They walked through the portal onto dense rounded black mounds of hardened lava flow. It was gritty, and uneven, having alternating periods of intense heat and cold.
Ladybug's inferno suit was tipped with solid black at her feet, creating thick, tall boots. Gradually it faded back into red and black spots. Her gloved hands also had a similar fade, but from a vivid orange to the red. Her normally exposed eyes were covered with a blue tinted shield, like Chat Noir's green ones.
Chat Noir's inferno black suit was tipped in red, like the tail of a comet. The small accents highlighted his form. Unlike their normal costumes their noses were also covered with a mask that filtered toxic gases or fumes.
Ember perched on Ladybug's shoulder, and gestured ahead of them. It wasn't far to reach the mouth of Kilauea. Many roads within the National Volcanoes park had been closed due to the relatively recent activity of the volcano, but with the immunity of their suits they passed through the conditions of the volcano unscathed.
"Pele!" Ember called, "We have come to partake in the Miraculous Trial, reveal yourself!"
But even to Ember's summons, there was no response.
The volcano was silent.
They searched along the trail of the encroaching lava across the wide expanses of land, but all was desolate and barren.
At the edge of a cliff on the Puna Coast, where the magma met the ocean's spray, they wondered to a tuft of grass and trees that the magma had not reached yet, where a large rock sat. Ladybug slumped down on the rock. "What happens if we can't find her?" Ladybug asked.
"If you cannot complete this part, the whole test of creativity is forfeit," Ember said gravely. "It doesn't mean we can't start the next, but it does prevent you from enhancing your powers for the future trials."
"She must be here somewhere with all the new lava flow," Chat Noir observed, "It is pretty amazing how powerful the volcano is to create all this!"
"This is only the beginning," responded a feminine voice from behind the bench.
They turned their attention from the lava flow base to the gorgeous woman behind them. In all of Marinette's expansive collection of fashion magazines she had never seen a woman to hold a candle to this one.
She had flawless, caramel-like skin, glistening long black hair, and eyes so dark, they look like heated coals burning beneath her full lashes. She wore a simple, white linen sundress, with bare arms, that draped softly against her, just brushing above her knees. In her arms she held a small white dog, whose eyes matched the darkness of her own.
She glided around the rock, Ladybug was sitting on, and circled around beside Chat Noir. "You don't seem to be from around here," she said, locking her eyes with the green of Chat's . "Are you lost?" she asked in a silky voice, reaching out and tracing Chat's shoulder, to his elbow with her fingernail.
Chat Noir did not flinch at her touch, nor did he lean into it. His eyes regarded her aloofly. "I think you already know why we are here," Chat Noir responded calmly.
His response seemed to intrigue her and made her all the more interested in the weilder who was not so easily swooning in her presence.
The woman traced around Chat Noir again, and draped her slender arm around him, pressing herself toward him. "Did you come to find us?" she asked in a light voice.
Ladybug felt an unexpected twinge in her chest, and a tightness that wove itself through her throats. Surely this can't be jealously, she told herself. But the brazen woman, drew her hand through Chat Noir's blonde hair and reached out a finger to touch his cat ears, and two things happened simultaneously….Ladybug stood up abruptly from the rock with hands clenched, and Chat Noir spun out from the woman's grasp and took his place next to Ladybug.
"We used to have so much fun with Plagg," the woman petted her little white dog, and scratched her under the chin, keeping her eyes fixed on Chat Noir. "And now he has chosen such a handsome, muscular, young man to weild his miraculous."
"Let's get on with the trial, unless this game of yours is it," Ladybug couldn't help the growl in her voice, that made Chat Noir give a side-glance over to her in surprise.
Ladybug's annoyance though only made the woman flash a brilliant smile at her, and narrow her eyes. A competition. This Ladybug was protective of her Kitty. The pursuit was all the more enticing now. "What is the matter little bug?!" The woman cooed. "We were only admiring." She stepped gracefully toward Chat Noir like a dancer, letting her hips sway with each step.
Chat Noir stepped closer to Ladybug, and graspt her hand, which Ladybug held onto tighter.
This made the woman freeze, and her eyes started to smolder in anger. "Why is it always Tiki!" She suddenly shouted out of nowhere, and the dog jumped out of her arms and stared to bark and growl menacingly for such a small thing at them.
"Destruction and we were meant to be together!" she continued to scream, throwing out her arms. The land around them began to heat up and crack. Like oozing sores, lava boiled out of the previously solidified crust on the ground. "Not only a Ladybug is goddess of creation! We are creation too! I have extended and built up acres of this land, encroaching on the sea's territory!"
