Chapter Two: Reunion
A/N: If the first couple chapters seem a bit too syrupy-sweet and chirpy, sorry. That's just how it is for now. Right now, I'm getting used to the characters—putting more life into the ready-made ones and figuring out my original—but I'll settle down soon. Plus, this initial mood is meant to make a contrast with that of later chapters, where problems do come up and have to be solved. P.S. Here, almost everything from the car accident onward doesn't happen. I have my own storyline, and I know how it'll work out. If you don't like it, well, you can just go on and read something else. I'm just writing this 'cause I'm bored, anyway. XD
Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight, I would have rewritten it about five hundred times before publishing, and let Robert Pattinson speak with his own English accent when playing Edward. I've never heard of any Brit who couldn't do a perfectly decent American accent with 500% more ease than any American trying to put on a British accent, yet there he is, the exception, recorded for posterity, sounding like some Eastern European in an attempt to be truer to the character or something. It's like, owO.
As Bella had suspected, Maya was an immediate hit at the lunch table. She listened absorbedly to Jessica's gossip, laughed with Mike, flirted delicately with Tyler, and talked, with great interest, with Eric and Angela about the school paper and photography. As for Bella, Maya kept right by her side, and paid her every attention. When asked why, Bella shrugged, and Maya simply gave the 'new girls' explanation. No one took it amiss; in fact, several of them looked rather envious of Bella for having such a devoted friend.
Several times, however, Bella saw Maya glancing over at the Cullens, and occasionally even Edward watching their table. No one caught it but she, and since Maya didn't gaze rapturously at Edward as did every other member of the female population in the school, nor did Edward look back at Maya in any such way, Bella didn't worry. Instead, she watched Maya's charm and friendliness working a spell on the entire school, to the extent that in a matter of two weeks, she herself was known by many as "Maya's best friend", and the lunch table was referred to as Maya's, rather than Jessica's, or Mike's, or Tyler's, as it had previously been.
As for Edward, the hesitant friendship between Maya and him had blossomed. They sat together and talked during their classes together, and smiled when they passed each other in the hallways. Bella was included, of course, and the three were often called "the triplets". The other Cullens were rather distrusting, but Edward talked sense into them, and soon enough he repeated his offer to the girls of eating lunch together. Immediately after catching a particularly disdainful glance from Rosalie across the cafeteria, Maya smilingly accepted, and took Bella with her.
Bella noted that Maya instinctively tuned down her personality, and talked sports with Emmett, art and botany with Alice, and classes with Jasper and Edward. After listening to a hilarious anecdote of a mature professor who sometimes didn't understand the students' slang, for Maya had a knack for storytelling and imitating people, even Rosalie couldn't suppress a smile, and Bella felt comfortable enough to attempt conversation, to Edward's delight.
At the end of the period, Alice gave each of the girls an eager hug and Emmett suggested a weekend game of baseball, implying an invitation up to the house which Edward caught and supported. Maya happily returned the hug, promised to ask at home about the game, and said goodbye to Jasper and Rosalie, who by this time looked sorry to see her leave. Bella was especially welcomed, and Edward took her bag to accompany her to class. As they left the cafeteria, Jessica and Angela met up with them, overflowing with excitement.
"Maya, Bella, you should have been at our table. La Push, whaddaya think?" Jessica burst out.
Maya smiled, but looked a little puzzled. "What's La Push?"
"It's the only beach around for miles. There's a big ocean swell coming in this weekend—"
"And a pod of whales," Angela added. Maya loved animals.
"So we're all going on Saturday. What do you think?" Jessica beamed.
"Uh, it's been raining all week," Bella remarked. She wasn't at all averse to an outing, but she didn't want to go outside into rain and/or cold weather any more than was necessary.
"The weather report says it's going to be a little warmer on the weekend," Angela said.
Bella raised an eyebrow, and even Edward looked a little skeptical, but Maya seemed convinced. "I think it sounds great. Where is it?"
"On the Quileute reservation. It's not far."
Maya stopped dead, and Edward bumped into her. He almost stepped away, but noticing that Maya was a little faint, and quickly threw an arm around her waist to keep her from sliding to the ground. Maya quickly recovered, and approached Jessica. "This Saturday?"
"Yeah," responded Jessica, looking rather alarmed. "But if you don't wanna go, we can totally—"
"No, no, no," Maya interrupted. "I wanna go."
