewai, listen. After your brothers took you away that night I could only lie there
on the beach in pain. I didn’t have the strength, or will, to drag myself home, so I just laid there
staring up at the stars and our birds, but just before sunrise something amazing happened. An
enormous pearl emerged from the waves and came to rest on the beach, just out of reach from the
surf. It shimmered in the moonlight; it was so magnificent I thought I was dreaming. An opening
appeared, and the most peculiar being exited this gigantic pearl. This individual measured twice
my height, with a stretched, elegant frame, but its facial features were shielded due to bright
lights on either side of the being’s head. Fear grew in my heart, but the closer this living soul got,
the more soothed I felt by its presence.”
Hinewai interrupted his ridiculous story, “Ihu, this isn’t a plan. It is a fantastic story, but
how is this imaginative tale going to keep my brothers at bay if they find out I am gone?”
“Keep listening, we’re almost there. You’ll see. This being told me he was the God of the
sea, earth, and heavens, and he was the one who had come to me in my dreams since I was a boy.
He gave me instructions on how to build something he called a boat. It’s land that floats atop the
water, and it will carry us to our new kingdom.”
Ihu’s story was interrupted by a bellowing that echoed through the jungle and down to the
beach, “Hinewai!”
“It’s my father! He knows I’m gone! You must run Ihu; leave me here, and let them find
me alone.”
“No Hinewai. After tonight there will be no more running. Come on, we’re almost there.”
Ihu’s plan was so ridiculous. She knew he was trying to trick her with this fable of gods
to get her to go through with it, but when they approached the contraption he built Hinewai’s
heart sank. “What is this? It looks like you took a small wall from somebody’s hut and threw it in
the surf. Ihu, what are you thinking? They’re going to kill you! You have to run, now, before my
brothers see you!” she pleaded.
“The God promised me it would work. I packed it with water, taro, and some coconuts.
He predicted all of this! He knew your brothers would come, and he told me there could only be
two outcomes. You would either trust me, or I would die at your brothers’ hands. The God
assured me if we take this boat to sea and follow the birds we will reach another island.”
Hinewai waved her hands in his face, “Ihu stop, this is serious! Even the youngest
children know there is nothing in the sea but endless water in every direction. The gods raised
this island from the waters in the beginning of time so our people could flourish. If we betray
them by leaving, the God of the sea will take our lives.”
“But it isn’t true Hinewai. The being told me if I built this it will keep us safely on the
surface of the water. Look, see how it lays on top without sinking?”
“What if this thing you built fails and we’re too far to swim back? Ihu, there is nothing
out there! You must run before they get to the beach and see you.”
As the words exited her mouth, she saw the torches exit the jungle from the direction they
came from. Ihu’s executioners had arrived. She couldn’t believe he thought this story would trick
her into falling for such an insane plan. He had never tried to deceive her before; it was always
someone else he fed lies to, but never her. “Maybe they haven’t seen us yet. Please Ihu, run,
now!” she begged with tears in her eyes and dread in her heart.
“I cannot Hinewai. I told him you would believe me, but he warned if I was wrong, I
must stay and face the princes. He told me you would come with me, or I would die under their
feet. Those were the only possible outcomes. I thought you would believe me, but I guess I was
wrong.”
The torches were getting closer. Hinewai couldn’t believe the situation Ihu had her in. It
was either chance her life to this shoddy platform of bamboo, or watch Ihu have his life beaten
out of him. She had to take a chance; she couldn’t watch him die. The retreating waves pulled
them out to sea, and they watched the torches run by their launching point from a safe distance.
Her brothers never even saw their departure into the darkness.
***
Hinewai watched the sun rise above their tiny island behind them in the distance with her
arms around Ihu. He twirled her hair with a smile and looked into her eyes without even
bothering to take in the beautiful sight. None of their people had ever seen such a view. They
were farther away from shore than anyone before them. As amazing as the scene was, seeing the
tiny speck of land from this distance made Hinewai nervous.
“We’re getting pretty far; don’t you think we should go back before we lose sight of it?”
“Go back? We’re not going back.”
“Ihu, you can stop now,” she said caressing his chest, “Your plan worked. You tricked me
into getting on your boat thing, and we got to be together, uninterrupted, all night. By the way, I
am still mad at you for putting me in that situation, but your contraption is amazing. I can’t
believe it works. If you show my father how you built it when we get back, I bet he will go easier
on you.”
“I told you; we’re not going back. We’re going to follow the birds until we reach our new
island. He told me we would find new plants and animals to help our people prosper, and when
we return, your father will have no choice but to treat us both as royalty,” Ihu told her with a
straight face.
She could see he was serious, “It isn’t funny anymore Ihu, you’re beginning to scare me.
Now, take me back. What are we going to do, sit out here on this bamboo until we run out of
food and water? If we don’t turn back soon, we won’t even know which direction the island is.
Stop playing games, and let’s turn back, now!”
“Keep your eyes on those birds up ahead. If we follow them, we will find land.”
She felt this had turned from a rendezvous into a kidnapping, but as Hinewai turned away
from the sunrise toward the birds a tremendous splash disrupted the undulating surface of the
ocean. The disturbed waves rocked their boat, and Hinewai felt drops coming down from above.
The frothy water returned to its wavy patterns, but she still felt the drops raining down her, and
she noticed a circular shadow on the water out in front of them. She looked directly above them
and an outrageously large, iridescent pearl hovered in a stationary position over their heads
dripping salty water onto her upturned face. It was close enough she could see their reflection in
its curved surface. The flying pearl circled them slowly. Then, without warning, it shot straight
up at a tremendous speed, and within seconds shrunk from her view.
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Copyright © 2022 Reed Rothe.
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