Vision in the night

The day dawned sunny and voggy along the Kona Coast, so it wasn't until just before the plane landed at the Keahole Airport that Randy Makapu'u could see the land he was about to own. In the seat behind him, Pua Makua, Ph.D., could see how excited he was and patted his hand.

Seated in the row behind them, Tokelani Green was anxiously trying to see the kipuka of land in the middle of a sea of lava. That's where Randy would be signing the papers to make the ahupu'a his, from the mountains to the sea. That's where Tokelani would be making an excuse to stay behind and meet the three 7-foot white Hawaiians who were inviting her to a royal wedding, and who had called her a goddess.

At the King Kamehameha Hotel in Kona, international bounty hunter Barge Huntley awoke from a fitful night of tossing and turning. He couldn't turn off his brain as it recalled the 300-foot eel he'd seen the previous day, and how it had been poked in the eye by someone or something in an underwater cave. He started a pot of coffee with the complementary Mr. Coffee and went over his plans as he oiled his Colt .45 and his Smith & Wesson .22 -- his calling cards.

Out in the Alenuihaha Channel, Keko'ona, a Molokai chief come to life as a 300-foot eel, felt vision returning to his wounded eye. He also felt hunger in his stomach and the call of revenge. Most of all, he felt the urge to swim into a hole.

The day didn't dawn in The Tube, but Tubers were rising for another day of work. Because they were so business-oriented, trading blossoms from the royal tuberose plantation for Topside goods, Tubers stuck to the diurnal-nocturnal cycle of their trading partners.

At the entrance to The Tube in the King's Cave, the young chief Kaneloa awaited the eel with a spear and a happy heart, knowing he'd passed all his tests and won the hand of the princess. The great mo'o was returning, and he was ready.

Of course he didn't know yet that the queen had called off the wedding because he was a mere chief of excrement haulers, or that the princess was awaking from a tearful night, her eyes -- three times the size of Topsider eyes -- all red and puffy.

Prince To'o the seer was awakening from a vision-filled sleep and, skipping his usual noni tea, hurrying to the Chapel of the Iwi to consult the bones of Kamehameha the Great. Then he visited altars to Kane and Pele. In each case, the king, the god and the goddess confirmed that his vision was true and accurate. Kaneloa was much more than a a mere chief of excrement haulers. His true identity was ... well, To'o could hardly wait to tell his sister the queen.