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Pearl’s smile rivaled the light of the sun the day her brother kept his promise to come back for her. She giggled and shouted “kuya!”, grabbing the merchants’ attention who just shook their head affectionately for the one whom they call the daughter of the seas. 

His head finally stops from moving to one side from the other, trying to locate her when her hand waved. His lips copied her smile and she grinned, dashing to him who quickly put down the presents he had for her, wrapped neatly in cloth. He opened his arms and she jumped to him, surprising him with her eagerness, but more surprised that the knot tying his short cape wasn’t ruined with her embrace. 

She put herself back to her own feet, giggling still and he knows she just has to say something. 

“Pearl…” he starts.

“Oh, it’s amazing, kuya! They finally approved of my endless request to train with my very own swords! I could finally rid myself of those fake ones that aren’t even gorgeous at all!” 

He laughs, remembering her letters, of the first 2 to 3 pages filled with complaints about her arnis when she does better than her counterparts, and the last 3 or so pages about what she finds interesting or of new foreigners coming to trade. Although, sometimes, her sentences are cut short because a pink butterfly landed on the window, I wish we have a pink-colored pearl, or the prince in Sumatra gave me a gold bracelet, oh right, I think my neighbor stole my friend’s salt deposit, and many more that Cha’ah Toh can’t keep up most of the time. 

But he persists in reading because it takes many moons for him to be able to visit her islands again, and the ramblings on her papers make him feel like she’s just right there, recalling events mundane and unaffecting her like they were only apart for hours. 

He picks up his bundled cloth first, “why? Can you design them better?” 

“Hm… no! But the friend I made, the one who came from the Arabian Peninsula, they have far better designs!” He stares at her and she looks away because he knows what she meant, “it’s more colorful.” She admits quietly. 

He smiles and they start walking towards a more secluded spot in the shore, “how about the design of your very own swords?” 

“I was hoping you could help me choose,” she shyly answers, she sits first, her legs stretched out so the waters kiss at her feet so fleetingly, but he thinks it’s so her sky blue tapis lambung won’t be wrinkled too much. He follows, his legs crossed and he fixes his long hip-cloth to support the bundled cloth of her presents, “what’s inside that?” 

He gives her a look, “I think you know.”

She also gives him a look, sharper than his, “I think I know they are your presents for me, but I don’t know what’s inside.” She removes her orange silk shawl and tosses it beside her. 

He shrugs, detangling the secured knot. Her gasp was enough to calm him down, that his choices were correct. He’s aware Pearl fancies anything pretty, expensive or not, and keeps them for herself, often displaying it in her own room but he’s also aware that she is meticulous. Not more than him, but enough for him to go searching for the perfect pieces her eyes would delight on. 

She picks up the thing he knew she would inquire about first, a headdress filled with her name attached by a net, serving as the base, sewed with gold thread, a technique he learnt from her people. Dangling from both ends are braid-like cloth with more pearls like she’s dripping with it. “What…” 

She looks at him and his smile, no matter how small, cannot be contained. He gently removes the head cloth wrapped securely around her head, tying her hair in a bun at the back of it, one of her favorite textiles she got from when her uncle traveled to Siam. Then the gold ornament that pierces through her bun. 

“Should I have my hair loose when I wear it?” 

“No,” he answered but her wavy locks fell gracefully on her shoulders, “it just gives the impression that you are raining pearls.” He puts the headdress at the crown of her hair, her fingers delicately touching the dangling pearls. “Here,” he raises two pins that look invisible but sparkle so brightly with the sea, “I made it with our blue-green metal so it will look like your head-piece is a part of you.” 

He secures one pin behind her right ear, “can you feel it?” he asks. 

She blinks, “not anymore, only when you were putting it on.” He smiles and moves to the other, “how will I be able to find them? Once I put it in my shell?” Shell, that’s what she calls her open container of accessories, the size of her palm, where she found a brown pearl she so besots. 

“If it sparkles. Your islands are rich in sun and sea, you won’t have a difficult time looking for it.” He hands her a mirror, a new one, her face lights up because her brother remembered her laments of her own small mirror being broken. 

“Are these jade?” She asked, awe laced in her voice the same way the jade encircles her mirror. He hums and she looks at her side, her lips parting to smile when the pin sparkles, “I see it!” He lets her marvel at her new headdress. “I’m not sure I have to put my ornaments on once I wear this.” 

“That’s why I sewed it with gold,” she looks at him like he’s the smartest person she has ever met, “so you can always be protected.” 

“And because I cannot be seen without them.” 

“Okay,” he relents. 

She puts down the mirror and puts her golden hairpiece on the cloth that once wrapped her head just earlier. 

“What are your choices for your sword?”

“I only am picking between two,” she answers, unwrapping one of the chocolates he’s brought her, she knows there’s many more that his men are probably bringing to her home right now, “the first one is a classic, with a normal wooden handle but its sheath has a golden dragon embedded on it.” 

“And the second one?” 

She puts another chocolate in his mouth to shut him up, “I like how different the second one is,” she looks at him, “its handle and hilt is made out of pure gold, and the hilt mimics the open mouth of our Bakunawa.” 

“The blade?” 

“Well, it’s a Kampilan,” he nods, “and I don’t know why they’re making me choose one, I have two hands for two swords!” He chuckles at her stressed look, her ability to make a big deal out of things amuses him, “but they assessed with the way I fight, I can handle a sword and a dagger better.” 

“Do you have one?” 

“I wrote a letter to a friend I made in Borneo, if he could suggest to me some, all I was asking for was designs, kuya,” she takes a deep breath, “he ended up sending me actual daggers.” He breaks into a cackle, “do you know how long I appealed to my elders that it wasn’t a gesture of insult from me nor my friend! All I wanted was looks! I do not demean the danger our own weaponry possesses!” 

“But have you used them?” 

“A few, I was thinking of giving some of them to you, or at least even two if you won’t be piqued enough. Is this a Mayan shawl?” 

“A wrap for your legs,” he carefully unravels it and she giggles, the cream color along with intricacies by the lower portion as it meant to be worn for her legs, “to match your golden bangles.” 

Her fingers dance along the only colors of her wrap, “is this Chaac’s symbolism?” 

He smiles at her quickness, “yes, so he could protect you when I couldn’t.” 

Her face grows soft and somber, “I have my own gods, though.” She says meekly and he smiles at her attempt to cover her gratitude. 

“Then they could talk, help each other to keep you away from harm.” 

She frowns like she wants to say something, like she attracts the very harm that might make the gods come down to this world, “can he understand Cebuano or Ilokano, though? Could my gods understand Mayan?” 

He deadpans, “we are talking in Ilokano… right now,” she blinks, “despite being in Cebu… right now.” 

“Well because you’re on my island, but how does it work up there?” He just shakes his head and she grins at having exhausted her brother’s patience when the sun has no plans on setting yet, “but at least I now have a god of rain too,” she looks at him, “someone that has to do with water again.” 

She stares at the beach before them and he stares at her sudden quiet. The markings on her face, of snakes and the waves, how he thought it was funny she lacks their symbol of the flower on her cheek. Yet the stripes of plants and crops on her arms down to her legs never lacked. One would think she has achieved a lot in her young age but Cha’ah Toh thinks of the world of her when she was born. 

“Do you still mainly pray to Bathala?” 

She sighs, clasping a gold and jade necklace around her neck, another of his gifts, “it’s not like I have any other choice.” He sees a black lace with a pendant hiding in her tapis.

“What do you mean?” 

They share the same father, Pearl and him, and Cha’ah Toh has never been more certain she is the only person in the world he loves. Their father is a very, very powerful man back home in the Aztec and Yucatan, but it’s no use in the face of the elders of her mother who have the backings of many a rajahnates and sultanates that stretch beyond the shores of her island, of empires connected by trade. Pearl’s birth was an unordinary one, but so many had already loved her. 

Yet it doesn’t put to ease his growing anxiety at the tragedy disgracing his sister’s beautiful face. “I started praying to Bathala more and more, at the suggestion of the Babaylans because of what they had foreseen.” 

“About?” 

“My death.” 

His heart stops. Or he’s certain it did. Pearl is young, too young to be faced with such rooted fate. 

“I stopped trying to understand it, I preferred making offerings to the gods instead because it was easier. And if it’s to happen, why should I spend my suns and moons worrying about it?” 

“Well, I worry now.” 

She chuckles, although it sounded like a scoff, “you worry about me all the time, kuya.” 

His eyebrows furrowed as he took her right hand, a lone flower painted with ink and her blood, “how could I not?” She didn’t say anything, couldn’t think of anything, so he asks even if his heart is breaking and guilt eats at Pearl, “what of it? What about it could you not understand?” 

“Well, they said it will come from another foreign land, another foreign ship, but most of those who come and go here are people we already know, people whose people before them have connected with the people before me. They have me wear an amulet from my maternal grandfather’s land in the North,” she shows him the pendant, “the Head Babaylan demanded it so when she saw of my life’s end. I just accepted because it looks pretty.” 

He scoffs, but he didn’t miss it when she squeezed his hand to relax him. “It is pretty.”

Her eyes lit up, “I am correct!” She giggled, “I just, I don’t want to spend my time worrying about the people who go here in good faith, and I have responsibilities here, too, both land and sea and,” she looks at him, “I have a brother to write letters to.” 

“Pearl.” 

“Don’t worry, I asked about you when they saw, they confirmed I still have much plenty of time with you.” He didn’t say anything, only gripped her hand, “I’m sorry, kuya, should I not have–” 

“No,” his thumb caresses over her painted hand, “it’s a good thing you shared it with me, I’ll have our own elders divine about it, I may be able to link similarities or possible events and then…”

“And then, what? You’re going to prevent it?” She kids around and Cha’ah Toh wishes she hasn’t surrendered the destiny of her own life in the hands of her Creator, that a selfish part of him wishes to tell her that she has another creator from his land. But the one who bore and nourished his sister is a child of Bathala, therefore, subjecting Pearl under that God’s supervision. 

“I won’t pretend I don’t want to stop it,” he starts and she looks at him, for the first time in that week, she’s the one who relaxes, “I am aware– and I respect, that your Babaylans’ connection to the gods and your ancestors are very strong and extremely accurate,” he pauses before looking at her, “but my blood is in yours too, Pearl, if I cannot prevent your death then I will postpone it. For a day, a week, a month, a year, I will postpone it.” 

