CHAPTER FORTY: THE FIRST SHARD

Kopaka slumped down against one of the abandoned Nui-Rama hives that littered the area. He wiped some sweat from his false mask, looking up at Gali. "Why did you save me? You could have been killed."

Gali thought it sounded more like a statement than a question, but she decided to answer anyway. "Aw Kopaka," she teased, sitting down across from him as he took a swig from his flask of Ta-Koronan Ale, "I didn't know you cared."

Okay, so that was a lie. Of course she knew he cared, but the words had just slipped from her mouth so fluidly. Kopaka merely brushed it off without a second thought, "You thought wrong."

That was something Gali had never expected. Kopaka was usually not this open about things like this. She shifted, "Wait… do you mean…"

Kopaka pushed himself up the tree and walked over to her. He offered her the flask, seating himself next to her, leaning his back against the same tree. "Gali, just because I'm Ko-Koronan does not mean I'm heartless."

Gali reached around the tree and poked him in the shoulder, "Keep talking."

He looked over at her, and she could see a flicker of indecision in his eyes. He spoke, however, regardless of his uncertainty. "Gali, I feel as much as you, or any of the other Toa. If you cut me, I bleed. If you mock me, inside I cry. It is just that… well… I show it differently than you do."

Gali folded her arms behind her head, "What do you mean 'differently'?"

Kopaka stood up and paced back and forth in front of her like an agitated Kane-Ra. "Let's just say you were to insult me, Gali," he said, "I would not show it immediately, but hold it within until such time it is appropriate to resolve the internal conflict."

That made sense, she supposed, and so she stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. Like before, the cold Toa stiffened like a prayer pole, his spine standing at attention better than any Ta-Koro Guardsman.

"Should we keep going toward Ta-Ara?" she asked, smiling at his stiff demeanor.

"Why not, just be prepared to douse me if I begin to overheat."

Gali thought the idea of sloshing Kopaka with water was rather amusing, but nodded anyway; "On my word as a Toa."

Kopaka did not say anything else. He took the flask from her and tied it around his waist. He turned and motioned for her to follow as he began to stride out of the clearing. Gali was about to follow when she saw something shine in the grass.
"Kopaka!" she called, "What's this?"

Kopaka looked over her shoulder and let out a small gasp of surprise. To anyone else, it sounded more like a quicker breath, but Gali knew that the piece of colored glass she had found was something special.

"Give me that!" he barked, snatching the shiny object from her, "That…"

She looked at him confusedly, "What is it?"

Kopaka turned his back on her, hiding the broken piece of glass in one of his satchels, "Nothing."

Gali popped him in the back of the head, "Just promise to tell me someday, okay?"

Kopaka rubbed his head, nodding. "Are we going to head toward Ta-Ara, or stand here talking all day?"

Gali pointed in the direction of the smoking mountain that rose in the distance. "Let's get going, Kopaka! The third Guardian awaits us."

Kopaka muttered something under his breath, and Gali was barely able to catch what it was.

And the next part of the pendant.