The breeze ruffled the surface of the lagoon. Loa paddled towards the white water that led out to the open ocean. The sea was rougher beyond the reef, but he needed to leave the safety of his own lagoon if he was going to paddle along the coast to the headland clan.
He tried to think of returning with a bride of his own. She’d have plump legs and a little round tummy, to show how good she was at finding tubers and catching birds …
Reality spat in his face with the windblown spray from the waves on the reef. How could he get a wife like that, when even Leki — who had known him all her life and his family’s worth — had chosen someone else?
In a few years, when he’d proved his worth as a hunter, he could have his choice of wives. He’d be taller and stronger, instead of being only just a man. But now?
He gritted his teeth. He was already a hunter! Hadn’t he caught the sow this morning and with his first spear thrust too?
He’d show the men of the giant-headland-near-the-sky clan just how strong he was, despite his age. He’d hunt pig with them. Show them Loa the hunter! They’d see his fine fish spear, his obsidian knife …
The canoe bucked as it reached the rougher water beyond the lagoon. He paddled out far enough from the reef to be safe from the waves that might suck him onto the jagged teeth of the coral or swamp him in their froth and tumble, then turned the canoe expertly and began to paddle parallel to the reef and the beach. The sun beat hot on his back. It was almost midday now. Back at the camp the women would have baskets of wild figs. The young men would be dozing in the shade till the feast was cooked.
The coastline began to curve. Soon he wouldn’t be able to see their campsite, the dark figures on the beach, the faint hint of smoke in the air. He looked ahead.
He couldn’t bear to look back now.