A Place to Call Home | 2

Gaby is up with the Sulani sunrise, which means almost everyone else on the island is still fast asleep, considering the sky is fully light by five o'clock. She decides to borrow Kaimana's outrigger canoe and investigate a nearby fishing spot. The only other person in sight at this hour is another lone boatman, who clearly has the same idea as Gaby.

The last time she fished was when she and Alvin visited Granite Falls together, and it's a bittersweet act now that her father, who taught her everything she knows, is dead. Even though the realization that she'll never fish alongside him again is a painful one, at the same time, she's comforted by all the memories she does have of their time together. Of course, she'd love to have both of her parents back, but she also feels grateful to have had as much time with them as she did. There are so many people in the world, like Alvin, who never get the chance to know their parents at all. At least now he's been given the opportunity to make new memories with his sister.

Gaby is so consumed by thinking and fishing she doesn't notice when Kaimana and Alvin rouse themselves from bed to enjoy a lazy morning of sunbathing. Alvin is nearly dozing off again on his own towel when he notices Kaimana suddenly jump up from hers.

"What is she doing?" she exclaims shrilly, her voice more full of fury than he imagined it capable of based on her kindness last night. She clenches her fists in exasperation. "Is she out of her mind?"

Alvin lazily scrambles to his feet and glances in the direction Kaimana is facing. He's even more confused by her sudden outburst than before - all he sees out there is Gaby, who surely couldn't be the source of his sister's anger.

"Gaby?" he asks uncertainly. "What do you mean? It just looks like she's fishing."

"Just fishing?" Kaimana shakes her head in disgust. "I thought you guys were different, but she's just like any other tourist, desperate to snatch up an exotic fish or two for nothing but her own satisfaction. Don't you know how rare some of those species are? Their numbers are depleting as we speak!"

"I'm sure she didn't mean any harm..."

By the time Gaby docks the outrigger and climbs back up to the house, Kaimana is still riled up, her body practically quivering with emotion. Gaby is immediately on the defensive. "I threw everything I caught back into the water. I'm not interested in collecting trophies, I swear."

"That hardly matters! Think about how those fish must feel, swimming around freely and happily until suddenly they're caught in that net with no way out. Put yourself in that scenario. It must be terrifying. It doesn't matter if you throw them back when they're just returning to that dark, cramped, awful prison! If I had a say in it, all fishing would be made illegal, but I guess then we wouldn't be able to collect as many of those coveted tourist dollars!"

Gaby mutters an uncertain apology, but Kaimana only stomps wordlessly inside the house, and she decides to take a walk to clear her mind. It's clear from the ancient carvings scattered across the island that nature in all of its wonder is vital to the Sulani people's system of beliefs and traditions, which seems to particularly emphasize the creatures inhabiting their sacred waters. Still, it seems a bit odd to Gaby that fishing would be such a sore spot for Kaimana. Clearly, other island natives have no problem with it. But it was almost like merely witnessing the act personally wounded her in some way...

As stumped as she is by Kaimana's overreaction, it's easy to let its lingering effects drift to the back of her mind when such indescribably stunning scenery is constantly competing for her attention. With this lush green paradise at one's fingertips, it's hard to maintain petty grievances for too long. By the time she circles back around to the house, she's nearly forgotten all about it.

When she returns, Kaimana is anxiously pacing the kitchen, clearly worried she's alienated Gaby before they've even had the chance to get to know each other. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," she says. "I just love this island so much that I sometimes get a little overzealous about protecting its sanctity."

"I completely understand," Gaby replies. "This is your home, after all, and I'm just a visitor. I obviously still have a lot to learn."

"We're okay, then?" Kaimana ventures and smiles brightly when Gaby nods her assent. "Good, because I think it's about time I show you guys around the place."

They begin at the Ohan'ali Town pavilion, an impressive structure that perches atop a seemingly endless stretch of steep granite steps and is flanked on both sides by huge cauldrons of fire and rustic picnic tables.

"We hold all of our most important festivals and gatherings here," Kaimana explains. "Everybody knows everybody on Sulani. Even those who aren't related by blood are considered family, so we'll come up with any excuse to gather together for good food and good conversation."

"And the chickens?" Gaby jokes, gesturing toward the hens pecking at the ground near Kaimana's feet. "Are they family, too?"

