chapter six / legends of the pounamu

If the walls could talk, Ilyshah Tūrei would hear the call of her ancestors delivering a sermon directly through to her soul. Loving arms enveloped her like vines of a forest in their act of pure aroha, planting her in the soil like the seed of a fern watering her until her spirit unfurled. Holding truths of their tongue as the masters of storytelling. They would tell her, one day this will all be yours Ilyshah.

At the ripe age of six years old, she slipped off her worn out billabong sandals and stepped into the sacred meeting space of the marae, marking the passage between the two realms. Outside, Tūmatauenga the God of War raged on, and inside Rongo, The God of Peace protected her in a collision between two brothers. A deep exhale escaped from her chest at the artfully sculpted doorframe, breathing new life into the structure as she entered each time.

While other coastie kids skimmed their boogie boards across the waves before they journeyed to the dairy to cool their tongues off with free ice blocks, Ilyshah had a sense of duty to uphold. For her land, her people. Drilled into her mind until it gave way to numbness—her childhood torn from it's tendril hold page by page and restored with prodigy on her horizons.

      With large, innocent doe eyes she gazed up at her progenitress of a Grandmother, Arapera. Frizzy, darkened brown locks intertwined with lustrous strands of silver waterfalling to her waist. Curved shapes and spirals of ta moko permanently marked her wairua, her chin. On that wooden floor, her young heart stitched together with admiration and eagerness building up to a big swell. The spoilt one, they always called Ilyshah. Everyone's favourite. Especially her kuia.

    "Kei te mohio koe he aha tenei toku mokopuna?" Arapera questioned softly, placing two tender fingers on the spiral pendant that brushed against the sternum of the young Tūrei.

   (Do you know what this is my granddaughter?)

   Ilyshah gave a nod as she glanced down. "Ae kuia, it's pounamu."

               (Yes grandma, it's pounamu.)

"Kei te mahara koe ki te pūrākau?"

               (Do you remember the story?)

In the stillness of the chateau, among the whistling trees and periodic creaking of the screen door, all ears were fine tuned to the melodic voice of Ilyshah Tūrei. Who could silence any room with her presence let alone when she drew sentences longer than four seconds in a fluid art form of eloquence. She imagined if her kuia could witness how entranced the four teenagers became, hanging onto her every word as if it were a prayer—she would be proud.

   Greenstone close to her heart, the pad of her thumb pulsating across its surface, Ilyshah told the story of Poutini The Taniwha. A giant spiritual water being who set up and down rough seas to protect the people and the spiritual essence of pounamu, one of the most revered treasures. And how in refuge from his enemy, he discovered a beautiful woman, Waitaiki bathing in the sea, enthralling him enough to snatch her in a crime of lust.

     And of her husband, Tamaahua, a man of many powers who recited a karakia, an incantation then placed a ceremonial dart on the ground to lead him in the direction of his wife. Tracking the two across the land of Aotearoa to five sites where Poutini lit fires to warm Waitaki then vanished when he sensed Tamaahua nearby. It all came to its climax in the sanctuary waters of the Arahura River, where Waitaiki's fate had been sealed by the flowing currents. Before the final battle between the two in reclamation of the beautiful Waitaiki, the Taniwha Poutini decided that if he couldn't have her, nobody could.

    So her young body laid lifeless in the cold waters of the riverbed, transformed into Poutini's likeness, pounamu as he disappeared downstream. When Tamaahua traveled upstream only to find mounds of greenstone stretched along the river banks, he knew what had happened. His songs of grief as broken weeps still to this day sounded off the nearby mountains, all in mourning of his true treasure, Waitaiki.

     "And that's the story of pounamu," Ilyshah crossed her legs on the outdoor armchair, hands planted in her lap as she picked at the frayed edges of her denim shorts. "I don't know how this helps you guys but um... any questions?"

   John B raised a hand halfway as if he were a student in her classroom, makeshift walls covered in paint splotched glittery artwork and multiplication tables. "How do you remember all of this?"

