"Tahu?"
"Yes Pohatu?"
"I seriously want one of these."
Nothing could rival the sheer exasperation that came from him as Tahu sighed and shook his head. After the meeting, Gali, Pohatu, and Tahu, had decided they would be there to see of Jaller and Takua. Of course, this meant that it was also up to them to keep Pewku occupied until her owner was ready to go. This also mean that most of Pohatu's sense of logic seemed – in Tahu's opinion – to completely disappear.
"You don't need an ussal, Pohatu."
The Stone Toa laughed from his perch on Pewku's broad shell, grinning as he lavished affection on Takua's arguably spoiled pet. "I know that. But come on, you can't tell me that riding an ussal isn't fun."
Tahu frowned and crossed his arms. Sure, it did look like it had the potential to be fun, but – as anyone on the island could easily attest to – he was not much of an animal person. At all. He hadn't been since the time the Makuta more or less tried killing them with infected rahi. "I don't like pets, Pohatu. Pewku is cute enough I guess, but she's still a rahi."
"Aw, don't listen to him Pewku." Pohatu cooed as the ussal chirped almost mournfully. "He can't help that he's a stick in the mud. I still like you!"
Tahu rolled his eyes and shook his head as he turned to look for any sign of Takua and Jaller. He didn't blame Pohatu for his commentary in spite of how tiring it was to hear whenever the topic came up. Far from it, in fact. The Toa of Stone had always had a thing for outdoorsy stuff, animals included. Tahu couldn't think of any rahi that Pohatu actually hated – aside for maybe Visorak – which in many cases was likely a very good thing. There had been quite a few occasions where Pohatu was involved in stopping rahi-related problems, all over the island.
But Tahu wasn't like Pohatu, and having a crazed creature attempt to kill you repeatedly was enough to put almost anyone off the animal wagon. He could remember – quite vividly – how many times he'd nearly been mauled to death by a variety of unpleasant and particularly violent rahi, as well as how incredibly painful it was, both during the event and healing from it. Not only that, but he'd even seen a few unfortunate matoran who hadn't been as lucky to survive as he had. The memories of that alone was still enough to give him nightmares. One in particular stood out as clear as day in his mind, even though it had been several years since he'd found the body.
It was impossible to forget the face of a friend, even when they hadn't been able to remember growing up with you. Nako had always been close with Tahu, and even though his time in a capsule had erased his memories, the matoran had been able to rebuild the friendship he never knew he'd lost. Discovering Nako's body had been a blow too powerful to release.
"Tahu? Are you alright?"
Gali had come closer and was studying her Brother's expression carefully. She was one of the few who really knew how badly Nako's death impacted him. "Bad memories?"
"I'm fine." Tahu replied, putting on his best bold face as he pushed the thoughts aside. "Nothing to worry about." He paused however, and then gave Gali a small smile. "Thanks for your concern."
The Water Toa smiled lightly in return. "I know you would do the same for me." She too hesitated, watching Pohatu and Pewku for a while before her smile faded. "Do you think Vakama was right? About our Unity I mean. Pohatu's comments from earlier only seemed to solidify it."
Tahu honestly hadn't thought about it much until now. He hadn't really needed to. "I think they're right, to an extent." He said finally, glancing at Pohatu before looking back at Gali. "We aren't as close as we used to be. But I doubt we will have many issues with it. Our team has always been a bit scrambled as it is anyway, and we've always pulled through just fine."
"Perhaps." She replied, though she didn't sound entirely convinced. "We weren't exactly shining examples today though."
"Gali, we're competitive by nature and it was the biggest match in the tournament." Tahu pointed out. "I think the only one of us who doesn't get a competitive streak of any sort during kolhii matches is probably Pohatu. Onua's even pointed that one out."
Gali giggled a bit and shook her head. "You're right, Tahu. We'll just have to keep our pride in check and we should be just fine." She laughed a bit more. "Though it's probably not going to be all that easy."
"Gah! Pewku no!"
Tahu and Gali both turned and looked towards their Brother, just in time to see him get pounced and more or less sat on by his present playmate. It seemed that he had fallen off Pewku at some point, and now the ussal was taking every advantage she could to show Pohatu just how friendly she was, including licking his face.
"Blaaaaah! Tahu, Gali! Help me!"
