Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(17) Two Different Histories

Taiki has to leave us shortly after, robbing me of the opportunity to ask him more about the demigods. The tribes stay on the move for some time, then slow and relax when we're a ways from Hahalua's mountain. Seiko jets off to find Ren, Koji, and food as the tribes' silence finally abates. From what I can discern of the conversations, Hahalua's mountain is a stop all Shalda-Kels have to make as they travel this way. A tribe once went missing here after failing to leave an offering for the demigod.

Telu's account of Hahalua did not mention her being aggressive. In fact, in our stories, she is one of the friendliest of the demigods, even rescuing a boat adrift at sea and bringing it to land on more than one occasion. The Kels' stories align with ours otherwise. In both, she is a great ray, with wings the size of islets and a back patterned in white and black. She wanders far, but visits reefs not infrequently.

The Kels pass around the names of some of the tribe that went missing, their hand-lights subdued in respect for the dead. If they remember individual names, this can't have happened all that long ago. Is Hahalua one of the demigods that has forgotten how to sing? There are so many things about this ocean that I still don't know.

The Kels tell a lot of stories, but I see nothing more of the demigods as I wander among both tribes, only half paying attention to what anyone is saying. I play back the story of the Karu queen and the giant clam for what must be the fifth time. The Kels have origin stories for two distinct groups: eel Kel and non-eel Kel. The eel Kels came first, long before islanders even existed. They were born during Andalua's fight with the other gods, when the song that turned the rest into demigods touched three eels, too. According to Taiki, Andalua saw what she had done and protected the new people, giving them magic and a place in the deep.

In the deep? That means those Kels were Shalda. I note that down.

What followed then must be the "First Days" Taiki mentioned: a time of eel Kels and Seers, and Alualu messengers communicating between the two. Sometimes carrying messages for Andalua, too. The way Taiki signed about it made it seem like a magical era. But it's over now. The eel Kels are gone. All I know about them is that an Alualu tried to warn them when something fell, but they didn't listen. I still remember the sign for that something, but I don't know what it is yet. I add it to my list of things to ask Taiki about.

Was that fall associated with the disappearance of the eel Kels? I find it hard to believe otherwise. In that case, giant clam or no giant clam, the new Kels must have appeared before that happened. They wouldn't know the older stories otherwise. I tap my fingers along my dagger sheath. If I believe that a Karu queen was involved in the new Kels' origins, that means there were Karu eel Kels as well as Shalda ones. They spread far. An ancient Kel race, now gone, that lived all over the ocean. Their fall must have been a catastrophe of epic proportions, then. What was it? Surely something so big must be a part of the new Kels' stories, if they were around at the time. Taiki only said the eel Kels disappeared, which doesn't give me the impression that he knows any details. I find that slightly suspect, but I can revisit it later.

I return to my mental timeline. I know next to nothing about the new Kels' origins, the piece I'm most interested about. Was the clam really involved? Was the pearl really a blessing? Andalua is the goddess who casts curses, turning islanders into Kels. How soon did she take an interest in my people? And why has everything started going downhill since she did? The demigods are forgetting how to sing. The fish have stopped swarming. The Kels are fighting for safety, islands, and food. They've started sinking our boats. Even that came from another anomaly: unusual storms that wrecked our crops and made us take more from the already-thinning ocean. Are Andalua's actions throwing off the balance between the sky and the sea? Or did Rashi tip that balance, when he placed us on the islands?