The quick tap-tap of short footsteps resounded off the dark walls. A soft, jolly tune was hummed as if to accompany the footfalls.

“Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm!” Wanu, eyes closed as she walked, pantomimed an orchestra conductor’s long, swooping arm motions. She shimmied back and forth, side to side as if she were dancing along to the tune that swirled in her head.

“Hrr-hrr-brrraaang!” She intoned as she swung her short arm around. She let out squeaks and squeals, trills and swills as she played an air guitar. “Wow-wow-woooow!”

The little girl broke into a run as the ground beneath her feet became soft and slippery. She launched herself forward and onto her knees, little arm rotating wildly as she pretended to rake her clawed hand across an electric fretboard. Leaning back, she began twisting and turning her fingers as if she were picking out the world’s most riveting riff. The ground rippled and undulated around her legs, rising and falling like a mini roller coaster.

The sounds that came out of the usually stoic girl’s mouth ran opposite to the perception most members held of her. Her dress ballooned around her knees, frilled hem wrapping itself around her little legs and protecting her from being scraped. Not that the ground would dare scrape or hurt any of the Tu’i.

Wanu, face twisted as the notes came to a twanging crescendo in her head, let out a whoop. With a final flourish, she brought down her hand and a power chord rang through the empty halls. The robust musical notes were palpable, bouncing off the wriggling shadows and surrounding the young girl.

“Whew,” she sighed as the ground gently pushed her onto her feet. “Been a while since I got to get down!”

Her bright teeth glinted as she smirked. The warm darkness answered with an enthusiastic silence.

“Okay, game face,” Wanu muttered as she patted her pretty little face. With her small hand’s she gave herself a once over, making sure everything was game tight. The shadows reached out and tugged at her dress, pulling it into place. A wisp flew by and patted down her hair, making sure no stray bits would mar her appearance. Shadowy hands reached up and engulfed her small feet, melting around them and climbing up to her knees. As if they had never even been there, the pair of hands fell away and revealed a pair of fetching knee-high boots. Perfectly knotted from her ankles up, they fit snugly and comfortably. The wisp fell like a mist, covering the girl’s small body in its caress. Every crease caused by her choice of transportation fled and straightened, little dress looking as if it had just been freshly retrieved from a seamstress.

She inflated her cheeks then clapped her hands on them, spluttering as the air rushed out. Her features slackened as a mask-like quality settled across her face.

A door handle turned rustily, screeching as the door pried itself open for the Tu’i. Mellow light pushed the roiling gloom back a step as the archaic door slowly swung ajar. Before it was even halfway open, Wanu glided through soundlessly.

Painfully, the worn portal pulled itself shut behind her.

“Finally,” a haughty feminine voice greeted Wanu. Its owner wore a boisterous suit that was all reds and oranges and yellows with sharp angles at every possible corner. Her large, poofy afro glistened under the mellow light and sat densely atop the woman’s head. A large nose sat on an angular, dark face with eyes that seemed to burn with the intensity of a dwarf star. “You Tu’i sure love to take your time.”

“Manners, Rove,” a queenly voice chided. This one belonged to an elegant woman sitting in the middle of the assembled group. She wore a simple white shift yet somehow made it seem like the most fashionable, most stylish piece of clothing ever made. Grey hairs mixed in tastefully with her deep black mane sat proudly atop her head like a crown. She inhabited a simple wooden chair, a rarity on the Motu, but made it seem like a throne from the dainty way she sat. Her brown skin glowed with the sun’s touch. A slight smile tinged her lips as she spoke, inviting Wanu as if she weren’t royalty.

The one named Rove fidgeted, adjusting her collar as she mumbled an apology.

“Wanu, it has been a long time,” the serene woman continued, not bothering to introduce her other two companions.

“It has, Hiku. It’s good to see you.” Shadows coalesced beneath Wanu and sprang up, fashioning themselves into a comfortably cushioned seat. She gave a placid smile.

“No, it’s not, no need to be coy.” The woman’s tone was pleasant but her words were cold. The skin around her eyes tightened as her bristly smile widened. “Let’s get down to business, please. You’ve all kept us waiting long enough. Rudely, I might add. Not even an escort or attendant was provided.”

“Apologies,” Wanu nodded, face a steely mask of professional composure. “We have been swamped with the Advent. Do forgive us for our oversight.”

“Oversight?” boomed a thick androgynous voice. Its owner swept their bangs out of their eyes with a long, heavily nailed hand. “You call malicious disrespect to our queen oversight?”

The words were angry but the voice remained cool, calm, neutral. The latest to join the conversation wore a white suit, pressed so well the creases seemed to threaten injury. Simultaneously slender and huge, the being was a skinny giant. They crouched behind Hiku, long knees bent at odd angles as they sat on their haunches like a kangaroo. Their face was odd to look at as it consistently changed depending on the angle one was to observe the being from. At one moment, a huge man’s face was present. Another and it was a beautiful woman’s. The face flipped but the body stayed the same, gigantic and spindly.