Then the woman, stepped back and stood to her full height. The heat in her eyes appeared to soften seductively, as if her sudden outburst had never happened. "Come with us Destruction Weilder," she implored Chat Noire. "Together we can shape the world as we will."
"My Lady has already asked you to tell us our trial," Chat Noir responded. Then he added firmly, "I'm sorry, Lootwit. I'm sorry for what happened to you, but my heart is already spoken for."
The woman looked shocked at first upon hearing her name. A name from far away and many lifetimes ago. She staggered sadly. The little dog looked back at her, and gave a low growl at the two weilders.
At this point Ember intervened. "Pele, enough!" he flew at the dog with his fiery wings radiating further and larger than they had seen before. "You are now a trial guardian! Enough of your arrogant pride and jealousy. Oversee their trial or I will have the Wild Kwami Council give the job to another!"
The once petite, cute little fluffy dog turned to the Phoenix with bristling hair. It's dark eyes ignited, and produced so much heat, they too turned to a white-hot flame. As the phantom of Lootwit shriveled and faded, the dog grew in size to that of a white wolf, absorbing Lootwit's energy force. Once again the ground started to shake and extreme hat radiated out from the liquefied rock that spewed forth at Pele's feet.
"Hi'iaka! Hi'iaka!" Ladybug called, remembering the shark kwami's warning.
On a wind from the direction of the ocean, the flames were extinguished and the lava slowed. The white wolf seemed startled, but pacified. The creature itself dissolved, leaving a white wolf kwami floating in its place.
On the calming wind rode a Peau; A island owl. Large white wings flecked with black and tan markings spread catching the wind under her. Effortlessly she arrived, and positioned herself between them. Her large eyes were outlined in white and black, with almost a mane of tan feathers around her thoughtful face. Without addressing the weilders she bowed and proceeded to call out a series of ceremonial Oli kahea to greet Pele and ask permission to join with her. The fiery kwami Pele was pacified further by the chants, and responded in kind. When their greeting was complete, the owl stretched out her winds gracefully, and as she drew them back, she took her kwami form. The owl kwami then caught up the wolf kwami in a dance.
Both Chat Noir and Ladybug could not command their legs to move, but the sudden changes that they had observed Pele surge through had not prepared them for the dance of the kwamis. It was not a dance of anger or happiness, but one of healing. Its motions wove through love lost, tragedy, and grief. At the end of the dance there was no applause, only the peaceful ripple of a breeze in the leaves of the Lehua trees.
"Forgive me weilders," Pele broke the silence quietly. "Our loneliness is bitter, and the banishment from my own miraculous too painful to bear. But we should not have so envied your love for each other."
Chat's eyes flickered again side-long to Ladybug, who did not correct Pele in her last assumption.
"Can you forgive me, and allow me to move forward with your creativity trial after all?" She asked humbly, as if she had been transformed into an entirely different being.
Ladybug nodded. More than once in the past she had allowed jealousy to enter her heart, especially when it had come to Adrien. She couldn't imagine how she might respond if something were to happen to him. And now this similar feeling when defensive of Chat Noir. She could not hate the volcanic kwami or the ghost of Lootwit, she forever carried with her as a reminder of her pain.
Adrien too nodded. He knew all too well how loneliness and forced isolation ate away at a person. How the craving for affection and love became so desperate, it felt like you were searching for water in the desert. To have unrequited love, and no matter how hard you tried to prove yourself, you were never good enough. He saw Lootwit-Pele, and her desperate, bitter, warped understanding of love…maybe one day she could find it and truly heal…Maybe, one day…he might too.
"You truly have the Aloha spirit," Pele bowed again to them. "My little sister, Peau," will help you develop a dance, which is your trial. Within this dance you will have the opportunity to express yourself and ignite your passion. Once you have prepared your individual dances, you will perform together. Then I judge…truly…fairly judge…if the dance is in sync. It is not uncommon for weilders to take a few attempts before they achieve this. There have been some though that just ended up walking away in frustration. I will withdraw to collect myself further, and give you time to prepare. Peau will call me when you feel you are ready."
As Pele vanished, the Peau kwami addressed the weilders for the first time. "Weilders you've had quite a jarring encounter at the introduction to this trial. Do you require rest before we begin?"
The pair exchanged a look and Ladybug said "Let's begin."
"Lead on," Chat Noir added.
The owl kwami flew into the forest, past the edge of the lava flow. Every now and then she would swoop down to pick a flower or a leaf. Glancing behind her she called, "Come now weilders, your leis are not about to make themselves." Looking at her questioningly, she motioned to the foliage clutched in her talons, and continued the trail through the woods. Ladybug and Chat Noir followed in kind, and stooped over now and then for their own collections.
