• ..


Her  wedding day was ruined. Vatea had no where to run or any idea where to go. Standing outside in her beautiful white gown, her veil floundering around her face clumsily, she glanced behind her at the mall. The sliding doors slid open, breathing the draft of air-conditioned air towards her while she stood and savored the feeling for the moment. The curious glances and stares, she was oblivious to, but the stifling heat of Suva's afternoons choked her with the embarrassment of having been stood up. At her own wedding! 

 She had to get away.

This was not what she expected. Not her fairy tale happy ending that she had expected and dreamnt off.
 The buzzing sound of the street lights startled her and she swept across the road holding her gown up away from the crowd of people.

Why not a Prince Charming? She wondered. Horses, princes, knights, magic..love.

She wiped the perspiration off her forehead with a swift movement of her thumb, racing along the street, past the coffee shop and towards the ivi tree.

"Vatea!" She heard her name being called. Her sister maybe? Her best friend? She didn't want to face any of them. Desperate to get away, she ignored the red light and jay walked across the empty road. She hurried past the bank towards the sea wall, where she saw the glitter of the ocean, beckoning her.

She almost laughed out loud just so that she could hear her own voice. The agony of heart-break was over-whelming and she grimaced wryly at the thought of a prince. This was Fiji. There were no knights and horses. There were only warriors. Cannibals, that ripped out your heart and ate it.

"I wish," she muttered under her breath, shocking herself when she heard the hoarse broken sound. "I wish.."

What did she wish? She came to a round-about, glanced around for a crossing and found none. Another round of jay walking was needed, and she stopped, skidded and hurried across the busy road. Stopping by the wall, she threw her hands up in exasperation, oblivious to the strange person beside her. The soothing sound of the waves crashing against the wall distracted her  from her musings and she glanced out to the harbour, to admire the several fishing vessels sailing about. 

 So much beauty, she thought. So much beauty in the world but so much pain.

"I wish I lived, in a different world. A medieval world-" her sentence was cut off abruptly with an "oomph!". The old man who bumped into her withdrew almost guiltily but not before the bottle of water he had emptied on her once immaculate bridal gown and at first she was horrified but then realized, she wasn't supposed to care. The man spoke a different dialect, apologizing profusely and ushering her towards the wall to sit.

"It's alright," she insisted, looking over his head to see if any one from the wedding party had found her. None. No one. She realized that the man before her understood little English and she tried again in the Bauan dialect to let him know that she was not upset with him. He only looked at her strangely and responded in the same tongue that it was seawater or waitui. Why that was relevant, she didn't know, but she looked about again in case someone from the wedding party had found her.

Relief flooded her instantly when she saw no one but disappeared in seconds when she was shoved over the wall. Panic seized her and her flailing arms did nothing to aid her as she felt herself fall back. The surface of the water slapped her, robbing her off her breath and surrounded her in darkness. Tangled up in the mass of satin, she fought to the surface, confused at how deep she seemed to have fallen. There was no wall that she could feel to guide her up. The darkness closed around her, straining her lungs and energy.

As upset as she was, depressed even, she refused to die. Not like this. Not because a little old man shoved her over the sea wall. She kicked with what was left of her and propelled herself to the surface, fighting the urge to just give up and sink. The bright light that pierced through the water encouraged her and she swam, breaking the surface in a series of gasps.

She knew something was wrong the moment she heard the clap of thunder. Rain drops the size of tennis balls pummeled against her skin and no where in the distance could she see the grey concrete of the sea-wall. Terror seeped into her bones when she saw the vast body of water before her. She could barely contain her stomach when the sea threw her around like a rag-doll and she furiously fought to stay afloat.

Vatea wondered if maybe her sanity had left her and this was all in her head. Maybe she was dead. She couldn't understand what was happening but she knew that help needed to come quick or she'd drown.

A slight shadow in the water near her spiked her fears and she panicked, trying to back-pedal but barely able to see through her salt-stung eyes. Drowning, she was okay with but she did not want to be eaten by a shark. That was not acceptable.

The shark circled her but appeared not to be bothered by the toy-like human that the ocean was volley-balling from wave to wave. Her face was numb, her body was cold and weak and her lungs ached from the lack of air.
Her eyes hurt from the sea-water and her nose was clogged. She was going to die. She was sure.

Then it happened. She didn't see the large shape that loomed over her before she heard the distant cries of men.

"In the water! In the water!" She could almost make out what one of them was saying and the will to live sparked up inside of her again.

"Here!" she screamed. Her voice was cracked and only dwindled out to whisper. She waved frantically but they had already seen her and lowering boats to fetch her.

Vatea was slightly frustrated that they hadn't thrown out a life-saver but she wasn't going to complain to the only help she had. Just stay alive, she told herself, and don't get eaten.

If she had a clearer mind, she'd have noticed something strange about the ship and the men but she was too tired and too confused to notice anything. She was being rescued. That was all that mattered.

She paid no attention to the rumblings of the conversation around her but let herself be carried onto the larger ship. Her mind pricked at the strange ship and she look around at the structure and the people.

Something was off. She observed the wooden structure of the beautiful ship and her eyes drew to the large masts that she'd never seen before with sails lowered from the storm's brunt. People were running around with wooden buckets, people pulling ropes and yelling out instructions.

"A curse!! A curse!!" someone was yelling but the shouts were drowned out from the noise of the men and the ship struggling against nature's forces. Vatea gawked open-mouthed, unable to understand what was happening.

The men about her were dressed weird. This was a cruise ship of some kind, Vatea realized. They were dressed up as if they were from another century in the sailor ragged shirts and pants of  Europeans from eons ago.

"You guys take your stuff seriously huh!?" she said to no one in particular but yelped when one of them grabbed her by her shoulder strap and dragged her. "Wha- HEY!"

"Take it to Frederic's room!" someone's voice instructed. IT!??? Vatea spluttered in disbelief, wondering what was happening. She wondered if maybe her heart had stopped beating at the alter when Lario had said no during the wedding vows. Maybe the shock of being rejected before everyone had killed her. This was probably a mad dream.

She was shoved into a dark room and the door slammed shut behind her. The room swayed and rocked violently and she stumbled and threw up all over the floor.

"Oh no.." she moaned in disgust and crept away from the mess to pass out against the bed.

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