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He wept. Cha’ah Toh Almehen wept because it was the funeral of his sister. And it was regarded as one of the saddest days in Talokan. There was no sun yet that could lighten up their underwater empire, their paradise, yet it never felt darker and lonelier than it did when she died. He was inconsolable for days, no sun or moon to count on to. Sometimes, he sobbed uncontrollably, some moments, he just stared blankly in his cenote, immobile as if dead. As if Pearl took away the last life remaining in his muscles. 

The worst part is, Cha’ah Toh still feels it all. The stabbing of his own heart, the spreading of anguish in his chest comparable to his own blood spreading inside him, and he couldn’t breathe, trying to image all the worst possible deaths of the only person he was certain he loved.

No. 

His sister is no longer be. But he still is. Yet she still was. He feels a hand wrapping around his throat, choking him, like he doesn’t deserve to breathe. How could he deserve to breathe? All Pearl ever wanted was his reply, his word, she begged for it, yet just like the day she had to leave, he was immobile, silent to her requests, to the person he swore he’d do anything for. 

And now she’s gone. Permanently gone. And there was no light that could ever replace her in his life. Not anything. He lays on the floor of his cenote, and it’s cold just like her absence in his life. And it’s hard, the stone is hard and he closes his eyes just to see a glimpse of her face. All he could see was her hair hanging down the carved boulder and he gasps, opening his eyes, because in his conjuring up of his sister, she was killed, pierced in her heart. The purest he’s ever known. 

She’s not coming back. Not now, not ever. Not when her god of death has selfishly taken her away from him. 

He pushes himself up, as if crawling to his room, grabbing that last letter she sent him, the last piece of her he could have. He tries to stop the tears but it falls, everything falls. It falls apart because he was so confident she’d lived like he didn’t witness the savagery of those who scavenge both their lands. 

You’re arrogant, a voice in his head tells him, you’re nothing but an arrogant person just because you got crowned king after your mother died. You had so much belief in the warrior who wanted nothing more but a response from you. You left your sister to die. You are selfish. You are not a king, you are a murderer. Sidapa didn’t take anything, he just took pity on his child and let her rest because he’s had enough of her waiting on nothing. He chose to take her instead of those colonizers she swore to give him because you are arrogant. 

He reads through her last letter and he mourns, holding his chest because she was telling him she was dying, she was telling him that he is the last person who knows her, she was telling him that she wanted to be in the sea, a new home she would never be able to know because he is selfish. 

She told him she will come to him but not even her ghost haunts him, nothing in this cenote reminds him of her except her letters, her uncle’s sword, and the mirror she gave him that mimics the sun. 

“Pearl.” He says like it changes anything, like he’s a god who could make everything once he speaks it to existence. 

He shouts one of the handmaiden’s name. He shouts once more, demanding and powerful that it almost shakes the cenote. He hears hurried footsteps, hands trying to sit him up but he swats them all away. 

“I need the biggest and brightest pearl there is.” 

“My king–” 

“I SAID,” he takes deep breaths and there’s just silence, he couldn’t care that it scares them, couldn’t care when this is the first time his people will feel terror from him. He’s selfish and arrogant, isn’t he? “I need the biggest and brightest pearl there is.” He looks up at them and he hates the pity and scared looks but his guilt is directed to neither of them, “and I need it as soon as you find it.” 

Then he motions them to go away. When he hears the last of their footsteps, he struggles to stand up, stumbling on his hammock, he reaches for the last remnants of warmth and craftsmanship from his sister. 

He looks at himself in the mirror, “how many moons has passed since Sidapa claimed you, kiik?” 

Bloodshot eyes, dark and heavy bags under his skin, lines around his mouth and forehead, sunken cheeks, hollow gaze, he chuckles, empty, what an unbecoming king. 

“The sun doesn’t shine here anymore, kiik. Is it because you do not miss me?” He copies her words, then his face betrays him, tears spilling before he knows it, “or because you cannot miss me at all now?” 

He wonders if it rains and rains and rains in her islands, or if her death has nullified the promise she left him with when she left his land. 

He remembers the terrified look she was trying to conceal on the night he had to leave for his land, how horrified was she when the invaders started marking their claim on her island? And he was nowhere to soothe him. She told him she cried, in the first letter she sent him, how much more did her eyes tire of crying when she couldn’t swim back to him? And he responded with a dry sky. 

He doesn’t know where he put the mirror when he reached for the second letter, where she was sulking because his arrogance got the better of him. 

Comfort. All she wanted was comfort. In the dreams both of them never had, his selfishness makes him think that it was their gods preventing them to meet even at least there. He couldn’t take another blame that has his name plastered on the very definition of the word. 

He sees the name of her creator three times, is she resting well? He won’t pretend he praises or prays to the god, but if he’s listening, if this is a round of patience akin to what he made his sister go through, then he tries. 

He reaches for the mirror he didn’t know was on the floor, just like his sister, he stops overthinking things that might as well be his fault. He somehow wished she didn’t rely on her creator so much but perhaps, it’s the only form of selfishness she knows. 

He grips on the mirror like he’s holding his sister’s dead and lifeless body, “come back to me,” he whispers, “come back to me, Pearl.” As if he’s a god capable of bringing life to his word, but if it was the thing she was holding on to, what’s the harm in trying? He closes his eyes and imagines his sister alive and well, “Let Pearl come back to me.” 

He opens his eyes and all he sees is the shell of a brother he once was. 

Should he swim to her shores? Should he be the one to go to her and search for her? Maybe this death isn’t of her body but of her acceptance that her brother is either dead or wants nothing to do with her anymore. 

He starves. Right. How could he go to her when he’s not the man he once was? Man, the voice scoffs, she’s more of a man than you could ever be. Right. He has to prove himself once more to his people, not that his birthright already speaks of it. He has to fix himself first. His sister might not be truly dead at all. 

His heart constricts, like telling him she is. She long was, her gods of death and creation agreeing to let her join them. He ignores it. If he will be the one to fulfill her last wish of bringing more bodies to her Sidapa, then so be it. He will be the one to shed blood for her, to kill for her. He is selfish, isn’t he? So what other reason does he have protecting an island he no longer has a connection to? 

If her grandfather’s bones couldn’t uphold his own legacy anymore, couldn’t hold Pearl anymore, then his status and position as king will. He has wept and mourned well enough, and while he thinks it won’t ever stop, visiting him in waves like the paint on her face as grief never passes, the plant inside him assures him that he will be the strongest for the two of them. He’s the only reminder of his sister with their land and her life, isn’t he? Then she exists as long as he exists. Besides, she hasn’t received his gift of pure jade yet. He has to find her and give it to her. 

He calls his handmaidens for his grooming and his meals. 

With the plant inside his body, he’s recovering faster than usual like he didn’t mourn his sister at all. He visited the laboratory and had them reserve some of the metal for a pectoral he’s having made. If he is king, he needed some more semblance to one, he’s having some difficulties on how it might look, for his sister had the eye for such but it was her who inspired him the initial idea. 

He recalled how her Kampilan’s hilt mimics the mouth of the Bakunawa. She once told him that they had seven moons, all six that the Bakunawa had devoured because of so much desire, and out of desperation, the people made a rallying cry that frightened the beast away to the depths of the ocean. He cannot recall, though, if that beast was a dragon or a serpent. He finds it ironic how her skies had plenty of moons yet only one sun. 

As he fishes for the pearls he collected from the farm dedicated to her, he thinks of making a new set of pearl necklaces strung together in between little pieces of dark green jade. He needed a close reminder of who he is, and he now would become what he told her she was: above everyone else. Something he could hold on to if he feels like the darkness of his grief would consume him. 

He once borrowed a tradition from one of his sister’s encompassing islands. Would it be so cruel to borrow their only sun? He thinks of the times his sister’s smiles rivaled and even shone brighter than the sun, warmer and comforting. He’s not sure if it’s possible for her to be above the sun but to him, she was one. 

She was lovely, that he’s certain of, that everyone gravitated towards her because she’s so full of vigor and life and everyone just felt good after having interacted with her no matter how insignificant. Unlike the sun, she was pretty to look at that’s why he and her grandfather used to tease her of her roster of suitors, of having the Sumatran prince’s heart in her hands. 

He puts the pearls he chose in a separate and smaller shell, mimicking the accessories’ holder she once had before. He sits and starts on it. It was never his style to fashion jewelry and whatnot but his sister did. And maybe, just maybe, if he wore enough of them, she’d recognize him, maybe not on this earth, but somewhere else where they could meet again

Like the sun, her light will sustain him. He’s king now, isn’t he? He has a people to rule and guide, parents to commemorate, and he would need to remind himself over and over again of the burden and responsibilities on his shoulders. But maybe thinking of his sister’s smile from time to time can bring him back on the crux of sanity. 

He looks at the body of water in his cenote and thinks of how the water sparkled back in her home. They have made makeshift lights, the Talokanils, each for the homes around the capital, but what would be better than an artificial sun? What else would be a greater gift to his people than the sun that had been a regular part of their day-to-day lives? How would a source of life and light hurt? 

Before he finishes the first necklace, one of the farmers approaches him when he is to call for a handmaiden. In his hand is a pearl sitting inside a net. “This the biggest and brightest pearl we could find, my King.” 

He puts the necklace aside, accepting the net in his hands, he gently removes it, afraid he’ll break the pearl in pieces. Tears threaten to spill from his eyes like rain that probably showers in her islands right now. He cradles the pearl on his palm, his fingers caressing like it was her painted hand. 

He scoffs, a smile on his lips and the farmer smiles in relief too. Ever since the passing of their king’s sister, he’s hardly ever around like he doesn’t even exist, like his sister took him with her. So when he made demands of the pearl he’s holding, of more pearls and jades for necklace, of the metal for his pectoral, almost everybody moved accordingly. 

They needed a ruler, but they needed a stable one more so if these simple acts are bringing him back to his glory, then they let him take all the time he needs. They know little of Pearl for it was always their now-king who sails to her island, but they do know that he always brings and makes her gifts. If this is how he remembers her, if this is how they’ll get their king back, then they would indulge him. After all, it was him who initiated and facilitated their farm, their homes, their abilities, their weaponries, everything that sustains them came from his mind. 

His eyes meet the farmer’s and the latter can see pieces and bits of him returning, “it is perfect, thank you.” Cha’ah Toh holds the farmer’s nape and presses their foreheads together, like he brought the king’s sister back to life. 

He retrieves, putting it inside his net and the farmer asks, “is it for an accessory you are making?” 

“Yes, I am thinking of something that mimics the Bakunawa eating the moon, but instead, it would be a cycle of life and death.” 

“There would be two Bakunawas?” 

“Not exactly that serpent, or dragon, just two of it surrounding this pearl I asked for.” He answers, “I’ll be making two pearl necklaces to accompany it.” 

“My neighbor’s son has been making a necklace made of little shells, perhaps having something similar would complement those, my king.” 

He pauses, remembering their instrument that his sister couldn’t figure out how to play for the life of her, “gold.” He says out of the blue. 

