"It's magnificent, isn't it?"
Mimi turned to the woman beside her. The stranger's squashed nose twitched as she smiled. Her braids flared at her shoulders like a short veil. On her throat was a birthmark in the shape of a hoofprint.
"My name is Hapu."
"Mirami."
Hapu's cobalt eyes sparkled. "Like the poem 'My Eyes'?"
"I haven't read it."
Hapu's broad nose twitched again. "Oh, but you must. It's a classic that haunts me to this day, and I was younger than you when I first read it. It's about a little girl like you who can see into the distant past and a thousand different futures. What do you see, Mirami?"
"I see you." Mimi turned back to the alter. She'd never seen one in real life; they were all supposed to be destroyed, too representative of strict traditions that would offer solace now. "There's a long staircase with holes on the side. I used to have a dao with a hole, too." She reached for the empty space her beloved weapon used to occupy before continuing, "At the top is a pedestal with the symbol of the sun chief. Four spikes frame the head like a crown. He has three eyes and one limb like the Cog's cat."
"Whose cat?"
"The City of Gold," Mimi explained. "Everyone knows it's the best and the worst of Alola. The music is splendid, and so is the food, but the decorations can damage your eyes and probably your hairline."
Hapu looked scandalized. "I've never heard of such a place. Are you sure it's in Alola?"
Mimi remembered Hapu's description of "Mirami" and Alila's disturbing power. With the sun chief's alter and the warmth that made Mimi squirm in her jacket, it made sense that she was in the distant past. But where were the others? Everyone had witnessed Gladion and Juniper's lonely childhoods. Now they were nowhere to be seen as history unfolded and they had the opportunity to follow Alila's advice and kill the sun chief.
"Where is Solga?" Mimi demanded.
Hapu's large nose expanded as her nostrils flared. "Our reverent sun chief is out hunting. Even he has to eat, and no one will feed him."
"Because this world is only for the strong," Mimi realized. Solga supported the ultra beasts' ideals, which must be why Alila wanted her and her friends to target him.
When Hapu picked up her basket of grapes, she swayed and brought a hand to her head.
"Are you okay?" Mimi's voice was drowned out by another woman's.
"I'm fine, Acela," Hapu said, her nose twitching as she smiled at the shorter woman. "The heat must be getting to me, but I am still capable of foraging and preparing my meals."
Mimi watched Hapu and Acela retreat into the undergrowth, and then ascended the alter. Dust coated the scepter and a thick book bound by woven grass and leaf stems. Heat pulsed at her fingers when she reached to open the book, whose pages were made from finely hammered iron. She pulled on the leaf binding to open to a random page.
"Four rules bind Alola to the soulheart. First, do not kill or injure a living creature unless it is necessary for survival and self-preservation." Her voice turned bitter as she read the last few words. She hadn't meant to kill Demyse. It was her curse. But every day, Guzma's Skulls hunted fairies for sport. The champions had ended the Tapu because they thought it would preserve their people's dignity, but the Tapu had never intended to hurt Alola. They were Alola's protectors. But Kalai had taken Mud's fingers out of spite. Every day, people hurt each other for fun, out of anger, or boredom or passion. She yearned for the era when such callous actions were forbidden.
"Second, do not attempt to hide or falsify abilities. All Alolans should know and understand each other's power for the benefit of a cohesive whole." Kanto had come up with the typing system to classify everyone's power, but some didn't fit. There were people classified as light or dark type but their ability to create sensory illusions extended beyond sight; they could make you hear music in silence, smell the ocean in a desert, and think you were stroking a soft skitty when a cacnea's needles punctured your skin. How did you classify Mimi's disguise, Gladion's nullification, or Kalai's thievery? Then again, the rule didn't state there needed to be a set number of types, only that people should strive to understand other powers. Where would their society be if, instead of fearing being robbed, people strove to learn about her brother's power? And instead of treating her as an enigma, people asked her about how her disguise worked?
"Third, do not seek to destroy, but to preserve. Appreciate the intent that the creator had upon the emergence of the creation's existence." Mimi closed her eyes and exhaled. She pressed her palm to the oak pedestal. In her era, this alter would not exist, not because of a failure to preserve but an urge to destroy. If Kukui and the champions knew why the Tapu existed and what they defended Alola from, would they have fought them? Yes, Mirami knew. Though her earliest memories were of sunlight, she had grown up in an epoque of rain, of tension and excitement at the permanent end of the Tapu. Alola despised the notion of traditions; the anarchy offered by the ultra beasts would have been tantalizing. Now that they were in an epoque of instability and uncertainty, the ultra beasts' ideals didn't seem so appealing anymore.
Mimi opened her eyes and continued reading. "Fourth, do not accept outsiders. They bring trouble and terrible ideas."
The wind slammed the book shut for Mimi, though she caught a glimpse of text about leviathans and majestic creatures and heroes conquering monsters.
When she looked up, she was at eye level with a man several stairs from the top of the alter. His three brilliant blue eyes reflected the sunlight. He had all his limbs intact, but a tail flicked in expectation as he stared at Mirami.
Mimi spoke first. "Your wisdom would benefit my people."
"Words don't benefit anyone," Solga retorted in a low growl. "I used to think staying true to the soulheart would keep us from being primal beasts, but then an ultra beast visited me. She showed me the limitless potential we can achieve by accepting our primal states."
The only female ultra beast Mimi knew was Kartana, who didn't seem like the type to approach anyone to recruit them. Kartana was more of a scout, a spy, and an invincible fighter—but not a leader. None of the ultra beasts who had attacked the priestesses' home seemed like a competent leader. "What's her name?"
"Requiem."
Solga unsheathed a broadsword. The heat that emanated was greater than the fire Mimi had run into. This was sunsteel, the most dangerous metal to fairies. It was the metal that had cursed her face. She screamed.
"Mirami!" Gladion caught her when she fell. She shoved her masked face into his cashmere sweater, digging her fingers into the soft material. "What happened? Where did you go?"
"Where did you go?" Mirami snarled. "I was alone on the alter. I faced Solga Steel. He has a sunsteel sword—the same blade that cursed my face."
"No," Gladion said, and Mimi's hood slipped off as she looked up at him. "You are not cursed, Mirami."
His fingers brushed her scarred face as he began to lift her mask. "No!" Mimi screamed and pushed him away. "You'll die if you look at my face. I made myself faint when I saw my own reflection."
"Gladion is immortal, remember?" Sin spoke up.
"Trust me, Mirami." Gladion crouched and removed Mimi's mask. He blinked when he saw the brown-and-violet asymmetry, but smiled. His hands stroked her uneven skin, and his thumbs rested on the ends of her lipless mouth.
Mimi whispered, "What do I look like?"
Gladion's pale green eyes flickered up to meet hers. "You have amber eyes like your brother, but you are more beautiful."
Mimi put on her mask again, but she let Gladion see her smile before she hid her face.
After giving them a few quiet moments, Val said, "We didn't climb the alter. We crossed the kopjes and met the person who has kept Solga alive for centuries."