“Yes,” Wanu answered. “Oversight. That’s the most you’ll get out of us. Accept it or not, it doesn’t bother me nor will it bother any of the other Tu’i.”

“Now now, Bue,” Haiku held up a hand, palm facing toward Wanu as if in supplication. “It is what it is. We can’t expect our hospitality to be reciprocated without due cause.”

“You old people,” the last of the visitors chimed in. The owner of the voice was the oddest, yet plainest, looking of the bunch. Diminutive in comparison to the squatting giant, she sat swaddled in a large sweater drawn over her knobby knees. Her hands swam in the sleeves, which were knotted around the ends. She wore a pair of large glasses that had a constant glare, covering her eye sockets completely. Unlike her companions, she was pale and sickly looking, almost the same complexion as the invited palangi. “With your platitudes and doublespeak. Wanu, can we get on with it?”

Her voice was soft but her words carried a bite to them.

“Thank you, Vuvu,” Wanu replied. “We can as long as it’s fine with Hiku.”

The elegant Hiku waved a hand as if she were greeting a crowd of admirers.

“Tamai would have come himself, but you know how he gets during tournaments. It’s even more so during an Advent. So, he sends me as his envoy and as the representative of the Tu’i and Conglomerate. I am here to receive your reasons for visiting during such a trying time.”

Wanu stood and pressed down her little dress. The shadows that had served as a seat sank back into the ground. Like she was giving a presentation, the young girl began pacing back and forth.

“I hope you all understand just how important this Advent is for us. It is, potentially, the last one ever and we are doing everything in our power to ensure that this happens.”

“What makes you all so sure this is the last one?” Bue’s rumbling voice made the walls quiver.

“Well, for one, we have you here as guests and not as participants,” Wanu spoke to the group but gestured at Hiku, who sat with her hands held primly in her lap and back regally straight. “This time around, the ingredients are a little stronger. The potency is better than the last and we, along with Tamai, believe that the end is finally here.”

“This time around?” Vuvu asked, shifting her odd glasses as they slid down her nose.

“Don’t worry about that, it’s one of their weird beliefs,” Rove answered as she reclined in her seat and threw a leg over the arm. Despite her attempts to appear at ease, the woman’s eyes burned as if a flame were constantly simmering just behind.

“Yes,” Wanu nodded. “One of our beliefs. Hiku should understand so it’s fine if the rest of you don’t. Moving on, we are aware of why you are here. And Tamai’s answer remains the same.”

“Why?” Hiku asked, lips barely moving as she spoke. “Why does he refuse me so?”

“Because he already severed ties with you all when he took the Motu. We are not beholden to you and your petty squabbles.”

“Petty?” Hiku’s lip twitched as she repeated the word. “Petty? His people, his believers slowly dwindle as the palangi encroach and you call it petty?”

“Yes, petty. Our believers grow with each passing moment. What you meant to say was that your believers dwindle. You’re here because you can’t handle a pitious little palangi and his followers.”

In the space of a single breath, Rove stood in front of Wanu. The sleeves of her shirt fell away as her tatau blazed to life, flames crackling along her dark skin.

“Who d’ya think yer talkin’ to, little girl?!” the woman snarled.

Wanu sniffed as she looked the incensed numen up and down, eyes raking along the tall woman’s body. Her upper lip parted in a smirk as she showed her teeth. Mana sparked and rippled around the girls small body.

“You, who else would I be speaking to?”

The little girl grew as the air around her crackled. Her knobby knees and spindly arms filled out as her muscles bulged. Bones creaked and cracked as she grew, the glower that sat on her lips turned into a manic smile. She grew in real time, going from barely reaching Rove’s belt to towering over her in seconds. Her dress expanded with her, fitting snugly as the musculature writhed and wriggled.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, little girl?” Wanu sneered, her voice still jovially youthful.

The dark-skinned numen faltered as she stepped back.

“That should be enough,” Hiku’s voice cut through the dangerous situation like a cool breeze on a hot summer night. “Rove, I think you should apologize to our host.”

“Uh-huh,” Rove mumbled as she took another step back, unable to tear her gaze away from Wanu’s gigantic form. “Apologies.”

She retreated and took her seat once more, staring with her mouth agape.

“Don’t be a mouth breather,” Wanu chided. Shadows climbed up the corded muscles of her legs, weaving themselves into knee-high boots and jeans. Another misty shadow billowed around her torso before popping. A loose-fitting black blouse draped across the woman’s shoulders.

“I guess I have to use my real face for you to take me seriously. Let me introduce myself since it seems proper introductions were never made. I am Wanu, one of the Tu’i and a rightful ruler of the Motu.”

