This takes place when Ualani was still a puppy. It's mostly for history/character purposes.
It was dark, so very dark. She didn't like it much, but she was supposed to stay still, the master had told her so and her mama had told her to always listen to the masters. She lay curled up in the darkness, her eyes closed to pretend that it was dark only because of that. She wished she knew where the master was, she hated being alone. She'd been cuddled up to her mama when the master came and took her away. She had cried when the master took her, wanted her mama back, but when she caught her mama's eyes, all she saw there was stern disappointment over her outburst and then she looked away, dismissing her. It had hurt to have her mama act like that, bet she liked to think that her mama was just trying to make it easier on herself, that she had been heartbroken when the master took her baby girl away.
And then she'd been put in a box and it was quiet.
She had almost dozed off when she heard noises outside of the box. Running noises and happy noises, calm noises and excited ones. And they got closer and closer, until she could hear things moving around her and a young-master's voice.
"Why don't you open your grandmother's present?" another master said and she felt something pounce on her box. The sound of tearing paper and the top of her box was pulled off. She looked up, blinking at the light. There, looking down at her, were two faces, two masters. One was a pretty lady, the other was a young-master with a pudgy face. The lady-master smiled down at her and her curled tail started to wag. But then the young master made a face.
"She got the wrong one!" he cried, shoving her box away. It tipped over and she tumbled out with a small whimper.
"What do you mean, sweetling? Didn't you want a Mokai?" the lady-master asked, walking over and picking her up. She snuggled into the lady-master, glad to be out of the box, but upset because the young-master was upset.
"I wanted a fighter! She got me a dumb pet! Throw it away!"
She looked up at the lady-master, who was frowning.
"Okay, sweetie, okay, we'll get you a fighter," the lady-master replied and left the room.
She didn't understand what was going on. One moment she was in a nice, warm house, the next she was in a bag. It was a nice bag, all cushioned and soft, but it was still a bag. the lady-master was taking her somewhere. Where was she going? Was it someplace good? Why didn't the young-master like her? Had she done something wrong? She didn't understand...
Voices again, it sounded like another lady-master was talking with the first lady-master. The bag was opened and she was taken out. Before she could see anything, she was bundled into a blanket and carried away.
Time passed and all she could do was wonder what had happened, what was wrong with her, why didn't the young-master like her? She missed her mama. She could hear rain pattering on something as she was carried wherever she was being taken.
Walking up steps.
A door opening. Closing.
Pounding feet.
"Whatisit?! Whatisit?!" two voices asked when the pounding stopped, hands grabbed at the blanket and she shivered, blinking when the cloth was pulled away from her face.
"Ms. Ashford caught me when I was dropping lunch off for your dad. She said we could have her if we wanted, I know how you two have been wanting a puppy," the lady-master said and she was snatched out of the lady-master's arms by the bigger little-master.
"Oh thank you Mommy! She's so fluffy!" one said. "What's her name, Mommy?" asked the other.
"I was thinking... Ualani," the lady-master said and the smaller little-master patted her head.
"I like it!" one said. "Me too!" said the other.
Ualani... Yeah, she liked that, too.