"Of course!" Kaimana exclaims. "They don't belong to any one person, just roam freely among us all and dine on scraps of food offered by kind souls... which I guess is really the kind of life we all aspire to! Think about it: these birds must not have a single care in the world!"

As they walk along the shoreline, Kaimana stops to investigate a wild plant. "Oh, it looks like the pineapple is finally ready for harvest!" she says, plucking the fruits enthusiastically. "This is just one of our native plants, and they thrive on all three islands. You'll also find coconut, taro, and kava root if you're looking closely enough!"

"They're best eaten fresh, just after picking them."

Kaimana lifts the fruit to her mouth, but Gaby is hesitant. "Really? It's okay to just bite into them?"

"You don't want to eat the tough outer layer of course, but if you use your teeth to penetrate it, the inside is soft and juicy and sweet. It's heavenly, I promise!"

The next stop, after a brief canoe ride over, is Lani St. Taz. According to Kaimana, it's an island reserved mainly for tourists and the wealthier residents of Sulani, who pump vast amounts of money into keeping its sparkling white sands and warm, vibrant waters pristine. "The atmosphere is a little too hoity-toity for me, so I don't make the trip over here very often. Everything just feels so much more... manicured. But you'll find plenty of photography fodder, if that's what you're after."

The scenery quickly proves Kaimana's words to be true. It's certainly stunning to behold, but it's more a credit to human ingenuity in landscaping and architecture than to the majesty of nature left undisturbed. Still, it's impressive how greenery, volcanic rock, and water have been wrestled into a work of art so precisely sculpted.

The beaches here are so impossibly clean and open, they're almost like mirages, flat, sprawling stretches of soft, fine sand and crystal-clear ocean water that seem to stretch on as far as the eye can see.

As Gaby prepares to snap a fairly standard shot of a group of tourists enjoying Lani St. Taz's warm waters, she's caught off-guard by a strange movement to the left. By the time her eyes adjust to the bizarre sight, she registers only a flash of shimmery tail gliding smoothly up and down, as if passing through air instead of water. It doesn't look like a tail that belongs to any animal she knows. She remembers coming across an online thread about mermaid sightings in Sulani a few weeks ago. It was full of blurry images and vague recollections but no real proof, so she hardly gave it another thought. But now she can't help wondering... Could she have just witnessed a mermaid of her own? She tries to take a photo, but the strange creature has already vanished, leaving only a small ripple in its wake.

"This might sound crazy," she says, putting away her camera and turning toward Kaimana, "but I think I just saw a mermaid."

Kaimana laughs, a sound that to Gaby's ears sounds strangely forced. "We may believe in a lot of odd things, but mermaids? That's purely fantasy, silly stories passed around by tourists for their own entertainment and encouraged by locals to give them a harmless scare. I'm sure you just saw a dolphin, if anything. Sulani is home to several endangered species you're unlikely to see anywhere else."

Gaby isn't convinced, but she decides to drop the subject anyway - at least until she has better evidence at her disposal. She may have only seen the creature for a few seconds, but it didn't look or act like any dolphin she's ever heard of.

Finally, they arrive on Mua Pel'am, the most remote and wild of Sulani's three islands. The landscape here is rugged and imposing, ruled by nature rather than man, and surely ripe for adventure and discovery. It slightly reminds Gaby of the unruly, maze-like jungles of Selvadorada. As the three of them admire the dizzying heights of the island's tallest waterfall, even Kaimana, who's seen it countless times before, observes the sight in awestruck silence.

Suddenly, Gaby and Alvin's clothes feel oppressively sticky with sweat. They quickly strip them off and wade into the cool, refreshing pool at the waterfall's base. They ask Kaimana to join them, but she says she doesn't want to get wet. "You'll only feel worse when you're walking around in soaked swimsuits for the rest of the day."

That may be true, but the water feels too good against their bare skin now for them to care too much about the consequences. They splash around with the reckless abandon of children. It's amazing how truly weightless they feel, considering just months ago they were both so heavily burdened by the mystery of Strangerville. Suddenly, they feel years younger, without a care in the world.

While they're playing, a couple men in wilderness vests show up to collect samples from the water. They introduce themselves as local conservationists working to not just maintain Sulani's current state but fully return it to its former glory. "What do you mean?" Gaby asks in disbelief. "This place already looks amazing! How much better can it possibly get?"

