By now everyone is used to it, though. Get evacuated, get your hair and clothes messed up, lose half your furniture, and go on with life...
However, Robert-Michel Gao is upset by the news - he just bought a new bed and new wallpaper. To celebrate, he had invited Salote Tau to try the bed with him...
Apparently the springs are OK. Not too noisy and not too obnoxious. Salote approves of the bed - and she ought to know, so Robert-Michel is satisfied with his new purchase, but he's worried that he might not be able to move it once the evacuation orders come.
* * *
Tokoni, Solange and Philipe Ngatea return to France. They have a beautiful house there, and although Philipe will probably miss his friends in Niua Simoa, he's also glad to be home. For one thing, there's no school in Champ-les-Sims!
Pita and Ana Harawira travel to France with the Ngatea family. They want to visit Pita's parents, of course.
Pita shows his mother the newest rage of Niua Simoa: pillow fighting!
Later that day Pita visits the local nectary, and is invited to try his hand at nectar making.
It takes a while before he gets the hang of it...
But in the end he manages to make a pretty decent nectar. Of course the first bottles are gifts for his parents.
Losa and John are agreeably surprised to see how much Pita has improved. They are tempted to ask him to move back in, but it soon becomes obvious that Pita really enjoys his new life and his new friends, and they decide to keep their mouths shut and let him go back with his grandmother.
In the meantime Ana has been making friends among the various explorers who are staying at the base camp hotel with them.
It's too bad that they can only stay for a few days. On the other hand, it's also good to be home again.
It's also time for the Velasquez family to return to Al Simhara. Ricardo still has an important excavation to finish, and the children miss their local friends.
Desiree will stay on the island, of course. Eduardo is still thinking about it, but for the time being he wants to help his father with his research.
Henry II Tapuwhai has some business of his own in Egypt, so they decide to travel together. Henry, of course, takes his secretary, Salote Tau. (Actually, she's just a filing clerk, but she probably has many secretarial qualities we're not aware of...)
She does find her own subtle way of saying 'farewell' to Ricardo while Henry II is in a meeting and Fetina has taken the children shopping.
That afternoon the luggage arrives, and the entire family moves back into their own home.
Meanwhile Henry II is inspecting a few of the excavation projects that Tapuwhai Industries might want to invest in. Salote comes with him to take notes, of course. She even inspects the insides of every sarcophagus they see.
But of course every now and again her boss has to double-check that she hasn't missed anything...
All in all, it's a very productive trip. Or so Henry tells his wife over the phone.
* * *
Back on Niua Simoa, Terrence Karakia is teaching his son to talk.
He also made a great salad for himself and Sisana, but somehow forgot to feed Manase. Besides the fact that Sisana would have loved a *hot* meal after a hard day at the stadium...
And on top of that, of course, Sisana has to do all her gardening herself - and she hates being out after dark.
Not that Sisana will ever complain, of course. She was so determined to defy her father and marry this old good-for-nothing loser, and there's no way she's ever going to admit she might have made a mistake there. What, and give the entire town a reason to gloat and say "I told you so"? No way!
* * *
That same Friday there appears to be a fire at the Ngatea residence.
The damage isn't as bad as they'd feared, though. In fact, there's hardly any visible damage!
* * *
Most of the house is below ground level, which might be a bit damp, but with enough candles it can be made quite comfortable:
She's also starting to take an interest in chemistry.
The hut is just for now - everybody still knows she exists, and she needs some kind of 'visible' house. Her plan is to let it fall into decay so that within a few generations nobody will know she's still there, under the island...
* * *
Somehow Muriel Potpourri seems to have found out that Henry II 'cheated' on her with Salote. (So technically he's cheating on the woman he's cheating on his wife with?)
Anyhow, Muriel decided that after stringing Fepiku Kumala along for weeks, she might as well have some fun of her own...
She does seem to be slightly worried about Henry finding out, though...
* * *
Tschura Ling took some time off to help with the evacuation work, and also took the opportunity to spend some time with his kids.
They're already trying to figure out a way to make their small house work. Soon the children will need a bed, and Chrystal would love to have her own workspace.
Secretly, Tschura is hoping that their house will be demolished by the upcoming hurricane, so he can get a better one!
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