Everyone was a little taken aback—Maya was never this forceful—but listened to her. On Saturday, Edward had to go on a hiking trip with his family, but Bella came around to pick up Maya, who had no car, and everyone else came by themselves. They had all agreed to meet in the highway/parking lot before going down together to the beach. It was when Bella pulled up here that she noticed a couple of teenage boys, presumably Quileute, walking along. When Jacob caught sight of Bella's pickup, he stopped and smiled. "Hey, Bella!"
Bella smiled at the sight of Jacob, and waved to him to approach. When he did so, she told him about the new girl in her school, and turned to introduce Maya, who sat beside her, wrapped completely up in a huge furry blanket, for the morning was chilly, regardless of the weather report's predictions. Jacob stopped cold at the sight of the blanket, and stared at its owner until she lifted her face. Their eyes met, and one could hear the breath go out of them.
Bella didn't understand a thing about what was going on around her. Even Jacob's companions were gawping in the same manner as he at Maya, who was staring back at Jacob as if she recognized him from another life. After a few minutes of nothing but shocked silence, Bella couldn't take it, and was about to ask what on Earth was going on, when the others pulled up. They recognized Bella's truck as well, and called out to her. The noise woke Jacob and the others from their trance, but they still looked as if they had seen ghosts, so Bella waved her friends over. When they collected around the open driver's door, greeting Maya, they saw the look on her face.
"Yo, Maya, what's wrong?" Tyler asked, stepping towards her.
Maya shook her head at the friendly concern in his voice. "Nothing's wrong, Tyler." She looked up, straight at Jacob. "In fact, I think something's right, for the first time in years." She unwrapped the blanket from around her body and held it out to Jacob, who took it as gently as he would a newborn. "Can you tell me what you know about this?"
Jacob was nearly hyperventilating as he looked it over. "This is an authentic, traditional Quileute dog hair blanket. They take ages to put together, plus they're made of animal hair, so they aren't sold to the general public." He looked up at Maya. "You must have gotten it from someone Quileute. A long time ago."
Maya nodded solemnly. "Do you think there might be someone on the reservation who might know who made it?"
"Of course." Maya breathed a great sigh of relief when she heard that, and gently took the blanket back, winding it around her like a shawl. "Can we go, then?"
"But, Maya—" Mike interrupted. Maya turned to see him and the others behind him, all hopelessly confused. "What happened to hanging out?"
Maya looked sorrowfully at her friends. "Sorry, guys. I…lied to you. I didn't want to hang out; I just wanted to get to the reservation." She touched Jessica's shoulder. "There's something I have to do. It's really important."
"I'm coming with you." Bella jumped out of her truck and threw an arm over Maya's shoulders.
"Bella…" Both Maya and Jacob started out, but Maya acquiesced and let him explain. "This is about Maya. And the Quileutes. Nobody else."
Bella shook her head. "I'm not leaving her."
Maya gave her a hug. "Of course you can come. Just don't say anything, ok? You won't understand anything. I have to be the one to talk here." Bella nodded, and took her hand. She knew, somehow, deep down, she had to come along; she had to be in on this.
"Fine, then." Jacob put a hand on Maya's back, which was covered with the blanket, in a gesture of leading her. "It's this way."
"We'll be back, don't worry," Maya called out to her friends, giving them a smile and a wave, before cheerfully accepting Jacob's direction.
It was a long walk, and many times Bella would have asked for some sort of story or explanation, but she could see by the look on everyone's faces that something was brewing. Everything was bound to come out when they approached the longhouse.
When they arrived, Jacob motioned that he and his friends would go in first, and then come back for Bella and Maya. The girls nodded, and the boys disappeared inside the longhouse. After a minute or so of murmuring, Jacob came back out, and took Maya by the arm, leading her inside with Bella close behind them.
Inside, there was a great communion around the biggest fire, and sitting at the head was presumably the chief. He was mature, but his strong, fine cheekbones showed through the wrinkles and his black eyes flashed as he looked at Maya. "You are the girl?"
Maya nodded bashfully, and quietly stepped forward. She spoke a few words, completely foreign to Bella's ears, but astounding to everyone else around the fire. The chief himself nearly lost a fragment of his self-possession due to shock, before quickly sitting straight up and taking a deep breath.
"What did she just say?!" Bella demanded of Jacob in a fierce whisper, wild with impatience and lack of comprehension.
"She said, 'I am the granddaughter of Rebekah', in Quileute," Jacob whispered, himself in shock.
Bella was about to continue and ask who Rebekah was, but then one of the families gathered around the fire took an abrupt step toward Maya, particularly an elderly woman, who needed help standing, but rushed towards Maya as soon as she was able.