“My king?” 

“I’lll have those in gold.” He faces the latter, “our deposits are safely stored in the laboratory, yes?” The latter nods. 

“What type of shells do you have in mind, my king?” 

“Something sleek and thin, to oppose these pearls, a cerith or auger. Have that son make me those necklaces from those shells and meet me when he can, I will base my necklaces on it.” The farmer bows and leaves. 

He’s never been certain she would recognize him once they meet again even if it will take such a long time. 

At the estimate of a group of scientists that were also star readers, it had been more or less five years that had passed. His personal project, well, not exactly personal as it would be made for the benefit of all Talokanils, is in its last stages. He names this makeshift sun, this artificial sun as Sastun because it’s akin to one, something he regularly saw with the shaman whom Chaac gave the vision to. 

And also because it rhymes and has the same number of letters as sister. 

It’s transparent and it’s all seeing. He thought it would be symbolic to have their artificial sun be like the shaman’s stone, his sister once told him he’s a man of words and that she had only known honesty from him. He decides to have that role as a king, a truthful one. 

When the Sastun was positioned at the heart of Talokan, praises and gratitude showered him and the elders had ordained him as the K’uk’ulkan, the Feathered-Serpent God. Craftsmen had obliged themselves in making a grandiose and ceremonial headdress to copy the head of the serpent deity. Warriors hunted humongous creatures to create him a bigger and more fitting throne. 

For the first time, he saluted his people. With the base of his palms together, he opens up his hands, mimicking the way a clam opens. Like he’s showing his sister the way he presented them with the sun. 

His people saluted him back and it quickly became their mandatory greeting. 

Then, he busies himself with improving more of the lights the Talokanils have received from their scientists. One of them had unearthed his mother’s notes on the metal, she might have been too caught up in her grief that she forgot to share it to her son, that the place she told him about called the blue-green metal as vibranium. 

By his order and general acceptance of the scientists, they decided to also call their blue-green metal just as what she had noted. 

The scientists have also decided to copy the usual hours the sun rises and sets on the land to their sea. And that’s how he gets to take notes of the days. 

A few of it passed and he was swimming to go to the pearl farm when one of the warriors approached him. He was the one who spearheaded and hunted the shark down for the godking’s throne. “What is the matter?” The god asks. 

“My wife will finally give birth to our son, K’uk’ulkan. Will you do the honor of naming him?” 

A son. 

This warrior is older than him, far more experienced in battle, but because he is god and king, revered and respected, he will have the privilege and burden of naming the first child who will not know the darkness of the sea but the brightness of the sun he made. 

He remembers his sister’s words, on why he doesn’t have a wife yet. He never felt the need to have one for he is too busy managing this new world, this paradise, and his heart is still so full of his parents and his sister. But this son of a warrior will start becoming his for he is a god now. And so will new Talokanil babies after him. 

He nods his consent to the warrior who is both glad and relieved for having the god name his son. “Bring him to me once he’s born.” 

It has been a day or two as he sits on his throne, the jade teeth being completed, when the warrior and his wife swims to him, carrying their son to him. They saluted each other save for the mother carrying her son. 

He takes the infant from her and his smile cannot be denied, this is the first son of Talokan after they had their sun, so this is special. He is special. He caresses the son’s cheeks with the back of his finger and the baby smiles, he looks back at the parents who have poured every bit of their love onto him. Was this how his parents were when he was born? Because he was, when Pearl was born. 

Then, a vision flashed to him. 

He holds the baby close. 

“K’uk’ulkan?” The wife’s voice brought him back to reality. 

“I received a vision about this child.” He starts, “he will grow up to be one of the few leaders of our army,” he looks at the said child, chuckling, “and become my advisor when the time comes. He shall be named Attuma, and when he grows up, he will have hunted down a hammerhead shark for his own headdress.” 

The couple looked at each other with delight and excitement at the fate of their son being courageous like his father, wise like his mother, and to serve their godking so closely. No other honor is deemed so great than to be by his side and serve him. 

He brings back baby Attuma to his mother. 

The tradition indeed started. Of him naming newborn babies if their parents so wished which majority of them did. Triangle earrings were made too, to mimic his ears that point to the sky. For it not to hurt, he ordered that each of those earrings have vibranium infused in it.

A decade has passed. Another half did. Then two years more. 

His weaponry has been growing in quantity, his army trained every day in the span of those years, in the span of the sun’s return to the same day it was made. But it was only after those two years did he decide to have the best informants be spies on the land they once roamed. 

The information brought back to him aged him with stress internally to the point he wouldn’t touch his meals because of how grotesque and how awful the colonizers had been in the land he and the Talokanils once called home. He almost went mad with the hunger for food and revenge when he catches in his peripheral view her mirror almost falling. He’s caught it, of course, and he scoffs because he has grown weak over rejecting his meals. 

If he doesn’t have the strength now, how will he face her again? Didn’t he promise to kill and shed blood for her? 

And so he eats, he eats and eats, until he’s recuperated enough to swim back to the surface and slowly start a chain of events, what would be called mysterious and bone-chilling to these illegal people dwelling on his once land. 

Once, after drowning one of the colonizers who whipped his people around, he was to swim back to his home in the oceans when he saw a woman around the age of his mother drowning. He rushes to her aid and saves her, bringing her back to land. He brings his finger to his lips as if motioning the woman to stay silent about the encounter. 

Of course, he had to realize it was futile, that someone from the seas with wings on his ankles and upward pointing ears has become their figurative and literal savior. Any colonial attempts to seek him only met their end at sea, never to return again. 

And in each of those colonial attempts, a flash of orange and white always passes his eyes by like a ruthless vision attacking him as imperialists die by his hand or spear. He tried to make sense of it on his own, maybe they were trying to tell him something. That’s how he ended up with a Spanish man by his grotto as Talokanils torture him for the answers their godking seek. 

Again, it was futile, yet the images of orange and white had been aching his head longer than he appreciates, he found it cute at first. His murders conjure up the colors but he has to seek advice from the elders to make sense of his pain. 

It was foretold, then, that a mighty female warrior, taking his Spanish name would be born, and she would be twice as lethal, triple his valor, and four times sharper. Only her birth would halt his migraine, and each time a baby girl is presented to him, he prayed to Chaac she would be the one so his pain would stop, but alas, as if Chaac plays with him– like the god finds it cute too, he receives a different and stark vision from the one he has when he practices fulfilling his promise to his sister. 

He once thought that it might be his sister, this future warrior, that this might be her form of punishment for leaving her all alone and waiting, hoping, missing him. Yet it wasn’t her face he tries so desperately to see when he sheds blood, he couldn’t see a damn face but only those colors. 

One time, he’s swimming outside the capital, to gather some shells to make a gift for Attuma for having excelled his training and because he finally found the weapon he’s most comfortable with which is an axe. He remembers that Attuma’s mother loved shells and he didn’t want Attuma to lose that side of his mother. 

Then comes a group of lionfish swimming out of nowhere, they aren’t strangers to sea but now that he’s frequently got images of their colors, he instinctively follows them. Then he sees the perfect sets of shells for Attuma. 

He thought of the vision he had for the young warrior-to-be, a hammerhead shark to adorn his head, would it be lionfish then? For this to-be warrior with his namesake? 

He reads his books about the fish, he sees the words venomous, temporary paralysis, sharp spines. He scoffs, no wonder, he experiences mild dosages of the last two words, he does freeze when the flash of the colors cross his eyes, the pain is sharp across his head– is this kid gonna be a headache as she grows up? He dreads just thinking of it. 

He reads some more, he discovers that they are called underwater assassins, that they are invasive, and he couldn’t help a chuckle, remembering the words the elders told him about his vision. Would she wound up helping him with the colonizers too? Was that some sort of premonition? Some semblance of comfort he won’t be alone in this journey of making those people pay?

She is born without witnessing firsthand the horrors of the conquest but she will grow up with the ability to make them suffer for it. 

Somehow, she reminds him of his sister, born to be a warrior, and while his future namesake is lucky to have him, he would’ve preferred his sister not be reborn again as one. 

This is right, this is just right. He need not a wife, nor a sister, but a companion. And she will be perfect. 

After three years, in the course of those three years ever since he started receiving those visions, she was finally born. The second he carried her in his arms, all he felt was serenity and finality that this is her. The underwater assassin, the venom that would kill those who endanger them, “would you lure them in with your beauty, my child?” He speaks to the sleeping infant, he caresses her cheek with the back of his finger and the baby grunts and tilts her head away, he laughs, delighting her parents. 

“You are so smart for coming to me earlier than you are expected,” he holds her both in his hands and he can faintly see some lionfish fins garlanding her head, this is her. The companion he didn’t know he’s looking for, he names her. “You are going to be my second-in-command, Namora.” 

He delicately hugs the infant, moving her parents for they never saw this gesture from him for anyone else. “You will be great, Namora. You are already the greatest Talokan has ever seen.” 

The baby moves and when he looks at her, she grabs at his nose, making him laugh, “and a headache for me, I see.” She observes him and starts grabbing at his ears, then she taps at his cheeks, he takes the time to observe her too, “you have deep eyes, my child, as deep as our home goes.” 

Indeed, a headache she is. A decade passed and he always caught her either attempting to stab Attuma or having already stabbed him, catching a lionfish just to discard it with its fins, playing with bombs as pranks to her fellow playmates and a lot more than the godking could remember. It was also the same timeframe where he caught her following him up the shore of where he once was born, the bright fins undeniable to the eye. 

He didn’t scold her, he instead told her bits of his story, of his birth, things she doesn’t know yet about him. And how he later on discovered that one of Namora’s parents is a distant relative. He never felt truly with a companion ever since that discovery, how he felt like all those lonely years are worth it waiting for her.

On her 13th birthday, with the grace of her parents, he allowed Namora her first kill, and totally not because she has been pleading for it. And as expected, he has to hold her back once the man had long been dead ever since she first snapped his neck. 

“Okay, that was one, where are the other twelve?” 

“What twelve?” 

“I am thirteen now, and this is just one.” 

They argued all the way home how one should suffice. 

For her twentieth birthday, she said she wanted an orca calf for a pet, it shouldn’t surprise him but it still did. He knew everything there is to know about orcas, the fact he didn’t think to link what he knows to Namora’s behavior is on him. She spyhopped, killed in excess, wore dead sea creatures on her head for fun and to scare Attuma off. Intelligent, playful, and dangerous, and many more than he could ever imagine. 

So for him to see Namora hanging out around his cenote, looking for something to do or learn from him after another five years was a shock to him. 

“What are you looking for, child?” 

“Something to read.” He leads her to a connecting hallway where his stash of books are safely stored, she takes one good look before turning to him, “where are the language books?” 

He sighs, impatient when she can't immediately get what she’s looking for. He leads her to a neat section of various language books, “which one do you want? Asian? African? European?” 

She gives him a look, “why would I do European?” 

He hides his lips to shut himself up. 

