Hele Mai

[Varzali Khorza]

Motu Nui
Scarif
Home of the Iwi Kaihuri

Kamalani stared out to the salty, blue waters off the shore of her village. Ever since the vulagi, those damnable outsiders that sully her world, she had taken it upon herself to keep watch. As of yet, neither the aliens nor their metal men made their way to her peaceful, island home.

In the past, she or her tribe easily pushed back the small scouting parties or lone pirate that set foot upon its shores. She was only aware of their presence because of the occasional large, iron whales descended from the sky and steered itself to the islands in the distance.

Upon the shore, she twirled her leiomano, keeping her honed skills with weapon at the ready. Gaining striking momentum, she practiced a hit. With it came a burst of flame, summoned by her connection with the spirit world. Her eyes snapped to attention as a close, but far away rumble of something mechanical started to make itself known.


Tightening the grip on her admittedly primitive looking weapon, she snuck through the foliage. Hidden among the leaves, she peered put and waited. If there was a fair chance of her success with any intruding force, she would confront it. For now, she would observe

[member="Leo"]

 

[Leo]

Her sturdy bulwark of a freighter landed in the clearing, flattening the plants underneath it as a hatch was opened on the side. Without any grace, a metal staircase was allowed to fall, crashing into the soil below and giving Leo a way down to the surface of the planet of her heritage. She carried an enormous metal club, practically no more than a thick, long, cylindrical, heavy pole shaped for reach and impact. It was in part thanks to her heritage that she was able to wield such a weapon, so it only seemed to make sense to come back and show her appreciation to her makers.

Behind Leo, her sister came down the steps yawning and looking as if she had just woken up and none too happy to be dragged outside. Her fur-lined armor came equipped with two short vibro-axes at either side of her waist.

Leo took a deep, powerful breath through her nose as she stood with her beefy arms at her hips, exhaling in satisfaction. "It already smells like home!" she declared. "To think that our mother and father would leave this behind!"

"Smells like any other temperate world..." Veriss muttered, struggling just to keep her eyes open. "Do we just, like... run around now and try to find our Kaihuri brothers and sisters?"

"We let the spirits guide us to them," Leo said with an overtone of almost whimsical mysticism, "just like the spirits of Halamir... Plus, I scouted them out from the ship and know that they're over that way!" She pointed towards [member="Kamalani"] herself, though neither of them saw her through the foliage before Leo began marching in that direction.

 

[Varzali Khorza]

Kamalani watched carefully as the apparent outsiders departed from their rumbling sky-fish. Two females, one large and one smaller. From what she could tell, the bigger one was well armed. Yet, she felt that should take them. They were talking amongst themselves, and did not quite make out what they said.

As the began walking towards her, she took her chance. She jumped from the foliage with a mighty roar, landing on her feet. Her leimano became wreathed in fire, and she took a defensive stance.

"Not a step further, outlanders." She said warningly, using Basic,"Go back to your sky fish and leave in peace. The Kaihuri want no part in your mischief."

She observed the two women closely. Her attention came to rest on the bigger one. On her cheeks were recognisable patterns. The markings of a Tuatahi. She narrowed her eyes, showing anger and offense. She aimed her burning weapon at the larger of the two.

"You. Nui wahine. How come you by your ink? You wear the sacred lines of my people." She said, sounding more and more threateningly, "How does an outsider wear the tatau?"

She stood, steadfast in her position, awaiting an answer before deciding her next course of action.

[member="Leo"]

 

[Leo]

Startled by the sudden display of hostility against them, Leo raised her palms as a sign of surrender and smirked. She had lived as Kaihuri her entire life, but she had been so detached from her own people and how they lived. It was almost enlightening to see this woman before her, someone who may have known Leo better than Leo knew Leo.

"No mischief, sister," she said, gently laying her weapon down on the ground beside her. "We are outsiders like you say, but our family originates here. Our mother and father were both born here as Kaihuri people, leaving while our mother was still pregnant with me because real outsiders promised them paradise. They were slavers." She looked back at Veriss and walked beside her to wrap an arm around her, giving [member="Kamalani"] a wide grin. "But here we are! Kaihuri reunited with our people! Isn't that right, Veriss?"

Her younger sister merely sighed and tensed from the discomfort of being squeezed by the giant arm. Leo still had her doubts that this would convince this woman or really any of the Kaihuri people that they belonged there. She was still an outsider, after all, and the only Kaihuri culture she knew was through her mother, who chose not to return with her daughters for reasons she refused to disclose.

For clarification's sake, she added, "Surely there are Kaihuri who know of the Rahali clan?"

 

[Varzali Khorza]

The girl still watched the two women carefully as the larger one explained. She was skeptical of their claim of being Kaihuri. She knew that some of their kind were kidnapped and enslaved, but the outsiders never brought them back. This was until they mentioned the named Rahali. The Force-summoned fire dissapated from her weapon, which she looped on the hip of her skirt.

"Rahali...Could it be possible?" She pondered outloud, looking over to the two sisters. "There is only one in my village who would know. My grandfather. Leave your weapons."

She turned and motioned the sisters to follow her. She would take them to her mother's father, a highly respected elder in her village. She did not trust them entirely, for certain. Yet, they spoke of something that no outsider should be aware of.


"I am Kamalani, of the Akamai clan. And daughter of my village's chieftain." She explained, "You name yourself as Rahali. If this is true, then you are the first of your clan to set foot on these shores in thirty cycles."

[member="Leo"]

 

[Leo]

Variss immediately groaned in response to having to leave her weapons, giving Leo a skeptical, narrow-eyed glare as she returned to the ship to drop off her axes. "You'd better know what you're doing..." she hissed.

"This is not a problem!" Leo announced, making a 360 spin to show [member="Kamalani"] that she was free of weapons. "I trust my own people, and as such, I trust you, Kamalani. My name is Leo, and this is my younger sister, Variss. We hope to get back in touch with our heritage... ask the spirits to guide us in these trying times. Lead the way!"

With her arms crossed, Variss scoffed silently.