"What were you thinking?!"
It wasn't often that Turaga Whenua raised his voice. It wasn't often that he needed to. But it also wasn't often that one of his own matoran followed Takua on a suicide run into battles that even the Toa Nuva struggled with, and he certainly felt that such an occurrence warranted a measure of anger. "I specifically told you two to evacuate! I made it so incredibly clear that the only way to make it more so would be to give you a map! So what in Mata Nui's name possessed you to not only disregard my instruction but also do the exact opposite of it?!" He shook his head in blatant frustration as he paced back and forth, hands clasped behind his back and wringing his fingers as he did his best not to blow up further than he already had. Truthfully he wasn't entirely surprised that Takua would try getting involved somehow, but Nuparu? He had at least hoped the slightly older matoran would maintain a measure of sanity about it all. "Were you two trying to get killed or was that an unforeseen side effect that you managed to miraculously avoid?! Do you have any idea how lucky you are?!"
Takua opened his mouth to speak, but the thirty-six year old turaga wasn't finished yet. "Those things could have killed you – would have killed you – without even flinching!" He shot Nuparu a scathing look when he lifted a finger to protest. "Don't you dare give me the 'it's a robot' speech; I know what those things are! I am wildly aware of what a rahkshi is and is capable of! How you two are still alive I have no answers for!" He let this hover in the air for several long and tense seconds before finally sighing and rubbing his face as he let his temper cool. "I trust you two at least learned something from your reckless and foolhardy actions?" Dear Mata Nui, he hoped they did…
"We uh… we learned Takua can make light out of nothing when he gets really scared?"
Whenua froze mid-motion as he took in Nuparu's words. Surely he hadn't just heard that. "What?" He asked, lowering his hands and turning to regard the pair in very blatant wonderment.
Nuparu fidgeted uncomfortably under the turaga's gaze. "Takua made some sort of light shard thing out of nothing." He clarified awkwardly. "That rahkshi opened its face and screamed at him, and Takua just kind of lifted his hands and blasted it with a light beam."
Jade green eyes roamed to Takua next in a silent demand for answers. The Chronicler shifted with unease. "I didn't know I could until I just… did?" He murmured awkwardly. "It just… happened."
Whenua took in their explanations with no small measure of confusion and even more shock. Even in his days as an archivist, he had never heard of something like this. Sure, there were rare and stray cases of matoran who could tap into their kanohi powers, but those were exceedingly rare, never vastly powerful and never anything elemental. Not only that, but Takua was a Ta-Matoran, so how could light even be part of the equation? It simply didn't make any sense. "Show me."
Takua fidgeted at the prompt. "I don't even know how I did it in the first place." He looked almost nervously at his hands as he spoke, as though he expected them to suddenly explode. "It all just happened so fast…"
The turaga wasn't about to accept that as an answer. "Try to make it happen again." He encouraged, checking his tone to sound reassuring, though he wasn't entirely sure how else to advice a means of accomplishing the task. "Just try. How did it feel when it happened the first time? Try to draw on that." He then turned his gaze to Nuparu. "See if any of the Toa are up and about; we need someone to track down Jaller. The sooner we have him back here with Takua, the better." His eyes narrowed slightly. "And no detours to play with the rahkshi! There will be time for you to do that later." Nodding with mild satisfaction as the Onu-Matoran hurried off, Whenua turned his gaze back to Takua and found himself surprised to see that the youth looked utterly terrified. "Takua? Are you alright?
The seventeen year old shook his head, shivering slightly and hugging himself. "N-no." He murmured quietly. "I… I-I don't want… I don't want to be a Toa…"
Whenua grimaced at the youth's words, having come to a similar conclusion about the phenomenon himself. He couldn't blame Takua for being scared either; Whenua had only been sixteen when he became a Toa – a year younger than Takua was now - , and it had changed everything about his life in many terrifying ways. Even now he still bore scars from his time as a guardian of Metru Nui, and sometimes some of those scars still hurt. Being a Toa wasn't for everyone, and he knew full well that some of his old teammates still wished they had never become one.
Thinking a moment on how best to answer the situation, Whenua sighed quietly before walking over and guiding Takua to the couch so they could sit down. "Nobody fully wants to become a Toa, Takua." He said gently. "It's a thankless job some days, even with the appreciation that others express. A lot of things can go wrong, and a lot of people look up to you when all you feel is that you'll fail them. So many matoran get wrapped up in the wonder and power of the Toa that they often forget that their guardians still have the same fears and uncertainties as everyone else. You've had the privilege of seeing first-hand what it can be like for our protectors, and you've seen them through their strongest and weakest moments. It's not an easy life, and you've witnessed that." He chuckled faintly and shook his head. "Even when you weren't supposed to. You went to try and help Pohatu and Kopaka because some part of you knew they couldn't fight the rahkshi alone, and Nuparu followed you because he believed your judgement. Most matoran wouldn't do that."
