Laki startled as a horrific scream cut through the night air. What was that? he thought as he felt his skin crawling in response. It's really not safe out here!

He quickly glanced back over his shoulder to where the thief had surely disappeared and thought it was the same direction as the last echoes of that scream. Was someone else less lucky than I was... or was it the thief whose luck just ran out?

He realised that he really didn't want to stick around to find out and hurried down the slope. All around him shops and houses seemed shuttered against the night. Where light did spill out into the alleyway, it was in sickly-looking streams accompanied by the raucous sounds of a rough bar or, worse, a kona den. Laki did not expect to find safe harbour in any of those places. His only hope was to find his way back onto one of the main avenues, where there would still be life and light pouring onto the street and safe passage to the docks and waterways where he might feel at home once more. Home...

Taking a risk, he cut into one of the smaller side-alleys that ran across the one he had been following downhill. If his memory served him correctly, then this would lead him towards the broad avenue he had followed up the hill earlier in the day. This smaller alleyway was filled with rubbish from various shops and bars and Laki had to squeeze between some of the piles to progress, all whilst holding his nose as much of the waste had been there a long time and there were piles of rotted vegetables and maggoty cuts of meat. Something knocked a crate over behind him and he started, surging forwards and knocking over a pile of refuse himself in his effort to push through. He could imagine another thief, or worse, pursuing him through the debris and call almost feel them reaching out to grab him when suddenly he spilled out onto a brightly lit avenue, stumbling and landing in the rotted food he had brought with him. A smartly dressed young couple who had been descending the hill stopped to stare at him and cover their noses, before making a wide detour to the other side of the street.

Great, he said aloud, frustrated, now I need a bath as well as somewhere to stay!

Well there's a whole ocean down there, a wealthy-looking gentleman said in the doorway to some sort of eating house, I suggest you head down there and... swim away. The gentleman turned up his nose and began welcoming a group of customers with apologetic murmurs, all whilst watching Laki out of the corner of his eye.

Alright, alright! Laki picked himself off, dusted off as much of the food waste as he could and began to walk down the hill towards the docks. He was angry with himself, angry with the city and angry with the Atua, who, he felt, had done a poor job of looking out for him ever since he found the Tangata idol. What if they've deserted me? he wondered with a dawning horror. What if I've been tainted? It didn't bear thinking about, but his mood was becoming so black that he could hardly think of anything else. In his mind's eye, the village on Inoa burned and his parents lay, cut to shreds before they'd ever been charred, beneath the smouldering beams. Oh, Atua! he whispered.

And then he was at the bottom of the hill and the waterways of Nefunuku spread out before him, rippling gently in the light of the city. He sat down on the edge of the wharf and dangled his feet in the cool water and just... let go. All the pain and fear, all the sorrow that had brought him to this point seemed to wash over him at once, to drop as tears into the cool sea. Whether anyone was watching him, he neither knew nor cared and when his tears were spent he slipped into the waves and went under.