"You're right," one of the conservationists replies, "there's still plenty of beauty to be found. But you'd be surprised how quickly a rise in tourism can turn a place like this upside down. The toxicity levels in the water are higher than ever, and some of our most beloved species are slowly dying out. We're researching ways to improve the health of the ocean before the damage becomes irreversible."

"As it turns out," the second conservationist adds, "tourists create a lot of trash, and they aren't exactly discerning about where they leave it, which creates even more problems for the local wildlife."

Suddenly, Gaby can see the island through their eyes. She notices the slight greenish tinge to the water, the way some plants are duller in color than others, the plastic bottles carelessly tossed to the ground and half-buried in sand. She doesn't understand how anyone could leave all this rubbish lying around and walk away from it without a second thought. "Got a newfound passion for recycling, babe?" Alvin jokes as she gathers every empty bottle in sight into her arms.

Before going back to work, the conservationists ask how long they're planning to stay in Sulani. Gaby and Alvin glance at one another, realizing they never set an actual departure date, then tell them the trip is open-ended. One of them hands Gaby a card and tells her to get in touch if she ever wants to help in a bigger way.

On a subconscious level, lingering until sunset at the waterfall was a way for them to avoid Mua Pel'am's other famous feature: its namesake volcano. The fact that this is the volcano responsible for the deaths of Alvin and Kaimana's parents has crouched unspoken in the corners of their minds since arriving. But they can no longer avoid acknowledging its ominous presence.

Gaby knows it's best to give Kaimana and Alvin some time alone for what's sure to be a difficult conversation about their loss, shared but experienced in such vastly different ways. As they ascend to the mouth of the currently dormant volcano, Gaby heads in the opposite direction, whipping out her trusty camera before daylight is completely lost.

Just when she thought Sulani couldn't get any more beautiful, Mua Pel'am at sunset feels like another world entirely, bathed in mystical pink light that reflects serenely on its perfectly still waters.

It's like something out of a fantasy novel where the entirety of civilization has migrated below the world's oceans and only a rare few ever journey upward to catch a glimpse of the candy-colored skyline. In the distance, Gaby notices a strange patch of radioactive-looking water - not the proof of mermaids she would have liked to find but an intriguing discovery nonetheless...

She follows the sickly green substance to its source, which turns out to be the volcano. Gaby is no environmentalist, but she can't imagine this is normal volcanic activity. Is the volcano sick, poisoned, dying? Is this another mark of the burdens of tourism on the island's natural processes?

Her mind wanders to Kaimana and Alvin, somewhere on the other side. The details Alvin was able to share about his parents' deaths from the records he tracked down were vague but still painted a devastating picture, which Gaby later filled in by reading archived news reports. The volcano had been dormant for decades, and no one expected it to erupt when it did. There was almost no time to send out the call to evacuate, and the island was hardly technologically-equipped enough for the message to reach every resident. It was a different time. Mua Pel'am was much more populated, and electricity was still a rare luxury to its inhabitants. Others died, too. It was one of Sulani's greatest tragedies, spurring the decision to modernize the islands and relocate Sulani's center to Ohan'ali Town.

As thick gray smoke billows lazily behind them, Kaimana and Alvin embrace. "Mom and Dad would have been so happy for us to meet," Kaimana whispers against Alvin's shoulder. "I only wish it could have happened sooner. I always wanted a sibling. But fate decided to bring us together now for a reason. We both have something important to give each other, even if we don't yet realize what that is."

When Alvin returns to the shoreline, he finds Gaby floating on her back in the shallow water, eyes closed, a serene smile on her lips. He wades in to join her. The water still retains a touch of warmth from the sunshine.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" Gaby asks, after a minute or two of silence has passed.

"Can we just lie here for a while first?"

"Of course."

Nothing else needs to be said.

They're all so exhausted by the time they get back that they immediately collapse into bed. Some hours later, Gaby wakes up, her throat dry and dusty. She fills a glass of water from the tap and wanders out to the deck to drink it. Maybe it's just her sleepy eyes playing tricks on her, but she swears she sees something bobbing gently in the water, the moonlight glinting off its shiny purplish... sequins? No, that's not quite right. They're scales, Gaby realizes. Mermaid scales? By the time she scrambles back inside and roots around for her camera, the bizarre vision has disappeared. Either she's really lost it, or something mythical lurks in these waters after all.