"Who are you?" Maya asked breathlessly.
"Your great-great-aunt, child!" She grabbed hold of Maya's arms, looking at her. "Yes…Yes, you are Rebekah's granddaughter, no one else." She ran a thumb down from Maya's cheekbones, along her jaw to her chin. "The square jaw, the fine brows, that brightness in your eyes…Yes, that's my sister!" Before the revelation had even finished, Maya had thrown her arms around the old lady, and held on to her as if she was afraid of being torn from her. "Elaine!"
"Yes, that's it, my dear girl," the woman sobbed. "My only niece's granddaughter knows my name! Everyone, do you hear?"
Elaine didn't need to ask. All of the longhouse was watching and hanging onto every word, and there wasn't a dry eye in sight. Bella waited patiently for the full story to come out and be told, and wasn't disappointed. As it had been two generations' time since the separation, many were as ignorant as Bella of the history, and it appeared Elaine and Maya were the only ones who knew. Even the chief looked expectant while the two sat down before the fire and Maya made Elaine comfortable, and it was a few minutes before Jacob had the sense of mind to hand Maya's blanket to the pair, and try to spur the tale that was to come.
Elaine caught up the blanket, and looked at it wistfully. "Oh, my. Dear, you still have this?"
"It's the only thing I had to prove I was yours," Maya softly said.
Elaine looked at her, and smiled. "Of course not, child. I would have known who you were even if you had washed up on the shore. Oh, but this blanket does bring back memories." She unfolded it, shook it out, and examined the worn pattern. "It was the blanket my sister made for your grandmother's bed. Ada was so happy when she found out that she was with child. She worked on the blanket night and day, and when the child was born, it was her first piece of winter clothing." The blanket dropped from Elaine's hands, and tears streamed from between her fingers as she vainly tried to control the emotions that now gushed forth at the remembrance of decades past.
"She was a good girl, but she was too much for her mother and me. Her father died before she could know him, and ever since she was a child, she always liked to run around and never do what we said. And when she got older, none of the boys her age were good enough for her, so she would cut class to go to La Push and mix with the young townies who went there. Eventually, she met a young man who was vacationing there for the summer, and was going to be a lawyer like his father, and would study in New York City. By the time school was starting again, we found her packing her things, and no matter what we said, we couldn't dissuade her. She—" Elaine's voice failed, and she burst forth in loud, raucous sobs, and for a minute or two, even Maya couldn't get through to her. It was after the old woman had dried her tears that the girl laid a gentle arm across her shoulders.
"What did she do, Elaine?" Maya whispered.
"She said," the woman began again in a whisper, "Rebekah said that she hated the reservation. That her young man, William, had told her of New York City, and other places, and promised to take her to them all, and marry her, and provide for her. I don't know if it's true…"
"But it is true," Maya broke in gently. "My father's parents were in Europe during my childhood, so Grandpa Will and Grandma Rebekah were the only ones I knew. They did love each other, Elaine. I can promise you that. Your niece was happy. She just didn't want to live in here—" She broke off and looked around the longhouse, her eyes devouring the sights as if they were all that she herself would ever want to see. "This place…It wasn't for her. She was a city person. And so was my mother."
Bella noticed the reverence and love in Maya's tone when speaking of the longhouse, as if she found in it the sense of belonging that her grandmother had been looking for when she ran away. She had to look at her differently now: had Maya been meant to come back to Forks to take Rebekah's place?
As if she read Bella's mind, Maya murmured, "I'm sorry I took so long to come back." Elaine wouldn't hear of it, and swept her into a warm hug. "You're home, my dear. That's all that matters." To the side, the chief nodded, and over Elaine's shoulder, Maya saw.
A good while later, after an introduction to Maya's family, a meal, and a promise to come back to the longhouse as soon as they were able, the two girls walked back together to rejoin their friends at the beach. Maya answered Bella's questions, and told her a great deal more, wearing her grandmother's blanket like a shawl again and stroking it where it fell around her elbows.
Apparently, Maya's grandfather had married against his parents' wishes, so they disinherited him. Of course, this hadn't bothered William, because he was happy with Rebekah and an ambitious career in law, but after a generation's worth of being ignored, his family repented, and now extended caring hands to his descendants, namely his only granddaughter. It was in this way that Maya had moved to Forks, to finish her education away from the city she never felt she belonged to, and bring peace to two families on the side. All this and more, Bella never would have known if she hadn't asked.