Rachel and Bryan were escorted back to the Indian camp like heroes. When they could see the camp their escorts started jumping around, hollering and dancing. There was a commotion in the camp as the other Indians came out to see what the hoo-ha was all about.
Rachel couldn't withhold her smile. This was fun. Getting into the mood she skipped along with the escort and clapped a little too. The rest of the tribe gathered to see the visitors their tribesmen were bringing into their midst. Thankfully Rachel could sense a more curious atmosphere than a hostile or distrusting one. Finally they were brought before the man who was obviously the chief. He was tall with paint on his face and wore a large feathered headdress. Before him the escort became very quiet. The Chief carefully looked over the strangely dressed strangers for a moment.
"How!" He said sharply and raised his hand in greeting.
The escort copied his motion and replied with 'How!'. Not sure what else to do and not wanting to appear rude Rachel and Bryan quickly did the same. One Indian in the escort party gave a message to the Chief in sign language. Rachel figured it was good news about them, especially when he mimicked using a weapon in a sword-like way. The Chief raised an eyebrow at the braves' story, but his face was so stoic Rachel couldn't tell if that meant he was impressed or he didn't believe the braves' story. The Chief gazed over his braves, seeking confirmation of the story. They all nodded then stepped back, leaving Rachel and Bryan standing before the Chief alone. After another moment of surveying the keyblade wielders, he spoke.
"Recent moons have brought back shadows all cross homeland." He announced to the whole tribe as much as he did Rachel and Bryan. "Now braves tell of new braves that fight shadows and make homeland safe."
The tribe murmured in excitement and awe. The Chief acted as though he hadn't heard and looked back and forth between the strangers.
"How you fight shadows and make shadows flee?"
"With these, sir." Rachel replied.
She and Bryan held their right arms out so their hands were level with their eyes and summoned their weapons. In a flash of radiant light the keyblade obeyed its masters. The polished metal surface of the Bass Blade gleamed in the fading sun. The jewels of Moonlit Majesty caught the light and sparkled like rainbow stars. The tribe reacted with a wave of shocked awe. The Chief however only slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise. Otherwise his expression remained unchanged.
"Those fight shadows."
"Yes they do, sir." Bryan said.
"We came here to defeat as many shadows as we can." Rachel added.
"We're looking for something that could make that shadows leave for good. It will at least keep this world from falling into shadow forever."
There was an excited murmur through the camp. Even the Chief looked pleased. He raised his hand to silent the murmurs.
"Bad shadows have returned to homeland after many moons of peace. Bad shadows make even good red-man brave run with fear. You pale-face braves seek bad shadows to keep homeland safe. Your task great. Red-man grateful. Tonight we feast in honor of pale-face braves that fight shadows and bring back light."
The tribe erupted into joyous hollers and cries. Rachel looked at her brother. He was smiling too.
"Release the prisoners! Tonight all shall celebrate." The Chief called out.
Prisoners? Rachel wondered. Some distance away, completely overlooked until just then were a group of boys tied to a wooden post. Most were dressed as some kind of animal but two wore pajamas. She guessed the oldest to be maybe ten at the most. The youngest perhaps only five.
After they'd been cut loose the boys ran right over and started talking together and asking questions as though nothing happened. Only the two in pajamas appeared to have any concept of manners. All the others kept pushing each other and interrupting one another constantly.
"You can fight the shadow monsters too?"
"Where are you from?"
"Where'd you get those swords?"
"Do you know that guy who left the wooden sword in our treasure chest?"
"I've never seen you before."
"You're dressed funny."
"You look like grown-ups so-"
"-what are you doing in Neverland?"
"Do you know the nice girl with blue hair?"
A little boy dressed as a rabbit tugged at Rachel's pant leg above her boot. Rachel got down on one knee to listen to him, impressed he made an attempt to get her attention before he started talking. The Indians were busy preparing the feast for the evening to mind them talking with the boys.
"You're a girl. But you're tall. Are you a grown up?"
"Almost," Rachel said slowly. She wasn't sure where a question like that came from or what could possibly follow.
"Do you tell stories?"
"Um, I know a few, yes."
"So you could be our mother too, right?"
"Sorry, what?"
The boy dressed as a bear, later to find out his name was Cubby, heard the tail end of the conversation and joined in.
"You can't have two mothers! Can you?"
" Why not? Two mothers, twice the number of stories!"
At this point the rest of the wild boys caught wind of what was going on and they all began begging Rachel to be their other mother. From what all the boys were saying Rachel got the idea that they thought a mother was the girl who takes care of you and tells you stories.
This shallow idea of what makes a mother concerned her. How was it possible that none of these children had any idea of what a mother truly was? What kind of place was this? Were they all orphans? A little boy dressed as a skunk clung to her ankle like a baby koala and looked up at her with big, pitiful, begging eyes.
"The thing is guys, we're not going to be here for very long so we may not have much time to play." Bryan cut in.
Rachel was grateful Bryan came to the rescue but she still felt bad over the crushed reaction of the boys. It was so sad to see these children so disappointed not to have a mother even in a playing-house sort of way.
"Well…we don't know how long it will take to find the you-know-what and maybe they can help. There's no reason we can't indulge them a little until our task is over, is there?"
That sounded enough like a 'yes' to make the children cheer. Bryan gave her an odd look. Rachel looked back at him and shrugged in a sorry-but-what-else-could-I-do? fashion. He'd given her an out and her own squishy, child-loving heart dove right back into the hole he could have got her out of.
After Rachel and her brother had finished answering as many of the questions put to them as they dared, they asked a few of their own. On this island the only adults were Indians and Pirates. Here children were allowed to play and do whatever they wanted day in and day out and never grew up. Their names were Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Cubby and the twins were known as the Raccoon Twins or the First and Second twin. The boys in pajamas were John and Michael. They came to the island with their sister Wendy. They had been playing while Wendy and Peter Pan had gone to mermaid lagoon. It was during their game that they had been captured by the Indians. But that was ok. They'd been caught before as had the Indians. When the game was over one always let the other go to play the game some other time.