“I know you will,” she blinks and the wariness he didn’t know was in her eyes disappeared, “besides, I haven’t felt it yet.” He stares and she pouts, “when my death might be.” 

“They told you that you will?” She nods, then she takes a portion of her hair to knot a small bun, grabbing the ornament, she swiftly pierce through it and Cha’ah Toh feels like it was him who was stabbed. He wonders why that is, if it’s some sort of premonition or it’s just his anxiety getting the best of him. “Did they say how you will die?” 

She chooses from the rings then she picks the purple and red one, adorning it on her left ring and middle fingers. “They say it will be fast– oh, wow, so it’s this type of purple.” 

He got distracted, “type to what?” 

She smiles at him and he settles down, “to suit any red.” She looks at her hand, painted with a crab, “I think some silver will suit them.” She cackles, “finally! Bathala was just telling me to be patient.” Before he could ask what she meant, her head turned to a new set of voices from their behind, some language he couldn’t quite understand. “Oh, from Dai Viet.” 

She calls and waves to them, he looks back too to see three young ladies around her age with men that stand and look like their assigned guards. She gestured to the accessories he got for her and spoke their language. She giggled at something one of the three ladies said, he reckons he’ll wait until they finish so he could ask. He could never get the pronunciation of their words right and it frustrates him even if Pearl is very patient with him. 

He didn’t have to wait long since she’s done with her chatting. “What did they say?” 

“I told them about the gifts you’ve got me and that you have many more waiting at my house, and she said she’s jealous!” She answered with pride in her grin that he copied it almost instantly. 

“Well, why wouldn’t she be?” 

She puckered her lips, “why would she be jealous! She’s the one who has gold rain on her! She learned we sewed gold thread on our clothes and she never stopped paying for it!” 

She was about to add something very random but her eye caught one of the warriors who always accompany Cha’ah Toh. “Our time has been cut short.” 

“Don’t worry, after we all eat, we can go ahead by the river. My lolo gave me the whole day today since he knew it’s your arrival.” 

He packs some of the untouched gifts back to the cloth along with her hair accessories, he stands up and offers his hand to assist her. She accepts and wordlessly grabs the bundled cloth from his arms, hugging it. “So, what have you prepared?”

“Boiled chicken soup! With potatoes, cabbage, and Chinese chard.” They started walking, some of his men tailing them, “and peanut sauce stew– nope! Not the one from Aztec, but from the Moros down in our South.” 

One of the vendors gave her a small bottle with a potion inside like it was overdue. She gives him her thanks and they continue walking. “What’s that for?” 

“Lolo has been quite sick these days, and I couldn’t mix up a medicine for him so I just asked them for a favor. Today really is my only free day.” The sun shone a bit brighter, “see, the sun agreed.” 

“When was the last time you had seafood?” 

“Oh, the first day, it was the same day we had a huge shipment and trade of meat, I’m not interested in what they do with their animals… out there,” she gestures to the air, “do you know how aggravating it is to practice rowing?!” 

She insisted on preparing the porcelain eating ware for her, her brother, and her grandfather at the main low table she regularly eats. His men also insisted on eating outside their house so the family may share some privacy. They couldn’t stop her from serving them food, though. 

“Lolo, isn’t my new headdress so beautiful?” She asks, bowing her head so her grandfather could inspect closely. Cha’ah Toh feels sick even if the elderly man only holds love for his only granddaughter, his markings more intricate than hers, doubled or even tripled all over his body. 

“It truly is.” He faces Cha’ah Toh, “from your gold deposits?” 

“They are meshed with the ones Pearl gave me.” Her grandfather nods approvingly and he internally sighs a relieved one, although Pearl’s small smirk and knowing glance let him know he’s caught. 

They sat down when her grandfather did, she instinctively served him rice first before the soup. Cha’ah Toh was about to get rice for himself when Pearl slapped his hand away. “Ouch.” 

She gives him a look, “sit still.” 

Her grandfather laughed and Cha’ah Toh puckered his lips, massaging his hand and showing it to the man who motioned to let it be, “you know how she gets.” 

Pearl gasps at their team up and her brother snickers. She then takes Cha’ah Toh’s plate to put some rice then his bowls for the two main dishes. It has been an unspoken agreement that the one who serves food to the other is the one who’s being visited. While Pearl had always had servants at her call, she’s always preferred something to do with her hands. She didn’t miss that opportunity when he visited her the first time with their father when she was a child. “I also have a present for you, Chief.” 

“I told you Lolo is fine.” 

“Why do you have a gift for my lolo?” She asks suspiciously, settling down once she’s had her share of the food. 

He blinks in question this time, “why would I not?” 

She raises a brow, “because he’s my lolo?” He closes his eyes and sighs, making her grandfather laugh. She takes a sip of the chicken soup before irritating him again, “don’t you have your own grandparents to give presents to?” 

“No.”

She shrugs, “but I have.” 

Before her grandfather could scold her, she then takes a sip of the stew and nods approvingly, she looks at the latter, “the Sultan knows what he’s doing when he sent us this.” 

The casual talks and catching ups start, with Pearl’s busy mornings with swords and long afternoons at sea, nightly town duties and divination practices. No wonder he felt her truly relaxed when they were at the shore earlier, she must’ve only rested now that her brother is here. 

“He told me that his son is grateful to you, for having brought their instruments up North.” Her grandfather answered, “now, they are establishing links with the people up there and plans to have us be the intermediary.” 

“Well, it’s a fantastic instrument for one, Lolo, and an easy one to play too. Unlike one of kuya’s instruments.” 

Cha’ah Toh sighs, “you will just put your hand inside the opening as you blow.” 

“What?”

He shakes his head. 

“Toh, how is business over your domain?” Her grandfather asks. His tasks are overlooking trade and alliances with neighboring empires, which was what brought his daughter and the siblings’ father together in the first place. Cha’ah Toh answers that the Aztec Empire wants to strengthen the ties with the island and expand it to Manila and the Moros when they caught wind of the trade with China. 

The Chief nods approvingly, a smile evident on his face that Cha’ah Toh thinks if it weren’t for the nature of Pearl’s birth, he and their father would make great partners in their lands’ economies. “I told Pearl to start learning their language, China, but she doesn’t want to.” 

He glances at his sister, “she did tell me her days and nights are very occupied.” 

“They don’t interest me enough.” She corrects nonchalantly and he notices that the material she eats from is still gold, not the porcelain they have traded with– or it may be tokens of alliance from the latter’s kingdoms. She’s usually so open and welcoming so he notes at the back of his mind to question her about this later.

Her grandfather ignored it, knowing she can never be too occupied if she wanted to learn something, that’s what got her into divination after all. “When do they want to discuss it? Are they coming here some time after you?” He asks her brother instead. 

“They would like to formally invite Pearl to come instead.” Her eyes widened, she’s only ever limited to visit the boundaries of his mother’s village so this news both excites and terrifies her. He smiles at her reassuringly so she turns her head to her grandfather. 

“Is that why you’ve come here?” 

He shakes his head, “no, I came here for my sister. The empire will only send an invite on her response,” he looks at her, “and her visit rests upon her decision.” 

The Chief hums, “you can go once your teachers find your sword and dagger skills satisfactory.” 

She groans, “I want my two swords!” 

“Interchange it.” 

She slumps on her seat like the young adult she is but she sits upright eventually when her grandfather gives her extra vegetables from his own plate. He did the same to Cha’ah Toh with a chicken. This gesture isn’t new to him, but he’s always had the initial impression that the Chief might not want to have anything to do with them, not especially when her birth caused the death of her mother. They often note how she’s the exact replica of her mother she has never seen, Cha’ah Toh is inclined to believe it if it weren’t for her manner of talking, the exact way their father talks. He decides now is not the time to mention him even though the Chief has never minded. 

After eating, one of the villagers asked for the Chief and Pearl’s assistance on a misunderstanding between a local merchant and a trader from the Dai Viet. She is about to put her hair on a bun when her grandfather stopped her and instead told her to spend time with her brother. 

She reluctantly lets go of her hair but she knows her grandfather’s appearance expeditiously calms situations down. He fixes her loose hair, “father has a present for you.” 

She just looks at him but doesn’t say anything. He walks to her room where he had her men put it, she follows quietly. Pearl has never gotten the awkwardness that arrives whenever there’s a mention of their father, and not because of her parents’ bad history but because she never felt close to him as she does with her brother. 

She sits on her bed and he sits on a chair across her vanity, he takes the arm’s length of a wooden box and opens it, revealing three jaded side combs of various designs and purposes. He watches the delight unfold in her face, the Chief once told him that Pearl also inherited her mother’s likeliness to ornaments so Cha’ah Toh stopped questioning his father as to why he’s only ever made things for her. 

“Shall I try it on for your hair?” She nods. He removes her pearly headdress and invisible pins as her fingers glide along the combs. He takes one and a portion of her hair to slide onto her scalp above her left ear. 

“Ooh, that feels cold.”

He smiles at the innocent tone. Her mother was the Chief’s only daughter, and she only knows of her through what others know of. How she would’ve taken over the mainland trade, her younger brother over the maritime trade– the one who got Pearl textiles from Siam, and an older one for the commandeering of ships. One of her cousins, from the ship's uncle, stays in Java with his wife longer than in Cebu and his father’s responsibilities fall on Pearl. 

The elders wanted Cha’ah Toh’s father banished from the island, for fear it might bring more deaths, but it was her grandfather who stood his ground, telling them that Pearl cannot be denied a father and a brother who’s hold her dear in his heart. That trade with the Yucatan Peninsula and the Mesoamerica was blossoming, and it would be foolish to close the doors on them. And Pearl has so much to prove to them even if he believes the world would’ve been content had she been just a young girl who likes shiny things. 

“Look.” She looks at the mirror and her smile is unmatched. The green goes well with her sky blue tapis lambung, complementing her brown skin. 

“This one has more teeth.” She comments on the second one, he takes it and starts brushing it through her locks. 

“I told him you prefer to keep your hair long,” he glides it up to the crown of her head, “so he made these to have different functions.” She grabs one of her gold hairsticks and pierces one through the middle back of the jade comb. 