He watches as she grabs a Tagalog book and his chest constricts, there’s the grief again. It comes in waves, still, but ever since Attuma and Namora’s births, it was less painful, less deadly, and he has yet to fulfill his self-proclaimed promise to his sister, to shed blood of those who seized her island. But is Namora’s picking a sign that that time is now? 

She showed him the book, “isn’t this the language of your sister?” 

“It’s Cebuano and Ilokano.” Then he points to notebooks he made himself of the languages he’s also fluent with. She picks one up, flips through and brings it back, showing him the same book she picked. 

“Thank you, K’uk’ulkan.” 

He scoffs while she swiftly walks away. He shakes his head at the attitude, turning to pick the notebooks instead. He takes it with him to read and recall some, it had been years since he spoke these languages, considering it as dead as his late sister. He tries to stop the pain spreading from his chest by massaging it, but the tears still fall. 

With his star reader scientists, he eventually learned the date of his sister’s unfortunate passing, and he decided to swim to her waters, having Attuma position to act as the people’s advisor for the time being he will be away. He and Namora have never met her, but the pearl farm named after her surname is enough to speak of the volumes of how he dearly loved his sister. 

He swims to Cebu on the anniversary of her death and her letters were right just as his mother was right, but unlike them, her people had no savior, no other home to turn to. Things indeed change for the worse. 

In his lividness, he started the same chain of events he did in his village. 

He later discovered that the set of islands he once knew was marked and named Philippines with the same religion that plagued his village. What would Pearl make of this? 

He does that tradition for over a decade and six years later. As he swims back, he notices the water wouldn’t let him return to his home, he tries with all the might he has but to no avail, he gets more stuck. Annoyed, because he has promised Namora to practice Cebuano with him, he lets the waters wash him to wherever it wants him to go. 

And he finds himself back to one of the archipelago’s shores, one of the beaches in Ilocos Sur, he’s pretty much in an exposed spot, not much of a hiding place and there’s plenty of sand. He freezes on his steps when he sees feet. 

Shit, he thinks, he’s caught and he has no idea how to– 

He’s feeling that same experience again, where he feels like the oxygen in the air couldn’t enter his body all because of the person sitting, waiting for him. Here she is, with the sun shining ever so hotly and brightly, coloring her brown skin, patient for someone she knows will come to get her. 

She smiles and his breath stays on his throat, and for the first time in a very, very long while, he feels that same warmth, that same comfort of the sun and her smile. 

He tries to blink the tears away, to not blur his sight of her, but his voice breaks as he calls her in a low whisper, “kiik?” Like the word has to be punched out of his chest. 

She grins, and he knows he’s not hallucinating when the sun pulses, shining brighter because of it, even in this lifetime, be it real or not, she is still comparable to the sun, “took you long enough, kuya.” 

“How…?” His tears fall but he couldn’t be bothered to wipe them, not when he feels himself kneeling, not when he’s slowly reaching for her like she’d disappeared with the wind, vanish in the sand once his sinful and bloody hands full of fulfilling his self-proclaimed promise touch her, “I felt it, I felt you… how?” 

Her face, void with the paint so full of meaning and beauty, is so young and innocent, like the sister she just wanted to be, like the child she never got the chance to be, “I don’t think it’s as important as to why.” 

He pulls her in an embrace, sobbing like he has never sobbed before, his hand cradling the back of her head as she leans to him, letting him cry his heart out. Her left hand pats on his shoulder rhythmically while the other smooths out his hair and then his back. Even in this lifetime, she’s becoming the pillar between the two of them. And for the first time in a very long while, Cha’ah Toh feels like himself again, like he could be himself again. He never felt so exhausted than now, the weight of his statuses crushing his bones but with her, he can weep. 

“I cannot believe this,” he tells her, cupping her cheeks and she just gives him a faint smile, “you’re exactly as…” he gulps, caressing her hair, “as her, as my sister.” 

She pouts, “am I not?” 

He chuckles through his tears as her fingers delicately wipe them away, and he leans to her touch, the warmth he never knew could come back is right in front of him again. “Oh, kiik, my Pearl, my sister– is it still your name?” 

She taps the space beside her and he follows, sitting closely to her, a protective hold over her arm which made her chuckle, “I’m not going away,” she removes his hand and instead clings to his arm like she used to, like she was never gone, like she just slumbered for almost six decades, “and yes, it’s still my name.” 

She looks at him and he hugs her again, she laughs, indulging him in his yearning. He presses his cheek to hers and she complains, “ouch, your big earring hurts me!” 

He apologizes quickly, then he looks at her bare face and neck, so unusual and unbefitting the sister who could never be caught seen without any gold on her, “where’s my gift of sun earrings to you?” 

“It broke when I had to leave.” 

His eyebrows furrowed, “you remembered everything?” 

She nods like it’s her source of pride, the question to his pointed ears flies away, “yes! Every single thing! Although I think my parents have no clue,” she shrugs, “oh well, more for me to keep.” He takes her hands, disheartened that the stripes of plants and crops are gone, so are the flower and crab, “I think Bathala didn’t bother painting me with my blood again, nor did he place me in a region that practices it,” he puts his face in between her palms and her thumbs caress the skin under his eyes, as if the bags underneath will magically go away. 

Is she still some sort of warrior? Practicing to be a healer? Who are her parents? How about her grandfather? He has so many questions but he’s too caught up on having her right beside him. He noticed she lost the poetry in her speech but she’s a bit more careful, even calmer, or maybe she’s slowing down for his sake but her face, he couldn’t pinpoint what it is but he feels like he could spend so many times looking at her but couldn’t figure out what is bothering him with it. 

“I think I came back when you started visiting again.” She starts and he lets her talk, he always does. “I felt it as I was pushed out from my mother’s womb, I don’t know how to describe it but I just had this knowing that this isn’t my first time here, that this is not new to me although the faces are new, that I could say.” A pause, “when did you start visiting again?” 

“At the date of your death, 15 or 16 years ago.” He puts down her hands but he doesn’t let go. 

She smiles at his confirmation, “16, I just turned 16 last, last month.”  

He smiles, “well, I can’t let my sister have a birthday without a gift from me.” 

“It’s fine if you don’t, I’m not sure I’d be able to display or use it, the Spaniards are very strict and demeaning.” 

He takes a deep breath, “show them to me.” 

“It’s fine, kuya, I don’t think my parents would understand whether or not the Spaniards are around, they’re pretty much Catholic.” 

“And you?”

She sighs, “I just follow them, although when I pray, it’s Bathala I called onto. We still do some rituals and traditions, but they call them superstitions now as if the new religion isn’t just like it.” She smiles at him, “but I’m really happy you came back.” 

“If you are happy, then I am joyous, kiik.” He tells her, a genuine smile crossing his face, “I never thought this would be possible, I didn’t even think I’d ever see you again.”

“Did you not even paint me?” 

“I’m afraid my hands won’t be able to capture you perfectly.” She grows quiet, not knowing what to say, and he confirms she’s indeed a bit calmer, “but I have worn necklaces and vambraces, in hopes you’d recognize me.” 

She chuckles, “and I did, those pearl necklaces are sparkling,” she caresses his necklaces, “I like these shell necklaces, what are these called?” 

“Auger. You should see my pectoral and my ceremonial headdress.”

“Ceremonial? So, it’s like a crown? Wasn’t your mother a royalty in your village before?” 

The mention of his mother made him solemn but he didn’t let it take over him, “you said in one of your letters that you wanted to live in the sea, right?” She nods, “then come with me, I have an underwater paradise waiting for you.” 

Her eyes widened, “underwater?!” 

He chuckles at her childlike wonder, “yes, underwater.” 

“That does explain why you’re able to swim here without any ships or boats.” She tells herself, “can you take me at night? That’s the only free time I have and my parents sleep early.” 

He blanks out for a second, why did he assume she’s reborn with the same biological structure as him? She’s born to Ilokano parents and she practically doesn’t share the same blood with him, she’s simply the reincarnation of his sister. 

But if she’s born with the memories of her past life, what are the chances Bathala created her with the ability to withstand the crushing pressure of the ocean? 

“You can still swim, yes?”

She nods, “my parents told me I was always clawing at the sea from the window of our hut, like I just want to be there all the time, I can dive deeper than normal but I haven’t really tried staying longer under the water.” 

He nods at the problems he’ll solve when he comes back to Talokan after their conversation, “I will have a suit and dress ready for you.” 

“Will we really just swim? Are there no shortcuts?” 

He squishes her cheeks, she is still adorable as ever, “my village is the shortcut.” 

She thinks of the distance and the time it will take to travel to his peninsula, “okay, I’ll take my chances with the swimming.” 

“I’ll be back before a week has passed, by then, you’ll be able to swim and breathe underwater.” 

She smiles and his heart has never been so full of love again, like something completed him. She opens her mouth to say something or to just converse but her head turns around at the sound of approaching people, “you should go now, kuya.” 

They stand up, “I’ll visit tomorrow night.” She nods and he pulls her in another tight embrace, “I have so many to ask and tell you.” 

She holds his hand cradling her face, “so do I, but we have time now. Bathala made sure of it.” 

So do I, he wants to tell her, and that he’s a god now too. Instead, he places an earnest kiss on her forehead.

He dives back to the water and it didn’t escape him that his sister chuckled because of it. 

His sister. She did come back to him, did her creator heard his plea the time he was mourning her? Did he and Chaac conspired to bring her back? Or did Bathala pity his child for having such a short and unfortunate time on the island he created for her? 

It doesn’t matter, what matters is that she’s back, and it doesn’t seem that she’s a warrior again just like what he fleetingly wished. 

Attuma and Namora made him capable of personal love again but he cannot deny that his sister will always take precedence, and he cannot wait for all three of them to meet. He thinks that in her first life, she would’ve loved Namora, but in this second one, it might be Attuma, gentle and firm as who she’s becoming. 

It only took 53 years later for her to be made again, reborn with the memories from her earlier life, in that span of time, he’s sure it didn’t take long for them to find each other again. She said it herself, didn’t she? That she was pulled to dive, and he pulled to fly to the surface world, seeking what their worlds lack, she seeks her brother and he seeks to fulfill his promise. 

As soon as he comes back to Talokan, he announces that he has met the reincarnation of his sister and he will bring her to meet them all. As a truthful king, he told them he will be occupied with their fellow scientists to make her a suit or a potion that would enable her to withstand the ocean, that any other concerns would be directed to Attuma whom they equally trust as well. 

At dinner, Namora and Attuma bombarded him with questions about her. 

“Pearl! Enough staring at the sea and come help me set the dining table!” Her mother called, she wordlessly followed. It has been a day since her brother told her he will come and visit her again and the moon is ready to take the sun’s place in the sky. 

They started to eat and her father noticed her uneasiness, “is something bothering you? You’ve been agitated.” 

They wouldn’t understand, she knows, so she keeps it a secret, “I just wanted to swim.” 

