Dedicated to the true Emperors of the Deep, may they forever rule the Endless Keep.
"Kaikuahine, can you tell me a story?"
The elder sister turned around and looked at the young girl looking up at her with her first full set of teeth. Smirking slightly she decided to tease her sibling.
"E kala mai iaʻu?"
She chuckled as the tiny blonde haired girl rolled her eyes and repeated her question in their native tongue.
"What story do you want little sister?"
The girl tucked herself into her moe moe shirt and looked pensive for a moment before her face brightened and she tucked herself in again.
"Tell me the story of King Kamohoalii's son!"
Her elder sighed in exasperation as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"You have heard that story so much, you should say it to me Kaikuahine."
As she stretched out her arms and looked into the pleading face of her best friend, she grunted quietly. She knew what was coming next.
"Hana hou!"
Her sister chirped happily, much to the amused exhaustion of her elder sister as she tucked the sheets around her again.
"Alright, but then hiamoe little tooth."
Her sister merely snuggled down into the blankets as her elder sister made herself comfortable on the bed's end.
"Long ago on the home island, there lived a gorgeous young female Landshark by the name of Kalei. Kalei lived in Waipio Valley. Each night Kalei would walk to the waters at the mouth of the valley to bathe in the Big Blue.
One night, Kamohoalii, the King of all Sharks was swimming just below the surface of the waters where Kalei bathed. Under the shimmering moonlight, she disrobed and slipped into the warm waters as she did every night.
Kamohoalii saw Kalei and was entranced by her unique beauty. As a shape-shifter he resolved that the next night he would take on his form as a Landshark Chief and search the land for the beautiful and mysterious female Landshark.
He did as he planned. For the next few days he walked among the Landsharks as a proud Chief and ate and communed with them in Waipio Valley in search of Kalei.
In time, he found her. They fell in love and married.-"
The small girl giggled as she added her own words to the old tale passed down throughout the generations of their people.
"After she kissed him on the nose."
Her sister raised a brow and her younger quieted. Holding the silence for added effect she smiled and resumed.
"Over time, Kalei became pregnant with Kamohoalii's child. Before the child was to be born, the Shark King knew that his time had come to return to the Big Blue, for we needed his guidance.
He never revealed his true identity to Kalei. Instead, he instructed Kalei to give birth alone and to watch over his child, who was to be a male, and to never allow the baby to eat the flesh of any animal.
Reluctantly he left Kalei, whom he had come to love dearly and returned to the Big Blue. The lovers never saw each other again.
On a dark night, as the island winds whipped furiously through the valley, beautiful Kalei gave birth to the Shark King's son.
She was afraid and saddened when she saw that the baby was born with a deformity on his back - a large open hole that resembled a gaping fish mouth.
She wrapped the baby in a thin blanket of tapa cloth to hide the deformity from the others. That night she cried as she rocked her newborn son, for he was as beautiful as she, besides his disturbing deformity. She named him Nanaue.
As the child grew older, she kept him away from meat as the Shark King had instructed her, but she could not protect him for long.
Back in the ancient times, males and females were not allowed to eat together.
When the child came of age, his Landshark grandfather took him to eat with the males. He was fed meat for the first time and developed a voracious and insatiable appetite.
The gaping mouth on his back grew rows of sharp teeth.
After that day when Kalei took her son to bathe in the stream she watched in horror and fascination as he took the form of a young shark - he would swim and play in the water in fish form, chasing and eating the smaller creatures in the stream.
As the child grew into a powerful Landshark, Nanaue also grew as a shark. After he would swim in the Big Blue, others would go missing. A great shark would come out of the water and tear his fellow swimmers limb to limb.
The Landsharks of Waipio Valley became suspicious - why was Nanaue never harmed in the Big Blue? They began to suspect that he had special powers, but they did not know that it was he who was actually killing his friends while in shark form.
One day, the Landsharks discovered the great mouth on Nanaue's back. It all came together that he was the one that had been causing all of the deaths in their otherwise peaceful waters.
The Landsharks were very angry and decided to capture and kill him. Nanaue then changed into shark form and escaped into the sea.
From Waipio Valley, Nanaue swam to the Hana side of the island of Maui. There he took the form of a Landshark. He married a Landshark Chieftess while on Maui and tried to hold back his desire for Landshark flesh, but did not succeed. One night his hunger took a hold of him and he kidnapped a young Landshark female, ran to the ocean, shape-shifted and devoured her in plain sight of all.
The Landsharks of Maui were outraged. They tried to spear Nanaue from canoes, but he swam quickly toward Molokai.
Once again, after he had reached the island of Molokai, Nanaue tried to keep his true nature a secret, but as he grew older his hunger only got stronger. By this time, tales of a dangerous shark walker were circulating through the islands.
The Molokai Landsharks kept a look out for this strange Landshark. Finally, they saw Nanaue shape-shifting in the Big Blue when he thought that no one was watching.
They snared him while in shark form and beat him with clubs until the Big Blue was red with his blood. The Landsharks chanted continuously until Nanaue became weak.
His shark body was drug to shore where he was chopped to pieces and incinerated in a large oven. Thus died Nanaue, son of Kamohoalii - King of Sharks."
The elder sister sighed at the sad ending as she tucked an unruly strand of hair behind her lightly dozing sister's ear.
"But Kaikuahine..."
She turned at her sister's sleep slurred voice.
"What happened to Nanaue's children?"
Her elder blinked and straightened at the question as she got up. Not only had she never heard that question but their people didn't even know if Nanaue had descendants. Looking to her fading young sister, she decided to humor her and rubbed soothing circles along her back to encourage her to sleep.
"They still walk above with the Landsharks, who knows Ailani, you may meet one someday. You know how they'll greet you?"
Her sister blearily blinked her vibrant blue eyes up to her.
"How Kunokine?"
She mumbled as she nuzzled into her pillows while her elder sister continued rubbing small circles into her back.
"They'll give you a kiss, right here."
Kunokine lightly tapped Ailani's nose, chuckling as she scrunched her nose and rolled over to sleep.
"I'd like that."
Kunokine smiled at the tiny girl's mumbled reply and kissed her sister's cheek before moving to leave the room. Turning as she reached the doorway to the bundle of blankets on the bed.
"A hui hou Ailani."
Her sister's reply was a mumbled repeat, soon followed by her soft snores.
Laughing quietly Kunokine left her to dream of the ancient story of their King, his son and his made-up grandchildren.
After all, Nanaue had no children.