“That looks good.” 

He looks at the mirror where she’s staring, their eyes meet and they share a laugh. He takes the last one, “you don’t have to agree if you don’t want to.” She looks at him, “Aztec.” 

She casts her gaze downwards, letting her brother style the right portion of her hair differently than the left, “I don’t think lolo would let go of such an opportunity,” she tells him, “besides, it’s natural that the islands would seek bridges to your lands–” 

“If you don’t want to.” 

She pauses, taking in what he meant, “why are you cutting me off?” He gives her a smile, she looks at how he used the last comb, “I like this style.”
“Why do you not learn the China’s language?” 

“I don’t feel comfortable with them, I can’t explain it, I just don’t.” 

“Then you don’t have to explain yourself.” She blushes and smiles at him, he holds her chin like a feather and she sees pride swirl at his face. 

“Am I pretty?” 

He lets go, “you look ugly.” 

She frowns, “I don’t think your mother ever taught you to be a liar.” 

He scoffs, removing the combs positioned on her right and left, “father never kept you nor your mother a secret.” 

Pearl understood. She decides to shrug it off, “well, how else would your leader invite me?” He smiles at her evasion of the topic, only murmuring a quiet that’s true. And his mother is sympathetic to his sister, maybe that’s why he’s able to visit her when he can and when he wishes to. 

He puts the two inside the wooden box and places it on the table, his eye catches a bulkier and taller one but she doesn’t utter a comment. He will totally ask her about it later. “Let’s go to the river? You can bathe there while I lie on that big stone I have one of… my acquaintances carved.” 

He keeps silent even as they and his men walk to the river. Then he sees the said big stone carved like a slant discreetly. He sighs and she feels his eyes on the back of her head, “is this by the Prince of Suma–”

“Yes.” 

He scoffs, chuckling right after and Pearl’s cheeks heat up more. “Will you quit that?!” 

“I saw that box carved with roses all over, I know it’s from him too.” Her avoidance answers him, “why don’t you marry him?” 

She raises a brow, offended at the question, “why don’t you have a wife?” 

His men stifled an amused chuckle and he looked at them in disbelief. “So it’s funny?” 

“They wouldn’t smile if it wasn’t.” Pearl answers for them, he shakes his head and proceeds to the water, her to the big rock, lying down with the view away from the river and having her hair hang by its edges. If Cha’ah Toh doesn’t know it’s his sister by the rock, he would assume it’s some random head of hair facing them. 

“Should I wash your hair after I bathe?” 

“No, I already lathered it with ointments last night. But you better choose between my swords and daggers, for the best combination.” 

He short circuits for a second, wondering how the topic of her hair connects to the topic of her training. He just said yes to satisfy her. 

It was the seventh setting sun of his visit, and he and Pearl were cooling down from their sparring. Wearing a matching brown baru blouse and tapis, he also wears a tapis that she bought for him. She was teaching him some new technique she learnt from her teacher’s friend in Siam yet none of her counterparts are free to practice it with. Not that they are equal or greater than me! she boasts.

“I want to take this home.” Cha’ah Toh said, still admiring the bolo he used. Pearl used her Kampilan so she will be more comfortable in using it. “Is this yours?”

“It was my uncle’s, the one who died in the shipwreck.” She pants, “you can have it, I don’t think he would have minded.” 

“Are you sure?”

She waves his worries off, “yes, I am sure, besides it’s not the only thing he unintentionally left behind. Just like his ship duties.” He chuckles at the way her eyes roll at her last sentence. 

“You never got used to it, huh?” 

“Never! I swim, not command a navy! Those are two different things!” She flails her arms in the air which she instantly regrets, “ow.” He walks to her and massages her left upper arm. “I wanted a colorful sword for myself yet I find myself comfortable with my golden Kampilan, it’s almost as if this is the extension of my arms, my extension,” Cha’ah Toh lets her talk, massaging her right arm, “but my coach said that I fare better with the dragon-sheath one– see! And they force me to choose!” 

“You beat me thrice earlier.” He commented. 

“Well, it’s because I knew the technique first. I just feel handicapped or unbalanced because they’re not both short nor both long. Do you think they’ll ever allow me to use two swords?” 

“Why ask their permission?” He looks at her and she frowns, he sighs, knowing she has tried to fight for what she wanted, “then learn it fast and learn it best, that’s the only way you can get what you want.” 

“I lost twice to you today, how is that best?” 

He deadpans, “it’s best because you beat me more than I did you.” 

She swings her legs, “okay, but is my dagger pretty?” He scoffs, “right, I haven’t shown you my Borneon dagger collection.” 

“I’ve already seen five.” 

“But that’s not all.” He blinks, “those are what I have practiced with, I like how the handle feels on my palm.” She stands up and clings her arm to his as they walk back home. “When are you leaving again?”

“15th moon.” 

“At night? Isn’t that dangerous?” 

“Our fortune teller told us we would be able to go home safer if we did during this expedition.” 

She nods, “lolo will probably have our star readers figure out my safest travel days.” 

“For?” 

“For Aztec’s invite! I have no other reason to venture to other islands or lands, they come here! Just like you!” He chuckles and she grins, she rests her head on his arm, “did they choose me because I’m your half-sister?” 

“Yes, and they’re aware of how frequent I visit you when I can.” She giggles, he stops on his track and so does she, he looks at her, “since you are going to agree on this trip, once you are there, and you suddenly want to back out, just run to me and tell me, you can leave whenever you want.” 

“I’m not even there yet!” She pouted, “but don’t worry, I know I can trust you.” He takes a deep breath and caresses her hair, “then again, I am a woman of my word! Just like you! Why would I take it back?” They continue walking and she randomly raises her sword in the air, her eyes fixated on the gold handle and hilt, “look at how it glistens.”

“Chief.” 

Pearl looks by the entrance of their house to see her grandfather standing, unusually waiting for them to come back. It turns out, her main coach wouldn’t be able to assess her skills for her sword and dagger coordination. “How will I be able to go to kuya’s land if that’s the case?” 

“He said he will do so when you return home, he is preparing for his departure to Burma–”

“Burma? Have we ever had contact with them?” 

“No, but this is an attempt. He probably likened his travel to Burma akin to yours in the Aztec Empire so he’s letting you go for this one time.” 

“Why don’t you assess me then?”

He sighs, “I would say you’re great even without you starting.” Cha’ah Toh chuckles and Pearl grins. “You’ve practiced with your brother?” 

“I beat him three times!” 

After five minutes of arguing who gets to bathe first, Pearl relents and refreshens herself up by the river while Cha’ah Toh helps their cooks prepare dinner since she requested for him to do so. The dinner later on was a bit quiet, and the Chief didn’t push for conversations, witnessing how exhausted the siblings might’ve been with all their sparring. That didn’t stop Pearl from commenting on whatever her mind reminds her of. After some rest, she laid out the rest of her daggers on the floor because it’s wider and forced Cha’ah Toh to choose which he fancies. 

As he’s picking between six, three to take home, her grandfather finally speaks, “what is your decision?” Both of them look at him, “Pearl?” she glances at her brother first, “about Aztec.” 

“I’ll go– you already told my teacher about it.” 

“Because I assumed you will.” He clears his throat, “I’ll have the diviners set out your dates and times.” She didn’t say anything, looking back at the daggers on the floor but Cha’ah Toh’s eyes were on her, “not only do you look like your mother and starting to take over her duties, but also your other uncle.” 

She glances at her brother before looking at her grandfather again, “it’s not like I can do any other things.” 

He stands up and pats on her back, “you’ll get the hang of it.”

It was the following day when he had the star readers come personally to their house when Pearl had barely woken up and Cha’ah Toh rose early to trade with local and foreign merchants alike. Their calloused hands took hold of Pearl’s soft and wounded ones, smoke of some burning plants and woods permeated her room and she didn't have the time to register what was going on. The sun was only beginning to rise, her back not fully upright as she sits, her palms open, another reader with her chart carved on Narra wood. 

Three weeks. It will only be after three weeks where the favorable weather suits her travels. She heard those words again, the same words she’s heard from the Babaylans about her end: fast, quick, there’s a new one though: abrupt. What would be abrupt? She thinks. Another phrase: cut short. What is? Another question. 

Her grandfather was asking more questions, his words gibberish to her ears. She starts to feel dizzy, her brother appearing in her mind, he won’t let them have her in this state for far too long, so where is he? She groans, trying to move away but the grip of the reader’s hands tightens around hers. She feels like puking, or even collapsing even if she’s still on her bed. It’s too early for this, her day isn’t even that occupied.

She tried remembering what she has planned: morning would be for her friends from different lands, afternoon would be rowing with Cha’ah Toh, night would be for– 

The reader lets go of her hands, and before she could fully black out, she finds her brother running to her. 

“I will still write you letters even if you’ll see me again after 21 moons.” Pearl tells Cha’ah Toh by the dock, “traders from China gave me new writing materials.” 

“In exchange for you learning their language?” 

“No, they said the daughter of one of their researchers like my face.” She answered. 

He stifles a teasing laugh but she stomps her foot so he clears her throat, “the prince of Sumatra has another competition, huh?” 

“What competition!” She huffs, “you’re the one who told them I wrote you letters!”

“I didn’t tell only them, I was talking to a lot the day the readers went to you. Then I felt troubled on the inside, turns out, they were already reading on you while you weren’t fully rested.” She didn’t say anything, “what did she want in exchange for your letter materials?” He teased. 

“Nothing.” He gives her a look and she frowns a little, making her look like the child she is, it makes him think for a second if she’s really ever had a minute to herself beyond the times they spent together, “I’m serious! Nothing! They just gave it to me and their interpreter told me that the researcher’s daughter wanted to give it to me for no reason. I told them I’m still not interested in their language but they brushed it off.” 

One of his men announced that their ship is ready to sail and Pearl feels her chest tighten, now that she will be able to go to him after a short period of time after his visit, it feels a lot longer than it did before, some taking months, some taking years. 

He looked back at his men and told them he will be there shortly, when he faces Pearl, she hugs him before he has the chance to do so first. It’s similar to the eagerness when he first arrived, but something about her arms almost compel him to not let her go, or to take her with him on his journey back to his peninsula and village. 

