it were chuckling at her, and one, two, three plump yellow fruits plopped into her cupped hands.
Bella let out a startled squeak, and one of the fruits fell from her hands to land at her feet, split open to reveal its pink, juicy pulp. She looked down at it, her hands shaking, and then back up at the tree. Two more yellow globes fell into her hands, and another hit her on the head.
“Au’e!” She ducked, and glared upward. The little tree’s leaves gave one last rustle, the ghost of a chuckle.
Setting the fruit neatly on a rock at her feet, Bella split one open with her thumbnails the way Zane had shown her and sucked greedily at the tasty pink pulp inside.
She devoured the tasty fruit, tossing the empty rind aside before opening another and eating it. With a sigh of satisfaction, she wiped her sticky mouth on her sleeve and smiled up at the little guava tree.
“Mahalo.”
Several more fruits plopped down around her. Laughing, Bella bent to pick them up, stuffing them into the upturned hem of her T-shirt.
When she arrived back at the campsite, the table had been cleared. Kobe and Eddy were putting things away, and Frank was setting out coffee service and drinks. The others were standing around, Tanah talking animatedly with Joel, Cassie and Matt peering at photos on one of their smart phones, while Camille and Li sat by the fire pit.
Bella slid her bounty onto an empty plate on the table.
Watching her, Joel raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth quirking up.
“Is that what I think it is?”
She tossed him one of the fruits. “No. Have a guava.”
He snagged it in midair, his gaze never leaving hers. “Mahalo.” “So this area is called Na’alele, hmm?” Camille asked. “Lovely name.” The photographer relaxed in a camp chair, her legs crossed. She’d taken off her hat, revealing dark auburn hair in a fashionably tousled cut that framed her narrow, oval face and emphasized her clever eyes.
“There’s a story behind the name,” Bella answered. “Frank, will you tell it?” She perched on chair, trying not to watch Joel suck the pulp from the guava she’d given him. He ate with relish, the same way he did everything. The same way he would make love. Whoa, no. She was not going there.
Frank nodded in appreciation at her compliment. “Let me get a fire going first. Easier to talk story by a fire, yeah?”
“More fun to listen too.” Joel rose to help, and in a few moments, the two men had made a small, cheerful fire of dry driftwood.
Frank settled down again on his log, his dark eyes gleaming in the firelight. The others all quieted and turned to him as he began to speak, his island accent stronger than usual.
“Long ago,” he said, “back in the time when only Hawaiians lived on these islands, Na’alele was a young wahine, ka nani, who liked to come down to swim in the sea here. One day, she saw a stranger coming out of the surf. He was handsome and strong, no ka oi, without equal. She knew this stranger was kapu, forbidden, because he might be a spy for the rival chief of another island. But when he smiled at her, she forgot her duty to her ohana and she went with him.
“The stranger was Kanaloa, guardian of our seas. He has long been known by Hawaiians to lure nani, pretty young kane and wahine into his home far beneath the sea. This he planned to do with Na’alele.
“But she was promised to Pokoa, chief of another village. Appearing to court his ku’u ipo, his sweetheart, this brave warrior was huhû, so angry when he saw her with another man. He wielded his shark-tooth club and tried to slay his rival. But Kanaloa lured him into the water, and quick as a flash, he took the form of mano, a tiger shark. He killed Pokoa, turning the sea red with his blood.
“Watching from shore, Na’alele screamed in fear and horror. Her cries awoke the goddess Pele, Kanaloa’s older sister and guardian of this island. Enraged at Kanaloa and the trouble he caused, Pele strode a mauna, down the mountain in her skirts of flaming a’a. She swept over the foolish Na’alele and her dead suitor and chased Kanaloa back down into the sea.
”They say Pele walked up out of the mountain through the big cave behind us, and the underwater caves are where Na’alele and Pokoa came