The woman repeated what I said to the chief and he paused for a long moment, studying my face. I knew my story sounded improbable, but I hoped that he would find a naked Western woman carrying a stone axe as no threat.
He reached down and ran his hands over my head, rubbing his fingers through my hair. Then he leaned over and caressed my face, running his hands over my shoulders onto the front of my chest. Suddenly I felt less afraid and more embarrassed with so many male eyes ogling my naked figure. The chief cupped my breasts and squeezed them with his hands.
"Fata masali!" he shouted, peering around the campfire at his fellow tribesmen. They all laughed as he continued running his hands down my body. When he reached my shorts, he paused, feeling an unusual object under the cloth. He reached into my right pocket and pulled out the spiral unicorn shell that I'd found on the beach with Teuila.
"That's mine!", I shouted, reaching out to take it back.
The chief peered up at the translator, and when she told him what I'd said, he scoffed and threw the shell far to the other side of the sandy courtyard. Then he motioned for the two guards who'd carried me down the hill to tie me to a large pole standing in the middle of the square. As they lashed my hands tightly behind my back around the pole, I squirmed, screaming at the top of my lungs.
"What are you doing with me?" I cried. "I'm innocent! I don't have anything to do with the other tribe. Let me go!"
As the tribesmen reassembled around the fire laughing amongst themselves, the native woman paused, looking at me.
"Why are you doing this?" I said to the woman. "Can't you see I mean you no harm?"
"You're aligned with the other tribe. Our chief will keep you here until our grievance with them is settled. It's best that you don't resist. It will just make things more difficult for you."
As she walked back to her hut, I glanced at the group of tribesmen leering at my bare breasts. I had no idea what they intended to do with me, but the look on their faces gave me a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't sure which would be a worse—being burned at the stake or getting raped by these savages.
As I dropped my head to my chest in resignation, I caught a glimmer of light reflecting off the sand near the edge of the fire pit. It was my unicorn shell.
"I'm sorry Te'," I said, realizing she'd have no way of finding me if she managed to get herself free. "I wanted to be with you. Hold close my love if I never see you again."
24
Teuila shifted her weight uncomfortably on the woven mat covering the floor of her hut. It had been twenty-four hours since she'd last seen Jade, and the crunchy sound of the leafy fibers reminded her of the first time they made love after building their treehouse. But the tight twine digging into her wrists quickly dispelled the pleasant memory as she began to focus on their current predicament.
She was pleased that Jade had evaded her father's dragnet and managed to pass word that she was returning to their lagoon, but there were still too many immediate threats that placed them both in danger. Compounding her anxiety, she didn't have any idea what her father's plans were for defending the village. If he decided to dig in and try to hold off the other tribe's attack, there was no way of knowing which way the battle would go. And if he chose to make a preemptive attack against their village, she'd be left here alone awaiting the outcome.
And with her father not believing Jade's story about Manaia's suspicious behavior, it was looking increasingly likely that either way, she'd be tied to him as long as she remained on the island. Even worse, Jade would be left to her own devices, with no way of protecting herself if Manaia mounted another concentrated search. Although she was capable of feeding herself and knew how to build a fire to stay warm, Jade didn't have Teuila's knowledge of the island or her ability to blend into the terrain. It was only a matter of time before either her father or Manaia would find her.
Jade's only chance now was for her sailing crew to return to the island and find her before the others did. But how would they even know she was still alive or where to search for her? Teuila wished she'd taken the time to help Jade build a marker atop a nearby hill to draw the attention of passing vessels. And what if she was bitten by another snake or stepped on a sea urchin? she thought. Jade didn't have Te's knowledge of the local plants to heal herself back to health.
Things were looking increasingly bleak for a happy reunion. Either Jade would be rescued by her Western friends or she'd be recaptured and sent home on the next cargo ship. Or worse, if she was found by Manaia. There was no telling what he might do to dispose of her in a more expedient manner. As Teuila's face contorted into an anguished grimace, the flap covering the hut's entrance swung open and the chief stepped into the hut.
Thank God! Te' sighed, thankful to finally have another chance to talk to her father.
"Father," she pleaded, twisting against the ropes tied behind her back. "Why are you treating me like this?"
&n
bsp; "I'm sorry, Teuila," he said, squatting down into a cross-legged seating position in front of her. "But I can't trust you to not try running away again."
"So what if I did?" Teuila said. "What's so wrong about wanting to be with the person you love?"
Her father sighed as he shook his head dismissively.
"It isn't right for a woman to be with another woman that way. It's your duty to marry a man when you become of age and produce children to keep our community alive. Besides, running off alone breaks with our longstanding custom of aropa, where we've always shared everything communally."
"But I love her, father! I don't want to be with anyone else. If you loved me, you should want me to be happy."
The chief paused for a long moment as his face tightened with anguish.
"What makes you think this Western woman would be happy staying on this island with you anyway? She's ignorant of our customs and would soon begin longing for her material things. Eventually, she would just pollute our culture like the missionaries before her."
Teuila sighed, hesitant to tell her father of Jade and her plans to leave the island when her friends returned. She knew he'd never permit her to leave her family and the island. Beyond the insult to his personal authority, it would set a dangerous precedent for other members of the tribe. If she was allowed to go west, what would stop others from wanting to experience the temptations and luxuries of more developed societies? But she knew her father was right that Jade would likely soon miss her life on the other side of the ocean if they tried to stay.
"We've had a very happy couple of days living on our own on the other side of the island. Jade is beginning to appreciate the quiet comforts of our life on Anuta. But even if we did decide to leave, our community is strong enough to survive without me. Aren't you interested to know what life might be like outside our sheltered little island?"