“It’s okay,” he says before he can think about it, “we’ll see each other again, the sea is always here for us.” 

She squeezed around his shoulders one last time before letting go. He cups his cheeks and smiles at her reassuringly, and Pearl could feel like she might just weep. She does not want to be separated from him. And he knows that look on her face, like her mind is racing faster than she could row on her cousin’s boat, so before thinking about it, he just does it. 

He leaned his forehead to hers, “I’m here for you, Pearl. I’m always with you.” She takes a deep breath and nods, but he doesn’t let go until her shoulders fully relaxed. He retrieves, looking at her, “feeling better?” She gives him a small smile, “good. See you after 21 moons.”

“Reply to my letters!” 

“Of course.” 

He turns around and walks up his ship, the three daggers he chose from her collection hanging by the belt cloth he wears with hooks from a Persian trader. Once aboard, he fixates his eyes on her and it’s the only thing keeping Pearl from breaking down. She wraps her shawl around her to have something to hold on to. She feels her amulet and she grips on it. They start to sail and when he begins growing smaller in her sight, he waves to her. She waves back.

She watches until one by one, her brother’s ships are one with the dark horizon. 

And as the last ship disappears, Pearl sobs. 

Pearl is clad in gold and drips with her namesake that make her paintings so striking. Her smile once again rivals the light of the bright sun that hangs over her brother’s village. Respected elders await her and she has to be slow in accepting their customary greetings even if her feet itch to dash to her brother waiting for her at the end of the line. 

One of the elders complimented the flower marking on her right hand and she thanked her in their language. Another man wears around her shoulders a blue-green cape that mimics the color of the sea and blends well with the kebaya her cousin got her from Java a long time ago. She figured that her brother told them of her abilities. 

She finally reached her brother who opened his arms for her embrace. Pearl admits deep inside that she worries she might not be accepted and that the elders may frown upon her presence, being born out of wedlock, but Cha’ah Toh decides to greet her with the reason why. 

“You are so lovely.” He compliments and she grins, his eyes smile when he sees the pearl headdress he gave her is so delicately still on her hair, her neck adorned with some more pearls he made for her during his stay on her island, blending well with the gold garlanding her neck like snakes. “You look just like your namesake.” 

They share a laugh before he offers her his arm, “shall we?” 

She nods and they walk towards his house, “my coach surprised me a few days before I came here, I thought I have to prove to him right then and there that my coordination skills are unmatched! But then he gave me those small… I’m still unsure what to call them, knives?” 

“Show them to me later–”

His abrupt pause from walking made her pause too and she looks at the source, at the door is their father and she grips on his arm. 

“He told me he won’t be able to come back until before evening.” He whispers and she relaxes her grip. They continue walking and she removes her arm from his since their father awaits for her. 

“Pearl,” their father greets, his smile reaching his eyes and she briefly wonders if it’s because she is his daughter or because she has the exact face of her mother she’s never met, “my daughter.” 

“Taata.” She greets back, she hopes it wasn’t meek or wavering. He embraces her and she hugs back a bit awkwardly, not as close as she would hug her brother. 

“I am so glad you have finally reached our village.” She could only offer him a smile, Cha’ah Toh could almost feel the way her insides turn to stone because of how seemingly unmoving she is, “come, we have prepared a meal for you and your people.” 

They let him lead the way, Cha’ah Toh offers Pearl his hand and she is quick to accept it. He gives it three squeezes until her heart slows down its fast pace. They walk outside a large opening from one side of their house and she almost laughs because it looks like it is a feast. She looks at him in shock and he grins at her, “nothing but the best for you.” 

She copies his grin, all agitation surrounding her identity on his land vanishes in one sentence.

Her main companion is a man around Cha’ah Toh’s age or even older, he couldn’t quite figure out where he had been seeing him because he was absent the time Cha’ah Toh visited his sister. He learned that he’s one of the young warrior-generals that her grandfather had once personally trained when his bones weren’t failing him. He was in Sulu for that time being but his presence beside Pearl assures him his sister is in good hands when he won’t be able to be around her. 

Their father decided that tomorrow would be an ample time to discuss matters regarding trade between her island of Cebu and the Aztec empire, just like her grandfather, he’d let Cha’ah Toh have the rest of the day off. Not that Pearl would have minded just accompanying him in most of his science work. 

They walk around the market so that Pearl would be familiar with the people and the products, “I wrote to you twice and you only sent back one letter.” She starts. 

“My one response included both of your letters.” She tilts her head upwards the opposite direction where he stands to show him she isn’t listening to him and he sighs. He must’ve known she won’t ever stop being petulant towards him even in his land. She was about to make her rebuttal when a kid ran to them and Pearl caught her in her arms. 

“Hi,” she greets her. 

The kid handed her what looks like a bracelet that glows blue and green, “for you.” 

“Why, thank you.” She accepts, caressing the kid’s cheek, making her grin at the latter’s acknowledgement. Pearl wasn’t able to ask about the bracelet as means of conversation when the kid scurried off. 

The siblings look at each other and he shrugs his shoulders. She looks at the bracelet once more. “Is this made out of the rock one of your shamans discovered?” 

“Yes–”

“And you call it blue-green metal because you still don’t have a name for it?” She asks, trying to wrap the bracelet on her wrist.

He sighs, “yes, and that’s why we really aren’t making it public yet.”

“The kid has her hands on this, though?” 

“She’s the daughter of one of my mom’s fellow scientists, I think she gave her daughter a few to play around with.” 

Pearl smiles, admiring the bracelet as Cha’ah Toh ties the ends in a ribbon shape to add more flair to it, “and she decided to give me one– hold on, she isn’t the type to just give it out, is she?” He chuckles at the sudden switch of suspicion on her face. “What! I’m just saying! You don’t even know what it does, or do you? Can I come along on one of my free days? Or you can just hand me reports, I can read Mayan.” 

He blinks at her speed of talking, why is he even surprised? This is one of the talking mannerism she’s got from their father, “I taught you Mayan, of course, you can read it. And I know you won’t be satisfied by just mere reports, you would want to see it.” 

“Yes,” she grins, unashamed she’s caught, “so, can I?” 

“Of course, you can.” Then, he smiles and Pearl can read the excitement swimming on his lips, “I can’t wait to show you around my area of work, I’ve been making a few convenient changes around it, but I put a dagger and some of your gifts to display.” 

“Really?!” His excitement is contagious, it spilled on her face, she did a quick run-in-place, giggling, “now I can’t wait to see everything! Oh! It’ll be fantastic!” She clasps her hands, “to see my brother’s workplace! I won’t ask stupid questions!” She raises her hand like swearing an oath, “I promise!”

He scoffs, the smile on his lips remains, “I know you won’t.” She grins, “my mom is overlooking its medicinal properties, I’m more concerned about its potential to be weaponry.” 

“Ooh, like swords?” 

He chuckles at the first weapon she mentioned, “yes, like swords, Pearl.” She just smiles and looks at her bracelet again, how it complements the gold of her bracelets and bangles, her Huipil makes her accessories stand out, and it matches her brother’s front cape, “who knows we will be able to sew them on our clothes like you do with your gold?” 

“Or a complete clothing made with that blue-green unnamed plant!” She looks at him, “there’s still no temporary names?” 

“Nope, mother prefers to refer to it with its color so it’ll be much easier. I think they knew you were coming so the little girl decided to give you that bracelet.” 

“She’s put pearls too.” She looks at him, “you better trade with us first once you’ve known more about this metal! Hold on, does the empire know about this? I suddenly thought of stipulating it once we formally have talked.” 

“We’ve made mentions of it when we discovered it but since it’s technically useless at the moment, they don’t see the point of bothering us with it, they’d probably agree to trade it since it will be you asked.” She blinks, not quite understanding, “I mean, they will agree despite not knowing much about it yet, just because you want it.”

“Good.” She responded and he cracked a laugh because that’s all she ever said. She giggled, “they aren’t unaware you are a researcher, I don’t even know the extent of what they heard about the trade with China, but look! I am here for that! I love the material they used for my formal invitation here, though, I kept boasting it around the merchants because of how eye-catching it is.” 

“I think they’d be delighted to hear that.” 

“Good!” 

They cackled.

She gasped when she saw a mug with swirling pink and red colors. Cha’ah Toh didn’t notice that she’s already in front of the stall, holding the mug in her hands, her eyes met his, “perfect for cacao later.” 

“We have your cup prepared for later.”

“Perfect for cacao tomorrow.” He huffs and the merchant laughs. “How much for this? My brother will pay.” 

“Wow, you don’t have any pocket money with you?” He will totally pay, he’s already reaching for his money when the old lady gestured that she’ll give it to Pearl for free. The siblings froze, side-eyeing each other which made the old lady laugh, she pats Pearl’s hands who is holding the mug like it’s the most precious thing she has ever seen. It might as well be. 

“I should at least barter it with something.” She persuades, when the old lady refuses, Pearl uses her cutesy expression of using her eyes to compel the other to succumb. 

“Alright, you win,” the latter relents and Pearl chuckles, “you’re lucky you’re a very beautiful young lady.” 

She looks at her brother, “you hear that? She called me beautiful!” Before he could say anything, she faced the old lady, “you know what he told me, grandma? He said that I was ugly!”

The latter clicks her tongue and waves him off, “he’s a man, he lies.”

Pearl bursts out laughing. 

Pearl grins when her cacao is served in the pink red mug she got from the vendor, Cha’ah Toh, beside her, scoffs. She looks at him and shows him the drink that their cooks have prepared. “I know.” 

“Where did you get that?” Fen, his mother, asks. 

“Oh, uh, from one of the bazaars, she gave it to me for free.” Pearl pretends she isn’t nervous when his mother speaks or looks at her, she still doesn’t know what to make of her that’s why she’s also agitated about how she will act once Cha’ah Toh shows her his laboratory. “I was able to persuade her to let me barter for it, so I went ahead and gave her one of the hathphool I have from Hindustan.” 

“The one with emeralds?” Cha’ah Toh asks and she nods. “Have you even ever used it?” 

“Only once, or maybe twice during some ceremonies back home, so it’s just good as new.” She answers, she covers up how intimidated she feels by talking, “although I really wasn’t allowed to do anything whenever there is, I’m just sitting and eating–”

“With your feet not touching the ground?” He teases.