Her parents looked at each other and shared a chuckle, her mother caressed her hair, “you can, tomorrow, the civil guards won’t be around as much.” She beamed and it was enough for their worries to go away. Maybe her brother is just waiting for her parents to fall asleep, yes, that must be it, she said that to him in the first place. 

After washing the dishes, she decides to show him something for when he arrives later. It didn’t take that long when she felt that he’s here. That’s the reason she sat on the beach yesterday, because she felt that the waves would bring him to her. 

Seeing that her parents are sleeping soundly, she quietly walks her way out and sees her brother waiting on the same spot. He waves to her and she smiles, waving to him too, then she points at the space below the nearby cliff where it’s the typical blindspot. They meet there and he embraces her again, she chuckles, it must have been a long time without her. 

When they part, he presses their foreheads together, a gesture he started doing to his fellow Talokanils too ever since the farmer gave him the biggest and brightest pearl. Speaking of, he removes his pectoral and hands it to her. 

“Wow!” She marvels, her fingers carefully touching each detail but he notices the absence of her commentary when her past life would’ve spent the next hours raving about it. “Are they eating the moon?” 

“It’s life, so it can be a cycle of life and death. But now that I’m K’uk’ulkan, it’s both the sun and moon.” 

“You’re not Cha’ah Toh anymore?” 

He chuckles, “after you died, I was so lost in the dark, and rereading your letters put me back to my feet– even now, talking to you, seeing you makes me believe it’s all a part of Chaac and Bathala’s miracle,” she smiles at the mention of her god, “I made my people an artificial sun and they hailed me as the feathered-serpent god because of it.” 

“That’s wonderful, kuya, it really is.” Her eyes sparkled like she contains the stars in her eyes and maybe she does, he cradles her cheek and she smiles more, “you mentioned you have a ceremonial headdress. Is it because you are a god now?”

“They made me king first because of my mother which is why I got very much occupied,” he tucks her hair behind her ear, “and when I was preparing to take you with me, you died, I felt your death. It shattered me, kiik.” 

“You wanted me to live with you? In your underwater paradise?” He nods, “then will I become like you? With pointed ears and winged ankles?” He smiles, of course, she didn’t miss his physical changes just like he didn’t miss hers. He explained the vibranium concoction, the changes in their bodies, how they adapted with life underwater, the accessories, the visions he received per new Talokanil born after he installed the sun, “will I have to drink it too?” 

“I have already ordered my scientists to make you a suit, and they’re infusing it with all the vibranium we have so you can be safe, I’m not sure if your body will change to so should you choose to consume it, or if one of our shamans receive a vision, but would you want to?” 

She frowns, “I don’t know, it’s already so difficult for me to restore how we were able to sew gold now that the Spaniards looted it all, I don’t think I’m ready for yet another change.” 

“You don’t have to say yes to me just because your past life is my sister.” 

“But I want you to still be my brother.” 

He breathed in relief, “so do I.” They sit, “it’s inspired by the Bakunawa, my pectoral, are you still skilled with your swords?” 

A distant look clouded her eyes but it disappeared when she looked at him, “I think Bathala rendered useless in this life of mine.” She answers and that’s sufficient for him to to conclude that her creator heard him, “but I think I’m still the daughter of the seas, my playmates used to tell me, accuse me, that I was a sirena,” she chuckles, “because of how long and deep I can go under the water, and I was so curious, I wanted to see if they are real but I have never met one, have you seen them before, kuya?” 

He grows silent, he doesn’t know what to make of her story, because the more he goes to Cebu, the more eyes he feels on him and it’s definitely not the native people of the land nor the colonizers, a group of other creatures at sea too. But as long as he hasn’t confirmed it yet, he chooses not to get her hopes up, “no, I haven’t, but if I did, I will tell you.” 

Her face brightens up and she nods, she fishes out a paper and takes a deep breath, “I don’t know how but I don’t want to think of it too much but…”

“What is it? You can tell me anything.” 

She gulps, “this is the draft of the last letter I have for you, I didn’t want to bother you with it anymore especially since you’ve actually received them, but the mention of your sun still intrigues me, I want to see it and how you did it.” 

He reads through the letter, some crosses, some question marks, some additional lines, corrections, and whatnot, but the last line tugs at his heart the most. 

The sun will shine on us again, kuya. 

He reads it out loud and then he looks at her, “and it did,” he cradles her face, “you shined on me again.” 

She gives him a shy smile, making him chuckle, “will I really see your sun?” 

“Of course, I’ll make sure of it, kiik.” She grins and he smiles, “you can see your gift of pure jade once I bring you to Talokan.” She questions the name and he explains how it was first Tlalocan, she ends up agreeing that the current name is more practical to say. 

“I’m so curious about your sun! Is it like ours here? Is it hot? Is it blinding? How many hours can it go? Do you do weekly or monthly repairs? Has it ever been broken? Did it shine less over the years or even more? What’s the color? Is it yellow? I have so many questions!” She chuckles and he feels his chest constricts, maybe her creator allowed her to be the inquisitive child for the sake of being inquisitive she didn’t get to be. 

Back then, everything she knew could be used for local and foreign trade on their island’s advantage, or against people who might think of betraying them. But it also broke his heart a little, that the scrutiny of the colonizers stripped away her love for anything decorative on her body. 

Before he can answer her, she chimes in again, “do you have a moon? Do you actually need one? If the vibranium serves as the sun and your people have their own lights within their homes, then it would make sense if there’s no need for a moon. How about stars?” 

“It’s not like the sun here, but I think it can be improved. It’s a bit dim so it’s not blinding, our scientists have the sun run the normal hours like it does on a regular day. It has a faint blue color but transparent like the stone it’s named after. And you’re correct, we don’t have a moon, we have an alternative, big pool of vibranium light where people can gather and socialize. I’d take the stars into consideration.” 

She laughs at having all her questions answered. She looks up at the sky, “they’re bright tonight.” 

He looked up too, he didn’t realize how much he missed stargazing especially when he was little, how he learned that their people used it as a means of navigation and predictions, how come he never considered it? 

He glances at his sister with her eyes still fixated on the stars, her fingers subconsciously caressing her namesake. 

“I had a new name, too.” He starts and she looks at him, “Namor.” 

She blinks, “that doesn’t sound Mayan.” 

“Because it’s Spanish.” She shivered like it disgusted her and it made him smile. 

“My archipelago is permanently named after a Spaniard king, why would they do the same to you?” He told her of the story of when he buried his mother, how they burned and freed their people, how he was called the son of Satan until he landed his second name, then the espionage, the drowning and killing, and the reason why he came back to her island of birth. “So, you came back to shed blood for me?” 

“Yes.” 

She embraces him and it does surprise him a bit but he lets her be, “you’ve been doing what I failed to do.” 

“I’m sure Sidapa is satisfied that your brother lives long enough to continue what you’ve been doing.” 

“It doesn’t feel enough,” she retrieves and his hands hold her arms, “I don’t think it will ever be enough unless they all are condemned and far away from here.” 

“I know, and I’m sorry.” 

“Why? It’s not your fault.” 

“I wasn’t able to reach you sooner, if I did, I might’ve able to have some of your people live with us and you will be safe–” 

“It’s okay,” she cuts him off, smoothing out his hair so it relaxes him, it does, “you’re here now, you came back, you swam to me instead, you’re going to show me how it will be like to live in the sea, that’s what matters.” 

He closes his eyes and he feels it, a sureness that she will live a long life this time. And he hopes he’s not wrong, not delusional. 

“I think,” she starts and he opens his eyes, “as long as the sea is here, so are you, you’ll always be here for me, right?” 

It’s the assurance she’s seeking, the comfort he failed to provide her and now is his chance to prove himself again with all the grace she’s allowing him, “always.” He promises, with all the soothness it gives.

She chuckles, “can you fly?” 

“I used to practice around the cenote.” 

“But in the open air?” 

“I don’t think I have, improvements always have to be done down there. And my army,” he pauses, “I haven’t told you about Attuma and Namora, have I?” 

“Who?” She gasps, “are they your children? Did you finally take a wife?” 

He chuckles, shaking his head, “as a god, they are my children, but I do not have a wife.” 

She pouts, “what about your army?” 

“I overlook their training too.” He answers, “I infused some of your fighting style as part of mandatory training for self-defense.” 

Her eyes sparkled, he once told her that her land never lacks sun and sea so her invisible vibranium pins reflect because of them, he almost concludes her eyes are infused with the pins he gave her. “Really?” 

“And I have a pearl farm dedicated to you, I named it after your surname.” 

“Pangan?” He nods, “I’m still a Pangan now.” 

“Excellent.” They share a smile. 

“You should practice your flying.” He stares, “with me! Carry me around!” She said and he laughed once more, “I’m not joking.” 

“Oh? What do you propose?” 

“That we fly at least above water and when we reach Zama, that’s when we will swim.” 

He takes her suggestion in, “that could work, the underwater cave isn’t that far from the entrance of my cenote, maybe then my scientists can work on your suit better.” He caresses her hair, “I see that Bathala decided to concentrate on your intelligence, huh?” She just nods, happy with the compliment and Cha’ah Toh gulps down how he misses the way she’d counter it with something he didn’t mean at all. 

But this is her new life, her memories and face retained so he could recognize her easily so he really isn’t in the position to complain. 

“And your face didn’t change at all.” 

“Yours did,” he chuckles, “I meant you age! But not regularly, I think your face right now might’ve been what you will look like if you’re in your early 30s. Must be the vibranium.” He nods, “then how do birthdays work? After 18 months, still?” 

He smiles with her memory of the Mayan calendar so he nods. 

“I’m sleepy now, kuya, tell me about Attuma and Namora when you return?” 

“Wait for me after 3 to 4 moons.” 

He tells his scientists a change of plans regarding Pearl’s suggestion to enter Talokan through the underwater cave. His handmaidens, still busy with the dresses and jewelries for her. 

“What language did she speak?” Namora asks. 

“Ilokano.” 

He was able to carve time for 2 suns and practice flying above the surface of the water where no land is near, he had Namora excused with her daily training just so he could use her as practice. 

“Remove your necklace.” He tells her once she appears from the water. 

“No.” 

“What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, no.” 

He scoffs, “it will hurt my back.” 

“Are you not a god?” 

He closes his eyes and sighs, “have some consideration for your relative.” 

“No.” 

“Namora.” He opens his eyes and she shakes her head like he haven’t gotten her point yet. “It will not be lost at sea, it’s our home.” 

“You’re wearing your necklaces too, how come mine will hurt you?” 

“Because it’s hard.” He answers, “and has teeth and fins.” 

She looks down on her necklace before staring at him again, “you said it’s pretty.” 

“Namora, just this time.” She didn’t budge, “should I have you call Attuma instead?” 

“I don’t think Pearl is as heavy as him.” 

“Yes, she isn’t.” She shrugs and eventually removes her necklace, hooking it on the belt of her skirt, he refuses to say anything more or to scold her for it will ultimately change her mood. He swims to her and turns his back. 

