Ocean: The Awakening by Brian Herbert, Jan Herbert Page A

past.”
    “They only follow me as I swim. Nothing of the magnitude you’re suggesting.”
    She stared at him intently. “But my son, in the last few months you’ve discovered that you can summon jetfish and bubblefish, instructing them to amalgamate into oxygen-rich enclosures that are capable of transporting people across the sea or down, into its deepest underwater canyons.”
    “That is true, but both species are capable of following only limited commands from me. They come when I summon them, then combine their bodies as I wish them to, and form particular shapes, and I can instruct them to either travel horizontally—the jetfish—or downward, the bubblefish. Neither species is particularly frightening; in fact, both have faces and demeanors that are quire appealing.”
    “But if those two species do as you command, and you didn’t discover it until recently, it suggests that you could become aware of other abilities to command additional species.”
    “Many species call out to you when you lie in bed,” Tiny said. “You have told us this.”
    “That only happened one night, and when I swam with them I felt helpless to do much for them.”
    “You must do more,” Tiny said, struggling with his voice and then coughing for several moments. “Shut down all the beaches; get people’s attention. Find more box jellyfish and lead them to the main swimming areas, or come up with another method of clearing the beaches, maybe taking sharks in there to make it more dramatic. See if you can leave the sharks at each beach, and take other sharks to other beaches.”
    “But what if something goes wrong, and people are killed?”
    Tiny’s face hardened, and he cleared his throat. “Do your best to make sure that doesn’t happen, but if it does, it does. One human life, or a hundred of them, are nothing in comparison with the damage humans are doing to the sea.”
    “Your father is right,” Ealani said.
    “But I don’t–“
    The old man raised a hand, shutting off his son’s words. “It is like the land that was stolen from my family by white men,” Tiny said. “The ocean has been stolen from sea creatures by haoles , with their greed, disrespect, and utter contempt for morality.”
    “It’s more than just haoles mistreating the sea,” Kimo said.
    “But they’re the worst. White men are the worst.”
    “Not all haoles are bad,” Kimo said. “You have told me this yourself, Father. You are not prejudiced against them.” He watched his mother take the dishes into the kitchen.
    “I am prejudiced against greed,” Tiny said, pushing his voice to the limit of his strength. “And I’m against human avarice and human intrusions. I’m against people going where they should not go and doing things they should not do. When I fished, I respected the sea; I said prayers to Ku‘ula for a bountiful harvest and I moved from fishing ground to fishing ground, catching different species of fish. I did not overfish, did not abuse the abundance that the god of fishing provided for me.”
    Kimo shook his head in dismay. “Like you, Father, I love the sea, and I sympathize with what you’re saying, but I cannot condone attacking people, can’t risk having it go too far. There must be a better way. Besides, my “talent”, as Mother calls it, is too limited for what both of you suggest. I have never commanded fish into formations. They might follow me to one beach, but when I leave that beach they would follow me away.”
    “Son, you will find a way to do what needs to be done.” Tiny was getting worked up.
    “Your father and I have seen the remarkable connection you have with the animals of the sea,” Ealani said, having returned from the kitchen. “You have a deep emotional linkage with them, something that enables you to understand them, the way they think. You were born in the sea, Kimo, and have a special bond with all things of the water. We’ve seen the way the fish and turtles and other living things