“Yes! Without my feet touching the ground!” She giggles and he and their father share a chuckle. She feels Fen’s eyes burn to her bracelet, she takes a sip of her hot cacao and swiftly talks about the bracelet, “and people will just give me bracelets and any other adornments, oh, there’s a kid earlier who gave me this bracelet,” she shows it to them, “kuya says it’s from, from someone in the science–” 

“Science department, yeah,” Cha’ah Toh fills in, he mentions a name, the mother of the kid supposedly. Fen nods. 

“Yes, she said she couldn’t wait to meet your sister.” She looks at Pearl, “do you plan on bringing it up when you talk with the ruler tomorrow?” 

“Kuya and I did think about it, about agreeing that once there’s more findings about the metal, Cebu would be one of the first ones the peninsula would trade with. I brought with me some fine products and delicacies from China, although not more than what people from our North and South have me carry with me.” 

“And what will you have in exchange?” 

“My grandfather gave me a list of what I could ask for.” 

Fen hums, “I mean for yourself?”

She glances at her brother, “maybe the blue-green metal once there’s sufficient information about it?” 

“You don’t demand that much.” 

Before Cha’ah Toh could step in and defend his sister, Pearl smiles, a blush on her cheeks, “I find myself being given more than what I could ask or think of.” 

“I thought your mother was a trader.” 

“She was but I was trained a warrior. Most of my dealings with our merchants are informal and friendly–” 

Her warrior-general excused himself as he walked to them and told them that there had been a change of plans in her meeting with the king, instead of the 4th sun, it would be the 3rd. With the change coming from her island. 

She argued that their star readers clearly indicated the 4th day of her arrival starts the fortunate and successful dealings but the coming home of her cousin altered the course of the stars. He can tell she’s troubled because she once told him that her cousin loves his wife and his son so much that only news of tragedy would force him to come back and this pattern has been proven four times already. 

He grips her hand and she’s tethered back to reality, she looks at him, “it’s okay, the king favors your island and you, he would understand. I think he’d like it that he’ll get to converse with you earlier than expected.” She could only give him a smile before she turns to her companion and tells him to tell her everything later. 

In the end, all her companion told her about was that her cousin’s wife urged him to visit and bring in some products they’ve got from some society near the Malay archipelago, and for him to see the family he came from. Pearl still finds it unusual, even suspicious, but when the warrior-general told her that her cousin sends his regards and that she isn’t forgotten to him, she cheered up and decided to do well on the talk with the king so she can go back home happy and excited to see him again. 

She babbles about it to Cha’ah Toh and he’s just content that her bubbliness is back, so very different from her tense stature earlier. Later on, she asks what colors the king likes so she may wear something to his preference, and that their star readers urged her to do so. 

“What shall I wear to your laboratory tomorrow? Are there any restrictions? Uniforms?” She asks, pacing the room they have prepared for her, “I miss wearing my gold pieces, can I wear them? I should wear them, it won’t be noisy so it’s not distracting.” 

He laughs, “Pearl, relax,” she pouts, “we aren’t strict over there and even if we were, you are a visitor so the rules are lax on you,” she sits on the bed, “besides, you’re my sister, I don’t think they’ll have the courage to tell you you’re doing something you aren’t doing anyway.”

“But what about your mother?” 

“And what of her? We don’t even regularly see each other once we are immersed in our work,” he assures and she smiles, he cradles her cheek, making her grin, “I can’t wait to show and teach you everything.” 

“Everything?” He nods, “I can absorb everything in a day?” 

“Why can’t you?” She giggles. 

“I’m going to outsmart you in science!”

“Alright.” 

“You won’t even fight back.” She frowns. 

“I know for a fact you are smart, it’s just that you have to exert more of your strength and intellect with battle matters–” 

“Well, I’m trained like a Timawa.” 

“I know,” she lets him speak, “but it’s your conversations that build bridges unimaginable to anyone, you are to carve a pathway for your neighboring islands to reach the distant lands of Aztec. You are like Cebu’s very own Pochteca,” she was about to protest when he beats her to it, “I know but I do not care that this is not what you were prepared for, but look at how you do it so naturally that people from lands other than your own are gravitated to win your favor.”

“But why? Why me?” 

He smiles, adoration swirling in his eyes at the innocence in her voice, he cradles both of her cheeks now, “because you are so lovely, have I not told you that earlier?” She nods. “You have told me time and time again that you are above your counterparts in Arnis, why is that?”

“Because I am so great?” 

He laughs, “yes, of course, you are. But it’s also because you are smart, and cunning.” 

“But some of the techniques are easy to remember, it’s very simple to me how to use them.” 

“That’s exactly it, kiik. You don’t even have to try, you don’t force yourself. Remember when you told me you just ended up praying to your gods instead of fighting your fate?” She nods, “that’s who you are, you don’t pretend on what you cannot do or comprehend. Sometimes, the best and simplest thing to do is the easy one, you don’t always have to struggle and I don’t want you to struggle.” She doesn’t say anything, “how do you think you maintain your relations with foreign merchants?” 

“I talk with them, and I remember what stands out about them.” 

“And you will do exactly that once you meet with the king. Remember what you told me when the prince of Sumatra seeks you– Pearl, I am not teasing you, do you remember what you told me?” 

“That he should be grateful to be even spending time with me.” She pauses, “that I even talk to him.” 

“And that is how you will approach the king the next, next day.” 

Pearl combs her hair in a bun, gold bangles half the size of her arm diligently rests on her wrists, while a lone, thick and heavy necklace braided with gold sits on her collarbones, her kamagi. Her amulet hidden in her quechquemitl. She opted for ear cuffs instead so it will be silent as Cha’ah Toh roams her around his laboratory. 

He went there earlier without her to ensure everything is pristine and neat for her. She felt his leaving even if they were rooms away and couldn’t go back to sleep so she just joined her father for breakfast. He told her he was surprised she accepted the proposal for her invitation of the empire, all she could answer was that she’s doing it for her grandfather. How could she even tell him that it’s because her brother, the only person she’s certain she trusts, is the only one who lets her bones rest? When so much is demanded of her, she can just exist when she’s with him. 

She opts to wait for Cha’ah Toh by the hammock just near the entrance of his house, their father told him it’s where her brother usually rests. She finds it odd when it’s facing so much energy and people when she’s known him to be quite reserved, meanwhile her resting place is always by the river or sea. 

She wants to lay down but she doesn’t want to ruin her bun or have to do it again so she just sits. She wonders what’s taking him so long when she never has to run impatient whenever they’re both in the same land. She looks at her wrists, missing the noise her bracelets make. Should she go inside his room instead? Mess up a few things? 

“Pearl, I am so sorry.” 

“Kuya.” She smiles, just relieved to not be lonely any more second. He sighs, dismayed and disappointed at himself, she stands up and smiles wider so he could tell her what bothers him. 

“There’s an accident at work,” he sighs, “one of the experiments malfunctioned and it exploded, the room where I work is far from the damage, but I won’t risk you coming there.” She nods, “I was able to get some valuable things I have stored in there, my assistants are on their way to retrieve some, I wanted to give you this when I finally showed you around but…” 

She smiles, “it’s okay, kuya, the important thing is that you’re safe.” 

He scoffs, a smile on his face, his life was in danger earlier, of course she’d worry more about that. 

“So, what is that?” 

There we go. He sits in the hammock and she does the same, his colorful xicolli contrasts her more white quechquemitl, “I made you some jaded sun earrings, I noticed I haven’t gifted you something to decorate your ears with.” He opens the box and she gasps, Cha’ah Toh almost thinks that her god of the sun followed her around since the sun burned brighter at her reaction. 

“Sun earrings?!” She glances at him before continuing to be mesmerized by his gift. 

“Yes, and I have them made 12 rays for the 12 zodiacs.” 

She geeked out and he laughed at her childlike state, “good thing I only wore my ear cuffs.” She takes the yellow one on her palm, her index finger smearing her print all over the full circle. He takes the other green and clips it delicately on her left ear. 

“Is it heavy?” 

“No, not really, is this made with the blue-green metal?” 

“I have infused a bit just to take off the weight. I wanted them both to use green jade, but the yellow one was too inviting, I knew I had to use it too.” He takes it from her so he could clip it on her right ear. 

“Good thing it was inviting.” He laughs once more at her approval. “How do I look? If you say ugly–” 

“You look regal.” 

She grins, the traces of shyness are hidden by how the jade compliments the paint on her face . 

“I have another present for you, one I personally made myself, it’s all green jade and my assistants probably have it in my room now, but I’ll show them to you later.” 

“Why not now?” 

He stands up, “because I haven’t eaten yet.” She frowns and he unmakes the bun she’s made for herself. She lies down completely, unbothered to fix her loose waves of hair, removing her earrings so she can further admire them while he goes back inside. She looks down at her attire, she thinks that she’ll look more amazing if the quechquemitl is worn over one of her more intricate tapis, wondering if her usual hulun sash will mesh it altogether or not.

“I’ll let kuya decide which is which after he eats.” She tells herself, putting the earrings back to their box and carrying it with her as she goes inside, not minding the conversation between her brother and their father. 

Once inside her room, she removes all of her garments before grabbing an orange tapis to wear, then she wears the quechquemitl, the gold patterns her tapis doesn’t overwhelm the patterns of the latter. She chuckles at how she looks, one might mistake her for the sun. She grabs her earrings and lets the sun’s rays beautify them even more. 

“Pearl– are you impersonating the moon?” Cha’ah Toh teases. 

“Can’t you tell it’s the stars?” She teases back, “oh kuya, should I wear a hulun sash over my dress or–” 

He was suddenly called by their father so he quickly looked back at her, “ask me later, but stay in my room, I have my gift prepared.” 

Before she could nod, he’s already out of her room, she really didn’t bother to know where he might be needed, she knows he’ll come back. Entering his room, her eyes roam around but nothing really piques her eyes with the collections he has. She walks to the window for the sun’s rays to shower on her earrings again. 

“Invaders!” 

