Once again she was meeting with Kapono. Nanami gave a polite smile towards the other teen kawena, her expression not quite reaching her eyes as she greeted him. Apparently he had something fun planned to try today but she wasn’t quite certain what he had in mind. All Nanami knew was even though she was trying not to hold it against the boy, it was hard to like his company considering her mother’s intention behind these meetings. Nanami was way too young to consider something like an arranged relationship and she already had so much stress on her plate because of her studies and her family’s expectations while all she truly wanted to do was spend more time with Mia and imagine the world outside of their islands. The deep caves were comforting and Ami knew that she would always love them and consider them her home but something just seemed to be missing. She felt like there were others that she was supposed to meet out there, strangers who were destined to become great friends! Though I suppose that could just be Mia’s stories rubbing off on me. Her mother would be ashamed to hear that Ami had been wasting so much time just playing around with a hapuna instead of studying and preparing herself for a future role within their underground settlement.

So Ami behaved and did her best to appease her mother while trying to plan out her own path. Could she even dare to break free? Her pale blue gaze skimmed over the shimmering crystals that lit up the cavern walls. If she was so daring then she probably would have skipped today’s meeting with Kapono to instead go towards where she could meet her friend at the other island. “Miss Nanami?” Kapono waved towards her again and offered the strange wooden contraption to her. “A trader came by and said these were good for exploring the water. I was hoping to see if we could pull some gemstones or minerals for research.”

“Ah.” Nanami blinked and nodded. “That sounds fun.” It actually did sound like something interesting to try. She found herself studying the contraption as Kapono explained everything. Eventually they emerged from the caverns and came towards a smaller stream along the forested area outside of their home, a bit further into the island. “So I just pick up some of the silt along the stream and then shake it?” She asked as she studied the contraption a final time and glanced over towards Kapono for guidance.

“Exactly.” Kapono grinned, his teal gaze lighting up as Nanami seemed to be interested in the activity. She had to admit that he was attractive and nice to her. Maybe if things were different….if she hadn’t changed because of everything that had happened over the last couple of years with her new friendship….maybe then she would have been content to get to know him and stay here like her mother wanted. The thought almost made Nanami pause but she forced herself to keep moving, her hands working to dig out sand so that she could sift through it.

Eventually they both started to get into the swing of things and while Kapono pulled out a few random gemstones, Nanmi found something else shimmering in her area of the water. “Silver?” She mused as she shook the contraption another time and started plucking small pieces of the precious metal from the mesh. It wasn’t something that they could truly research but it was definitely something that she could place into her savings! Surely a few merchants would be willing to trade with her for these pieces and she could start collecting more things for her adventuring pack. She had recently made one to try and destress from everything going on in her life, a small leather satchel that she had slowly and secretly started adding more items to over the last few weeks. There was an older blanket for traveling from her grandmother, a flask for water, a hunting knife, two blank journals, some flint and steel for future fires and a small pouch of coins that she had worked on saving up over the last year or so while doing small jobs away from home so that her mother wouldn’t notice.

“Not bad.” Kapono smiled as he finished with his gathering. “I got my gemstones. I’m sorry you didn’t find anything other than that.”

“It’s alright.” Nanami offered him a smile as she started to pack up her belongings as well so that they could begin the trip home. “I’m happy with this. Thank you for allowing me to tag along.”

“Anytime.”

[779]