Twenty Two

Terry, Ten Ten, and I all walked back to the group, eager to be back with the party.

"Hey, Thea," Effie rose, then glanced at the woman beside me. "Where have you been?"

"Terry and I talked with the Chief, and there is news about Jo."

"Really? Is she alive?"

I nodded. "Yes."

Effie takes my hand and lets out a sigh, then smiles. "That is good, she is safe and alive. So, when can I go get her?"

"Soon," I told my sister. "But first, I want you and the others to meet Ten Ten. She is the Chief's granddaughter. She was the one who informed Terry and me about Jo."

"Hello," Ten Ten was greeted with a warm welcome.

Effie glanced at her and then at me before moving her eyes back to her. I sense she knows what I'm thinking. We are sisters, after all. It's like sharing the same brain. Effie blinks a few times and then smiles before introducing herself. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Effie, Thea's sister. I didn't know the Chief had a granddaughter."

"I just returned today with my men," Ten Ten stated.

"Oh, I see." Effie pursed her lips. "Would you excuse me? Terry, would you mind introducing the others while I chat with my sister about something."

"Sure," Terry took Ten Ten away to bring to the others, while Effie grabbed my arm and moved away from them.

"Thea, do you see what I see?" Effie whispers and eyes on Ten-Ten, who handshakes Seth but gives her a warm hug.

"I know what you are thinking," I informed her. "She has the boys' eyes."

"Not just the eyes but her build and height and everything else. It's like seeing a female version of Rex, except for the curves. Did you not catch that?"

"Now that you mentioned it," I looked at Ten Ten standing next to Rex. Something in my brain just hit me. I thought Ten Ten looked more like her grandmother, but seeing her with the Wolfe brothers. I can see the perspective. "She does look alike, Rex."

Mostly on Rex.

"Ten Ten may look native, but I gave her one look, and my brain told me she looks like a Wolfe," Effie leaned over as we studied our new friend. "Are you sure she's Chief Kapono's granddaughter?"

"Absolutely," I say firmly. "I wasn't sure when I first met her, but those blue eyes. I was skeptical."

Effie sighed and brushed a hair behind her ear. "This is uncanny and freaky."

"Well, she mentioned a hot spring she and her people own on the way here. Ten Ten invited us and everyone to have a relaxing night before planning a rescue mission."

"Okay, this will be a great way to get to know her more and find out if she is related to Logan and the boys."

"That is exactly the plan, little sister."

Effie nodded. "Okay, I'm going to join the others, but I won't say anything unless one of them catches on."

"I'm pretty sure Terry noticed, and Lily is very observant. She will notice the resemblance."

After introducing the group, the party ended while the village was asleep. Ten Ten led up to a hot spring. The hot spring was separated for men and women. While the boys were making noises on the other side, the girls and I had to relax.

Effie let out a calming sigh. "This is the life."

"I agree," Lily says. "I feel cleaner."

"I guess we needed to have this. Thanks for allowing us, Ten Ten," Terry says.

"My pleasure," the village princess smiles. "After all you've been through. You needed a relaxing and soothing break. And I apologize for what my people did to you."

"Don't worry about it. We are way past that. It's understandable to have an unwanted guest on your island."

"By the way, Ten Ten, how did you learn English?" my sister asked curiously.

"My father," she replied. "He's an adventurer. He traveled worldwide before settling down to marry my mother."

"Wow, I thought your people weren't allowed to leave the island?"

What I learned from the Chief is that he and his people aren't allowed to leave the island because the outside world will corrupt them and turn their faith into something else.

I understand his worries, but as long as you know your way in the world, you will be fine. Just make sure not to fall too deep.

"My father is an outsider. My grandfather said he was found washed up on the island, almost half dead. But thanks to our shaman, my father was saved."

"Then he taught you and your people the outside of the world?"

"Yes, he taught them many things and even told us about a box with moving pictures or how to use communications by pushing buttons with numbers," Ten Ten's eyes sparkle. "My father taught me that those are called television and telephones. Then my grandfather and everyone in the village taught him about our culture."

"Is that how your father fell in love with the chief's daughter like Pocahontas," Lily stated.

"Who's Pocahontas?" Ten Ten asked, confused.

"A native American Disney princess who fell in love with an American explorer and stopped a war between his people and the natives," Lily explains casually without taking a breath.

"Okay...so what's a Disney?"

Lily let out a groan making the rest of the girls chuckle. "We need to educate you on every Disney Princess."

"We will get to that, Lily," my sister stops her best friend from explaining. "So, your dad married your mom."

Ten Ten pulls on a smile. "Yes. Mother told me it was a magical moment when she first met him. She told me she was the one who found my father on the beach. After the shaman saved him, my mother nursed him back to health. Every day, they talked about each other's culture; from that moment, my mother knew and fell in love. At first, my grandfather was against it, but after an attack by those people in black armor the first time they came to this island, my father heroically saved the village. Grandfather allowed my parents to marry and then have me."

The native princess lay her head against the rocks while the noises from the men's side continued to interrupt the relaxing time.

I rolled my eyes as Ten Ten continued her story. "My parents were so in love. I watched them shower each other with affection until when I was six. My father left without a word, leaving my mother in despair."

Her voice changed as she lifted her head and stared straight. "I despised my father for leaving me and my mother. My grandparents told me he left the village because it wasn't his life, and he had another family outside the island. I didn't want to believe it, but I had it stuck in my head until I learned the truth from my mother on her deathbed."

Tears fell from her eyes, and she looked up at the full moon.

"I hated my father my whole life until I learned he left to protect us." Ten Ten sniffles and wipes her eyes. "Before moving here, those bad men with black suits raided our old village. My father made a deal with the leader and was taken hostage to work in the cave for the jade. My father saved us. He saved everyone because if he didn't do what he was told, those bad men would kill my family, my people."

She covered her eyes and cried out. Effie was closest to her and pulled her comfort as Ten Ten cried. The girls and I never knew how such a love story would be turned into a tragic one. Hating her father was hard, but losing her mother was the hardest.