CHAPTER TEN: RELIEF AND DESPAIR

"Gali," nodded Kopaka, determined not to show her how glad he was she was alright, "How are you feeling?"

Gali pushed herself up slightly, wincing, "I'm fine, I think… What happened?"

"Akopi saw you coming up the mountain. By the time I got there, you were out cold. You've been out for…" he mentally calculated, "…about ten hours."

Gali nodded as if she knew this, "Thank you."

Kopaka turned his back to her, "So…" he began, "…why were you coming up here anyway?"

Gali looked at the back of his head in amusement, "Why else? I was coming to see you." She smiled as he audibly balked, "Why would you do that?"

"Lewa told me Tahu had hurt you; I was coming to see if you were alright."

Kopaka walked over and sat down next to her, averting his visible eye. "Gali… you could have died," he said at length. Quit being so juvenile… "Why, in the Spirits' Name, would you brave Mount Ihu just for a petty thing like that?"

She looked at him in confusion, "Petty?"

"Yes, petty," he said looking up at her with his cold eye, "I will always be alright, that oaf could not hurt me if he tried."

Gali smiled, "And yet you limp."

Kopaka mentally kicked himself, so much for his joining the clergy. He'd been praying she wouldn't notice that. "So what if I am? I will be fine in a few days."

She swung her legs off the side of the bed, smiling through her Kaukau at him, "Come on, Kopaka, you aren't as tough as you seem."

Kopaka wanted, and badly, to hit her at that moment. "Want to bet? I could still beat any ten Matoran in a fight, and probably Tahu, since he's only worth four."

Gali smiled, she would always have a soft spot for Kopaka's dry humor. He looked back up at her, "Did Lewa say anything else?"

"He mentioned something about Tahu's attack being a passion-crime, but nothing else. Why?"

Kopaka made a mental note to kick Lewa to Po-Koro after he got better. "No reason, just curious."

Gali gave him that smile that made him want to melt – an easily conceivable thing for the Toa of Ice. "You're hiding something, I can tell."

He glared at her, "What? Do you have the Spirit-damned Mask of Truth or something?"

As she opened her mouth to reply, there was a knock at the door. "Come in!"

Akopi, the Matoran from the other night, came in. "Oh, Toa Gali!" he exclaimed, bowing again. This time, his Hau clattered to the floor. "Good to see you awake."

"Thank you," she said, but Kopaka had an odd look on his face. "That letter bears the seal of Ta-Koro," he said, indicating the letter in the Matoran's hands, "What does it say?"

Akopi handed it to the Toa of Ice, replacing his mask with his other hand. "It's addressed to you, why don't you tell me?"

Kopaka ran the letter across the blade of his spear, slicing the thin paper open. He pulled out a single scrap of parchment, holding it free of the letter, and read it aloud.

"Kopaka," he read, "We have unfinished business. Meet me at the Kini-Nui at MoonRise. We shall settle this like Toa. I also understand you kidnapped Gali. To think you would stoop so low. Bring her, or I will climb that mountain and kill you myself. Tahu."

Kopaka balled the letter up and threw it in a corner, his face unreadable. "So Tahu wishes to play?" he mused, "Very well, I shall accommodate him."

He stood to go, but Gali's hand was on his wrist. "Kopaka," she said, and he sensed a trace of worry in her voice. "He is fire, you are ice. He… he will kill you."

Kopaka lifted her hand from his arm. "The answer is simple, sister. I will not let him."