Magical Warriors of Silvatica

Thankfully Padma didn't see Maui looking, and she assumed he was a good man who would not be tempted to look at her so she felt comfortable enough to not hide herself anymore. "You are a kind teacher," she said to Maui, smiling bashfully at him. Another wave was coming, but Padma didn't shy away from it this time. She got steadily to her feet, and this time let the wave take her a few feet towards the shore. And she didn't fall off!

And Padma soon learned about that awesomeness. Just like everyone new to surfing, she fell off every now and then, but she was having so much fun that soon she was casually rolling down big waves with ease. She wasn't up to the really big, violent waves yet, but the weather wasn't right for those kinds today anyway. Hours went by quickly because the two of them were having so much fun. Padma wiped out on a larger wave, but she came up laughing. She couldn't swim at all, so she held onto her board and just laughed. She hadn't noticed that a strand of her hair had slipped, wavy and dark brown beside her face.

When Padma woke up the next day, she saw that the strand of hair that had been unknowingly exposed to the sun had little blonde streaks in it. She didn't know her hair could get so light, and put it down to the sea water. She was dressed modestly and ready to go again in no time.

Padma had tucked the strand back under her scarf as soon as she'd noticed it. Her abaya may have looked heavy, but the material was light and she was used to the heat, having lived in a dessert all her life. She would be ready for any hot weather they encountered. How naive she was. When Foo was ready, she climbed onto his back, and then made room for Maui to get on behind her. Being so close with a boy, this shouldn't be allowed...

Padma cried out twice, firstly from the bombardment of freezing cold air and flakes of ice that slapped against her bare face, and then from Maui grabbing onto her. She had never known such coldness! At night it could get a little fresh in her village, but she had no idea such low temperatures were possible! What was this cruel punishment?! She ducked down against Foo's back, sheltered on both sides by the beast and Maui on her back. But still, it was so freezing that Padma felt she might die!

"M-me neither," Padma said, rubbing her hands together to get rid of the cold that had so quickly set into her bones. The village they were headed to resembled Padma's in size, but it was made out of what looks like cloths on sticks. Maui would recognise these as tents, only very sturdy ones. Down on the ground, the wind was less savage, but now Padma could more clearly see the white soft flakes falling from the sky. Padma was utterly mesmerised. Foo's bubble prevented them from reaching her, but Padma so wanted to touch one of the fluffy looking things. And all around, the world was white from being covered with them. The ocean and the forests of Hawaii had stunned her much the same as this did. "What is this?" she whispered.

They were in amongst a cluster of tents - there was no way on Earth that there would be spare clothes laying around, not ones they could either buy or borrow. Padma didn't sweat it, though - she'd put her feet down into the snow and 'ooh'ed loudly. It was freezing! But the crunch beneath her feet was satisfying and strange.

Padma had closed toed shoes, unlike Maui with his opened toed strange looking sandals that slapping sounds when he walked. She felt sorry for him, having his feet bare in the snow. "I-I hope Foo finds you some proper shoes," she said. Despite enjoying the new sensation of snow and cold, her teeth were chattering so much that she could hardly speak.

Padma was tempted to huddle with Maui to keep one another warm, but this clashed with her sensibilities. She had to be modest, so she kept away from him, folding her arms around herself. When Foo came back with clothes, Padma hastily put them on. The layers were thick and she felt a bit suffocated, but the fur... Ooh, the fur around her face instantly warmed her up. "I feel like a baby being swaddled," she murmured, her cheeks going pink from the sudden rise in temperature.

Whenever they encountered another human being, they seemed to rush passed them and ignore them. They were a very rude people, Padma surmised. But after a while of finding nothing, it became apparent that all the people in this village were packing up and leaving here. They were leaving very little behind. Even the tents were being taken apart. "What's going on?" Padma asked the nearest woman, who ignored her and continued putting things into her cart. Only one tent wasn't being touched.

Just before they got to the tent, they saw an older woman leaving it with tears running down her face. That didn't bode well. Padma didn't want to look inside the tent anymore, but approached anyway with Maui in front of her. The inside of the tent was warm, with a fire in the middle and stockpiles of dried meats, breads, and rice. Oh, they had rice here too? Beside the fire was a bundled up body. Padma squeaked and looked away, fearing that they'd walked into someone's grave. They hadn't - the bundle was just sound asleep.

"A new friend?" Padma asked quietly. "But they are passed on." She was proved wrong when the person rolled over and grumbled sleepily. It was a girl. She looked older than Padma, but that was perhaps because her face was weathered by the cold. She had thick brows and pink cheeks, and they could see her black hair was tied into two braids. "Oh, her hair," Padma used. She wasn't used to seeing such jet black hair like that.