She continued to grow as she spoke. When she finally stopped, streaks of colorful mana tracing every line of tatau that was visible, the ground beneath her buckled and her legs sank into the trembling floor. A large throne sprung up beneath her and she sat down, continuing her diatribe.

“Maybe because you’re all early stream versions so you’re a little more confident. A little more ignorant. But that doesn’t excuse ignorance. Right, Hiku? You should have informed your people of the right way to act. Now I’ll have to take a sip as punishment.”

Hiku’s unflappable facade faltered as the slight smile that had sat on her face since the Tu’i entered the room dissipated. “I can’t allow that. Rove is too important to be handicapped like that.”

“Whoever said I’d be drawing from her? She couldn’t handle a nip let alone a sip. No, you will answer for your people's ignorance.”

The group blanched at Wanu’s words. The gigantic Bue, now dwarfed by the Tu’i’s size, lurched forward and spoke in their odd, androgynous way.

“Please, your majesty. Don’t take it out on my liege. Let me accept the punishment. I’m sure I can handle it.”

“No,” Hiku whispered. “You can’t. None of you can.”

Sweat lined her brow as she shakily fidgeted with her dress. A pained expression crossed her face as she glanced at Rove’s stupefied expression.

Wanu chuckled.

“I’m just fucking with you guys.”

She pursed her lips and blew a long kiss at the shocked numen. The buzzing mana that had slowly filled the room as she expanded disappeared. A shadowy mist floated around her form for a moment as the air was sucked out of the space.

Hiku and her companions gasped as they felt something reach down their throats and pull. They all felt it grasp… something. The overwhelming sense of dread they’d been fighting suddenly fled, freeing them from its grasp as if they’d never experienced it in the first place. A chill ran its icy fingers down their backs before they all let out a collective sigh.

Rove coughed. Once, Twice. Three times. Then she spat up a large black mass.

“Step on it,” Wanu’s lilting voice floated out of the miasma that surrounded her.

Obediently, Rove stretched out a leg and brought her foot down on the jiggling thing. It splattered and squirted its contents out around her foot.

“Good job. You just saved yourself. Now you should know better than to speak to a host with anything but respect. Yes?”

Wanu’s voice ebbed and flowed all around the room like she was moving around them.

Rove nodded dumbly, mouth still open as a bead of sweat ran down her brow and dripped off her shapely nose.

The haze slowly dissipated, revealing Wanu’s sitting form. The large, mysteriously shadowed throne dwarfed her small body. Her feet dangled off the edge and she kicked them back and forth. She clutched the edge of the large seat and leaned forward, smiling mischievously.

“Lighten up dudes. I was just fucking with you guys. Had to make sure you understood where we all stood. No more unsightly outbursts. Yeah?”

She nodded as she asked her question, answering it for them.

“Now we can really get down to business. The business of what you want with Tamai, what you hope to gain from us, and what it is that’s really going on out in the wider Seas.”

“Corre--”

“Nope. You speak when I say you can. Yes?”

Wanu nodded, eyes lighting up dangerously as she locked gazes with Hiku. Slowly, like an adult lecturing a child, she bobbed her head up and down until the visitor caught her meaning and began nodding too.

“Good, you understand. So, what you want is for Tamai to come with you. To settle some disputes, gather the rest of the numen around him, and repel the palangi scourge you’ve been having such a hard time repelling. Right?”

“Yes, bu--”

“So,” Wanu continued talking as her gaze shifted from Hiku as if the woman hadn’t been trying to fit more words into the one-sided conversation. “You really think he will go with you? On top of that, you think he is the remedy to your woes?”

“Well, it--”

Wanu held a finger to her lips and let out a quiet shush. “You’re so short-sighted. And a bit stupid, at that. I told you that I will let you know when I want you to speak. Correct?”

Hiku nodded slowly, uncertainty plain on her face.

The Tu’i sighed. “Slow on top of stupid.”

She scoffed and shook her head.

“The answer to your first request is no. Tamai will not accompany you out into the Seas. We have too much going on and he just plain doesn’t want to.”

Hiku moved as if she wanted to speak but caught herself, uttering a half-formed word that came out as a garbled squeak.

“Good,” Wanu smiled. “You’re learning. Always takes you numen longer than the poor folk to learn.”

Bue’s gigantic form shifted from behind Hiku.

“Ah-ah, don’t be stupid Bue. You’re supposed to be the smart one out of you bunch,” Wanu tutted. Her voice dropped an octave with each word she spoke. “Don’t endanger yourself for something as pithy as your liege’s little pride. Or what’s left of it, anyway.”

The giant froze, shadowed face twitching as they worked their mouth wordlessly.

“So, I’ll answer my second question. If Tamai goes with you, you will surely lose. Do you know why?”

“No,” Hiku answered, shaking her head.

“Because he’ll make himself a martyr. He wants to die. And he’ll let himself die for your cause. He will lose any confrontation on purpose and you will lose the tenuous little grip you have over the Seas.”