Chapter 25
Maru’s exit filled the hut with silence. Sartin sat in the water, confounded by Maru’s actions. Sartin couldn’t understand their fighting and had asked Maru questions to discover the meaning behind their wars. Sartin drifted off to sleep in his confusion.
Quiet commotion outside the hut stirred Sartin from his nap. He swam to the door to find out the source of the noise.
“I was here first, let me present my gifts first—”
“No, I am a warrior, I need protection for when we attack the—”
“I am a widow, let me go first, so that Kamohoali’i will protect the village—”
The crowd fell silent, then dropped to their knees when they saw that Sartin had emerged from his hut.
“What’s going on?”
Kekoa rose, presented a red spear on the ground where Sartin sat, and knelt down again. “We