The owl reached an old tree along the bank of the ocean. Its trunk held the scars of many storms. Much of the soil higher up in its roots had eroded, leaving it grasping and intertwining tightly to the rock. The owl kwami sat up in the tree and started stringing together a necklace of leaves and flowers.
Chat and Ladybug sat together at the base of her tree, watching her, and replicating the process in their leis.
"Thank you for helping us," Ladybug said pausing from her task a moment, "How did you get Pele to…well…change?"
"Yeah, one minute she was all over me, then she acted like she was going to bring down the whole island, and then you showed up and she was serene and apologetic," Chat Noir puzzled.
"Many cycles ago, she and I both lost the person we loved the most because of her jealous temper," the kwami said quietly, continuing to string leaves together. "I bring that reminder back to her. Although it grieves us both, it helps center her. She remembers what is at stake."
"I'm sorry to have caused you to relive such a painful memory," Ladybug apologized.
"Why?" the owl looked up from her task. "Memories are the only places we have left to be reunited. Would you give them up just because it hurts that she is gone?" She locked eyes sympathetically with Chat Noir, but he could not hold her gaze, and strung a white flower to his lei.
"No," Chat responded. "Even though it is all I have left, I treasure them more than anything."
Ladybug looked concerned over to Chat Noir. Who had been taken from him? She wondered. Someone he loved? How had she never known?
"That is well," the owl nodded toward Chat Noir. "Greeting memories with love is part of the healing process. And expressing those pieces of yourself that have added to who you are…we can reconnect and honor our past," she concluded, holding up her competed lei.
Chat Noir and Ladybug looked down and realized they had finished theirs as well.
"And now to the dance," the owl announced with the clap of her wings. "Tell me about your dancing."
"Well…ah…I'm not much of a dancer as a civilian. I've kindda got two left feet. I dance at friends' parties I guess…oh yeah and then there was Clara Nightingales music video…bit of a dance off with Frightengale," Ladybug rambled, "..how about you Chat," she said awkwardly.
"Classically trained in Ballroom, and martial arts like capoeira I guess," he said scratching the back of his neck.
"I knew about the martial arts, but really Ballroom?!" Ladybug gaped.
"Oh yeah, I've got a killer foxtrot," Chat Noir grinned at her, and then shrugged his shoulders. "But I think the most fun I've had was dancing at friends' parties too."
"That is not quite what I mean," the owl interrupted, furrowing her brow. "Let me rephrase. In Luau the dance represents your heart. It is part of all of you. Its movements imitate nature and your connection to it. Your hips sway like branches as it is tossed by the wind. Your hands flow like water in the tide. The beat of the drum is your heartbeat. You must feel the music and allow it to tell your story."
The Peau went through motions like kaholo, ka'o, kawelu, hela, 'uwehe, and 'ami. She had them practice each with her until the movement was seamless. Eventually they could do it on cue.
"Now that you understand the basic forms, let's try some work on creating your own individual dances and we will find a way to blend them together," she advised.
The owl settled down to a 'lli'ili (water-worn lava stone) and started drumming. For the rest of the afternoon they danced together among the trees until finally Peau pronounced them ready.
They returned to the lava flow plains at the mouth of Kilauea. In preparation they wore their leis, and Peau dressed them each in yards of wrapped tapa and leaves, as a thick wrapped skirt around their waists, with bracelets, and anklets. As was tradition, they chanted at their approach.
Pele was now enthroned among the molten rock. The small white dog stood out like a flare against the black of the lava rock. Lootwit sat next to her, but instead of her simple white dress, she was clad in a pa'u that was black at the hem, faded to grey, and then to white like smoke rising out of the earth. She adorned her neck with red hibiscus flowers and volcanic rock bead leai.
Pele played the lava stone drum, while Peau accompanied her with 'Uliuli (feathered gourd rattle).
As planned Chat Noir started the dance. He went forward, moving his arms and legs confidently as they had practiced with Peau. His mind drifted to his childhood…to his mother. She had been the one who long ago had taught him to dance. He kept a strong center, and moved around the space before Pele. The drumbeats of Pele went faster and faster. Then stopped. He paused, and crumbled to the ground, drawing into himself with his head bent over his knees. This was all what they had rehearsed, but something in Ladybug changed in seeing her partner seem so alone.
Ladybug broke away from the side with the kwamis, and ran to him. Sinking down, she wrapped her arms around him. Pele's drum beats resumed gently. Chat Noir glanced up at Ladybug surprised, and they slowly rose together. They swayed side to side in sync. Their 'routine' was abandoned. They forgot the Miraculous Trials, the kwamis' before them, and everything from the world beyond the two of them. Back and forth they moved across the molten stage. Ladybug would spin away, and he would draw her back. They circled each other, mirroring each other's motions.
