Part 4: The Last Compass Grass

Strips of palm bark cover the ground. Bundled Compassare, sealed jars of animal oil, and a basket of clean white shells.
A hand-crafted windmill turning in the breeze, a box of pigments ground from scorched reef rock, a Nukutai, and a musician who sails with the tide.
Barcarola: Fatutu, look!
She holds up a piece of tree bark to her face, peeking through two holes like a child discovering something new.
Fatutu: I've found one, too.
Fatutu finds another piece of bark, lifts it in front of her face, and speaks through the cutout mouth hole.
Fatutu: I look like I'm from the forest. Does that mean I'm a ... drueed?
A strange new story, an unfamiliar word, and a clumsy pronunciation.
Barcarola: You've been reading!
Fatutu: Selone was teaching me. It's fun to read all the world's stories.
Fatutu: I'm still learning, so I'm not very fast, but they talk about so many things I've never even heard of before.
Barcarola: You're doing amazing already, Fatutu.
She follows Fatutu's instructions, untying the Compassare and dipping each strand into the oil, one by one.
Barcarola: This smell is ... It's very special, I must say.
Fatutu: Compassare has many uses. It's a medicinal herb. It helps with stomach pain, inflammation, warts.
Fatutu: Before the ships ever came to Nukutaeao, we often used it to help cure ourselves.
Fatutu: When we first started trading with outsiders for their medicine, many of the elders didn't trust it. They called it poison.
Fatutu: They only believed in our island's herbs.
Barcarola: But Compassare alone can't heal everything.
She learned the importance of having medicine on hand many times over during her sea voyages.
Fatutu: To the Nukutai, endurance is a virtue. If you get sick at sea, there's no shore to dock at—you can't stop.
Fatutu: We ride out storms and waves, cast our nets, haul the catch, and return home when they're full. Even if you're hurt, you do your part. When you're back on the island, your kin will heal you.
Barcarola: Have you gone through something like that?
Fatutu: Yes. We were out at sea, and a lightning storm hit. The whole sky turned blood-red, and the lightning split the waves.
Fatutu: Everyone was soaked. The boat pitched high, and we clung to the rails with all we had so we wouldn't fall overboard.
Barcarola can't help but picture it in vivid detail. She has seen how terrifying a storm could be on the open ocean, but that was in the relative safety of a cruise liner.
Fatutu: I heard lightning strike a crate. It cracked open, and our hala fruits and red snappers rolled into the sea. That was the scariest trip we ever had.
Barcarola: How did you make it back?
Fatutu: We simply shut our eyes and sailed through the storm.
Fatutu: We put on a charm made from burned Compassare root. It helped keep lightning away.
Barcarola runs her fingers over the root in her hand, its twisted shape soft but dry to the touch.
Fatutu: Before we left, we consulted the Shell's guidance. It told us we'd return safely.
Fatutu: But the Shell doesn't tell you what will happen, only how it ends.
Fatutu: When we got back, I looked at the roots. They'd turned to black ash, and the wind had carried them away.
Barcarola: Wow ...
Barcarola: I never imagined these leafy things could be so magical.
Fatutu: Compassare ... Compassare ...
She picks one from Barcarola's hand. The dried plant curls slightly, its leaves dulled without water.
Fatutu: A Compassare's use depends a lot on how it's grown. On Nukutaeao, there are many types.
Fatutu: The kind we use for Sea Mother's Eyes is the most common. It needs sunlight, so we plant it in bright places. It stores up the sun's light during the day and glows in the dark.
Fatutu: When we return from sea, the light of these Sea Mother's Eyes leads us back to safety.
Fatutu: The kind that wards off lightning is planted high up, in a place where it can witness lightning firsthand. That's how it learns to avoid it.
Fatutu: We climb to the highest cliffs on the island and scatter the seeds there.
Fatutu: The medicinal kind, well, some we grow by the shoreline, some near fruit trees, and others have to be planted directly in the sea.
She lists the growing methods one by one, but her voice sinks as she continues.
Fatutu: These ... are the last Compassare.
Barcarola: ...!
Barcarola: The last?
Fatutu: Yes, the very last from Nukutaeao. After this, we won't plant them again. We won't grow them anymore.
Her hands suddenly tremble as she holds this fading piece of home.
Barcarola: Oh, Fatutu, but are you sure?
Barcarola: Can we really use these for Sea Mother's Eyes? Just to light up the Trade Fair ... Is that really okay?
Fatutu: ...
Fatutu: Of course it is.
She smiles, though it doesn't quite reach where it should.
Fatutu: Selone and the other Nukutai—we all agreed already.
Fatutu: Miss Timekeeper, our friends in the suitcase, and the Foundation staff—they've all helped us so much.
Fatutu: We want to do this. We should do this. Letting these Compassare light the Sea Mother's Eyes once more is a beautiful ending for them.
Fatutu: If we just leave them tied up in a corner, then they'll just be regular grass—not the Compassare of Nukutaeao.
Barcarola: But, but ...
She can see her friend is speaking with conviction.
Fatutu: Miss Barcarola, the Sea Mother's Eyes will light up your stage. I'm so very happy about that.
Fatutu: Let's finish these together, okay?
Fatutu: Just like we did on the boat.