Startled, Pearl dropped the earrings when the shouts exploded just outside the window of his room. Invaders? When he hasn’t even shown her his gift he personally crafted out of pure jade? One of the pairs rolled to her foot and she jumped at the coolness of it. She gasped to the yellow one broken into half, the other green, a few rays missing due to the fall. 

“Oh no! Kuya’s gift!” She cried, quickly picking them up as panic rises to her throat, where is her brother? Why did she not ask? Why is he not calming her down and reassuring her it’s okay? How come he isn’t telling her to wake up because the screams of his people outside are getting louder and louder? What has come–

“Pearl!”

Even more startled, she clutched her earrings close to her chest as she struggled to stand up. Her warrior-general helped her get up on her feet. 

“We must depart immediately.” 

“What?! No! Kuya and Taata are probably handling this already! This is nothing new! I haven’t even established a partnership with Aztec–”

“It does not matter now!” He raises his voice and she gulps down the fear rising to her throat. “Listen to me carefully.”

It turns out, a few hours after they had set for sail, another ship following them did after news of her cousin’s coming back. They informed the Chief that one of the Arabian astrologers has foreseen such a horrendous event befalling Java and Cebu, and his wife has insisted that he tells his family about it, and ultimately, tell her so she may prepare for battle and to protect the shores of their roots. Pearl feels herself panicking. Why does she have to be away now that this news has probably already spread like flood in her very own village? Why? Why now when her brother might be doing the same at this very moment? 

Her head started to ache, “why would you tell me this just now?! Why haven’t you told me the moment you received the news?! I would have swam right back to Cebu! Kuya would understand me!” 

“And that is what the chief is preventing to happen–”

“He cannot prevent what is meant to happen! Now, look at us! We are bound to go back in the end!”

“He wanted you to concentrate on–”

“I don’t care! I have been trained for swords and ships my whole life and now you’re telling me he is keeping me away from the thing I can do most?!”

He holds her shoulders firmly, “you’re his only granddaughter!”

She swats both away, “and is my cousin not his grandson?!” She panics, breathing audibly, her chest heaving as the tears form, she grabs on her hair, not caring that it doesn’t look delicate anymore, not caring that the earrings are hurting her palms, “where’s my brother?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Where’s my brother?!” She demands. 

At his silence, she presses her palms to her eyes as she sobs. How horrific is this event the astrologer was pertaining to that it reached the shores of her brother’s land? “Pearl, there’s something else.” 

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised!” She screamed. 

“When the Chief had the astrologers read on the dates of your travel, your death was once again mentioned and they said almost the exact same thing as the Babaylans,” suddenly, the room feels like closing in on her and the man in front of her is the only source of life she knows, “he asked if he would be able to prevent or slow it down.” 

“And then?” She pushes, “what did they say?” 

He takes a deep breath, “he cannot stop you from fighting back.” 

She laughs, and it sounds like a mocking desperate plea on her fate, when has she ever not fought back when they raised her for this? She remembers some of the words, “one of the astrologers said abrupt, is this what it is? Or, or,” she breathes, “cut short, that one too, is my journey here cut short because I will die right now?” 

She knows it’s not yet her time, she doesn’t feel it yet, but it might as well be. “The Chief does not want you to go.” 

For some divine reason, she got exactly what he meant for the first time, “do you think I’d love to leave my brother first?!” She bites back in a whisper. 

“You and your grandfather both have no choice.” 

She scoffs, were her prayers not enough? Was her devotion, time she could’ve spent sleeping in, not genuine enough? Why now when she’s back with her brother?

But the one thing she feels, it’s that these invaders will be the death of her. An epiphany, despite her anger, becomes so crystal clear in her head all she could think about is to have as many heads as she goes. Maybe not here, maybe not yet in Cebu, but she feels sure of this. Her death is set in stone just like how the stars twinkle at night.

“Can I at least see my brother first?” 

“We have to hurry.” 

She clutches on what may seem as his last gift to her. She moves past her grandfather’s trusted companion, foregoing the swords her brother has hanging on a wall in his room she might use to protect herself. She didn’t heed her men cleaning her room out, all she needed before she went back was to see her brother. 

She looked for his colorful xicolli despite the blurriness of her eyesight. Her legs ran to him the moment her mind registered him. 

“Pearl,” he calls, exhausted, their arms wrapping around each other like snakes. She realizes he hasn’t calmed down yet, how could he, he’s probably witnessed the attack firsthand. Will this be how their goodbye fare? She realized she has to be the strong one now. Seeing her face, he snaps back to reality, he caresses her hair down to her cheeks, “are you alright? Are you hurt?” 

She shakes her head, she’s never seen him this distraught. She’s had her fair share of local and even maritime battles, but not as life-threatening as what these invaders seem to impose on her ever strong and unwavering brother, whose might is the pillars of his village and the spine of her strength. Or maybe he’s lost because he has her to lose here. Was it a mistake to go here? 

She holds his wrists, the suns marking them both, “I am fine, kuya. I am fine.” She repeats, looking at his eyes and he nods. “What happened?” She looks at his body for any signs of bruise.

“It was a surprise attack, our warriors are holding them off right now, but,” he pauses, his shoulders slumping as his gaze casts downwards. She has never seen him this hopeless before, never heard him in despair. Pearl wishes it rains right now, or for the waves to come crashing down his enemies, she wishes her anger enables her to control the sea and drown what causes her brother this emptiness. 

She wishes she could do something, to be of help to him, she thinks of his swords, she’s trained to battle more than he, she could have heads here before they leave, defying the warrior-general’s wishes. “I’ll borrow one of your swords–” 

He grabs her wrist to make her stay, “Pearl, no!” 

“I can manage without my Kampilan!”

“I will not have your death here!” 

“You believe in your heart I will lose?!” 

“Of course, I don’t!” She purses her lips, “but their weaponry is not to be played with.” 

“You said your blue-green metal has potential to be weaponry, not even a testing material was done?” She accepts his silence, she nods. He’s a scientist, not a warrior like her. They share this silence until Cha’ah Toh sees her men marching for her. His breath hitching caught her attention, she glanced at the reason then to him again. Somehow, being separated from him is much more of a horror than the bloodshed she’s hearing right now. She will be protected by the sea that will take her away from this violence, but what of her brother? 

“Kuya,” she musters with more distress, “tell me to help you, tell me to shed some blood for you.” 

But his eyes focused on those who will claim his sister. 

“Kuya!” She cries. 

This cannot be it. He holds her face and leans his forehead to hers, Pearl will save her tears once she’s away. Oh, she will be away once again. He retrieves. His palms and fingers burning her cheeks that it could almost melt the paints of snakes and waves on her face. This cannot be it. “Will we ever see each other again?” 

She scoffs, but there’s a smile on her face and it’s enough for him. The sun scorched more than it possibly can and it’s enough for him. “Of course,” she copies his line, “you said it yourself, the sea is always here for us.”

She holds his wrists tighter, and he looks at stripes of plants and crops on her arms, then to her eyes again. Pearl’s heart is as heavy as the clouds that are beginning to loom over them, “when it rains there when the skies shouldn’t be, then I’ll know you miss me, if the sun pulses sudden heat over here when it couldn’t be, then you’ll know I miss you.”  

He cannot believe it, her words of parting silence him and Pearl seeks at least one word from him, she needs to hear him. “Kuya.” She squeezes his wrist to catch his attention, and it works, “kuya, I’ll still write you letters, do you understand?” He nods, he caresses the skin under her eyes, “I’ll ask our gods of the seas to let it reach you safely.” 

“We have to go.” One of her men grabs at her arm, inevitably losing her hold on Cha’ah Toh. 

Even though they don’t want to, they have to drag her away and her struggle snaps him back, “my gift to you!” 

He runs but she’s already by the dock, her men climbing with her arms locked in theirs. 

“No, no, no!” 

Pearl wants to cry, at the state of her brother, at the state of the two of them, but she has to be his anchor now that he’s losing his land, “give it to me once we meet again!” Her ship starts to move, “no,” she whispers, glancing back. 

“Pearl!” 

She looks back to him, and she should’ve grabbed him along with her on her sudden journey back to her island. Oh, she does not want to be separated from him. She’s a warrior! She should’ve been strong enough to handle dragging him along! Why didn’t she?!

He calls her name again. 

“I’ll see you, kuya!” 

Cha’ah Toh couldn’t count the suns and moons that have passed ever since the attack on their village. It was all a blur, like he figures Pearl’s last vision of him was, was she crying? She definitely cried. But he could remember that she was the strong one between the two of them in the end. He remembered that their father was slain in the attack, their last conversation being how he wished he was able to spend more time with Pearl. 

He remembered their house being safe for the time being, how their warriors were able to buy them all some time to recuperate before another news of an upcoming attack and invasion came along. He remembered his people fleeing with all the belongings they could take. He remembered sitting by the shore, the memory of his sister leaving tethering him on this earth. 

She mentioned letters and gods, Cha’ah Toh couldn’t help but to scoff, looking down at his hands, then he could almost see her face painted with ink and her blood. He wishes he’s the god she will pray to so he can answer her the second she’s done verbalizing her request, her plea. He remembered he wanted to say something but his lips remained unmoving, memorizing the face of the only person he wishes to keep safe, the only person he’s certain he loves. This is unfair, he thinks, how can he be a god when he couldn’t even respond to her that time? 

She was struggling, she was struggling and he couldn’t help her. She was struggling and it was his fault. How could he face her now? In the end, she was the one who gave him hope instead of being the other way around. His sister, who never had the time to be who she is except with him, had to put up a facade for him. 

He was never that slow, he knew he could always catch up to her. If he has wings, will he reach her? Or did her men just take advantage of his idleness? Had he reacted quicker, he might’ve said something to ease her. All he could say was her name and then she’s gone. 

His mother called him and he’s back to another scarring reality. He walked to her and asked, “what is it?” 

“I’ve been experimenting about this…” she takes a deep breath, “plant. I’ve seen its healing abilities but I’m not clear up to what extent yet.” 

“What are you talking about? I know you are researching how it will be used as medicine.” He watches as she caresses a leaf lined with the blue-green metal in between her thumb and index finger. 

“Remember the stories I told you when you were a kid? Long before you had your sister?” He didn’t say anything, she continued, “about a protected land with people that never have to leave?” 