They drew together and their hands laced together. Their rhythm gradually slowed, till they were frozen face to face, in each other's arms. The drum stood still in this moment, and Ladybug's eyes widened and Chat smiled dreamily at her, as the setting sun over the islands illuminated their faces.
From the side Peau and Pele shared a knowing glance. The dance appeared to have revealed more to the dancers than their audience, but the dance often had that effect.
Ladybug and Chat Noir blinked at each other, as if they were waking up from a hazy dream.
"Chat I…" Ladybug wavered.
"Yes Mi'lady?" Chat breathed.
The ghost of beautiful Lootwit's eyes glistened with tears as the dance sparked a powerful memory of someone long lost forever in the mountains. She faded into a wisp of smoke that was absorbed by the dog kwami, evolving once again into the solemn white wolf.
"So this is pilialoha (a bond of love) after all," the wolf murmured.
Ladybug and Chat Noir looked up at her, broken from their trance.
"You have danced well," Pele congratulated, unable to keep the emotion from her voice. She reached a paw into the center of the boiling lava, and took out a glistening flame. A single tear from her eye fell, sizzling as it struck the fame. She crushed it with great strength within her paw emitting extreme wave of heat. When she opened her paw again, she revealed a sparkling lime peridot gem. She presented it to them, and they stepped forward to accept it.
"May the dance of life always center you, and give you the strength to express yourself. Aloha," she bowed.
At Pele's action, their adornments from the dance ignited and were burned away, leaving them in their inferno costumes. Chat Noir and Ladybug bowed back to the wild kwamis and Peau, in turn, touched her forehead to each of theirs. When they rose from their bow, both the wolf and the owl kwami had of course vanished.
"No more trials for now," Ember flew down beside them, "But maybe you'd like to go for dinner and a show. Get Kalaki, I know just the place."
As they stepped out from the portal to Kona on the island, Ember told them to meet him back at the dock with food. Ladybug quickly volunteered to find supper, so Chat Noir promised to find something for dessert.
"Claws in," Chat Nor said letting his transformation fall once Ladybug had gone round the corner.
Before Plagg could even demand it, Adrien had popped a piece of cheese into the kwami's open mouth.
"Plagg!" Adreien said pacing back and forth, "What was all that! Do you think…could maybe….Ladybug be finally falling for Chat Noir?"
"Seriously, this again," Plagg mumbled talking with his mouth full.
"But, lately since we've been on their Miraculous trip things have seemed…I don't know..different somehow…I should ask her!" Adrien ended torn, but determined.
Plagg gulped down his cheese, and threw up his paws. "Kid! If Ladybug is softening up to you, you have to let it happen on its own."
"But Plagg, I've got to know! I've waited so long for things to be like this between us!"
"Exactly," Plagg insisted. "Listen! Ladybug might not be able to see it herself yet. Every time you've tried to push, it has just pushed her away. Let her come around on her own, and she'll realize you're what she's been looking for all along."
"When you say 'do nothing' I don't know if your advice is lazy or brilliant," Adrien squinted critically at Plagg.
"Oh, the waiting is the hardest thing ever. Just last week I was ageing this beautiful piece of gooey Camembert…alas I could not wait…" Plagg drooled.
Adrien rolled his eyes and opened his jacket for Plagg to hide in. He thought about what Plagg had said. He hopped he was what Ladybug had been looking for…and that he wouldn't do something to miss his chance with her.
Once they met back at the dock, Ladybug handed Chat Noir a box of fresh Poke and seaweed rice. In return Chat Noir handed her a domed rainbow of shaved ice.
They kicked their heels off the side of the dock, eating hungrily after another long and eventful day. Early stars were softly emerging in the sky out of the twilight. Boats knocked gently with the waves against the buoys where they were tethered, waiting for early morning fishing runs.
As they were polishing off their icy dessert, Ember reappeared. "I did promise dinner and a show," Ember crowed mysteriously. "Power up and come in for a swim."
Shrugging to one another, they powered up with eyes closed, and dove in. Their aqua powers washed over them, and they glided through the water following Ember's light. Once Ember reached the deepest water of the cove, he instructed them to sit on the seafloor and watch.
Ember rose up above them shining out his light, radiating it out at the surface of the water.
Just when they started to wonder if Ember's light show was the extent of the nights entertainment, the main event arrived. Multiple sting ray giants. They moved wide expansive 14 foot black wings outstretched, with their spotted white underbellies reflecting Ember's light. Opening their mouths to capture the krill that had been drawn to the light, they put on their show. In elegant back flips and dips the rays danced through the water above them.
Chat Noir looked over at his lady marveling at the creatures above them. Could a black cat really be this lucky? Or like the mantas, mesmerizing to behold, but just out of reach.