     "It's kind of my job to remember — we pass the stories down to our children, then our children's children—"

      "So, this is a story?" Pope chimed in, nodding towards her. "As in, not real?"

    "We call them pūrākau which translates to legend, but who's to say it's not real?" She took off her necklace, passing it around the circle to compare it with the pendant from the marsh. "See, if you look closely they're not identical. No pounamu ever is, like..."

    "Like DNA," JJ finished her sentence, their eyes meeting with a salt of tenderness from her hazy molten gaze.

    She nodded with hesitancy. "Right... and if you look closely, there's brown spots in the corners. Each river Poutini stopped at with Waitiki, he lit fires to keep her warm. My stone is sourced from the Waiau River, the last site where Poutini set up camp. They say all the stones are still stained by the fires he set."

       The Pogues all glanced at one another as she rummaged around in her crochet tote, among her leather bound notebook, spare swimmers, herb grinder, can of guava san pellegrino, and perfume samples clinking against one another she pulled out a pocket-sized woven bag of flax. Spilling out a pair of pillar-shaped earrings into her waiting palm.

"This is tangiwai pounamu, the most ancient form of the stone. You can see they're more translucent. It's said these are the preserved tears of Waitaiki, and geologists have used the pūrākau as a map. Each place has a stone unique to the area, and the highest concentration of pounamu is found in the Arahura river."

   "I just don't understand why it was with your compass John B," Pope questioned, then turned to Ilyshah. "It doesn't belong to any of your family here does it?"

    "I would know if it did. Only my Uncle wears one."

   "Right, I always thought it looked beast on that guy. It's a whale tail, yeah?" JJ asked, handing back the pendants with a delicate hand as she reluctantly took them with a hum.

   "Different shapes hold different meanings," She traced the outline of her pendant. "The spiral depicts new life, beginnings and hope... whale tails give protection to the wearer."

   "My cousin Lani was given three, but she always lost them," Ilyshah added, earning an eyebrow raise from Kiara who was less than surprised at the careless nature of Lani Tūrei. "And if you lose them, it means it's not made for you."

     Pope frowned softly. "I'm guessing you've seen the exhibition at the museum, right?"

                    "What museum?" Ilyshah asked innocently.

    Pope swiped his tongue across his top lip as he raised a finger to excuse himself by running inside the chateau leaving the group bewildered. He reached into the depths of the school bag he left in the living room from the last day of school, pulling out a flyer. As he returned and shoved the crinkled glossy paper towards Ilyshah, she skimmed over the boldened words: Kildare Museum presents Artifacts of The Pasifika.

"Mr. Sunn gave it to me before the summer, he thought it was something I'd be interested in."

      Ilyshah's head shot up with pleading eyes. "Can you take me there?"

"I-uh, me?" Pope pointed at his chest as JJ brushed off her enthusiasm towards him and the iced over front he received with a twitch of his nose, "Yeah, sure can't see why no—"

"Okay, now?" She yanked her tote off the floor hastily and slung it over her shoulder.

John B intervened. "O-okay, you three can go to the museum to follow Ilyshah's lead while JJ and I go see Miss Lana—"

"Wait... d'you mean Lana Grubbs?" Ilyshah questioned, letting her tote fall slack against her side, "why would you go see her?"

JJ jangled the keys to the twinkie in front of her. "Question time's over princess, vamos!"

Kiara begrudgingly drove Pope and Ilyshah to the Kildare Museum just by the airstrip. Bone dry wind with a stroke of heat hit their faces as they fanned away any stray black flies buzzing around their ears. The curls coiling down Kiara's front stuck to her skin, as did Ilyshah's slick strands.

They weren't each other's preferred choice for company after their first interaction, but Ilyshah couldn't care less, far too focused on unearthing the meaning behind the greenstone the Pogues found than fighting her cousin's battles for her.

"Tell me again why this small ass museum would have a Pasifika exhibit?" Ilyshah turned to Pope as he spun his backwards cap forward.