“If she’s the reincarnation of your sister, why does she have no powers?” She asks, putting her arms around his shoulders like she used to do when she was little and they’d swim around the capital. 

“Maybe her god has no intentions of further changing her.” 

He swims first until he feels stable enough to fly just above the water, he smiles when he hears her in awe, even laughing, and he can’t blame her, this is fun! He may be the fastest in the water but he has wings for a reason! For flight! For air! 

The cool wind gushes through them– 

“My headdress!” 

He tilts his head and sees her holding her head, he quickly swerves and flies toward her lionfish fins headdress, as they go nearer, she finally grabs it. Her laughter echoes through the empty horizon and he couldn’t help but laugh with her too. 

He tells her he’ll now swim to get some water for the both of them. She detangles herself and her hair comes undone, sometimes, Cha’ah Toh thinks that the surface dwellers are lucky that they don’t see Namora’s beauty and get lured to it in a siren-like state. “Why have you never thought of this?” She asks him with the biggest hint of disappointment. 

“I know…” he concedes. 

“We should do it again.” 

“Alright.” 

She grins, “I have something to make Attuma jealous of again.” 

“Okay.” Somehow, the order of their birth irks Namora until this day. But he doesn’t try to reason out with her anymore on the topic, knowing he isn’t safe with her cunning paybacks. 

A few more rounds of practice and Namora gets hungry for meals so they swim back to Talokan. 

The handmaidens informed him that two dresses are already done and the third one is in the finishing touches process. Tonight is the fifth moon over Pearl’s country and he’s preparing to leave. 

“Will you finally bring her here?” Namora asks just as he’s about to swim away, “tonight?” 

“Not tonight. But I will.” 

They have agreed that once or twice a week, he will help her dive and swim deeper to test and expand on her abilities, and since he’s the only person she’s certain she trusts, she knows that drowning isn’t an option with him right beside her. 

It continued on the course of up to three months, with him sometimes bringing her on his back like he did with Namora and swimming as fast as he could. 

They float on the water one night after he did it again, “is it going to be like that too once you fly me to Talokan?” 

“Namora says I’m still faster in the water and I believe that too, so it might not be as thrilling as we did when we swam.” 

When he told her about Attuma and Namora, he wasn’t mistaken that she and Attuma will get along better but she rather has an odd affection towards Namora, maybe she sees her brother’s namesake as someone she could’ve been had she not been killed so early. 

“So you started getting visions after the sun was finished? But Namora had been giving you flashes three years before she was born?” 

“Yes.” 

“Good.” 

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, good.” 

She does feel stronger, like her lungs could hold more air and she could hold her breath for longer minutes because of their constant practice. 

He was swimming at a slower pace with her lying on his back, looking up at the stars, her hair over his shoulders like he’s some humpback whale, she shoots back with “are you not?”. 

“Have you considered if you want to consume the vibranium potion?” He asked when it was getting more silent and he assumed she’s falling asleep. 

She was making shapes with the stars hanging above her, “out of question, I’d rather observe your people whom I will soon meet than be observed.” She took a deep breath, “or maybe because the Spaniards are looking at me too much. You know, in their bible, it says there that if a man stares at a woman lustfully, they should pluck their eyes out, yet they can still see clearly.” 

“I’ll pluck their eyes out, point them out to me sometime.” 

“Okay,” there was a pause before she admitted she couldn’t remember who because she couldn’t stomach looking at them, he told her that it was fine, that none of them deserves to see. “I think Bathala removed my interests in studying herbs and plants, I didn’t devote much time to it, must he have mistaken it for me not liking it?” 

“Or maybe because you already have a brother who did it for you.” She became silent, “we had to adapt with what we have for food, with what became our living conditions, and I had to relearn a lot with cooking and our cuisine. Our bodies heal faster but that doesn’t mean we are immune to diseases, that’s why we resort to mixing our traditional medicine with vibranium. You don’t have to worry about studying anything you don’t like once you’re down there.” 

His words were lullaby to her that she indeed fell asleep, he laid her down the shore with a towel he had prepared and waited until she rose with the sun. He thought there should be a way for them to be concealed so no eyes can spot them and that she can sleep for as long as she likes. 

“But I’m too occupied with household work, I also help my father with our livelihood which is so exhausting, I would’ve preferred if it was fishing!” They were floating on their backs this time, his gentle hold over her wrist prevented her from straying too far from him, “and we also attend school with a mandated curriculum which obviously makes the the good guys,” she huffs, “like I didn’t witness and still witness how they’re the actual sons of Satan!” 

He laughed at her usage of what the priest called him before he killed him, he let her talk some more, “the only time I could do what I actually like, swimming, clearly, is when I’m with you.” She didn’t mind the silence, but it’s because she didn’t know the words he was saying to no one but his mind, how tragically similar to her past life. 

“I will find a way,” she looked at him, “to convert any prized possession I have to your currency so you could spend more time studying what you like, just like what I told you the other moon. They may have looted all your gold, but we don’t lack it in Talokan.” 

She didn’t reply anything so he continued, “I don’t mind spoiling you materialistically all over again.” He watched as her face scrunched up at the thought and he would’ve found it endearing only if he didn’t mean his words. But he does, he always does. 

“Isn’t that too bothersome?” A pause, “I’m already taking time away from your responsibilities in Talokan.” 

“They can manage, it’s not like I do this everyday.” 

“I know, but don’t you think one of the reasons I’m put in a much simpler life is because I should learn to be content? I am content.” 

“Pearl,” he starts. 

“I’m saying not every problem of mine is your obligation to fix.” 

“When I can fix it?” 

Her eyes widened with the pettiness in his voice, “I didn’t say you can’t.” He rolled his eyes and she sighed, they had a round of argument and he wondered if this is what Namora feels when he tries to instill some discipline and maturity with her. 

After they settled, he started another conversation, “I don’t mind shedding some more colonizer blood in this part of your country.” 

She didn’t say anything, knowing he might as well do it, knowing she won’t stop him from doing so, but he tugged at her wrist so she looked at him. He continued, “I can drive them all away, knock them out, put them on a boat, then leave them stranded far away from here. Namora would be more than willing to participate. She would volunteer.” 

“I don’t have their locations memorized.” 

“I have spies that will study them and figure them all out in less than a month.” 

He noticed she didn’t refuse and he’s glad she didn’t. 

A few more weeks passed and they talked as their bodies were submerged in the water. He’s starting to get used to her face without the paint of waves and snakes, she’s starting to get used to the feeling of water on her skin like it’s some second body. For some extraordinary reason, she could hold her breath for up to half an hour. 

“I’m sure Bathala decided to simplify my life this time around, especially with my interests being science which is more in your arena of expertise. Was it because my past life was so complicated?” 

He gave her a smile that tells her everything will be okay, so she added, “or maybe Bathala and Chaac want me close to you.” 

“Whatever it may be, I’m thankful enough that the waters lead me back to you.” 

She chuckled at the joke that formed in her head so she shared it with him, “it’s almost as if they’re saying it’s unfair you get to live for so long without me with you.” 

He took it seriously because that’s what he concluded too, “good, I wanted you to come back,” he recalled that specific time, holding her mirror back then, “it’s only fair they would listen to someone who would be their fellow god.”

She scratched her head, she thought he would at least laugh, “I haven’t even seen your headdress.” 

His eyebrows furrowed, “what does that have to do with me being one?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. 

One of the nights leading to their current one, he decided to have a talk with her first before they go on and practice. He had to make Pearl understand that she’ll never be a burden to him, “if you wish to make Talokan your second home, then it will be, it always has been, away from the pressures of a colonized life, you’ll be free to study unbiased fields, and you’ll have vibranium to experiment with.” 

She took a deep breath and maybe she didn't realize yet the gravity of his words because she is yet to come to Talokan, he continued, “if you want to swim all your days and nights, there’s this big body of water within your reach.” She laughed at his description of the ocean, his domain, his kingdom. 

He held her shoulders, “I will handle everything for you if the hurt of their active conquest of your country takes a toll on you.” 

She received his words with a smile, a hint of consideration playing in her innocent eyes and he wished she'd just accept. She glanced back in the direction of her humble home, it seemed, to Cha’ah Toh, that it would take a long time for him to accept that her parents and new life chain her to stay. He will still try, still persuade her, but for now, he savors every time spared with her.

When they were done with practice, when he flew her to the shore, he reminded her, “it’s not an offer with expiration, Pearl.” 

She chuckled, “I know I can still run to you.”

“I’ll invent a means of communication between us, something you can use to call on me and I will be there promptly.” 

“Don’t make it complicated. I still prefer simpler things even in this life.”

“So when will I go to Talokan?” She asks, looking at him, he feels it so he tilts his head to her direction, “will we practice for another two months? You carrying me on your back as you fly?” 

“We can finish out the days of the week for that,” pertaining to her calendar, “then we can try going to Talokan the following week.” 

“Will we leave at night or in the afternoon?” 

“What excuse can you make up so your parents won’t notice your absence or won’t make much of it?” 

She stays silent for a while, “I… I don’t know.” 

“I can be faster, then.” He says, “our time difference is by thirteen hours, I had our informants note of that.” 

She frowns, even if he swims in much lesser hours than that to and from her country, it still uneases her, and her father wakes up very early. Although she didn’t question when she woke up on the beach with the sun, her father usually rises earlier than that. She can make up a lie that she swims earlier on too, that could work, it’s not like she’ll always meet with her brother. 

“I can just eat dinner in an earlier time.” She says and he chuckles, she joins him because they are now just thinking of her excuses when the whole of Talokan has been awaiting for her arrival. She silently prays to Bathala that she can be allowed on the few times she’ll go to her brother. “Kuya.” 

“Hm?”

“Prepare me hot cacao when I go there, ever since these Spaniards arrived, their coffee has almost replaced our chocolate and I don’t like it at all. It’s so dehydrating and forces me to stay up even if I don’t want to. It’s like I’m being forced to do and do and do.” 

“Then you can rest and rest and rest while you’re in Talokan.” She grins, both of them knowing she’s going to be very active the minute she steps foot on his cenote. 

“You should try flying up next time,” she tells him after their third practice of flying atop the surface water, they’re sitting on a shore far from her place but she can’t care when she’s had the time of her life again, swimming and then flying. What more could she ask for? 

“Like in the open air?” He clarifies and she nods, “I can manage, in fact when I practiced with Namora, I know I can.” 

“Don’t be arrogant,” she says and he chuckles, remembering that word he used to demean himself, “you’ll never know when and where you’ll have to utilize it,” he just shrugs his shoulders, not wanting to argue with her because he’s seeing her point, he just don’t want to keep on having more time to himself, he knows the elders are observing him more than they usually do. 

She passes him a mango she just peeled and he wordlessly accepts it, “your land still has the sweetest mangoes,” he said as he eats. 

She smirks, “you know what our neighbors say about it?” He shakes his head, “that it’s compensation for our suffering under these conquerors.” They burst into laughter with such dark humor. 

“It’s your way of coping with the losses, I see.” She nods. 