“That never had to change who they were? Yes, yes, I remember.” 

“Have you told your sister about it?” 

“No.” He answers, “no, I haven’t. I can’t tell her about it and not expect her to want to see it. What about it? Are we going there?” 

“No, I was thinking if we could somehow become like that, too.” 

He stares at his mother before looking at the plant her eyes are still fixated on, “with that plant?” 

Her mother sighs and turns away from him, picking up a bowl with some ceremonial materials for prayer and worship. “Let’s call on Chaac.” He knows his mother was never one for divination or worship, the devotion and tasks of such being left to his father, Cha’ah Toh thinks it’s her way of commemorating her late husband and maybe, a last resort to saving the village and her people. To save her son. 

He lets his feet take him to the rest of his people, calling on their god yet all he could think of was the dress he gave Pearl with his god’s symbolism on it. Is Chaac protecting her right now? Is Chaac talking with her gods on how they will keep her letters delivered to him safely despite the grave situation he’s in? 

As he follows the rituals of his people for his god, he thinks of his selfish wishes to become one and to have wings. He prays he won’t be punished for such foolish ideas all in the name of his people and his sister. 

More suns and moons passed or perhaps it was just one round of exchange when their shaman came back from an underwater cave holding a plant similar to what his fellow scientists have been studying. His mother approached the shaman, “we still have some of it left, you didn’t have to dive to get one.” 

“Chaac gave me a vision,” he explains and Cha’ah Toh could feel his heart stop, was it craziness or the sun expelled more heat than usual? “He led me down the cave so we could ingest this plant and save what is left of us.” 

Cha’ah Toh steps in, he feels his sister possessing him or maybe it’s his own desperation, “you’re saying that if we eat or drink, or consume it, we can fight back?” 

“All Chaac made me see is that this is a way to protect us all.” 

He looks at his mother and they’re probably both thinking of the conversation they had the other day. The shaman looks at her, awaiting her decision as head scientist and royalty. 

Fen looks at the shaman, cold and hard as steel, “I am not risking it, not when I haven’t gotten results.” 

“Mother–”

She glares at her son, “I already lost your father, I’m not losing you to this plant.” She pointed at the said plant, her gaze burning him, “this, this will change everything, Cha’ah Toh, and it will be the opposite of the stories I told you.” 

Before he could convince his mother, she walked away. The shaman patted his shoulder, telling him to give his mother space to think about it, that she’s probably just overwhelmed, that he’ll find another way to persuade her. He left him to his thoughts, tending to the plant on how to make it digestible. 

One of his assistants approached him before he could go back to the shore, “we saw this in your room,” they handed him a circular mirror the size of his palm with braided gold thread encircling it, “we think it’s from your sister.” 

He takes the note, his finger caressing the letters of her script, the assistant leaves him be. 

You’re not the only one who can give gifts! I was to give you this when you visited Cebu but I wasn’t satisfied with how I made the design so I perfected it before giving it to you. - Pearl

He scoffs, a small smile on his face. He looks at himself in the mirror and how it seems that he’s aged so much due to the conquest. He sighs, will Pearl even recognize him now? He seems older than he is despite some people pointing out how young he and Pearl look, how they could almost pass as twins if it weren’t for her pointing out that he’s older just to irk him. 

He folds the note and puts it inside a pocket of his vest. He decides to admire the work she’s done for him, how it might’ve taken all of her jars of patience because she likes things quick and fast, no wonder she’s perfect for a warrior. Is her island facing the same dilemma as his land right now? 

A day or a few of it has passed and he notices the shaman with many bowls around him, he walks to him and figures that he made the plant into a drink. If this is a success, he’d want Pearl to have some of this too. She might just drink it because of how pretty the blue glow is. And then her people. So she can join him and be safe. 

“You are the princess’ son, you should drink this first and become the leader of our new world.” 

He looks at him then the potion the latter has concocted. He now remembers the bloodshed, the murders, the burnings, the screams, his father’s dead body, his sister’s tears. He grips on the mirror. About to take the bowl, his mother holds his wrist, startling him with her speed. “No.” 

“Fen,” the shaman retrieves a bracelet of square jades and white and dark yellow beads, “you must have already heard a disease spreading because of those conquistadors, we must prevent it from reaching us.” He ties the bracelet on her wrist, “take this as my promise that your son, Cha’ah Toh Almehen, will be our new king in our new home.” 

She lets go of Cha’ah Toh’s wrist and he accepts the bowl with the concoction, “what shall be the name of our new home?” One of their fellow scientists asked. 

He suddenly remembers the stories his father told him, about an Aztec underworld paradise called Tlalocan, so that’s what he answers. And when he drinks this Chaac-blessed potion, he will be its new king. 

One by one, they all started drinking it from the bowls the Shaman prepared. It felt nothing at first, until Cha’ah Toh felt his insides twisting, the daughter who gave Pearl a bracelet screamed and pointed at his ears. He grabbed the mirror gifted to him and saw that the tips of his ears point to the clouds. He looks up at the sky, at the sea for some explanation. 

“Your ankles…” 

His mother’s voice snaps him back and he feels himself shivering, he has wings! On his ankles! Just like what he selfishly prayed for! Does this mean–

A gasp from his mother snaps him back once more and he sees his people turning to a light blue color. He looks at his own skin, his brownness retained, “what is happening?!” He demands to no one, not even the shaman who’s turned blue and has… has gills on his neck. They were gasping for air! Cha’ah Toh gets madder at the situation of his mother and their people, this plant was ought to save and protect them! Why–

The daughter ran to the sea and many others followed suit, the girl swam back up, “I can breathe! I can breathe in the water!” 

Almost all of them followed, even him who found himself also drawing oxygen from the water. How is this possible? He tries to think, he swims back up just to see his mother staring at the land and life she once knew, the last remainder of her husband whom she loved and forgave. 

His mother is right. Their land wasn’t protected, therefore they have to leave, and therefore they are changed. Their lives and their existence that thrived in their village and land all ended. 

“Let’s go!” 

The first bottle came. 

He was helping his fellow scientists set up a temporary makeshift laboratory where they can continue studying and experimenting with the blue-green plant and what it did to their body. His stark difference with the rest of them cemented him as the new king of Tlalocan. He rises to the shore to retrieve some more of the weaponry they were able to gather during the days after the attack. 

He was thinking of the masks that his people could put over their noses and mouths, even in their gills so they could still discreetly roam their once land until they have nothing left to lose.

Cha’ah Toh, then, sees a bottle with a cork, a letter rolled inside. He takes it, deciding whether or not he’ll read it before or after he takes the weapons. But the gold tying the letter together told him he should read it after. 

He didn’t waste any more time, he also thought it could be a good exercise to test out his wings. He stumbles on the first few tries until he’s stable enough to swiftly fly from land to shore, where some of his men await. And when none was left, he sat by the shore, the water kissing at his legs. 

Kuya, 

I’m sorry I haven’t written to you for so long. So much is changing. I have so much to tell you, about how I was lied to regarding the coming home of my cousin. I knew not to suspect my intuition, you remember how I carved time out of my nights just to learn divination, right? It turned out, kuya, oh my heart breaks as I write this, his wife’s astrologer foresaw an event similar to what happened to yours, and he has come to prepare me for battle. Did you instinctively know about this? That’s why you assured me it’s alright if I don’t want to go to Aztec? 

Somehow I wished I didn’t. I left a land of chaos to return to an island of chaos, his news did spread like flood and everyone has been demanding of me, and I couldn’t turn away, I couldn’t swim back to you. My lolo has been preventing my return for fear the news will bring my death, but not even the stars that look over you can permit what he asks. I know he’s weak and his bones couldn’t uphold his legacy anymore but when he saw me back, I never witnessed him so broken that he wept. He wept, kuya! He wept like it was my funeral!

I think I never wanted to go, kuya. To be so far away from home, to be so far away from him but I did it for him partially. And you’re the reason I went. I cried when you left. 

“Oh, Pearl.” His fingers tracing that sentence, his mind reeling back to a few years when she was a kid, when she first wailed and flailed her arms when she realized her older brother wasn't living with her. When he first left her. 

It hasn't rained here yet, do you not miss me? I only wrote to you now but that doesn’t mean you don’t pass my thoughts from time to time. I hope you aren't dead. I feel regretful that our last meeting was so rudely cut short, but I'm holding on to your gift to me. I know you are a man of your words and I only hear truth from you. You’ll have to give your gift of pure jade to me or else I'll be mad at you forever!

I think this is what the star readers were pertaining to when they forced me to rise from my slumber, I heard those words. I won’t pretend to be sure they were talking about our time together but I can’t believe it applied to us! But I’m not going to hold a grudge, not when they were the ones who suggested for me to deliver a letter to you in this form. 

If this reaches you safely, then our gods of the sea have been listening to us. 

Waiting, 
Pearl 

He blinks, this can’t be the end. Pearl never writes so short, Pearl always writes about the things she finds interesting, she writes what distracts her in the moment, she does not write like this. He flips the two papers in his hands, even stupidly, he looks inside the bottle for some more hint, some more stories she could tell him so it would feel like she’s just right there.

Had he really been so busy that rain didn’t visit her island? But if Chaac has listened to his request to grant him wings, why has he not sent rain to Pearl? He wanted to laugh, to scoff, at the sudden thought that his god of rain and her god of rain didn’t understand each other. Maybe Chaac talked Mayan and hers Cebuano or Ilokano. 

A lone smile dances on his lips, recalling that question Pearl raised when he told her Chaac would protect her when he couldn’t. 

He wonders what else befall their island for her to write so short like she’s being rushed. Like she was granted time to write to him and not because she so freely can. He has so many questions, so many things to tell her, but could he even risk mentioning Tlalocan? 

What was he thinking? His sister takes everything to her grave, and it will be his biggest regret if her bones rest in her grave without knowing there was some salvation he could’ve offered. 

But she’s Pearl, and she is stronger than he, she will live long enough for him to stabilize his new home for her to live in, away from hatred and colonization. 

He rolls the paper, ties it with the gold string she used, puts it inside the bottle, closing it with the cork. His third valuable thing from her. 

The second bottle came. 

