PoraBora

Chapter Twenty-One

"What is that?" Iumili exclaimed.

Pe crossed the hull under the sun and looked over the railing, where Iumili leaned.

They passed over a dark shape in the water. Pe recoiled automatically, tumbling back into the center of her hull.

"It's a whale carcass," she managed, when she had the courage to look again. It had been reduced already, and already began to dip its way towards the six-gilled sharks and hagfish and all the other things fishermen found by accident. There wasn't much left of it to eat, but she spied a small shark doing its best anyway.

"Is that him?" asked Iumili.

"No," said Pe. "But he was here."

The tiger shark would have smelled it, there was no doubt. Pe couldn't help but smile, wry as it was. But like the rest of them, her smile was short-lived. "Seagulls."

"What?"

"If he's already eaten, he might not be interested in our mahi mahi." Pe cursed another name. The boy would have hardly been filling, but a stop by a dead whale? The damn thing would be bloated, with strings of meat stuck in its teeth.

"What do we do, then?"

"Keep an eye out," said Pe. "Same as before."

"I did find the whale," Iumili grinned.

"Did you want a prize?" Pe grumbled.

Iumili sniffed. "Are you mean to Hui like this?"

Pe rolled her eyes. "Fine. You're great at spotting things. Find the shark and I'll buy you a boat."

"No you won't."

"No, I won't. Now look."

Iumili grumbled to herself, which gave Pe a chance to grumble to herself too. They were on the right track. When the shark would have found the corpse, she didn't know. She had half a mind to stick around in case it hadn't come by yet. No. If it had already gone on, she'd be wasting her time.

The sun was full as she worked. They needed everything taken care of before they found it. The morning had already left their cooler packed with fish, dried and salted since the shade was her only ice. So Pe coiled the fishing line, started boiling water in a firebucket, and filled the motor well.

It took her until the afternoon, but the chores were done. Which meant there was nothing else to do but watch.

They were nowhere. Near nothing. There were no islands in the direction she was going. Certainly no boats. Maybe, if she went far enough, someone would be sailing from E'uela to Halea. Sailing, because most ships didn't have big enough motor wells to make the trip on oil.

The closest island was probably Ipukuia, maybe a couple of days behind. But there would be no going back. That would be giving up.

Pe glanced towards Iumili, and grumbled more. What was she doing, bringing an eight-year-old daughter of a banana farmer along for a fruitless chase through the sea? Even if it hadn't been her fault or plan. She should have dropped her off the day she found her. Now they were in waters Pe didn't know except for what she could recollect from a map she had glanced at only once.

She wasn't lost, by any means. She knew the currents, the stars, the swells, and the clouds. They were enough to ensure she could always get home without trouble. The only concern, really, was that she would run out of oil while searching and have to sail back.

Pe searched the horizon, even as Iumili grew bored again. There was no sign of the shark, but at least the surface was calm. There wasn't a sign of another storm, either. A couple sprinkles, perhaps, maybe some rain, but nothing that could risk her boat.