They eat in silence before she speaks again, “also, don’t be selfish.” He scoffs, it’s the other demeaning word, he looks at her, “what if I want to fly up but I can’t? But I have a brother who can but just won’t?” 

“You’re making me guilty,” he says like it’s a statement, she nods like he’s asking. “Alright, after you’ve spent some time in Talokan.” He doesn’t want her to worry about the eyes on him both in his kingdom and in her waters, so that’s just what he tells her. 

He hands her a conch shell, “use this if you are in trouble or if you want to go to Talokan, just blow here.” He points at one end of the shell. 

“It won’t be loud?” 

He shakes his head, “I already have people assigned to hear it and notify me, you don’t need to worry about it.” 

“You always say that, that I don’t have to worry.” 

“Because you don’t have to?” She shrugs her shoulders as they continue to sit in silence. “Your suit is practically done but we will adjust to it if your body so needs, but I created it in a way that makes you invisible too when you wear it, so when you take it back to Ilocos, you don’t have to worry about being caught or seen.” 

“Am I the only one with an invisible suit?” 

“Yes, we Talokanils are incredibly fast.” He boasts and she scoffs, making him chuckle. 

“How about the whole of Talokan, does it have some sort of invisible barrier? Like a dome,” she makes a shape of a dome with her hand, “or a cube? Then Talokanils can freely enter it but outsiders can’t? No, that would make them curious why they can’t pass, then. Or maybe they can swim through but it’s just plain water in their eyes.” 

She looks at him, waiting for his answer but he looks like he’s contemplating them all, “we never have to worry about it, although my mother used to tell me about a place with vibranium too.” 

“Have you been there?”

“I haven’t attempted.” He admits, “maybe I can swim there and see how they keep to themselves and then I’ll consider the barrier you’re asking about,” he chuckles, cradling her cheek, “what would Talokan be without you?” 

“Lifeless!” She banters and they share another round of laughter. 

After two more practices for separate days, they both deemed that she is ready for a longer swim and a longer flight, he had some of his spies figure out the best route where it’s far from lands yet the fastest way to and from their old village. He suggested that she could use their mask so she can stay longer in the water but her love for flying made her adamantly refuse. 

They did a rotation of 30 minutes of swimming and an hour of flying, and before they knew it, they’re at the entrance towards the underwater cave leading to his cenote. “This is where the Shaman found the rock with the vibranium plant we used to save our lives.” He tells her and she can see spots of faint blue, “are you ready?” 

“I’m excited!” He smiles and then they swim, she follows as he rises from the water, “are we here now– whoa.” He looks at her and smiles at her fascination at the glow worms lighting the cenote, he leads her inside and she gasps, “a hammock! Oh how I miss hammocks.” 

“Then I’ll set one up for you.” 

“Is this not yet your space?” He points to their right, steps leading them down and she nods, in awe. A Talokanil handmaiden approached and greeted her, handing her a dress, “they are blue.” 

“I told you that.” 

“Well, I still can’t believe it.” She accepts the dress and smiles at the handmaiden who lowers her head to her brother, he nods at her, “I forgot I’m in the presence of someone regal.” 

He sighs at her teasing, “stop it, go follow her to get changed.” It didn’t take her long to get changed, she called him and he turned around, “you look fantastic.” She wears a cream dress that cinches by her waist with detailed embroidery that seems plain when looking from afar and the sleeves are cuffed with gold by her wrists. 

She grinned and did a little curtsy, “my King,” the handmaidens who helped her chuckle and he just shakes her head, he offers his hand and she takes it. They walk down his private cenote and she gasps once more in marvel and awe. “It’s magnificent, kuya!” He smiles at how her face glows, “is this where you swim to your kingdom?” 

She asks more questions about the things he told her about, but now that she’s here, now that she has a visual of everything he described, it’s even better than she could imagine. His library of information regarding his once world, his mini museum of instruments he taught Attuma and sculptures Namora did with various paintings all around, then his room. 

“The bottles!” She pointed, dashing to them, “it did reach you.” She looks at him whose smile never left his face, he points to something on her left and she gasps once more, “my mirror. My gift to you.” She takes it carefully, her fingers hesitating to touch the gold thread, the last of her knowledge when everything was still under her grandfather’s control. Her face scrunches up as she sobs, the longingness of the past burned by those who seized to bury it. 

He takes her to his arms as she sobs, her head hurting with the pain her creator molded her with, “I used to do this? My people used to do this?” She asks as if she’s now just remembering, like she’s recovering. 

He makes her sit on his hammock as she puts herself together. One of the handmaidens informed him that the hot cocoa was already prepared, he excused himself as she sat and stared around his room. She realizes that even as he facilitated so much of his kingdom’s progress and advancement, when he puts down his crown, his status and retrieves to the privacy of his room, he’s just like her, stuck and beholden to the past. 

Like her, the memory of the conquest is still fresh in her mind like it was just yesterday, but unlike her, he’s had memorabilia of the past he once lived, while she only has him. True to one of her letters, he’s the only remainder, the only life who knows how her life once was, how she once was. She thinks of how he must’ve been coping with how different she has now become but his treatment of her never changed, as if she never died, as if he didn’t wait decades, as if he never accepted she was dead. 

She stands up and walks to his museum where his profound love for Attuma and Namora is stored, she’s glad he has people he can love again. 

“K’uk’ulkan–” 

She turns around and sees a Talokanil taller than the handmaiden, she can’t explain it but she thinks it’s Attuma. She smiles at him and he seems just as surprised as her, but she can figure out that her brother must’ve told them extensively about her, “your king is getting my hot cocoa.” 

He blinks, “he is right, you are still fluent in Mayan.” 

She grins and just in time, her brother calls for her, at the wave of her hand, he sees her and he seems pleased that she and Attuma have already met. “One of my men was able to take your pink and red mug.” She takes it from him, duly ignoring him as she looks at the king’s advisor. 

“Have you seen him serve anyone like this?”

Cha’ah Toh takes a deep breath as Attuma answers, “Namora.” She laughs as they all walk to an almost empty room but Pearl soon realizes it’s where he paints, a wall dedicated to how his people turned to the way they are now. They sit by the table and watch as she takes a sip. She groans and the two men chuckle. 

“The coffee those bastards introduce cannot compare to this.” She said and Attuma gaped at her description of her archipelago’s colonizers, “I might just go back to Talokan for this.” 

“Not even me?” Cha’ah Toh asks and she shakes her head. He scoffs in disbelief. He turns to Attuma to silently question why he’s come up to his cenote. Attuma tells him about a problem that fellow Talokanils have been observing regarding their Sastun, that there are times some parts of it glitch, some losing its light, sometimes it sparks or produces so much light it’s near blinding. 

The king nods to all this, thinking he wasn’t suspecting his own creation too much for when he leaves and arrives after spending time practicing with his sister. “The elders want me to tell you to focus on it immediately, K’uk’ulkan.” 

“K’uk’ulkan?” Pearl chimes in after staring at the walls of art, “why can’t you just call him Cha’ah Toh? You and Namora? He told me you two are the closest to him.” 

“I’ve been trying.” Her brother tells her. 

“Well, you’re not trying hard enough.” He sighs in defeat while Attuma chuckles, he should’ve known that her playful side will appear with Attuma and Namora around. He tells his advisor-warrior that he will handle it first thing after he introduces Pearl to the kingdom. “Can I help? With your sun?” 

“Of course, I told you that you have all our vibranium to experiment with.” She just smiles. 

“Have you seen the stars, Attuma?” She asks. 

“Only in books, I’ve seen it rarely in the sky up above.” 

She feigns a glare toward her brother, “how dare you!” 

Attuma hides a chuckle, he’s seen his king exasperated with Namora, but not this disappointed like he is now with his sister. He’s heard stories from his parents how their king was in great despair at the death of his sister, but spending a few minutes with her makes him understand why losing someone like her can make their king feel so alone and lonely in this world. 

Their godking is one to spoil, never been the one to hoard every fine thing to himself, he’s experienced it and he witnessed it with Namora, but seeing his sister with gold on her wrists gave him another understanding as to why he’s very keen with the stuff he has been preparing for her.

The king sighs and shakes his head, “and I thought you and Namora would be the ones teaming up against me.” 

“What about me?” All three of them almost jump from their seats with the voice suddenly emanating from the entrance of where they stay, Pearl looks around and she smiles. 

“You must be Namora!” She beams and the latter bows her head in greeting to the king’s sister, “oh no, no, don’t do any of that, I’m not a royalty like him.” She said, pointing directly at Cha’ah Toh’s face who sighed again. 

“Are you done?” He asks and she just grins, he turns to Namora and asks about the urgent matter. Turns out, she was just bored swimming around with her orcas. He looks at Pearl, “ask her which languages she’s fluent in, within your country now.” 

So Pearl asks, Namora, a bit flustered with her eagerness, clears her throat, “Tagalog and  Cebuano.” 

“That is so good,” she tells her and the latter offers her a small smile, suddenly shy at the compliment she’s heard numerous times from him. “We should talk in Cebuano some time, and you can tell me all of your godking’s secrets! We’ll trade information like I used to do before.” 

“I can hear the both of you.” He chimes in and she dismisses him with a wave of her hand, Namora laughs at the action and most especially the defeat on his face. After spending a bit more time with the four of them, the advisor-warrior leaves them while the rest walk to his laboratory. 

“Oh, so it’s connected by the cenote’s hallway.” She points out, “this is confusing.” 

“You’ll get used to it.” Then he calls the group of scientists working on her suit, as they assist her, he walks to another group who helped him with the sun and informs them of what Attuma has relayed to him, and that Pearl is given access to any and every apparatus in his laboratory. 

“I’m fine with just the Sastun, kuya.” She tells him and when he turns around, it’s like she’s not wearing any suit at all, “wow, this is awesome, and it’s very light too,” she tries moving her limbs around, “okay, that was a lie.” 

He smiles, “it will feel like nothing once you’re in the water.” She thanks the scientists who helped her, “you should experiment around with anything here, you can always go back to your simple life in Ilocos but forego that when you’re here.” 

“So strict.” She mumbles and the scientists hide a chuckle. 

“You’re never one to complain when I talk to you like this.” He tells her, pertaining to all conversations exchanged prior to her coming here. 

“Because that’s the simple life.” He just shakes his head, a part of him relieved that it feels like she’s back to her old self again, to how she was in her first life, and it doesn’t matter to him if it appears only when there are other people around. 

He shows his hand and she takes it, “once I have introduced you to the people of Talokan, we will adjust this to your body’s adjustment–” 

“Bathala gave my mother a vision.” She interrupts and he looks at her to continue, “she said that there were voices telling her in her dream that I shouldn’t be in our hut for a week and that I am needed elsewhere.” 

He grips her hand, “did it mention me? Or Talokan?” 

She shakes her head, “all she knows is that starting tomorrow, I shouldn’t be anywhere near my home, she didn’t mention if it would be dangerous if I was or if there was some specific country I needed to be, but she doesn’t take it lightly, so does my father.” 

