Chapter 23

Earth time: 10:50 PM Friday, January 18, 2013

Aina time: 3:47 AM day 262 of 1410

Mayoni felt she was way too excited to sleep, so she had been sitting up in bed for the last hour, reading in her nightgown. But as the time approached 11 PM, she yawned and felt she might finally try to get some sleep. There was a soft knock on her door. She recognized the knock as Kahoku's. After checking her nightgown to make sure she was decent, Mayoni asked him to come in.

"Hi. I saw your light was still on. I was just coming back from my shower... I was wondering... Could we talk for a bit?"

"Sure! I was hoping we'd get a chance, but this week has flown by so fast! All packed?"

"Yeah. Kiana is too. Tom says we should all leave for the airport by 7 AM tomorrow..."

"Excited Kahoku?"

"Excited isn't the word for it. Is there an English word that combines ecstatic and terrified?"

"Ha! Not that I know of. I'm feeling the same way. I had no idea Tom and Ellen could move so fast with getting us visiting student approvals. I'll be at JABSOM in less than 48 hours. I start the enrollment process on Monday."

"JABSOM?"

"Oh. The John A. Burns School of Medicine. Hawaii, here I come! It's just a few minutes walk from downtown Honolulu. Living with such a tremendous number of people! It'll be so different! Do you and Kiana feel the same?"

"Oh yes. The UCLA campus will be overwhelming. Well, at least for me. Kiana is very resilient. I'm very happy for you Mayoni. Slots for mechanical engineering are common. Slots for molecular biology and genetics research are not. I don't know how Tom managed this."

"I do. He knows the Dean of Student Affairs there. I'll still have to prove myself, but I'm not worried about that."

Kahoku laughed. "No! I suppose not!"

"So... Kahoku..."

"Yes... I guess I just wanted some quiet time to say goodbye. It might be years until we meet again. And also... On Aina, somehow I feel I've never thanked you enough for saving my wife's life. I'll never forget the moment, watching you forgive her..."

"I won't either. All those people with stones... I felt afraid, even though I knew their anger wasn't directed at me."

"I didn't even know such a forgiveness ritual existed."

"It's very old. The only historical reference to it is from the early exploration times..."

"It was beautiful... I'm curious. Why do you think the forgiving person is on the bottom?"

"Oh! It's obvious! Being on the bottom is a display of trust. Trust should be part of forgiveness. Having the offending person on top shows that the person is being supported by both trust and forgiveness."

"Yes... Makes sense... Mayoni... Have you forgiven me? For swallowing Kiana's poison without confronting you with it?"

"Yes." Mayoni got up off her bed and came to stand in front of Kahoku. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "You had to mistrust somebody, me or Kiana. You were caught in a paradox."