Anika and Huali picked her up, right after breakfast. Acale had made scrambled Seagull eggs, and it was so good.
"My mother wanted to come with use, but she needed to be else where. One of the P'ula'ula girls has found the one she shares a song with. My mother needs to be there to guide them." Huali explained, and she smiled. "The demanding life of a Matriarch. She needs to be at births, weddings, name days, when a girl finds the one she shares a song with and of course when somebody of the family passes away." Marella nodded. It indeed sounded demanding, but Elana was wearing that mantle of responsibility with grace and pride. They were walking through the streets of the city, she couldn't remember what the name was. But everybody called it the city, so she did too. All the houses were of the same size, at least appeared to be the same size. She wondered if there were maybe extra room below for the children. Her house had only one bedroom, and no expansion space for when the baby comes. She would ask Acale when she gets home.
"How do you become a Matriarch?" She asked Huali and Anika. Huali looked at her and then shook her head.
"I think it is because you speak our tongue, and move like one of use that I keep forgetting that you didn't grow up here. A Matriarch is chosen, sometimes by the former Matriarch, sometimes by the family. But there are cases that the council picks someone." Huali replied. "The later those not happen that often."
"But I think that it will happen with the R'ula'ula family." Anika said. "The council is clearly not happy how my grandmother is handling her role, and how she trained the other women in the family to be like her. So it might be that the council picks the new one." Huali nodded. "Or if they can not find a suited candidate, they need to find another solution."
"Like what?" Marella asked. This was so different from the politics above the sea. So she wanted to know the ins and outs of this system.
"Maybe to appoint a man, instead of a woman. Or cut out the R'ula'ula family out of the council, until someone with the right mindset steps forward." Anika said. Huali's face soured for a moment.
"I then think they will choose the latter." Huali said.
"Well a man can have a kind heart, look at my dad, look at my brother. I would prefer them above my grandmother any time." Anika said and Huali nodded. Marella'smile faded for a short period, her father. He was all alone in that cell, and she was not allowed to tell Anika this. Or rather he didn't want her to know this. Because that would mean that she needed to explain how she knew this and that would open up a whole other can of worms.
"So what is the plan?" Marella asked, chancing the subject.
"Well my brother was not far off when he said, that we get our nails and hair done." Huali said, and Marella was almost jumping up and down. Anika and Huali looked at her with wide grinned on their faces. "Have you never done this kind of stuff before?" Huali asked and Marella shook her head.
"I was not very liked, under my mother's people. And I really didn't have any friends. The ones that somewhat invited me to join them, wanted to make a good impression. My grandparents are very wealthy." She explained.
"So they pretended to be nice to you?" Anika asked and Marella nodded.
"I was only on that ship, because my mother pushed me to take the half-hearted invitation. Otherwise, I would have never being on that ship, and I wouldn't have met Acale." Marella said and Anika shook her head.
"What did you do for fun?" She then asked. Marella sighed and gazed upwards, to wear the ocean was.
"Staring at the sea. Hoping that my father showed up and that he would show me another world. My mother didn't tell much about him, only that he came from the sea. After what happened on the ship and it became clear that I was pregnant, my grandmother hired people to take me. To held me at an unknown location until my baby was born. She wanted to get rid of it. I do not know what she had planned for me or my baby afterwards. But my mother got wind of her plan and told me to run. That is when she told me my father's name." Marella sighed, tears stung in her eyes. Anika wrapped an arm around her.
"I am so sorry that you had to face it all on your own." She said softly. "But now you have us, Lady P'ula'ula, my dad and of course Acale. So you are not alone anymore, and now whip those tears out of your eyes. We are going to have so much fun." Marella nodded, and sighed. Anika pointed at a building, which didn't look that much different than the others. The difference was that the door was open. Anika grabbed her arm and almost dragged her towards it. Huali laughed and followed them.
******
It was not busy inside the salon, one woman was sitting in the barbers chair. Her noise stuck in what looked like a magazine. And another woman got her nails done. A yellow woman walked up to them.
"Hello and welcome to my salon. I am Peke Melemele, and you are the girl everybody is talking about." Peke said. Marella didn't know what to say about that. "Hair and nails?" She asked the others, who didn't give an answer. Or at least not one that she could hear. Peke smiled and guided her to a chair. "Sit down, darling. Relax." Marella nodded and Peke started to wash her hair. "You have beautiful hair. Those light blond, with red highlights suites you perfectly. I am going to add some pink through it do, so it those blend more." Marella didn't know about that, but she said nothing trusting that Peke knew what she was doing. Anika sat down next to her and smiled at her through the mirror.
"Alani is the best inside the city." Anika said.
