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“Bravery has got nothing to do with it,” he said. “Can you imagine me climbing up on your back? You’d never be able to lift my meaty ass up.”
Istil laughed. “Okay, you’ve got a point. You don’t have an excuse, Ari.”
“I don’t require an excuse.”
Makoa threw open the front door to the lighthouse, nearly knocking it off its rusty hinges. “Gotta fix that thing,” he said. “Hell of a lot of work that needs to be done here and no time, now that we’re doing our guardian thing.”
“It seems like you have plenty of free time,” I said.
“Because I’m out on the waves? Brotha, you gotta put down the time to do the things you love. Speaking of which, I’ve got a little surprise for you, Ari.”
“Uh oh. I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified.”
“I’ll go get my things together,” Istil said.
I followed Makoa to his studio, where he worked massive slabs of lamo’o lumber into beautifully carved masterpieces. The sweet smell of the sacred wood filled the space and was ambrosia to my senses. It brought me back to my childhood, memories of spending time together in the old workshop in the Blue Fin main house, watching Makoa’s father magically turn pieces of old wood into incredibly detailed dolphin figurines for us to play with.
“So, what’s the deal?” Makoa asked, closing the door behind us.
“What?”
“Hey, come on, brotha. Don’t play dumb. You and Istil, eh?”
“It’s…not what you think,” I said.
“You don’t need to keep it a secret from us, you know. But it’s pretty obvious.”
“What is obvious?”
“That you two are seeing each other! Why are you playing dumb?”
“I’m not. I told you, it’s not what you think.”
“So you aren’t seeing each other?”
“No.”
Makoa narrowed his eyes at me like he was trying to read something very small written on my forehead.
“You know, they say that luyu is an aphrodisiac? I saw you two disappear together at Kai’s ahevamai. And then when Enry birthed his egg, when you two came back from the jungle, something had happened between you guys.”
“I thoughtIwas supposed to be the eye of the family,” I said with a sigh. “When did you get so observant?”
“I knew it, you two are banging each other!” He rapidly smacked his palm against the side of his fist. “But that doesn’t explain why he’s moving to the main house. There’s more to this story.” Makoa stroked his chin. “Istil told me he was going to see Eli yesterday. And you were there too. So what does that mean?”
“How did you know that?”
“I was in town this morning. Someone mentioned they saw you riding in.”
That was the problem with being a Blue Fin. There was always someone around who knew your face.
There was no denying it to him—Makoa was family. I would have to explain myself.
“Yes, I was accompanying Istil to see Eli.”
“Why would you do that?” He gasped. “Is Istil okay? Is he sick, or something?”
“Not quite,” I said. “But close.”