Takua nodded hesitantly at Whenua's words, a nervous-yet-thoughtful look on his face. "Navak told me our old island would have done better if more matoran tried to help instead of just leaving everything for the Toa. He… He was talking about you and the other turaga, right? I can't remember much, but I remember you were Toa before…"
Whenua nodded wistfully as he thought back on it, a bittersweet smile on his face. "Yes, he was talking about us. And I imagine a lot of things may have been different if the matoran contributed more in the past than they did. Even if they were more like they are now, a lot of events would likely have played out very differently. But this isn't about the past right now; this is about the present, and the future. Tell me, Takua; what part of all this is scaring you the most?"
The Chronicler shivered and he shook his head. "All of it. The fighting, the expectations… I don't want to let anyone down, Whenua. But how can I fight anything when I don't even know how to fight other than just swing and hope it works?"
Whenua chuckled softly. "You know more about combat than I did when I became a Toa." He pointed out. "Destiny will find a way, Takua. I would not be surprised if it has already found ways to prepare you for it that you are not aware of. It has done such things in the past, and it will continue to do so now."
"Okay, but what about the Makuta? The rahkshi? Jaller's dad? How could I ever hope to beat them?"
The turaga didn't much like that question, as he really didn't have a definitive answer to offer for it. After a moment, however, he smiled again. "Someone told me once that the key to winning a fight wasn't strength, but a sharp mind and readiness to improvise. It was a philosophy that he lived by, and still follows to this day. Sure, it got him into trouble from time to time, but he always found a way to get out of it again. If your antics have proven anything, it is that you have both of those requirements down to a science." He chuckled quietly and shook his head. "Even when it provokes headaches for those around you."
Takua couldn't help but flush slightly and offer a small grin. "I'm the Chronicler; it's my job to give people headaches." He then paused, blinking once in confusion. "Whenua… Will I still be the Chronicler after I become a Toa?"
The turaga shook his head. "I don't believe so, no. You'll be too busy for that. But you will be able to pick who follows in your stead. You would know best who could take up the mantle, after all."
Any response Takua could have in mind was put on hold, however, when there was a quiet knock on the doorframe, followed by Onua stepping inside. "Nuparu said you wanted to see me?"
Whenua eyed him rather questioningly, noting the sheer quantity of dirt and mud that caked the Toa's frame. "You are absolutely filthy."
Onua smiled in amusement. "Mud-wrestling with Tahu tends to do that, Turaga." He remarked back, loosely crossing his arms as he regarded the village leader. "But I have a feeling you wanted me for more than making remarks about my clothing."
Takua spoke before Whenua could answer. "Is Toa Tahu okay?"
"Oh yeah, he'll be fine." The Toa of Earth assured cheerily. "Probably will have a headache the size of Mt. Ihu when he wakes up, but otherwise it will all be business as usual."
The seventeen year old couldn't help but grin. "So cranky, hot-headed, and ready to punch something?"
"Exactly!"
Whenua concealed a laugh under the guise of coughing and clearing his throat. "Now that you two have had a chuckle at Tahu's expense, can we get back to the more important topic? Jaller needs to be found so we can get this Seventh Toa hunt finished, and goodness knows he won't be able to finish it on his own."
"I got separated from him somewhere in Ko-Koro." Takua added, forgetting he'd mentioned that when he first was brought to town and shuddering as he found himself flashing back to his rather harrowing encounter with the Shadow Toa. It still made his head spin, knowing that such a fiery and hateful being could be Jaller's father… A sudden thought came to him and he paled. Despite Onua's assurance that Mihkoro could not hurt his own son, there was still the threat of other nasty things trying to. "W-would someone try to attack Jaller because he has the Avohkii?"
Onua grimaced at the idea. "We're going to hope not." He said quietly before turning his gaze to Whenua. "I'll see if he's still at Ko-Koro. I can't imagine Nuju would let him run off immediately after an attack like that."
"Be quick." Whenua answered even as the Earth Toa left the building. "The last thing anyone needs is for the Makuta to get his hands on that kanohi." But even as he said this he couldn't help but feel a sickening pit in his stomach, as though something terrible was on the verge of happening.
"Jaller's going to be okay, r-right Turaga Whenua?"
He turned to try and offer Takua a reassuring smile, but all he could manage was a weak grimace.
"Mata Nui, I hope so…"
