The Chronicle of Matahouroa Chapter 5: Radiance

 From the tower window, Hiruhāramānia seemed like the most pristine,  idyllic work of art. A single building forming an entire city, each  house a chamber within a much greater edifice, each street a corridor,  each plaza a hall. Each citizen - each family - a cohabitor, technically  in the same house as the prince himself.

Raiti, however, knew better.

She  had first seen Hiruhāramānia in its full splendour 64 four years  before, from that very same window. And she had the privilege, almost  every day, to look at at it and find something that would make her lose  faith in that beautiful visage.

All were in the same house? Didn’t mean they’d all get the same quality of the rooms, the same food, the water, the same sunlight.

The  streets were hallways? Didn’t mean that they would be warm and  welcoming, in fact sometimes they might as well have been as desolate as  the mountain peaks.

An entire city living under the same roof as  the prince? Didn’t mean he’d ever have to see them if he didn’t want  to, and thus be forced to reconsider his projects and desires..

Every time she looked, Raiti saw not just cracks in the whole, but that there wasn’t truly a whole at all.

Still,  every day, Raiti remembered that first visage, that moment she saw the  pristinity. She knew what it really was, but that didn’t mean she’d have  to give up the way she felt in that moment. She would never forget the  sheer wonder and humility that overwhelmed her, the awareness that she  was part of that majestic place and that she would help it shine  further.

The hard part was sharing this memory. No words could  express what she felt in its full capacity, but words would hopefully  make it easier for others to find their own way to experience it.

So  she held on, and spoke, every day. And every day, she could feel that,  in spite of the multiple cracks, there was a semblance of at least two  wholes: one that would bask in that memory, even if they hadn’t  experienced it, and another which would reject it, and never feel the  same awe and especially not the same humility.

Those stood with  Prince Whēuriuri, who in turn stood across the room. Although Raiti  wasn’t facing him, she knew for a fact that he was cast in shadow, just  as she was basked in morning light.

“I won’t warn you again” the prince said between his teeth, “Stay away from Mura.”

Raiti sighed.

“If  you even remotely cared about our nation” she said, not bothering to  face him, “you would know why I can’t stop reminding him of what he is.”

“Damn it Raiti, he just wants to follow his own path! Why can’t you let him to be free to be himself!?”

“It’s easy to preach about freedom when you’re in power” Raiti retorted.

“Indeed, leader of all kahuna” the prince responded cruelly.

Raiti said nothing.

“I swear, I’ll find any way I can to make you regret this” Whēuriuri said.

“Prince,  if you could you would already have” Raiti said, turning to face him,  “just as I would have ended your disgraceful life - and his - long ago.”

She  turned away from him back to the view of the city, just in time to  evade seeing him fuming. Though she would gladly admit that she  preferred honest ugliness to a façade.

“Besides, nothing you  could do would ever dissolve my faith. So enjoy your wickedness while  you can, before the Rāomārama comes and you and your brother and  whatever filth you consummate with are burned from existence.”

Raiti waved dismissively.

Sure  enough, she heard him shout furiously and finally storm off. A strange  thump, followed by a panicked whimper, informed her that the prince  bumped into some unfortunate soul on his way out. She felt sympathy for  whoever it was, but when she turned back around she saw no one to  console.

“Alas, we must endure” she muttered.

Using her staff, Raiti rose herself from the sit by the window, and left the room.

As  she passed through the hallway she greeted and blessed the servants she  came across, until she reached a particular stand. There, a man dropped  by, pushing a rather stubborn moa with a harness. Atop the flightless  bird was a pile of white plates, secured through a ribbon-like rope.

“Fresh off the quarry, I see” Raiti smiled, petting the moa.

“Your  holiness, I apologise for my delay” the man said, torn between  respecting the kahuna and pushing the moa, “This stubborn thing just  started getting moody all of a sudden.”

“Well, its pace allowed  the plate I needed to arrive just in time” Raiti said graciously, “So  your moa did do a favour for us all. Sometimes, a sudden and harsh  action is just the guidance one truly needs.”

The man just smiled  politely. The moa nonetheless calmed down, and Raiti took three plates,  replacing their space on the pile with the equivalent weight in coin  and diamonds. Once she left, the bird sat down and rolled on its back,  scattering these along with the plate shards.

The man just kept smiling at Raiti.

Eventually,  Raiti reached the golden doors at the end of the hallway. She traced  her fingers through the carvings, literally skimming through history,  and pushed the doors open. An intense light as strong as the midday  sun’s poured through, a radiance the kahuna still flinched slightly at.

The  ensuing chamber, the largest in the entirety of the city-building, was  entirely immersed in a deep gold, without features or nuances. However,  her staff clacked against mere wood, simply tinged deeply by the light,  it’s textures long burned off. Light radiated from every corner of that  room, but the most intense and blinding radiance came from the center,  the eyes of the Invoking Moai.

