Fight for You

| Fifteen |

"It's a bit windy," he frowned and his eyebrows crinkled slightly.

"Meh, you get used to it. Come this way, you've got to see what it's like from the viewing platform."

We walked side by side down the short driveway like path before I picked up my pace to climb the steps to the lookout area. I paid no mind to the canon ornament and bench seat placed off to the side of a landing and carried on to the top. I turned back once I reached the last step to see Benjamin and Edward dordling up the steps and taking in the surroundings. While I waited for them I took a seat on one of the benches around the circular platform to wait patiently and admire the view of the stunning city.

"Wow, this place is amazing." Edwards English accent roused me from a daydream and he sat next to me on the bench. My previous excitement had quietened and I was feeling more at ease than earlier. The atmosphere of the lookout helping to calm and reset me.

"It's like a three six tay degree view. How stunning." I let out a giggle at how thick is accent seemed.

" It's beautiful up here, isn't it? You can see the whole city, right up there through to the north," I pointed in the direction of the northern suburbs, "and on a clear day, you can see the snow on the northernmost points of the South Island." I gestured southward and stood up from the bench to turn and look.

"What are all these plaques around the outside?" Edward nodded to the information boards placed around the lookout.

"Oh, they're mostly a history of the city, settlers, distances to some major world cities. There are a few over there about the local legends of how the harbour and the hills were formed. Go and take a look if you like."

"Do you know the legends?" I nodded, of course I know them, I've read them so many times I know the stories by heart. "I'd much rather hear you tell them to me." Edward kept his eyes focused on the view in front of him.

"I've read them more times than I care to admit. I come up here quite often." I blushed slightly at my admission. The lookout was a hot spot for photographers to capture some beautiful shots, many of them winning awards. I came here for both the artistic value and the mental clarity it provided.

"It isn't difficult to see why. This is truly a wonderful spot. You're very lucky to have somewhere like this." his expression was unchanged. A little history couldn't be any worse than giving the man a panic attack, could it?

"Well, the legend tells of two Taniwha, or giant fish, our version of a Loch Ness monster I guess, that lived in the lake that was formed when the earth rose from the sea. Their names were Ngake and Whataitai and they were like chalk and cheese. Ngake was boisterous, energetic and lively while Whataitai was laid back, quiet, a dreamer. One day while they were playing by the south side of the lake, they could hear the waves on the shore and the ocean beyond the cliffs of the lake. They asked the birds to tell them what was beyond the confines to the lake and the birds told them "The sea is deep, it's vast, it's wide, it's where many different fishes hide."." I looked over to Edward and he resembled a school child entranced by the teacher's story telling.

"As the years went by, the Taniwah grew bigger and Ngake was adamant he had outgrown the lake. He hatched a plan to break free from the lake that imprisoned them and Whataitai agreed. Ngake went to the north end of the lake and with his tail pushed off and hurled himself at the southern cliff face crashing on top of it and crumbling the rocks to the water and he was free. Whataitai wasn't as strong and while he tried to break free as Ngake had, he became stranded between the ocean and the lake. He could do nothing but remain in the divide and accept his fate of being stranded. When an earthquake rocked the land many years later, Whataitai erupted up above the water and he rose toward the sky. Over time, Whataitai's body turned to stone and formed what is now known as the suburb of Hataitai. The impact from Ngake's tail when he pushed off to escape the lake created a valley and a river that is now called TeAwakairangi. The remnants of the rock smash from Ngake are still around today and they're over there, Barrett's Reef and Steeple Rock, I'm not sure of their native names though." a few people seemed to have milled close by and eavesdropped on my depiction of the history and Edward remained entranced by my words.