There’s also a garden with rows of maize and other food they find could grow and adapt to the pressure of the ocean. The masks are getting newer designs for it to be a bit more stable, Cha’ah Toh thinks Pearl would’ve been delighted to spearhead fashioning it. There had been numerous tests on their weaponry, mainly spears, with pure plant, with 75% plant, with 50% plant, so on and so forth. 

Temporary hammocks, nets, wooden forts, and such were what serves as their houses. Meanwhile, Cha’ah Toh has a cenote all to himself, with his mother near him. She has convinced her son to no longer attempt to make her like him since he wanted her to live with him in the cenote. His striking difference should remain only his. 

They renamed their… paradise, their growing civilization as Talokan when one of the sons of the warriors kept mispronouncing the Aztec underworld. With his acceptance, everyone has agreed to keep the name Talokan. 

He floats on the water of his cenote, resting his body after he has discovered that he could communicate with sea animals using some sort of telepathy and asked both scientists and musicians alike to test it out. As it is a new, and rather taxing, discovery, it took a toll on him, especially as he has to demonstrate it to almost every one of them. 

The bottle nudges gently on his side of the body, he almost jumps because how did it even reach the privacy of where he resides? 

He grabs it and flies from the water, sitting on the steps. He noticed it was a bigger bottle and it had a few more pages. He smiles. For the first time in a long while, he actually smiles. He opens it and reads. 

Kuya, 

I don’t know what convinces me that you are still alive for you haven’t written me back at least one sentence at all. At least one word will bring me comfort, kuya. Don’t leave me hanging and anxious upon your response, please? You know you’re the only one who can soothe me and you’re being unfair not telling me if you have passed on, at least visit me in my dreams even if I could barely sleep. 

Didn’t I tell you on the day I was forced to leave? If you need me to help you, to shed some blood for you, to kill for you, tell me. Or maybe you do not need me nor my help. You told me I’m the strongest and I’m above everyone else but you are ignoring me. You told me the sea is just there for us but you do not send signs that you are alive and well, or about the conditions of your people and your village. Even the sky is as dry as your words to me. You made me a dress with Chaac on it but it seems that you two have abandoned me. 

He sighs, “oh, kiik.” He could almost visualize how deep her frown is while writing, how she stops the tears from falling from her eyes, how she must’ve felt so childish despite fulfilling the warrior destiny that her people chose for her.

How could he tell her that their father is dead the same sun when she left? That his mother’s mourning heart might soon give out because of the heartbreak for their old land and livelihood? That she even got to promise him to bury her back to the soil where she came from so that his father’s corpse will recognize hers. 

You said people and you gravitate to me because I’m lovely, well, I think I’m actually ugly now to you because I don’t seem worthy! You told me that the simplest and best thing to do is the easy one so I think ignoring that you don’t have a sister oceans away is the best thing to do! If you want me to stop penning you letters then just give me a signal, instead of me wasting papers and ink. 

He wanted to chuckle at how he could hear her in her sulking, knowing that no matter what she said, the letters will keep on coming, and the things he has to tell her keeps on growing. “I still think the world of you, kiik.” 

How could he tell her that not even his own elders, the diviners, could understand her death? He told her he will postpone it, but the longer he doesn’t write to her, the longer his chances of stopping it are growing thin. 

He reads the next pages. 

But I fear the future of my island so much, kuya. My cousin heard from the Tagalogs in Sumatra that the empire might truly fall. You do know that Sumatra is the islands’, and our neighboring ones, entrance to the world, right? Manila may be blooming with unimaginable foreign trades from us but once Sumatra falls, I fear the invaders will also wash my shores the way it did yours. 

Java hasn’t fallen yet but I fear the more suns and moons pass, the more the walls crumble and I may see myself in bloodshed, something you and lolo have prevented me from joining. But we both know the stars are more stubborn than us. I wonder if Bathala granted me some of my prayers, if this is a test of another round of patience, or if the gods simply have decided to let go of their protection over the people they created. 

I wonder if a growing greed has settled on us and these invaders are the price we will pay, and I can’t wrap the thought around my head for every time we have faced enemies, they turned to our allies or our horizons never allowed their return again. And everything is settled, we learned our lessons, and we continue our lives. If there is something wrong with us, how dare people lands away become our source of judgement? I’d rather die in the hands of a fellow islander if Bathala so ordains it. 

I pray they haven’t taken you yet, although at times, I think Bathala concludes I am spoiled enough by you for me to get blanks eventually. You told me you worry about me all the time. Please send your rain here. 

Hoping, 
Pearl

His mother died. 

And as promised, he took her wrapped body to the surface of the village she once was born to live in, of the village she gave him birth to. 

Then there were ropes chaining his people’s wrists, attaching them in a line. Then the lashings, the groans and moans of pain, 

He knew. He knew the violence these colonizers are capable of. But despite the knowledge, nothing could’ve prepared him for what his eyes found. He wanted to honor the land he and his family once knew, but he couldn’t see past the logic of these colonizers’ salvation. Not even when the priest gestured a sign of the cross. 

Chaac blessed Cha’ah Toh with a long life, and between him and the priest and all these colonizers disgracing the graves of his parents, it would not be him who will meet their creator today. 

He touches his necklace full of pearls to remind him of who he is. 

He flies and they take out their swords– his sister’s favorite weapon, and the guns, what he knew was the advanced instrument of death that they had. But his people are far more deadly. And him, the king of them. 

The bloodshed started. He ordered one of the now Talokanils to free their people, another one to dig the hole of where his mother will eternally lay, and the rest to take their long-awaited revenge. It had been so long, Cha’ah Toh poetically thinks, since he saw fire. Burning and raging fire consuming the building where active conquest is being ordered. 

Fen’s body lays and he kneels to put a stone bead over her mouth, she has seen the beginnings of the paradise her son is ruling, now is the time for her to spend the rest of her death with her husband in the other world, in the actual Tlalocan. 

“Thou art a demon!” He looks at the priest who called him that, his people started to bury her in the soil of her homeland, “son of Satan!” 

He wanted to tell the man of faith that he is the son of Fen, the one he just buried. 

He walks to him and the priest tells him, “thou art a child without love.” 

And yet the woman he buried had carried and raised him with all the love he’s ever known. With all the love he’s ever poured on his sister. Pearl once told him about the Headhunters up the north of her islands, and he thinks it will be suitable if he borrows a tradition from her. 

It’s befitting, he thinks, that he is to have no love for the surface world save his sister’s island, but if this colonizer’s kind will soon terrorize hers, then nothing and no one can save it. And once she joins him underwater, the priest would have fulfilled the curse he set upon him. 

The third bottle came.

Kuya, 

I’m so scared. For the first time in my life, I am so scared. They said that my death will be fast, quick, and that I will know of it. But I know it’s now, kuya. These are the ones from another foreign land, the other foreign ship, for the contacts I know of will never be this aggressive and dehumanizing. 

Kuya, the Babaylans said my death will be quick but it feels like I’m slowly, gradually losing everything I’ve ever known that nothing will be left of me, not even my paint holds meaning anymore. I’m so scared that their fires will engulf everything and everyone that composes me and you will be the only one left to know how my life once was, how I once was. 

My hands tire of killing and killing, kuya, I know these are what my gods designed me for, what I was trained to do, but I am so exhausted that nothing good comes out of it, it feels like the more I kill, the more they are invading me. But if I stop, then they win. I am losing everything. Their hateful language is destroying the protection that my lolo’s amulet serves. He’s gone now. He’s long been gone. And my divination isn’t strong enough to repel them away. 

I don’t want to see Sidapa at my door yet, I refuse it, kuya. Not now, not when I haven’t rid of these colonizers yet. They should be the ones seeing Sidapa, not me! Or their gods of death if these people lacking conscience even have one. Even still, I will bring them to his feet just so we could be safe again, just so I could go to you and search where you have been all this time.

I am dying, kuya, and the worst part is they couldn’t even touch me, not their swords nor their bullets, my blood has never been safely stored inside me but I am dying. Nothing is the same and it’s not for the best. This change is nothing like I have ever encountered, and I am scared they’re remaking my island into something that it isn’t, the people to someone they aren’t.

I don’t want to run away, but I often wish for the sea to take me in, for it to be my new home. We both told each other that it’s here for us, and I never wanted it to be verily true right now. Am I not called the daughter of the seas? Then why can’t it claim me? What stops the ocean that connects us from taking me? 

If you are with Sidapa right now, or with your own god of death, can you tell him to wait and not take me yet? I still have a fate to take. 

Missing you, 
Pearl 

Cha’ah Toh couldn’t help the smile on his lips, everything is beginning to settle, the food, the clothes, the weaponry, the animals, they even discovered they could sing and lure like sirens, there is no perfect time than to respond and make her gifts again than right now. He thinks of the sun pulsing heat over his once land, where his parents rest. 

He’s collecting more and more pearls that a separate farm has to be made, and it’s perfect for harvesting now, he’s even named it after her surname with a sign in the script of her people so everyone would know it’s dedicated to the sister of whom their king awaits. 

Pearl uses one of the fallen Spaniards’ body as shield against another attack that is ensuing. Her heart has never beat faster than it does now. She throws the body aside, her Kampilan hitting sword after sword. 

Her mind suddenly wanders to what the Babaylans told her, that she still has time to spend with her brother, and she wanted to laugh only if her body wasn’t sending her signals after signals of pain. Then she remembers the star readers saying abrupt, was it truly the time she had left with him? 

What short time it was, to be separated for 21 moons and only be together for 2 suns, after her grandfather’s death, Cha’ah Toh is the last family she’s held close to her heart, the rest of them dead save for her cousin’s wife and son back in fallen Java. 

And as the spear pierces through her heart, all she sees is a blurring, and then dark.

Cha’ah Toh drops the pearls in his hands, a sense of urgency leaving his body at the astounding pain rippling through his chest, stabbing at his heart, spreading through his body. And he suddenly couldn’t breathe, his body impenetrable to the oxygen needing to enter his body, yet his wings remained idle, unmoving, yet again like that day Pearl had to leave him.  

He once was certain he never loved anyone more than he loved his sister, now, he has never been more certain he lost her. Pearl is leaving him again, and this time, it’s permanent. 

But my gift, he thinks, she said she’ll see me again. 

The tears started, and Pearl's skies finally rained when it shouldn't.