Tawera cocked his head, their voices audible because of his excellent taniwha senses.
“I can see him.He’s naked!”one said.
“We’ll have to fumigate the chair,” the other muttered.
“Here is your dessert.I hope you enjoy the selection I’ve chosen for you.”Ernesto set the plate in front of Tawera and stepped back with a scowl.“You are becoming visible.Your form is faint, but I am certain you weren’t discernable earlier.”
Tawera lifted his arm and frowned.Ernesto was right.“Maybe it is your excellent food, but whatever the reason, this is an interesting turn of events.”
“Perhaps you should complete your meal and leave.We do not wish to upset the passengers.”
“May I take my cheese and biscuits with me?Perhaps enough for two persons?”Tawera asked.
Ernesto gulped, his brows almost a solid line across his forehead, so deep was his frown.“There are two of you?”
“Yes,” Tawera said and dug into his dessert.He groaned with pleasure at the first mouthful.This was delicious.He continued eating while the men in white fluttered around him, halting often to whisper and stare at each other.One brought out a tiny machine and directed it at Tawera.
“Look at the tattoos on his face,” a man with a rounded stomach muttered.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” another breathed.He pulled out a small object and aimed it in Tawera’s direction.The man’s hands trembled, and he cursed to himself, using the Lord’s name in vain.The missionaries would not have approved.
“I have packed cheese and biscuits for you.”Ernesto fluttered his hands.“H-how did you get here?I mean, how will you leave with no one seeing you?”
Tawera savored the last mouthful of a cake.He didn’t know what it was, but it was brown and tasted like nothing he’d ever eaten before.“I will fly,” he said absently.
“F-fly?”Ernesto stuttered.
Tawera straightened.He should not have said that either.Concentrate!A glance at his arm told him he must attempt to get to shore now before he became even more noticeable.
“Fly?”Ernesto repeated.
“Yes.”Tawera stood.“Thank you for the food.It was delicious.I must leave now.”
“C-can you hold this while er…flying, or should I place it inside a bag?”
Tawera considered the box.“A bag with handles would be most helpful.Thank you, Ernesto.”
Ernesto snapped his fingers.“A bag.There is a cloth one hanging behind the kitchen door.Please bring it immediately.”He turned his attention back to Tawera.“Do you require a quiet place from which to leave?”
“Yes.”Tawera beamed at Ernesto, liking this man’s commonsense nature.“As long as I have an open area, I should manage to take off.”Hewouldtake off.He must return to Nyree.
“We will go to the bridge,” Ernesto told him.“There is an area in front with the space you require.”
A man returned with a bright blue bag and handed it to Ernesto.Ernesto packed the box inside and gave it to Tawera.
“Thank you,” Tawera said.
“If you would come this way.”Ernesto set off at a brisk pace, and Tawera broke into a trot to catch up.The other men scuttled out of their way.
“He has tattoos on his buttocks, too,” one man cried.
Didn’t everyone?Yet another question to ask Nyree.He had seen no one else withmokolike him.Not even Nyree had the traditional chinmokothat most adult Maori women of his acquaintance sported.He must ask Nyree about this.
“Ernesto?”a male voice asked.
“I have an unauthorized guest who assures me he can fly to the land.I thought it best to bring him to the front deck where fewer people would spot him,” Ernesto said, speaking so fast his words almost tripped over each other.
“Unauthorized?How did he get onto the ship?Wait, fly?”the unseen man spluttered.