Raiti bowed before the alabaster  statue, the power and sanctity of not only Hiruhāramānia, but the whole  of the Empire. It, and it alone, was conceded by her as the only  material thing devoid of flaw, and it helped her remember that memory of  her beloved city. That reason alone made Raiti intensely thankful to  it, a gratitude she would never be able to repay, even when the  Rāomārama came and cleansed her.

“Great mediator” she said, her voice faltering, “I bring you another plate. May your will be known.”

She  kneeled. Around her laid many piles of plates, each already inscribed  and their messages long heeded - in some way or another - white  alabaster columns that now reached her eye level. She placed her own  plate on the ground, and closed her eyes.

The light of the room pierced through her eyelids, and for a moment all she could see and feel was an intense white.

***

Whēuriuri  spent all the way to his brother’s chambers cursing Raiti. His clenched  fists spasmed, and a few drops of blood flowed from his right hand  fingers. Everyone in his path scattered, and the few ones that didn’t  were rather pitilessly shoved aside.

When he finally arrived to  the chambers he heard sobs, muffled by the doors. Calming himself down,  Whēuriuri knocked softly with his black arm.

“Mura, can I come in?” he asked softly.

No response, only more crying.

Whēuriuri’s  heart was damp with worry, and couldn’t it it anymore. He slowly opened  the door, revealing just barely lit insides. A warm, reddish glow lit  up the room, coming from Mura’s body. Earlier that day he had gotten the  basic Tahepuia Kahuna tattoos, which he had asked Hāwera, a free  kahuna, to burn into his flesh. Mura had felt the proudest in his life,  much to his brothers own pride and affection.

And Raiti couldn’t let that pass.

“Go away” Mura said weakly.

For  a moment, Whēuriuri considered conceding to his brother’s request. But  something in him dawned. No, he wouldn’t let Raiti hurt him anymore, he  wouldn’t let her win anymore.

“Mura, you can’t let her have her way” he said, empathy laced with assertiveness.

“I don’t care!” Mura shouted, his golden eyes briefly flaring like molten metal, “Just leave me alone.”

Mura  realised his outburst, and looked to the side in shame, before burying  his head in his knees. Whēuriuri entered the room, and sat on the bed,  laying a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“You can’t let her  trample over you, Mura” Whēuriuri whispered, “You can’t let her feel  confident so she can hurt you over and over until you kill yourself.”

“But what can I do?” Mura said exasperatedly, looking at his brother, “You can’t lay a finger on her, I can’t do anything!”

“I  have any idea”, Whēuriuri said, “But you need to stay strong for as  long as I need you to be. I can tell Aata to look after you if you want  to, but you mustn’t let anyone get to you until the meeting. Promise me  this.”

Mura suppressed a sob, and took Whēuriuri’s hand in his.

“I promise.”

“Good” Whēuriuri said, “Do you still want to become a Tahepuia Kahuna?”

Mura nodded wiping his eyes.

“Then you will be one” Whēuriuri said decisively, “I’ll take you to Tīrarae whenever you want.”

“I want to go today” Mura said.

“Good, I’ll tell Aata to make an excursion there and take you along. Just be back before the meeting.”

“Alright” Mura said, “But why?”

“You’ll know then” Whēuriuri said.

The  two brothers did the hongi touch, and the older prince left. Mura  watched Whēuriuri leave; for a moment, he began to suspect something  dark was being woven in his brother’s mind. He quickly let that go,  however, as his spirit was lifted by the prospect of escaping Raiti,  even if for a while.

Wasting no time, he began packing his things.

***

Raiti opened her eyes, the white fading away as reality shone through, in an ironic overlaying of lights.

She  always felt sadness when this happened, as the connection with Rāo was  inevitably severed. The perfect, wondrous world of the divine was a  blurr to her, but it was still far more beautiful and united than the  flawed city, even in it’s most sacred chamber.

If anything, it made her all the more bitter.

She  inspected the tablet. It was now fully inscribed, tip to tip covered in  characters. Normally this would convey a divine message, a new law to  be implemented on the city, but lately she had to use it to communicate.  Part of her felt guilty about this, but she comforted herself with the  knowledge that Rāo would forgive this, especially given her role in the  coming revelation.

“Raiti,

This is the last message I’m  sending you through the Moai. There is no more time to correspond. If  you trust me still, follow the instructions below:

Send a  taskforce to the Wairepomango. Maramawhā is there, apparently  accompanied by four other individuals according to my sources. Do not  kill her, but make work of the others - a sinful Kawau, a reckless  Patupaiarehe, and an obese disgrace.
Make sure that the way to the Invoking Moai is free for my armies to reach it.
Keep the Pirita Kahuna under your control. I don’t need them to be on our side, just to be unable to kill my subjects.

That will be all. May Rāo guide the way to a new dawn.

Purūpī, Light of Hiriwa”

Raiti did not question a single thing. She was far too desperate and excited to do so.

Carefully,  she rose from the ground with her staff… and stamped the plate with it,  breaking it in a thousand pieces. Guilt instantly overpowered her other  emotions, but she could not let that sacred message to fall into the  wrong hands.

She left the chambers, her eyes glowing with light, brighter than the sun.