Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander Quotes

“The efelauni said—oh, it was all out of the Lays, Buru Tovo. He said, ‘Your hands know what your eyes are seeing.’ And Cliopher said, ‘You know how it is, I was taught by my great-uncle.’” Something like that … his words are not so clear in my mind.” “I understand,” he said again. No, they wouldn’t be. Not if this was what he suspected it was. Oh, what a thing to imagine, if it was what he suspected it was! “He asked, the efelauni asked Cliopher the questions out of the Lays: ‘What is your name? Your island? Your dances?’ And Cliopher looked like—he looked as if he had stepped out of one of the Lays himself. He lifted his chin and he said, ‘I am Cliopher Mdang of Tahivoa. My island is Loaloa. My dances are Aōteketētana.’” Aōteketētana. Not Aōtetana. Not simply the fire dances, but the Fire Dance. Aya opened her eyes to smile at him. Her eyes were shining with tears. “I always wanted someone to ask me that,” she whispered.”
― Victoria Goddard, Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander