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“Eh, aunty!” A warm voice caught her attention as she waited for her husband to return from his self-imposed mission. Akari looked around, mildly confused. Aunty? Was someone talking to her? “Yeah, you! Aunty, come over here! Get one question for you!” She looked for the source of the childish voice and saw a group of kids sitting in the shade of a large, flowering tree. One of them, a dark-skinned boy with a playful grin, was waving her over. His two friends — a boy who looked like he might be Kantonian and a girl with pale hair and even paler skin — looked at her curiously. Their eyes kept darting between the flower tucked behind her right ear and the wedding ring on her finger, curiosity clear their expressions. “No worry, we not goin' bite!” the boy teased. “We jus’ like ask you one question!”
If there was one thing Akari could indulge, it was irrepressible curiosity — especially if it was from children. She smoothed her skirt as she stood, walking over with her sandals hanging from her fingers. “Um, alola!” she said with a wave, utterly charmed when the trio echoed her greeting with various levels of confidence. “What was it you wanted to know?”
“So, you one tourist ah?” asked the boy who called her over. She nodded, unsure of where this conversation was leading. The possible Kantonian nudged the group’s elected speaker, nailing him with a pointed look. The boy startled and said, “Oh, sorry aunty! I nevah wen introduce myself ah?” He gestured towards himself with a sunny grin. “My name’s Hau! Deez guys is my friends, Elio —” the other boy waved “— an’ Lillie.” The girl’s smile was more timid than her friends’ but just as bright. “Come, sit, sit! Get planny space! No need fo’ stand around ah?” Hau insisted, patting an empty spot on their picnic blanket.
She took a seat, her smile softening as they scooted aside to make more room for her. It looked like the kids were in the middle of making something: there were piles of flowers and ferns on the blanket, along with several bundles of raffia and a handwritten journal. From her position, she could just about make out the title of the entry: Kupeʻe Making. “It’s very nice to meet all of you!” she said. “My name's Akari.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Akari,” Lillie said softly, no local accent to be heard. Her family must’ve moved here from Unova, then, Akari assumed. She certainly lacked the broad vowels of a Galarian, at least. “Um, I was just — I mean, we noticed that you, that, um — your — the flower —” The girl seemed to shrink in on herself the longer she stammered, almost as though she were expecting reproach for her nerves. Akari made sure her expression stayed open and curious even as concern blossomed in her chest. Why did the girl seem so nervous?
Elio gently brushed a hand against her trembling ones while Hau rested a calloused hand on the girl’s too-thin shoulder. “It’s okay,” Elio reassured her, a thick Kantonian accent stringing his syllables together just as Akari predicted. “I don’t think Akari-sa — Akari is like your mother.” The boy gave Akari a sidelong glance before adding, “And even if she was, Hau and I would stop her.” The blonde girl sucked in a shaky breath and nodded while Akari silently began plotting, making sure her pleasant expression never slipped. They hadn’t given her much to work with, but she had a name and a relationship. She had done more with less. Perhaps she and Volo would get into some trouble during their vacation.
All for a good cause, of course.
“You can take as much time as you need,” Akari said kindly, tucking away her violent thoughts for later. “Don’t push yourself to speak if you’re not comfortable with it.”
Lillie shook her head, making a small, determined noise that made Akari’s heart melt. The young girl reminded her a bit of Warden Iscan — nervous with a well-hidden core of steel. “No! I can do this!” the girl insisted, nerves melting away with the quiet support of her friends. She looked at Akari again, a determined expression on her face. Akari didn’t mention the fact she could tell the girl was staring at the flower in her ear rather than her face. “We were just wondering — aren’t you married?” A blush spread across the girl’s pale cheeks as the question spilled out in a hurried breath.
The question was completely unexpected. Akari blinked in surprise. The trio stared at her with varying levels of intense curiosity. “Um… yes…?” she answered slowly, brows furrowed in confusion. She twisted the wedding ring that sat comfortably on her finger, wondering why they had even asked.
Elio looked at her strangely as he took in her answer. “But… your flower…?” he asked as he mimed placing a flower behind his right ear. His question only confused her more.
“Yes…? Is there something… wrong with it?” She brushed her fingers over the soft petals of the plumeria Volo had plucked for her earlier. Was there some sort of local custom regarding flowers that she had missed? She hoped she wasn’t embarrassing herself in front of all of the locals. Volo would never let her live it down.
“You wearing ‘um wrong, aunty,” Hau sighed, shaking his head. “You said you get one dakine ah?” I have a what? Even though she wasn’t entirely sure she understood, Akari nodded in tentative agreement. “Den you gotta wear ‘um in your left ear. Addahwise you goin’ get da fakas down Hauʻoli side asking if you like oof.” The boy waggled his eyebrows mock flirtatiously as Lillie shrieked and smacked him hard, her face entirely red. It was clear that whatever the boy had said, it was lewd in some manner. Hau laughed loudly as Elio buried his equally red face in his hands with a groan. “Eh, eh, no ack you fakas!” Hau shouted gleefully. “Aunty is one pret~ty wahine!” He paused before slyly adding, “Eh, ‘Lio, your faddah stay gone ah? You t’ink —?”
Lillie tackled her friend, desperately covering his mouth with her hands. “Stop it!” she shouted, “You’re so embarrassing! That’s so — Hau! ” The boy cackled as he wrestled with her, Akari watching in amusement. Elio recovered enough from his embarrassment to snicker into his hand as Hau let himself be taken down by the skinny girl.
While the two friends wrestled with each other, Elio scooted closer to Akari. “You don’t have to change how you wear your flower if you don’t want to,” he said quietly. “Just because we know there’s a meaning doesn’t mean everyone else knows.” Laughter danced in his eyes as Lillie let out a triumphant shout, Hau squirming as he tried to get out of a headlock. “Lillie’s been trying to remember more…” His brow furrowed. “What did Hau call them again? Localisms?” Elio shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Well, anyway, she’s been trying to familiarise herself with local traditions and made the observation about your flower out loud; Hau just wanted to tease her a little bit so he called you over.”
Akari smiled and gently removed her plumeria so she could place it behind her left ear. “I think it suits me better like this,” she told him, glancing over to see the two other kids had stopped wrestling in order to stare at her. “Well?” she asked them. “What do you think?”
Lillie scrambled off of Hau, coming to sit next to Akari. “I think it looks very nice, Miss Akari!” she said with starry eyes. The boy sat up with a groan, rubbing his chest where Lillie had been sitting on him, but gave Akari a thumbs up. “Oh! Since you’re here, did you want to join us?” the girl asked eagerly. “Hau’s teaching us how to make ku… ku-pe…” Her face pinched as she tried to pronounce the Alolan word.
“Kupeʻe,” Hau said, sitting cross-legged near one of the piles of flowers. “Iss like one lei but small kine manini size,” he told Akari, gesturing towards the open page of the journal. “My tutu wen write some stuffs on how fo’ make ‘um. Like try? We get planny stuffs fo’ make ‘um wit’ cuz we like make enuff fo’ shea latahz.” He sounded earnest, but Akari couldn’t quite grasp what he was asking of her. It wasn’t as hard as understanding Guzma and Plumeria — those two had incredibly thick accents — but she still struggled with all the local slang.
Elio cleared his throat awkwardly, drawing her attention. “Don’t worry,” he said with a commiserating smile. “It’s a bit hard to understand him if you didn’t grow up here. I’ve gotten better at it, but Arceus knows I still struggle sometimes.” Hau stuck his tongue out at Elio, teasing but seemingly unhurt by his friend's words. Elio returned the gesture, pulling his lower eyelid down as he did so. Lillie sighed and shook her head, feigning disappointment over their immaturity, but Akari could see the corners of her lips shaking as she fought back a smile. Turning back to her, Elio explained, “We wanted to know if you’d like to make kupeʻe with us, which are like…” He paused, fishing for the right word.
“Maybe you could call them ‘wrist lei’ in Unovan?” Lillie suggested shyly, looking towards Hau for approval. The boy frowned briefly in thought, but the expression quickly morphed into one of approval. Lillie immediately brightened, buoyed by her friend’s acceptance. Akari smiled at the pair. It was sweet how the boys cared for their friend.
“Thank you for that suggestion, Lillie. I really appreciate it! I think I have a better idea of what you’re all talking about now,” Akari said before turning to Hau. “I know that this must be some sort of native Alolan item. Could you tell me its proper name again and a little bit about it?” she asked. Watching the boy’s expression loosen in joy told her this was the correct question to ask.
The boy quickly pushed the old journal towards her, showing her handwritten instructions and lovingly drawn diagrams. “Iss called a kupeʻe,” he said, all but shoving Elio out of the way in his eagerness to explain. The Kantonian didn’t seem to mind — he carefully scooted out of the way, moving to sit by Lillie. “Takes small kine long time fo’ make ‘um but I t’ink we get enuff time fo’ each make one ah? No need rush though, get planny time before my tutu said I gotta be home.”
The two other kids leaned forward to stare at the instructions as Hau read them aloud, pointing at each item as it was mentioned. Akari listened attentively as well, trying to memorise as much of it as possible. If this was part of Hau’s culture, then she would do everything in her power to support him. Volo, she knew, would love to do so as well. With a satisfied smile, she settled herself more comfortably on the ground and listened to her new friend chatter on.
When Volo finally extracted himself from the malasada truck, the coveted pink box cradled in his sunburned hands, he realised Akari was no longer seated on the bench he last saw her on. He wasn’t all that surprised — he had been trapped in that Arceus-forsaken line for over two hours, after all. “Now, if I were Akari, where would I go?” he mumbled to himself, scanning the busy sidewalk for a glimpse of his wife. Realising she wasn’t in the immediate vicinity of the food truck, he began walking towards Kalaʻe Beach Park. Akari had always loved the beach, after all.
The sound of childish laughter along with his wife’s amused voice reached his ears, drawing his attention to the large Aguav tree near where the grass met the sandy shore. There sat Akari and three unknown children, each of them laughing as they wrapped raffia strands around plant cuttings to attach them to a hand-woven cord. Volo smiled. It had been a long time since… he shook his head. No need to get caught up in those memories. He jogged over, careful to not drop his precious cargo. “Akari, I’m back!” he called, watching her look up in surprise.
“Oh! Volo, you survived!” she said, though she didn’t wave. He understood why, of course — her deft hands were still wrapping raffia around the ends of her plant cuttings. He could identify hāpuʻu ferns and palapalai, with a few gorgeous māmane blossoms for colour. His wife always had an eye for aesthetics. “Come, meet the kids!” she called. Jerking her head slightly, she said, “This is Hau, Elio, and Lillie. They invited me over to make some —”
Akari’s sentence was cut off before she could finish by an excited shout. “HO, UNCLE, YOU GET MALASADA?!” yelled the green-haired kid — Hau — eyes intent on the box in Volo’s hands. “You like, uh, like let me sam’po some, ke ʻoluʻolu?” The boy made a pitiful attempt at Lilipup eyes while Elio lightly smacked his shoulder and Lillie quietly scolded him. Akari simply laughed as she returned to her task, humming a familiar tune.
Something warm bubbled in his chest as he slipped off his sandals and sat on the edge of the plant-covered blanket, letting the kids each take one malasada from the box. A dozen was a bit too much for two people to eat all by themselves, after all. Volo listened as the kids chattered and joked amongst themselves, Hau trying to teach Volo how to weave raffia while simultaneously taking bites out of his haupia-filled malasada, Elio and Lillie watching with a mixture of disgust and fondness. Volo closed the pastry box and dusted his hands free of sugar before grabbing the appropriate amount of raffia, tying the strands into a knot and sliding it between his toes as instructed. Hau hastily wiped his hands clean — the boy could eat quickly, it seemed — and started weaving together a new raffia cord, showing Volo what to do instead of simply telling him.
Lillie crawled over to Akari’s side and whispered something in his wife’s ear, casting unsubtle glances over her shoulder at him as she spoke. Whatever the girl said elicited a warm smile and approving nod from his wife so he let them be, returning his focus to Hau’s movements. A few minutes later, he was startled from his weaving by small hands moving his hand and sliding a fragrant puakenikeni behind his left ear. “It’s a gift from Miss Akari,” Lillie whispered loudly before hastily retreating to Elio’s side. The three children looked between Akari and Volo, giggling excitedly into their hands. He glanced over at Akari, raising an eyebrow in question. The woman merely smiled, brushing her fingers over the plumeria tucked behind her left ear before returning to her work.