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what?"
    "Like maybe thanking your mother for taking the trouble to cook your favorite dish?" her father said.
    Lana looked down at her plate and saw with vague surprise that her mother had indeed made her favorite dish-day-roasted grouper in a sour pineapple sauce. She hadn't even noticed.
    "Sorry, Mama. Thank you for making it." She turned back to the food, and struggled to find an interest.
    Her mother and father exchanged a worried glance. "Are you feeling okay, Lana?" Leilani asked.
    Lana nodded.
    "Has ... something been bothering you lately? What happened?"
    For a brief moment, her mother's question seemed inviting. Should she unburden herself and tell them what had been chasing her thoughts in circles? But she had hardly sorted it out enough herself to tell her parents. It would only worry them unnecessarily. She was an adult now, after all. If spilling the salt those months ago had caused this problem, she had to deal with it herself.
    She forced a smile. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just a little tired, that's all. I think I'll go back to my room to rest, if you don't mind."
    "You're sure you don't want any more to eat?"
    "No, I'm fine."
    Lana stood up and went back to her room.
    Leilani and Kapa sat in silence after she left.
    "I really thought she'd like the grouper," Leilani said, finally.

    Kapa looked at his wife. She was biting her lower lip and a line had formed between her eyebrows. It was uncharacteristic of her to get so upset over food, but he knew how she had hoped to help Lana past her inexplicably dour mood.
    He reached across the table and touched her hand gently. "It's okay, Lei. She's growing up. She can't tell her parents everything anymore.
    Leilani stared at the table. "I know ... it's just ... I can't help but feel that something is tearing her away from us. Something happened to her that morning, that day she was initiated. I don't know, but whatever happened ... she's changed, Kapa."
    Kapa had felt the same thing, but he didn't say so.
    Minutes later Lana came running out of her bedroom with her sandals on and reached for her father's waterproof fishing coat, hanging in the entrance.
    "Where are you going?" Kapa asked.
    "I'll be back soon. Don't worry."
    Lana ran out the door before either of them could say anything else.
    "Kapa ..."
    He hugged her. "She'll be okay, Lei," he said softly. "She's just growing up." But he didn't really believe that himself.
    Lana ran through the driving rain, splashing through sandy puddles that went to her mid-calf. She had to find Okilani. She had lain on her bed for a few minutes, thinking about her discovery, when she had been overcome with the terrible sensation that the salty water, and thus the smaller numbers of mandagah fish, were all her fault. After all, hadn't she spilled all that salt on the sand six months ago? Hadn't she hidden the red jewel? This must be her punishment. Kohaku must have been wrong about salt being a rustic superstition-why else would the water, which had been fresh for thousands of years, only have turned salty after she broke the taboo? She didn't mind the stinging rain. It served as a distraction from her thoughts.

    Okilani's house was all the way on the other side of the island, and in the rain it took her nearly an hour to get there. As the head elder, she lived in one of the ancient kukui trees-an even larger version of the one that held the schoolhouse. The rope ladder was flapping in the wind, but at least Okilani hadn't pulled it up for the night. Lana didn't know how she could have gotten the elder's attention in this weather. She climbed it and tossed herself on the landing. Despite the waterproof coat, the rain had soaked her through nearly half an hour ago. Now she was beginning to shiver. She pounded on the wooden door, forcefully enough for Okilani to hear her over the wind.
    The door opened and Lana fell inside. Okilani shut the door behind her-already the floor was covered in puddles of rainwater. She sat shivering on the