Chapter 21

Twelve months later, the festival of the high sun...

It was a bit of a trip to make, finally driving up I-77 and getting into Parkersburg in time to make the production at the Actor's Guild Playhouse on Market Street. During the trip, Mark would occasionally smile at Kara and watch her drive, but he spent most of his time watching his daughter and his other two wives gawk as they pressed their noses to the windows and watched the world fly by. It was January on Earth, but Mark's thoughts tended to drift to home. With its faster orbit, the planet Aina was now at summer solstice, and the village was in the middle of the farming season. It had been a rather strange time to leave, right after Kikapua had thrown his support for Kara to become the tribe's first woman ruler. But the opportunity to fulfill an old dream of showing Mayoni Annie had just proved irresistible.

Mayoni sat in rapture during the show. Afterwards Mark and his family orbited around the small playhouse as the crowd left, and just of few of the actors were still walking around. Climbing onto the stage, the urge to sing and try out the playhouse acoustics overwhelmed Mayoni. She belted out her own rendition of "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow", singing from the joy and love at the core of her being.

The remaining actors, musicians, and producers were stunned by what they heard, and afterwards the production manager walked up to the group of four people he thought Mayoni had come with. He wasn't sure of the family relationships, all five of them looked like teenagers, but Mayoni was definitely the youngest. He was also perplexed by their obviously different ethnic origins, yet they stood together in the easy closeness of a core family.

"Hi! I'm George. I have to tell you that that was the most incredible thing I've ever heard! I've heard this play produced on Broadway, and even that was nothing compared to what I've just heard now! Err, are any of you her parents?"

"Ha, thank you! I'm Va'an. Mayoni's biological parents were both killed in a war a year ago, but all three of us women love her so much, we all think of ourselves as Makuahine, mother to her."

"Oh... Sure..." George looked at Va'an, his mind in deep thought but coming up with absolute zero. George prided himself with ethnic traits and being able to guess countries of origin from people's names and faces, but Va'an was throwing him for a complete loop on both counts. He suddenly realized his jaw had dropped open, staring at how beautiful and unusual she was.

He switched his gaze to another of the women. "Mayoni, what a beautiful name. She looks native Hawaiian, you do too. Is that where you're from?"

"Hi! I'm Anuhea. Yes, both Mayoni and I recently learned that our ancestors might have come from native Hawaii, but a very long time ago. Thank you for your kindness. She really does have a beautiful voice. But Mark! It's late. We've promised to pick up Amy from her grandparents before it gets too late!"