In Ta-Koro...
A green Turaga rushes to get back to Le-Koro before he's missed. Meanwhile, Vakama wonders where his staff went off to. He was sure he'd just put it down for a moment.
In Le-Koro...
"Hi guys!" I had a large grin on my face. I may have been stuffed with good food and drinks, but I still wanted to make my Toa friends a priority. Lewa put his hand on my arm, making sure I was alright. I turned and smiled at him, to which he smiled back. When I turned back to the other Toa, they didn't look impressed in the slightest. Taka was trying to not glare, Tahu was smoldering as usual, and Kopaka was outright glaring. I looked over at Lewa.
"What's up with them?" I whispered.
"No idea." He whispered back, leaning in a little to keep our conversation private.
I decided to move on like nothing had happened.
"Hey guys! Welcome to the party!" I gave the Toa a wide closed eye smile. The kind my dad would call a Jack-o-Lantern smile.
That seemed to perk them up a little. They looked around for a place to sit, but there was none.
"Taka, you can sit here," I gestured to my left. "Actually, maybe Kopaka should sit there. Taka, you and Tahu can sit across from me." The Matoran who were sitting there quickly abandoned their seats, but not before praising the 'Toa-heroes'. Tahu looked mildly pleased, Taka just looked downright uncomfortable. He must not be used to being a Toa yet.
I felt my left side get a bit cooler. I looked over and Kopaka had settled in beside me. He seemed closer than I thought he would be comfortable with. I shrugged it off. There were lots of Matoran, everyone was packed in. It must have been that. Lewa found himself a seat farther down the table, seeing as I already had three Toa around me. On my right I had a few eager Matoran who were begging me to try their food. They had been the last in line, and didn't want to be let down.
"Thanks for waiting you guys" I gave the Matoran a little smile.
They shrugged me off, telling me something about how the wait was worth it. At least, that's what I think they said...not used to trying to understand Treespeak!
"So this is like a trifle?" I dug my spoon into the first dessert.
"What is a try-full?" Kopaka was the first to ask. I saw his scope whirring, I assumed to better see the dessert.
"It's like layers of fruit, cake or sometimes even cookies, and then a thick cream or custard." I used my hands to try and illustrate each layer. "It's usually put into a really big dish, and then you scoop out portions."
Everyone around me looked utterly stumped. Tahu looked as unimpressed as normal, Kopaka was staring intently at my 'trifle'. Taka seemed to be writing notes.
I smiled to myself. 'Chronicler instincts,' I supposed.
I took a spoonful of the trifle. It was a bit strange compared to the trifle I was used to. The berries were green, the cream a different consistency, and strangely whiter. I shoved the spoonful into my mouth before I could think again.
Creamy, crunchy, a little nutty. Some kind of berry, maybe some citrus. Definitely coconut.
I gave the baker a thumbs up. He did a little happy dance before he took his trifle over to the other Matorans, holding it over his head in glee. They cheered for him. I shook my head with a smile. They were like children sometimes.
I turned back to my trifle, and almost fell off my chair in surprise. Tahu was barely a foot away from me, leaning over the table. I felt an icy hand on my back, giving me the support I needed to stay seated.
"Did you need something?" My eyes were wide as I tried to calm down. It wasn't every day that someone tried to intrude on my space like this.
"You just had some cream on your face." was Tahu's excuse. I swear I saw Takanuva rolling his eyes.
"Oh, thanks," I gave him a smile before I wiped my entire lower face with my napkin. Tahu stopped leaning on the table and settled back into his seat.
'Did I just foil his flirting attempt!?'
I desperately fought to keep a blush off of my face so no one would notice my embarrassment.
I quickly stood up, against my better judgement. The Matoran on my right were saddened by my leaving.
"Sorry guys! Gotta get some air!"
Unfortunately, my plan was doomed to fail. As I got to the edge of the party, and close to the edge of the platform, my vision started to go black at the edges. I dimly acknowledged someone trying to talk to me. I saw spots of black and bright green swim across my vision. I felt my knees buckle, and my entire body started to tip over. Finally, I felt my vision start to restore. Strength came back to my legs.
"Alright, what happened?" I was certain that everyone would start to freak out when they saw me going down like a felled tree. I was right.
"Are you alright?" Tahu, surprisingly, was the one who talked first. Takanuva seemed to be consulting some kind of journal. I looked down and realized that Tahu was literally holding me in his arms. I started turning as red as a beet.
"I'm quite fine, trust me." I tried to wiggle out of his grasp. He just held on tighter.
"Don't worry, we've called Turaga Nokama, and Turaga Vakama." Tahu tried to reassure me.
"Don't call Nokama!" I protested weakly, knowing the damage was already done.
"Fainting can't be healthy, even for humans!" Tahu was dead serious about getting me healthy, and quickly.
"Nothing in here mentions fainting!" Taka came to kneel beside me, waving around the book he had been reading.
"And what is that? Humans 101? The definitive guide to understanding a human? So you've got a human, now what?" My works were dripping with sarcasm.
"It's my journal..." Taka seemed a bit hurt. I instantly winced, and wanted to take back everything I had just said.
"But fainting could mean an illness! Other symptoms are..." He consulted his journal. "Fever, nausea, sniffles..." As he read, Tahu started giving me a critical look.
"Definitely yes to fever and nausea. Of course fainting. What could we be dealing with brother?" He looked over at Takanuva, completely ignoring the look on my face.
"It could be a pneumonia, a flu, or just a common cold." He looked at Tahu with a very serious face.
"Really! It's not a pneumonia, trust me on that one!" I was desperate to get out of this situation as fast as possible.
"Kopaka, good, you're here. Hannah has a fever." My eyes went as big as dinner plates. Tahu just said Kopaka and good in the same sentence. What just happened?!
I quickly realized I had been shuttled over to Kopaka, who was much cooler than Tahu, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Perks of being a Canadian, I suppose.
"Once Nokama checks me out, we need to talk about boundaries and listening to me when I talk!" I waved a finger at the toa. Of course, they were too busy talking about extinct illnesses to care.
"I don't think it's the bubonic plague, but it could be malaria." Taka was reading from his book again, only looking upo occasionally.
"Malaria? What's that?" Tahu panicked.
I groaned, thumping my head against Kopaka's arm. It was going to be a long day...
When you read excellent Bionicle fics, and you suddenly feel the need to delete yours and wipe it from the internet...