CHAPTER THIRTY: THE VOYAGE BEGINS

Kopaka tapped his foot impatiently as he waited by his ice-boat. Gali was late. Gali was over two hours late. He considered just shoving off and apologizing if he ever saw her again, but his ideas were quashed by the blue figure paddling her boat up next to his.

"Ready to go?" she chirped, hopping out and walking up next to him. He nodded, and she laid a hand on his arm. "Kopaka… whatever we find there…"

Kopaka cut her off with a wave of his hand. "I don't care what we find there, Gali," he stated, "I just wanted to see my home island. After I've seen Ko-Ara one more time…"

"You'll do what?" she asked, cocking her head curiously at him.

"I don't know."

She laughed her usual airy laugh that never failed to lift Kopaka's spirits. He watched her load the boats for a moment, and then spoke up.

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

"Huh?" she asked, looking up.

"I said we'll burn that bridge when we get to it – I mean, about what to do after Ara-Nui." She smiled at him, and Kopaka hoped his fake mask would hide the blush he was certain was in his face at that moment. "Shall we?"

He climbed into his boat, lashed his to hers, and began to paddle. "Kopaka… where is Ara-Nui?"

Kopaka raised one of his long fingers and pointed north. "Four days to the north, judging by how my canister floated."

Gali nodded, focusing on rowing her boat to help the speed increase, "What's it like?"

Kopaka shrugged, "Depends on what part of the island you're in. For instance, I remember Ko-Ara as being very bleak and white, surrounded by jagged mountains that were honeycombed with caves and tunnels. The one visit I paid to Ta-Ara, I regretted. The entire city is built on an island that floats in a lake of lava. Its edges are unstable, and the whole thing is held in place by cables as thick as your waist."

Gali nodded again, "And Ga-Ara?"

Kopaka looked up at the sky, "It was an underwater city for the most part, with a few parts poking above the waves. It had been established within a gigantic protodermic bubble of sorts, I suppose."

Gali smiled, "A city beneath the waves…"

Kopaka looked over at her, "I never visited Po, Onu, or Le-Ara, though. If you'd really like to see them, perhaps we can once we get there."

His response earned him a brilliant smile, "A tour of sorts?"

Kopaka looked straight ahead, focusing on keeping the color from his cheeks, "If you wish."

They rowed in silence for several hours, pausing only when the stars came up. Kopaka heard Gali yawn from somewhere to his right.

"Gali, why don't we stop for now? You get some sleep, I'll keep watch."

She looked at him in surprise. "What about you? Don't you want to sleep?"

Kopaka shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not tired." Liar… you're DEAD tired…

Gali seemed to buy his lie, lying back and resting her head on one of the packs of supplies they had packed.

"I can't wait to get there…" she yawned, staring at the sky, "…and see where I'm from."

Kopaka nodded, watching the stars above. "I can't either…" he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I'm an exile, remember?

He stifled a yawn and set his gaze on the waters nearest the boat. Exile or not, he was going back to Ara-Nui. If his people were still there, so be it. If Kualus was still there, so be it. If they turned him away, so be it. It didn't bother him.