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She took a bite of her banana on a stick. The cold blanket of chocolate crunched between her front teeth, and the natural sweetness from the fruit and the bitterness of the dark chocolate were a newfound combination she would obsess over in the future.

“Well, what’s the verdict?” Ronin asked.

She took another bite. “If’s food.”

He chuckled. “It’s good?”

Naia nodded, not the least bit embarrassed by her excitement towards something as meaningless as a festival treat. During the weeks leading up to her wedding, she’d been too nauseous to eat anything.

As they approached the square of Nohealani Island, Naia heard chanting. The calls of the islanders praising the High Goddess of the Sea.

They entered among the crowd gathered around a performance. Several individuals watched with overly enthused expressions, holding up a device and recording the performance on a screen.

“What is that?” Naia pointed to the rectangle device the woman in front of them held up.

Ronin snorted out a laugh.

When Naia continued to stare at him for an answer, he gave her a double take.

His eyes thinned, and she swallowed. It was the wrong question to ask.

“A cell phone,” he replied, skepticism coating his tone.

Due to her curse, she’d never seen one. She’d heard of the technology device from her siblings, claiming they all possessed one.

Naia took a step deeper into the crowd to get a better look at the show.

Six people dressed in traditional Nohealani clothing—flower wreaths around their necks, skirts made of palm leaves, and the women with coconut husks over their breasts—moved in choreography to the beat of the drums, circling the enormous statue of Mira.

Everyone sang: “Oh, High Goddess of the Sea, we give our lives to you. We nourish the island you founded, and we dedicate our hearts and souls to you. Our devotion forever belongs to you. Bless our island and our lives.”

Naia glared up at the stone carving of Mira. Island blossoms decorated her classic side braid down her shoulder. Arms outspread, a gesture suggesting she was a merciful goddess, welcoming her worshippers into the protection she supposedly bestowed upon them—when she was too righteous to ever offer such a thing.

“How’s the banana?” Ronin asked.

Something about his tone sounded sincere, as if he could sense her kindling discomfort and wanted to help somehow.

In which case, Naia held the banana up to his mouth. “Would you like to taste?”

“Nah, I hate bananas. But look at you offering. You must be warming up to me.”

She retracted her offer with a scowl and licked the melting chocolate from her fingers. “Hardly. I thought it would be comical to watch you eat something so phallic.”

Ronin smirked. “Why do you think I bought it for you?”

Naia’s mouth popped open.

His eyes glittered with a smile, eliciting a dip in her stomach she did not approve of.

Naia spun her chin away from him to take another bite of the phallic dessert.

Ronin lightly nudged her arm with his elbow. “I’m kidding.”

She flinched, and he pulled back.

Naia wanted to assure him it was not his touch. It was all touch. A traumatic response. No matter the time that passed, or how hard she tried to train her body to react otherwise, nothing seemed to work.

With her mouth full of chocolate banana, she walked ahead of him. “Let’s go. I’m still hungry.”