“That just means your creator spared you more time with me.” She smiles and nods, “we can start working on the sun tomorrow. Come, see my headdress, I have them retrieve it so you can see it as it is before I wear them on my throne.” 

She lets go of his hand, her own set magnetize to the gold of the serpent’s head, she delicately touches the feathers, afraid she might ruin it somehow, her lips are kept parted in awe and it just keeps growing the more her eyes take in the sight of her brother’s counterpart deity for a headdress. 

“You want one for your own?” 

She chuckles, “I’m not a god nor a king like you.” 

“You’re a sister of one.” 

“That doesn’t change anything.” She points out and he shrugs as if to tell her the offer stands for a lifetime, like everything else does. 

“It won’t take long until we reach my throne,” he tells her, “it won’t even take 30 minutes.” 

“I have my vibranium suit,” she boasts and he smiles. 

To say she was surprised with the authority and loudness of her brother’s voice as he introduces her to his people was an understatement. She even looked at him with such an astonished expression, then she looked over to Namora and Attuma stifling their laughter with her reaction. 

He tells her to say something to address who now is her people too by her association with him. “My voice is not that loud–”

“They can hear and understand you well.” 

She wants to shake her head and she glances at Namora who nods at her, implying for her to trust her brother so she tries, “I didn’t realize my brother can be this loud.” She internally sighs in relief when her opening line was met with cheeky smiles and pleased gapes from his people, she looks at her brother looking at her with so much adoration, just how much did he share about her to his people? 

“For some reason, my god Bathala and your god Chaac have heard my brother’s prayers for me to come back and I did. While it is unfortunate that my archipelago was seized by our shared colonizer, I am extremely grateful that my brother’s people had a savior. Even if I was stripped of my titles and nobility in my first life, you will find an ally in the Philippines through me.” 

They salute her which takes her breath away, frozen, Cha’ah Toh reaches for her hand and squeezes it. “Salute them back.” She follows and she looks at Attuma and Namora again, their faces proud of her, “treat your princess as you would treat me, with respect and dignity.” 

She retrieves her hands, “princess?!” She clarifies in a hushed voice but her brother ignores her, he then addresses his people that their now princess will be helping him and his scientists fix their sun as part of her duty to Talokan. It takes all of her self-control not to pick up a fight with him right now, thinking the warrior of her past self will miraculously possess her and beat her own brother, never mind that he has a lethal assassin for a second-in-command that can and will impale her. 

After his address, he swims down to the two as the people disperse, he gives his headdress to one of the handmaidens and then Pearl pushes at his shoulder, “princess?!” She repeats. Namora laughs. 

“I can make it queen? I just didn’t want to overwhelm you.” 

“Overwhelm me?! You’re hilarious, kuya. No! Namora will be queen.” Namora stops laughing, making Attuma chuckle. “It’s fitting if it’s her, seeing you have no plans on taking a wife, she’s your actual blood relative, that will make more sense!” 

He looks at Namora who shakes her head, “she said no.” 

Pearl huffs, “wow, and what do you mean my duties?!”

He shrugs, “it’s just a formal way of saying your suggestions, everything you’ve been telling me, I tell my scientists and engineers as their next projects.” 

She stutters, not knowing he’s that serious with her words, “that puts pressure…” 

“Then I can just say it’s your first and last duty, something ceremonial instead, they wouldn’t mind, besides a handful of Talokanils know you before we drink the plant.” 

“I didn’t say I don't want to.” 

Somehow, he wants to take back his assumption that Pearl and Attuma will be the ones who get along well in this life of hers, he takes a deep breath, “let’s just swim around.”  

As they do, she tells him that she thinks there weren't any modifications needed with her suit, in fact, she blended well with the Talokanils and the children were so delighted to see her, calling her a princess not just because of her kinship with their king, but also because of her dress flowing with the water, her hair wavy because of the waters. 

Kids approached them, telling them that they were so surprised to hear her speak their language, one of them says to him, “she is indeed your sister, K’uk’ulkan! She has our tongue!”

As they swim some more, she asks, “why didn’t your people salute you in your cenote? Everybody did when you were on your throne, even to me.” 

“I ordered for that gesture to be done only here in the capital, they are usually a busy people, a bow of recognition already suffices as their hands are always full, but with you around, they have to focus on activities concerning you,” he answers and he looks at her, “it’s some sort of break for them.” 

She clicks her tongue, “look at you overworking them.” He chuckles, and before he tells stories about the places her eyes indulge in, a kid swims up to them and tells his godking.  

“She’s like a floating light, K’uk’ulkan!”

He caresses the kid’s cheek who grins at the latter’s affection, “and she’s here to help improve our Sastun.” 

The kid turns to Pearl with wide and expecting eyes, “really?! You will really do that?!” She smiles and nods, understanding that now, her words hold the same weight as her brother’s, “will the Sastun’s light reach us here?” 

She and her brother look at the distance from where they are now to where the sun is deposited, “I’m sure we can come up with something.” She tells the kid who beams at her words, he swims away to continue playing with his fellow kids, “there must be some way we can make your sun more sustainable.” Then she shivers, “do they suffer from the cold here?” 

“Our bodies adapted to self-regulate the temperature around the ocean,” he takes her hand as they start swimming back to his cenote, noting her fatigue from the sudden exposure to the deep ocean. 

As they rise to the cenote, she starts speaking again, “we can hang fake stars around the edges of the boundary, for more light to guide them, didn’t Attuma say he first saw stars in your books?” He nods, “we can put constellations or shapes of the sea creatures, or how the stars were when they were born.” 

He was about to call for a scientist to list all her suggestions down when she suddenly collapsed, his reflexes catching her before her head hit the floor. 

She awakens and the face that greets her is her brother’s. “What happened?” 

“You passed out, I should’ve had you get used to it first right before the entrance to Talokan.” 

She holds his hand, “it’s okay, at least now I know what it’s like, maybe you can just make the suit a bit thicker?” He nods, “I didn’t get to remember much of what I saw yesterday. Or maybe it is because of the sun weakening.” She tries sitting up but he pushes her back by her shoulders. 

“Relax, you have a week to spend here, no need to rush.” 

“But my duties?” She teases and he chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. 

After breakfast, they both walk to his laboratory where she tells of her dilemma about the suit, then she asks around on how they managed to make the light for the Sastun and the makeshift ones for their homes, she manages to hide her shock when a scientist leads her to her own table with her own set of apparatus. Cha’ah Toh and a handful from the team who made the Sastun demonstrated it to her. 

She copies well enough to be able to do exactly as they did, then, without much further instruction, she lets her hands have a mind of their own and Cha’ah Toh watches both her workmanship and craftsmanship, how her hands might take the reign on her life this time. 

Cha’ah Toh lets himself get his hopes up, she’s only sixteen yet she’s already so gifted, so young but already in the process of sustaining something crucial as their sun. How much more as she ages? What more can she improve in Talokan? What more can she actually introduce to her own people as a means to fight back to their colonizers? 

He wouldn’t mind if she would request to borrow his army for the liberation of her people. Whether he’d like to admit it or not, he had been prioritizing them ever since he recovered from mourning her past life’s death, he cannot risk the same tragedy that happened to her people be experienced by his, he knows it’s better to have something to strike first with. 

She’s mute all throughout her practice, getting natural as she progresses, the scientists look at him both in awe and concern because she hasn’t said a word. If she needs something, she just looks around and finds it as soon as that apparatus appears in her mind. He motions them to let her be, that this might be her process. Seeing as he is of no help to her, he is set to walk away when she grabs at his wrist. 

“Mold?” 

“What shape?” Her hands make a circle, a scientist gets it for her. 

“Thank you,” then to her brother again, “and your pyramids.” 

“Namora can make them. What for?” 

“Lights.” She answers, “it’s too dark if their only light source is the ones below their makeshift neighborhood and the ones in their homes.” 

“There are faux pyramids around, did you not see them?” She blinks and he nods at her answer, “once your suit is ready, let’s try and experiment with light on some of them before you directly work with the sun.” 

She smiles and tilts her head to the side as if to tease him again, “with you?” He just chuckles, “it’s smart to have the sun below your throne, although I didn’t get to see the glyphs clearly around you.” 

“You have time,” he tells her, for some reason, he also couldn’t muster some courage he didn’t know he needed to tell her she is the sun, she is that sun above him, keeping him in place. His first work, first official duty as king that landed him status of a deity, was all because of her. He leaves her to attend some council matters, trusting her to the scientists. 

She asks for molds for little circles to mimic the stars, one of them asks her about the suggestion she made right before she passed out. They told her it would be wonderful for each kid to have a constellation of their own while the ones that will hang by the boundary are for when they reawakened as Talokanils. 

They had plenty of suggestions which Pearl all found interesting and she couldn’t wait to ask her brother and even Namora about it, her sharpness tells Pearl that she has great decision-making abilities. Pearl thinks Namora makes the perfect second-in-command. 

Her hands tire, she didn’t notice how many hours had already gone by. Namora visits her in her brother’s room holding a container of cream, she applies it generously on Pearl’s hands, telling her this is what the god-king would do when she gets scratches and bruises from weaponry classes and self-defense sessions. And maybe some stabbings and tinkering of some explosives. 

By the evening, after a much needed hot cocoa break, they decided to test out her improved suit and it’s much better although she feels a bit light-headed. He told her that they would practice swimming some more so she can get used to the pressure of the ocean. 

So that’s what they did the following day, they spent the first half of the day getting Pearl used to the feel of the deep ocean against her and her suit, at the end of their session, the first thing she tells him is that, “I miss it when we used to fly,” she sighs, “it’s been so long ago.” He promised to fly her to the surface the following moon. 

She continued with making different lights from the vibranium until he has to cover her eyes himself because she has perfected her attempt on making exactly just a blinding light. He unplugged one of the wires that he figured out acts as a substitute for the real thing once they get to work on the Sastun, “it’s for your sun!” She giggled. 

“Where would you even put the wires?” He asked, holding her arms for support because she almost stumbled backwards. 

“Inside the cover!” She answered, “the red cover you have for the sun, when it’s not ‘morning’ here, they can charge it on its own and then it works throughout the whole ‘day’, or maybe a pad inside those covers can be more efficient? The switch is more effective for the pyramid lights if they want that option, but the sun is too big.” 

The scientists in charge with the Sastun suggested they work on the pyramid lights but because Pearl got tired of the earlier swimming practice, and that her eyes hurt with her successful attempt, they’ll do it the tomorrow instead. 

When next morning came, they did work on the pyramid lights, since it were made like building blocks, they didn’t need to destroy the whole thing. The Talokanils around them watched in silence, grateful that their princess is actively working on improving their home. She placed the ball of light inside and when the scientists put the pyramid back together again, Cha’ah Toh placed the magnetized switch on the floor. 