Tahu laughed and shook his head. "Sorry Brother, I'm not much of an animal person."
"You're no help at all!"
"Not my job to save you from the Chronicler's pet."
"This is revenge for my comments earlier, isn't it?!"
Tahu hadn't even thought of that, though it certainly did seem fitting enough to be called karma of some form or another. "So Gali," the Fire Toa asked loudly, still grinning as he turned to regard her. "how long do you think it will take for Takua and Jaller to be ready?"
There was no missing the impish smile on his Sister's face. "Long enough for Pohatu to try and get out of his present mess, I think. Besides, it's not like Pewku is really doing anything to him."
"Not you too!"
Luckily for Pohatu his salvation was nigh, as it was at this point that Jaller, Takua, Vakama, and Hahli, made their arrival. At once, Pewku scrambled off her sufficiently cuddled perch and bounded over to greet her master with all the enthusiasm of a Le-Matoran party-goer. Pohatu soon joined his Siblings, wiping spit off his face as he coughed out a vague laugh. "Why is it that you two only remember your Unity when I'm in need of saving and you aren't inclined to do so?"
"It could have been worse." Gali teased. "She could have decided to take a nap."
The Toa of Stone shuddered. "Why must you always make sense?"
"Probably because she uses her brain more than we do." Tahu pointed out. "She's kept us alive how many times now? Anyway, I take it you two will be leaving once Takua and Jaller set out?"
Gali nodded. "I am, yes. I want to go to Kini Nui and do some thinking. A lot has happened in a very short time."
"Do as you please, Gali." Pohatu said with a grin. "I'm going to drop in on Onua to tell him what's happening. He'll probably be excited about it. At least, as excited as Onua ever really gets. You know how he is."
Tahu laughed quietly and nodded. "I do. Honestly I'm not sure if he knows how to be excited." He paused, and then added. "Speaking of no emotional awareness, are you going to tell Kopaka as well?"
"Oh that's just mean." Pohatu chided. "You know Kopaka has emotions. He just doesn't express them frequently, that's all. But yes, I aim to tell him about it too, if Nuju didn't see it in the stars already. He's been doing a lot of stargazing lately, according to Kopaka. Apparently he's under the impression that something bad is going to happen soon, and going by what Kopaka told me last time I visited, I don't entirely blame him."
Gali grimaced at that. "Any idea what that danger might be?"
The Stone Toa shook his head. "Not really, no. But apparently Nuju got a creepy warning about a dark lord. Remember? I said that at the kolhii match."
"Do you think someone should warn Kopaka about it right away?" She asked.
"Nah, he'll be fine. This is Kopaka we're talking about; for all we know he's already aware of the problem. It wouldn't surprise me, considering how much stargazing Nuju's been doing."
"Hey Hahli! You owe me a rematch!"
IT seemed that goodbyes were being said, and Jaller's pride refused to let the tournament loss go unchallenged. "When I get back, we're playing again!"
Hahli giggled impishly at him, lightly punching his arm as she teased. "Better not be too long then, because while you're off saving the world, Macku and I will be practicing."
"Aw, you're going to practice without me?" Jaller groaned. "Not fair, Hahli; I want to practice too!"
Takua grinned. "Why? So you can watch her and forget to protect the goal?"
"T-Takua!"
Tahu laughed and shook his head. "And on that lovely start to their adventure, I should go make sure nobody who's staying here is getting into trouble. Best of luck to you both with your endeavors." With that, he turned and set off, already wondering what sort of chaos anyone celebrating might get into. Even as he went, however, he heard the last couple phrases of his Siblings' conversation.
"I'm still worried about Kopaka." Gali said grimly. "If Turaga Nuju is seeing danger in the stars, what if Kopaka gets attacked?"
"I'm sure he's going to be fine." Pohatu assured, though he too sounded a bit concerned as well. "Kopaka's fought through a lot of things on his own before, even when he didn't know it was coming. I'm sure that anything he could possibly get into will be no match for him whatsoever."
Tahu frowned a little as he thought about what he'd just heard. He wasn't particularly worried about Kopaka, of course, but Gali's concern definitely did make him wonder, not to mention the recollection of Turaga Nuju's 'dark lord rising' omen. Surely that was just paranoia...
Right?
