Te Awa o te Atua

Destination

It had been many days since the storm, the sky was blue, and the sea was clear when the first person spotted Ngatoro-i-rangi's mythological land of mysteries. It was huge and green, larger than any land mass I had ever seen. We left the waka at the sandy shores of our new home. Ngatoro-i-rangi hobbled beside the clear, sparkling river with his men. I winced every time I saw him limp, criticizing my choices. I swam upstream and scared fish out of their homes to distract myself. I would occasionally splash out of the water and soak Ngatoro-i-rangi and his colleagues. The bush was beautiful and spread all the way along the river. I imagined this is what the home of the atua (gods) would look like. Koru littered the land. I sensed the river opening up. Lifting my head out of the water, I paused and looked up at Ngatoro-i-rangi. He had this look on his face that I can't quite describe with words. It had wonder, happiness, relief, and a mixture of other emotions.

"Horomatangi," he breathed. "do you see this?" he took a swaying step towards lake and laughed with relief. "We found it!" Splashing him to remove his from his trance, I rolled my eyes and took it all in. "Aotearoa," Ngatoro-i-rangi named our new land.

"I didn't think this would actually exist," I said in a small voice. I was so still that a titipounamu (rifleman) landed on my snout. Crossing my eyes to get a good view of the small bird, I memorised what it looked like. The little bird was black and yellow with a few patches of white. It sat down, and its feathers tickled my nose. As I sneezed, the titipounamu flew away in fright. I frowned.

"Everyone," Ngatoro-i-rangi's voice boomed across the now silent, apart from the birds and insects, land. "We have found the land that I have told you about," I ducked my head underwater, none of his speeches ever interested me. I wandered through the dancing currents and glided with the fish.

"Look!" A young girl's voice made my head snap up. "Pretty fish!" A small girl was pointing at me with a wide smile on her face.

"Yes," A woman standing next to her said. "That's Horomatangi." Something about the girl drew me to her, I wanted to protect her as much as I wanted to protect Ngatoro-i-rangi. Lifting my face out of the water, I tried not to look hostile.

"Horomatangi," Ngatoro-i-rangi called for me. I glanced at the girl and swam to him. "take these men to get Te Arawa." He gestured towards two worried looking men. They eyed me nervously. I dove down and swam slowly -- to match their pace -- back to the waka. Te Arawa was exactly where we left it. The men took so long pushing the waka into the river, that I contemplated getting out of the water and doing it myself. Finally, they had Te Arawa waiting in the water for me.

"Horomatangi," one of them bellowed. "It's time to go." I paddled towards the waka and pushed my head against it. The rough wood scraped against my head and water swirled through my scales, making me shiver. Currents were pushing me back. I was tired and my energy was drained by the time I had managed to wrestle the waka to Ngatoro-i-rangi.

"Thank y-"I collapsed to the riverbed before Ngatoro-i-rangi could finish. I must've slept for a long time because Ngatoro-i-rangi was waking me up and the moonlight was creating patterns in the water. Ngatoro-i-rangi kicked up to the surface for air then came back down. He pointed to Te Arawa. Confused, I tilted my head and created an underwater storm of dust as I swam towards the surface. Ngatoro-i-rangi followed. He gasped for air his head broke the surface. "We are exploring that island," He explained breathlessly. Ngatoro-i-rangi pointed out towards the lake, but I couldn't see. My hearing was amazing, but my eyes let me down.

"I can't see it," I mumbled apologetically. Wading forwards to the boat, I gave Ngatoro-i-rangi time to paddle to shore. Closer to the lake now, I could vaguely see a dark blob forming out of the water. With my eyesight, it was like trying to see through thick fog when I looked at something distant.

"Push Te Arawa and I'll direct you," Ngatoro-i-rangi promised. "First, that way," He pointed at the dark shape rising out of the water. I obliged with his instructions and before long, I was commanded to stop. "Come explore this land with me," Ngatoro-i-rangi invited me to come on land with him. Ecstatic, I bounded onto the beach. I was excited that my master had invited me to go with him, and trusted me not to completely destroy the small island.

"How much further?" I complained. My legs were literally dying, and I was clumsy on land, compared to in water.

"Not much," Ngatoro-i-rangi rolled his eyes affectionately. "we're nearly on the other side of the island." I almost jumped for joy. The water was just so much better than land, plus I wanted to investigate that girl a little more. My thoughts filled my head as we walked the rest of the way to the lake. By the time we reached the water my brain was so cluttered I didn't even notice when I waded up to my chest into the lake, but as soon as I was completely submerged, my brain cleared up. Water does strange things for me. Grinning to myself, I swam around the island to the waka.

"Took you long enough," One of Ngatoro-i-rangi's men wanted something from my friend. He then proceeded to argue with Ngatoro-i-rangi while I went looking for the girl.