She pointed at a child and asked her to try it, the first push is the normal light, the second is a dimmer glow, and third is an off power. The kid was delighted and decided to let the others try it too. The siblings did five more until he excused the two of them to practice her swimming again. She was getting a bit better and Attuma surprised her by letting her ride one of his pet whales. 

She told her brother later on that, “you should’ve done that first and maybe I would’ve improved drastically.” 

“You riding that whale is like you riding my back when we were practicing.” He pointed out. 

“So, you’re king of the whales?” 

He deadpans, “I’m king of the sea.” 

She shakes her head in disapproval, “you are so full of yourself.” 

They stargazed that night after they ate dinner and after they did a whole hour of flying with her on his back, “I should have made a leash just so you won’t float away.” He blurted out.

She laughed, “like that leash you made Namora when she was little?” 

“She told you that?” 

She looked at him, “she showed it to me!” He shook his head and sighed, “she said that she drove your mind crazy and you had to control her.” 

“Just because we heal easily doesn’t give her the right to injure Attuma… and others at her will.” Then a shooting star halted their conversations, they both gasped and looked at each other, laughing right after because they looked ridiculous, “what do you wish for?” 

She hummed, “right now, I wish that the sun of Talokan will shine like the sun of the Philippines!” She threw her arms in the air, “and it will be brighter than ever!” He smiled, “how about you?” 

“I wish for the Philippines to be free.” 

“Oh,” was all she said, “I didn’t think of that.” 

Sleepiness hit her after a while and he let her sleep as he swam them back to Talokan, entrusting her to the handmaidens to take care of her as he was also feeling weary himself. 

Pearl slept in and rose right before noon, she learned that her brother announced they’ll be working on the sun so irregularities of the light was to be expected. They didn’t mind since it was just their princess fulfilling her words. 

Namora and Attuma were by her side as they swam towards the sun, “this is the closest I will ever be to a sun.” 

“You swam with me last night.” He pointed out. 

Pearl sighed loudly which made Namora laugh. 

With the cover open and the Sastun exposed, the engineers followed her instructions and before she could attempt to connect one of the wires to the sun, Cha’ah Toh swam to her and gave her goggles he made after her successful attempt. She wore it and when the wire linked to the sun like magnet, she smiled as it didn't hurt her eyes from its shine. “It’s working!” 

The engineers simultaneously connected everything to the sun and the problems Attuma brought up to their king at her arrival was getting fixed right before their eyes. 

“Will it stop the glitching?” Namora asked. 

“Hopefully,” she answered, “we’ll have to observe it for at least a day or two, or before I have to leave.” Too busy staring at the sun, she didn’t realize Namora reached for her hand and squeezed it. 

“I wish you didn’t have to leave.” 

Her brother’s namesake is older than her, yet she’s only lived one life compared to her and it unironically made her seem wiser. Pearl held her other hand, “this is not the last of my visit.” Namora just gave her a small smile. 

Pearl decided to stay and roam around the cenote the whole day. 

She was awoken quite early when she heard discussions outside her room, turns out Namora was finalizing the choice of constellations to place at the far end of the capital just like what she suggested. She decided that by the center, directly opposing the sun is what the stars looked like when her people reawakened as Talokanils and spreading from it are existing constellations of sea creatures. 

Pearl was thankful she didn’t have to be the one to decide, that Namora knew better in the end as this is where she was born. She swam with them as they installed the stars, talked to some kids about it, then she noticed the makeshift plants and grass quite scattered in rows so she swam to its direction, only realizing that vibranium tethers it to the metal where they are deposited. 

She tried arranging it similar to the farms and gardens that her brother attended to and she was quite pleased with how it looked. As she was by the boundary, she looked at how the Sastun had improved, its light reaching them. 

“There you are.” She looked up and saw her brother swimming to her. They saluted him and he saluted back. “What was the barrier you were suggesting? A dome or a cube?” 

“The capital is dome-shaped, I think a cube would allow it more space.” 

She visited the place where they train and saw the amount of weaponry her brother has been collecting. “K’uk’ulkan said you were an expert in arnis.” Namora told her. 

“In my first life, I was.” She smiled, “I had two swords, and a collection of daggers from my friend in Borneo.” Namora handed Pearl her spear and she laughed as she took it, the feeling of holding a weapon never felt so foreign in her hands. 

“It was my first class in self-defense.” Pearl beamed at her, “I learned it fast and was better than my friends.” 

“You were just like me, then, I used to complain to him because they wouldn’t let me practice with the real thing,” she caressed the vibranium-rich blade, “and I think Bathala removed my affinity for it so I could just help my brother. Every time I think of striking back, I get more tired.” 

“You wouldn’t want to try again?” 

“I don’t think I’ve killed enough back then, but maybe Sidapa and Bathala thought I’ve exceeded and didn’t intend to recreate me with the same anger I died with. I want to say maybe it transferred to you, but it would be unfair on the experience of your people right before Chaac saved you. It was only me who was related to your king.” 

“But I am his distant cousin.” She smiled at what Namora was trying to say so she cradled her cheek the way her brother does to her. 

“And yet you’re the prettiest among us all, your beauty remarkable as your strength.” 

She told her brother as they ate breakfast she wanted to practice swimming, as he would be busy with other duties, Attuma would be the one to be with her. She was feeling a bit better and that the deep water was finally normal to her body. 

Attuma followed her behind as she swam and swam, he thought of how fast she was and how fitting that she was the reincarnation of his godking’s sister. She was about to dive when she shivered and swam to him. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“It’s too dark, I’m scared.” 

Attuma chuckled, “but this is your brother’s waters and I am right behind you.” 

She shook her head, adamant on not wanting to dive, “let’s just be where the light is.” 

“I can see through the dark and there’s nothing threatening below you.” 

“You cannot be too sure.” He stifled a laugh because she looked so suspicious and she was already swimming far from him. He just followed until they were right by the border of Talokan. “Did the sun actually improve?” 

“It had been two days,” he told her, “so far, it hasn’t been glitching or losing its light, the crops in the garden improved too.” 

“But the cocoa was already delicious?” He smiled at her, “so it’s usually better?” He nodded and she just shrugged, content with having hot cocoa with her brother and his trusted people, “was that a spark? Is it causing sparks?” She asked in panic. 

“It had been like that,” he assured her, “K’uk’ulkan said its purpose was some sort of pulse that the sun in the surface world used to do from time to time.” 

“Have you ever been up there?” 

He shook his head, “I am satisfied with the life I have here, besides, K’uk’ulkan shares information, materials, and delicacies to me and Namora first whenever our spies come back.” A pause, “the times I mentioned where I rarely see the stars was when I was a child, when K’uk’ulkan used to take me with him.” 

“You didn’t try going up on your own?” He shook his head, “Talokan is more interesting, isn’t it?” He chuckled and nodded, somehow, she saw herself in Attuma in this life, how accepting they are of what is given to them instead of seeking for more and better when what they were born to is already the best. 

She leaves tonight, when the moon hangs above the surface world but she and Cha’ah Toh treat it as just another ordinary day of swimming and observing the improved sun. The two of them raced to reach the garden after double-checking the condition of the Sastun. 

He reached the garden first and the laughter of the children watching them echoed around him. “That’s unfair! You have wings!” She said, and she couldn’t even feign annoyance because he didn’t even let her win. He offers his hand and she takes it, they swim upwards where the plants and grass couldn’t reach them, so far away that only them could hear each other. 

They stare at the sun and he didn’t realize how it could shine more than it does right now, he wanted to cry for such foolish reasons, for his own sun to fix what he gifted to his people. He thinks it’s appropriate that only solars could better themselves, he thinks that just like him, maybe Chaac negotiated on his behalf for Bathala to bring the one destined to improve what he seeks, what he so desperately wants back. 

He looks at her admiring the final work they have done. 

Pearl chuckles at how it’s akin to the same sun she and her brother were under at once upon a time. Their flights from the sea and their staying at the depths of the ocean resulted in this. She turns to him and smiles. 

Without looking away at his own sun, he tells her, “I brought the sun to my people.”

It has been a decade of Pearl’s back and forth travels to her brother’s kingdom, sometimes it’s seldom like once a month, sometimes she can stay for half a week. And Cha’ah Toh moved his promise of shedding blood for her, from Cebu to Ilocos, to keep her temporarily safe until her own people revolt. 

She once told him she wants to be there once they do, to at least offer some help with weaponries but not the battle, he took her hand and said, “just say the word, and Talokan’s army will be at your aid.”

She laughed, then, pointing out that it’s similar to what the priests say in Sunday masses, attempting to replicate their god, then, he told her, “but I am a god.”

That, if she changed her mind and wanted to back out, to retreat, to have a longer life to be able to witness her country or at least her province in a post-colonial state, then she can swim and run to him, that Talokan will keep their princess safe so she may help her own country in return. 

But because it had been a decade, the Spaniards caught wind of the mysterious and chilling chain of events that have been occurring at sea. No one was allowed to even swim, it quickly became illegal to even be near the beach and she was growing restless, wanting to inform him, needing him to stop going to her seas so that the two of them can both be alive even in this life of hers, that they have to live long enough to at least witness her grow old. 

Fishing was allowed but with assigned civil guards. Then an uprising-esque began at sea, she wasn’t sure if her brother and his spies understood what was happening, why their princess couldn’t visit them, and so this is their payback for causing her anxiety. But her eyes haven’t betrayed her, she saw a tail that doesn’t exist in a Talokanil’s body. 

The fishermen were accused of killing the guards when no evidence could point to them, no bloodied materials, no signs of force, nothing. It had just been colonizers being dragged before the natives could blink. 

She used that chance to call on him by the shell he had given her, they met below the cliff and she told him everything and how she had never been so sure it was the sirenas finally taking action. 

It took so much convincing but Pearl finally agreed to stay in Talokan first before she’s targeted. An explosion nearby cut their conversation off, then all he felt was fury as he watched the colonizers bomb the water at night. He knew the sea never forgot those who wronged them, and he would never forget what he witnessed tonight. 

He told her that he will meet her in her waters so they’ll be faster, that he will bring her suit. And so she swims. And the bombings started again. She dives deeper, she can do this, she’s been doing this since she’s a child, she can go deeper, she’s princess of an underwater empire. 

Two Talokanils swim to her to help her swim faster, she sees her brother and Attuma carrying her suit. “Kuya!” She calls. 

Her smiling face is the last thing he saw before the explosion. 

He survived, obviously, so did Attuma and the other Talokanils that were with them. He should’ve made her drink their vibranium-infused plant, he should’ve persuaded her more– hadn’t it been ten years? He should’ve prayed to Chaac and Bathala to let her take it, but her blood that swam with the waters was undeniable. 

Her god of the sea has claimed her. 

No, he grimly denied, it was the Spaniards who did. 

Namora volunteered like he knew she would. Under her command, they took all the conquistadors they saw, knocked them out, put them on planks tied together, then left them stranded far away from the shores of Pearl’s once home. She so wanted murder, she’s more than capable of it, but it was torture her cousin granted as punishment. 

So when they awaken, he tells her, all that’s left for them to do is perish.