The sun shone through the clear waters of the reef as two dolphin calves chased one another through the coral.
"Ha ha.", the female chuckled as she tackled her friend into ocean's sandy bottom. "Pinned ya Nai'a!"
"Ah let me go Makana!", the male grumbled in an annoyed fashion.
"Okay princey.", she chuckled as she let him up.
Nai'a ran his hand along his face, removing sand from his dark grey hide. He smirked as he launched himself at Makana again, sending the tri-colored cow to the seabed.
"Ha!", Makana laughed as she flipped herself and her friend over. "Pinned ya again."
"He he.", a feminine voice chuckled from above. "Young love."
"Mom!", Nai'a said.
"Good morning Queen Lima-loa.", Makana said bowing politely.
The queen adjusted the greenstone studded band about her head before she replied. "Good morning to you too Makana."
"Is dad back yet?", Nai'a asked hopefully.
"Not yet Nai'a.", Lima-loa answered.
"Good morning young master.", a marine iguana said as he swam over a coral outcrop.
"Hi Ne'ena.", the two calves said simultaneously.
The reptile chuckled as he bowed. "King Kini said to tell you he will arrive shortly, once he has finished chasing the sharks out of the kingdom."
"I wish he'd let me come.", Nai'a mused disappointedly.
"Don't fret young master.", Ne'ena said. "When your're king you can chase those cartilaginous cretins from dawn til dusk."
"Back to the crevice Kamipulu!", the viper dogfish shouted as he clung tightly to the sand devil's shoulder.
"Got it Ho'oh!", Kamipulu replied, gripping their dead squid in his clawed hands.
"All this for one little squid.", Ho'oh grumbled as he looked behind him, seeing a spinner dolphin nock an arrow to his whalebone bow.
"Drop the meat poachers!", a voice boomed from above.
The two young sharks gulped quietly as they looked up towards the surface. "King Kini.",they said quietly.
"Surrender now and I will only have imprisoned.", the large dolphin growled, waving his speckled greenstone mere.
"Okay.", the two shark pups said, setting their catch down and getting on their knees.
"Bind them.", the king ordered two of his soldiers.
The dolphins nodded, pulling cords from their belts.
"Take those off.", Kini ordered, gesturing to the sharptooth laced cords about the sand devil's hands and forearms.
"Yes sir.", the sand devil as he began fiddling with the lacing of his weapons.
The king swam down to the seabed, standing over the crouched sand devil.
Now!, the shark pups thought simultaneously.
Kamipulu surged upwards, ramming his elbow into the king's groin.
Kini groaned in pain, his mere slipping from his grasp.
Ho'oh grinned, clapping his webbed hands together. The sand swirled around him and his friend as the king's guards loosed arrows towards them.
Kini growled in anger as he watch the sand settle, with his quarry nowhere to be seen.
"You two.", he said, gesturing to a harbor porpoise and a black dolphin. "Keep searching for the poachers, if you find them kill them."
"Yes sir!", the two said, saluting with their weapons as the king and the rest of his guards turned to leave.