PoraBora

Chapter Fifteen

Hui had stood between them, as promised. But Pe had had to watch, just over Hui's right shoulder. All of it, churning water turning red, silvery bodies rolling like a ball of tuna, fish disappearing as soon as they hit the water.

And then she saw the fin, and everything came to a braking halt. The frenzy splashed last, receding thoughts, but it was forgotten. It was the same fin. It was the same shark.

"Pe?"

She threw herself against the rail. She had to be sure. She had to know, because it couldn't be. How? In all the ocean, of all the sharks, of all the times—

Pora went in.

She saw his face once, crying for breath, before he disappeared again. But she wasn't looking for him. She was looking for the shark.

She found it. Not in the writhing mass, where nothing could be seen at all, but past the group. It wasn't alone.

It had the boy.

"Pe--"

Pe swore if Hui said one more thing she was probably going to slap him. She pointed. He looked.

"Wow," he said quietly. "I guess that's the end of him."

Chief U'ekeo noticed too, and he raised his hand for silence on the ship. The chanting stopped. The last echoes of the butting spears faded. The boat bobbed with the waves as the last flesh of fish was dropped to a flurry of splashing.

"The sentence has been carried out," said the Chief, without even looking towards Pe. "I hope it is clear that I take the security of Ila'i very seriously. These are troubled times, and we cannot afford to be lax in troubled times." He looked across his warriors and the attending Navigator, who looked like he was sick over the bow. "Nobody comes to Ila'i but by official permit."

Pe clenched her hands around the rail, watching the shape disappear, a thin ribbon of trailing blood dissipating.

"But now, the crimes have been paid for. Let us head back to port. The waters are getting worse, and as much as the whale shark can handle them, some of our stomachs cannot."

The chief left Pe behind.

"Are you okay?" Hui asked.

"Fine," Pe grunted.

"It's over now," said Hui. "You're free to go. You don't need an escort or anything."

"So I should jump off now?"

"That's not quite what I meant."

Pe's leg itched.

"Look," said Hui, "Once we get to shore, let's hike up to the hills. Grab some bananas at Miyari's farm. Watch the day for a bit. We'll be as far from the ocean as we can get."

"I don't want to get away from the ocean."

"Okay," said Hui. "Then let's swim out into the bay. Try that underwater ships game with everybody else. Assuming it works. And if it doesn't, that's okay. Maybe we can find some new coral, something to replace the broken pieces."

"Stop," Pe said. She felt herself suddenly very angry. It wasn't sudden, she told herself. She'd been angry since she'd been punished for the dumb kid, since he'd smashed since coral, since he'd jumped off the boat when they saw that shark. Her knuckles shook white on the rail, and she realized she was still trying to grip it harder, as if she could crush it, or her own hand, and feel better.

With great effort, she let go.

She didn't like the way Hui was looking at her, jaw slack, brow a little dropped, contorting his face until it was hard to see anything but an urchin's mouth.