He exhaled a deep breath. "Looks like we're about to find out."

Polite, withdrawn smiles were plastered across the faces of the three teens as they strolled through the lobby. Pope and Kiara veered off together to casually view the maritime displays as Ilyshah approached a middle-aged receptionist at the front desk clicking away at her computer, spectacles tipped off the edge of her nose.

   "What can I help you with dear?" She sighed impatiently, disinterest written across the fine lines settled around her pursed lips.

   "Um," Ilyshah nervously tapped her nails on the counter, clearing her throat to shape her voice into a smoother, more Americanised accent. "I'm interested in the new exhibit... Artifacts of The Pasifika?"

    Her eyes scanned Ilyshah from top to bottom, fixating on the greenstone peeking out of her collar for a second before she feigned a smile. "That particular exhibit is viewed by appointment only, could I have your full name and contact details?"

     "Lily Valdos," She spelled out, alarm bells circuited from ear to ear beckoning her to act quickly on her feet. "252... 473... 6826 — you wouldn't be able to show me now, would you? I'll be going away tomorrow and I wouldn't want to miss it."

The lady tilted her chin up, faintly narrowing her eyes before taking off her glasses to clean them on the silk scarf wrapped around her neck. "It's not the usual procedure but in this case — follow me please." She sighed as she parted from her desk.

Ilyshah exchanged a slightly blown out glance with Pope and Kiara as she followed the middle-aged blonde woman past the glass cabinets of ships and rusted antique parts, her heels clicking across the polished tiles as Ilyshah's sandals flip flopped behind with a squelch.

   The closer they got, the faster her heart would beat as her eyes caught sight of the entrance cascading with strands of flax, just like when her kuia and mother would weave bags every Saturday for the whanau. It kept drawing her in like tunnel vision, almost missing the receptionist excusing herself to stop off at an office near the exhibition.

A man suited in navy and white sat at the desk in the office, and Ilyshah could sense their hushed whispers were engaged in a tense conversation. She stood idle, ears trying to catch what they were saying with a leaned posture. As they both exited the office, her back rigidly straightened out with a naive smile as the man cleared his throat.

     "Ma'am, I'm sorry to say this exhibition is temporarily closed for maintenance. You won't be able to come in today."

Ilyshah furrowed her eyebrows, observing between the receptionist's name tag and the suited up man. "I don't understand, Ms. Davis here was happy to escort me here since I'll be going away tomorrow."

"There are no exceptions today, miss. You will have to leave the premises now or I can escort you out," He asserted, voice turning into stone that unsettled her.

   Ilyshah had no choice but to leave, staying silent as she walked back to the car with Pope and Kiara, overlooking the clacking of metal crutches exiting a rover nearby. All that ran through her mind on the way back to the chateau... What was lurking underneath the surface of the Kildare Museum?

"And we were right outside like this," JJ panted frantically, lining himself up against the brick wall, "and all we hear is just bam! bam! bam!" he reenacted dramatically with pounding fists making Ilyshah jump a tad. "Knocking paint of the wall, G! From the inside."

"All right?" He continued, "And I'm just looking at him, like—" stomping over to hover above Pope, shaking chips of paint out of his fluffy head of golden spun hair, "—wait, first off... look at this shit. Look at it."

Kiara grimaced in distaste. "That's dandruff... disgusting."

"Look at all that! All right?" He stressed, raking his fingers through his scalp until strands of tufts were all beyond the point of disheveled, "That's paint... At that point, I was just like —" Ilyshah cupped her mouth subtly to prevent any laughter from escaping because this really wasn't the time. "I'm waiting for death."

"Oh okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope asked, the question wiping the smile playing on Ilyshah's lips. "Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like? Anything we can bring to a police report?"

              "Burly."

                   "Burly?"

                           "That's... not very helpful."

    "Okay well, no like the type of guy at my dad's garage—" JJ explained. "I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers — well except you of course Ilyshah you're like — getting a full crash course on the fam here."

