Annie got him some water, then the women lined up to take the place of the men. Akoni and her uncle Makoni changed the rhythm of the drums to a more mellow pace. The women had begun to sing “Aloha Ku’u Pua” when Ipo stepped up to the line. “You’re wearing my pau,” she said to Leia. “I need it back if I’m going to dance.” T?t? folded her arms over her chest.
Leia looked down at her pau. She’d made the kapa hula skirt just two weeks ago. Her grandmother had never seen this one. Leia had another skirt in her bedroom at T?t?’s, though it would never encircle her grandmother’s girth. But maybe a walk would clear her grandmother’s head. She motioned to the other women to go ahead with the dance, then took her grandmother’s arm. “I think your pau is at home. Let’s go look for it.”
Her mother half rose as if to go with her, but Leia shook her head, and her mother sank back into her seat. Leia led her grandmother to the shuttle. T?t? didn’t speak during the short drive to the cottage. Leia thanked the driver and led her grandmother down the hall to her room. Leia kept hula memorabilia her grandmother had given her in the closet. Pictures of her father from babyhood through adulthood hung on the walls and adorned every surface of the battered dresser. The room still held the hint of the sandalwood incense her father was so fond of, even now.
“Where’s my pau?” T?t? asked in a fretful voice. She glanced around and her eyes began to clear. She looked out the open window toward the beach and cocked her head as if she heard the hula chants. “Leia, we should be out serving our guests. We don’t have time to be inside.” She started toward the door, then a picture caught her eye. It was of a young Akoni dressed in hula garb. “He was twenty-seven here,” she said, picking it up. “Your grandfather was a kupuna that put other dancers to shame.”
“Isn’t that Makua ?” Leia took the picture from her grandmother and stared at it. She’d always thought the young man in the picture was her father. Studying it now, she could see the differences. Her t?t?-man had a little broader nose, and his mouth was wider than her father’s.
“I need to give you the kapa,” her grandmother said. “The treasure needs guarding now that Koma is dead.”
Leia jerked her head up, and she stared at her grandmother. She expected to see T?t? looking bewildered again, but the dark eyes regarding her were clear and bright. “What treasure?” she asked. “Koma told me to talk to you about it. Do you know where he buried it?”
Her grandmother nodded. “I’m not sure I can find it again. Tomorrow we’ll go look.”
Tomorrow her grandmother might be singing again. “Can you describe the location to me?”
“It’s easier to take you. We’ll get up and go first thing in the morning. The treasure needs to be safeguarded. Legend says that the day it’s uncovered, the sea will open up. We have to protect it.”
Leia knew her grandmother might not be this clearheaded again. “Could we go now? Bane could go with us and carry a torch.”
“I hate the dark.” Ipo looked out the window into the night. “And our friends will think it rude for us to leave them. We’ve already been in here much too long. Tomorrow is soon enough.”
Her voice was firm, and her jaw was set in the familiar way that told Leia there was no swaying her. She suppressed a sigh. “All right, T?t?. But do you suppose you could draw me a map?”
“I told you it mustn’t be dug up. What if the map fell into the wrong hands? We can’t run the risk. I know what you’re thinking—you think you can get the treasure for yourself. I should take Malia there, not you. You’re just out for what you can get.”
Leia saw the clouds rolling across her grandmother’s consciousness again. She took Ipo’s hand. “Let’s get you something to drink.”
The last embers of the fire glowed red deep in the ashes. Bane sat on the bench by the fountain and felt a deep sense of contentment. Ajax’s head was heavy on his foot, but the heat and weight added to his comfort. The women were singing a soft Hawaiian lullaby to Eva, who leaned against Leia’s chest. The girl’s eyes closed as her older sister smoothed her hair and planted a kiss on top of her head. The remaining guests awaited the final ferry of the night, which would take them back to Kaunakakai. Akoni and Ingrid lingered near the fire on a blanket. Bane heard Ingrid demanding to go home earlier in the evening, but her husband had prevailed, and they stayed. Bane felt as drowsy as Eva.
Jermaine stirred and threw a stick in the fire, then glanced at Leia’s father. “Hey, Akoni, I heard you used to work for Bishop Museum. Were you working there when the Karshmer Cave fiasco went down?”