"Well maybe not the best, but I am good." Peke said with a smile, and a wink. Anika pushed something that looked like a magazine into her hands. And Marella started to read it, and the words came just as easy to her. There was not much information inside the magazine, just fashion and the latest gossip. Marella was not surprised that at one point she was reading about herself. There was even a picture of her, taken when she had run after her father. "So I will leave you for a few." Peke said. She stood up and walked towards someone who just entered the salon. Marella gasped, the woman who had just entered was...
"Anika." She said softly. Anika was reading a magazine of her own, she looked up and suppressed a curse. Huali did the same.
"Nohea R'ula'ula, what a nice surprise." Peke said. Nohea, Marella's grandmother did not look around, would she know were her mother had put her son? Marella did not know, but the possibility was there.
"I never had to make an appointment before." Nohea replied. "So I don't see why this surprises you. I want my hair done." Marella saw Peke nod.
"Alright, the chairs right now are full." Peke said and Marella noticed that she wanted to look at her, but didn't.
"I can wait." Nohea said. And she took a seat, grabbing a magazine. Marella looked at Anika who looked pissed and worried. Peke sprinted to her.
"What am I supposing to do." Peke whispered. Anika shrugged, she didn't know either.
"Just carry one." Marella said, softly. Peke nodded and started to work on Anika's hair. Then looked at Marella's.
"This is going to be fabulous." She said. "Walk with me, then I am going to wash the dye away." Marella nodded and followed Peke . She washed her hair and started to rub it dry with a cloth. Then walked over to Anika, and did the same thing with her. In the meantime Huali's hair was getting cut by another stylist. But there was a tension in the air, how long will it last before...
"In the sea's name." And there it was. "What are you doing here?" Nohea almost screamed at her.
"Getting my hair and nails done." Marella replied, it was the truth. Nohea looked around and then her eyes fell on Anika.
"This was your idea, wasn't it. She is not your niece, she is not even part of the family." Nohea snipped at her daughter. "How dare you, bringing this half-breed in here." Anika rolled her shoulders back.
"You keep saying that she is not family, but everyone in her those not have to look twice to see she is. You two are like two drops of water, except for the eyes." Anika replied. Nohea was about to blow up like a puff fish. "Mom please, we are here to give Marella a breather."
"She is..." Nohea started.
"Mom!" Anika almost screamed. "Please let it go, dive back into the magazine." But Nohea stood up, grabbed her purse and left. Anika looked at Peke . "I am so sorry." Peke shook her head.
"Don't be, we all knew that this was going to happen." Peke said and the others in the salon nodded.
"And you are right, those two could have been twins." One of the women inside the salon said. "I do not fault you for bringing the girl in here. She indeed deserves a breather." The woman gave her a wink. "I really do not know what it is with the R'ula'ula family lately. Do not get me wrong, I always have known that Lady R'ula'ula was a hard woman. But the reason events really made me see her in a different light." Marella looked at her hands. "I do not blame you, Marella. You only made it possible for use to see it." Peke nodded.
"I agree with you their auntie." She said. Marella smiled and sighed.
"I know this maybe a stupid question, but has there not been a half-blood before? I mean I find it hard to believe that my father is the first man who had done it with another species." She asked, the woman looked at each other and Peke 's aunt started to laugh.
"You are not only pretty, you also have a brain. Girl if you were a daughter of my boy I would be more than happy to call you my family." She said, and then took a breath of air. "Of course there have been half-breeds, only that was before the naiads moved from the city. And so now and then there popped one up. That is why we have the claiming, so that the child can enter the city without the fair of being killed." Marella nodded slowly.
"So why did everybody react so strongly when I entered the city. I know that my father did not claim me. Or rather still has not claimed me, but if this has happened before why am I so different?" Marella asked. Peke 's aunt smirked.
"I will tell you why. You understand our language, you do not only speak it, but you also read it. I can assum that you didn't speak it before you came here." The woman said, and Marella confirmed it with a simple nod. "And I believe this is not your only gift." Marella's eyes grew, but the woman didn't expend on that. "You also are a threat to Lady R'ula'ula's regime. Your were not raised with the ideas she valued, you basiclly think for yourself. And that is something she can't stand." Marella sighed. "You are a bright young woman, with great looks and right now with good connections. I do not doubt that you will make it far in our world."
"If I live that long." Marella said. The woman frowned.
"Four of the seven members of the council voted against your excecution. Because we all believed that if Lady R'ula'ula had not in intervered you would have been claimed." The woman said. So she was a member of the council.
"Auntie do you honestly think that a ruling of the council will stop Lady R'ula'ula?" Peke asked and Lady Melemele shook her head.
"No, I do not think so." She sighed. "I hope that I am wrong, but you are right. That woman is not to be trusted."