    "Yeah. Yes, no we know."

   JJ interjected, stealing the entire spotlight once again. "So I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these killers," he leaned up against the wall, taking a long draw from his juul shadowing in a cloud of vapour before nodding to himself. "They're square groupers."

                        "They're square groupers, like narco square grouper?" Pope grew impatient, close to burying his head into his palms. "Like pablo escobar square grouper?"

        JJ wore a strained expression as he kept frantically taking drags from his juul. "Yeah, man."

   "You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie," Kiara calmly stated.

       "What does this square grouper look like? Specifically?"

               "You weren't there, bro!"

      "'Cause apparently, you don't know what to look for!"

   "Dude! I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time, man I was under duress! Okay?" JJ snapped, heightening his pitch in distress leaving the whole group lost for words. "But I can tell you..." he caught a lump in his throat, intaking a deep breath to collect himself. "I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming — that these guys are serious, serious hombres man."

     "Wow...." Ilyshah whispered to herself with slow nods, pouting her lips in mockery at the complete unraveling of JJ Maybank.

      "It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much."

          "Now that JJ's performance is over," John B uncrossed his arms, murmuring as he held tighter onto his father's compass. "Ilyshah, what did you find?"

            "Oh, yeah um... jack shit," She deadpanned, the Pogues faces dropping in disappointment, "but you guys they're hiding something there, I know it — I mean you should've seen the receptionist's face after she saw my greenstone, and then a guy shows up out of nowhere saying it's closed for maintenance?"

    "What d'you think they could be hiding?" John B dimly frowned.

     Ilyshah shook her head, fluttering her eyes closed for a second. "I wish I had a clue, but look," she lifted up the stone to his view from the armchair she was sitting on, "I can feel these carvings but they're so small I can't make out what it is. If I had like, a microscope or something—"

     "The office," His eyes lit up like kindle. "My dad. My dad's office," he walked away from Ilyshah into the chateau as they all soon followed him inside.

       "He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him like he was actually gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it."

"Yeah, for when he gets back," Kiara reassured, raising her eyebrows at Pope and JJ as they all waited for him to unlock the door.

Big John's office looked in complete disarray. Papers and markers scattered across tables, various maps plastered on corkboards, and stacks of books effusing the smell of the ones you could find at an archives museum. As the Pogues gathered around the table where John B laid flat a corkboard of his family tree, Ilyshah had her sights set on the microscope, instantly peering into the lens with the greenstone leveled on the slider.

The group's chattering amongst the persistent crowing of a rooster muffled into a hum as she blocked out their voices to focus on the minuscule carvings within the stone, only looking up when they mentioned words like death compass or JJ's attempt at reading Big John's supposed handwriting.

John B leaned closer to Ilyshah as Pope and JJ attempted to decipher the word carved into the lid of the compass. "Find anything?"

"Yeah... I can barely make it out but I see iwa carved in which is nine in Māori," She moved aside, making room for John B, "can you have a look at that other symbol? My vision's weak as piss."

John B squinted through the lens, roughly making out the other symbol Ilyshah was talking about in the faint outline of wheat grain. The sound of wheels crunching against the gravel turned their attention upwards just as John B was in the middle of explaining to Ilyshah what he could see through the lens.

"Guys," He clenched his jaw as Ilyshah poked her head into view of the window, catching sight of the stark black truck pulling up next to the Twinkie. "Guys! Somebody's here."

mai speaks !

━━ finallyyyyy got this one out, shout out to my dad for translating most of the te reo in the beginning we stan my bilingual king

━━ early theories and whatnot with ilyshah's connection to the treasure hunt?

━━ vote && comment as always bc I adore reading them and it motivates me to pump out these chapters for you all. muwah muwah

Whale Rider ━━ JJ Maybank
Chapter Six, Legends Of The Pounamu
Outerbanks S1 ━━ Ep.2 The Lucky Compass