Where Mountain Meets Sea: HAWAII'S STORY (1)

Breeches And Trousers

1816 was the year Hawaiʻi was presented with a flag that was so beautiful she couldn't think of any reason why she had anything else before. It held nine stripes of blue, white, and red, and the Union Jack was still firmly planted in the canton.

She had loved it since she had first laid eyes on it since she had run her fingers along a seam in the cloth of that flag before it had been raised and truly had become hers and hers alone. The stripes bore a striking resemblance to the flag of the United States; the British flag waved so proudly in the corner, and yet it was so uniquely her own.

Her entire body changed with this flag when it became official. It had a tingly feeling, the want of something new and the comfort Hawaiʻi felt with the new stripes on her arms and legs, the lovely feeling that this was something that was meant to be.

The kakau she had gotten upon her legs when she was younger was harder to see now, broken up by red stripes, but they were still there. Red hands changed to blue with little striped fingers, and everywhere she looked, she found something else to love. Her navel, her hands, her legs, her arms, everything was something to be loved. She couldn't imagine ever loving herself more than this borderment on vanity, which she knew was wrong; she was told it was so wrong, and yet she loved herself anyway.

Britain had been confused by her flag but had called it lovely anyway. Even if Hawaiʻi had to imply what she wanted to hear several times with several hints in hopes he'd get it. Hawaiʻi loved her flag more than nearly anything in the world.

Not too long after, Hawaiʻi discovered the absolute loveliness of British Tea. She had never tasted something quite like it, so bitter and tasteless and gross without sugar, but then, then, he added milk to his tea! She had had tea before, mostly different herb infusions for illnesses and such, but never with milk or sugar!

And he had allowed her to tag along and just... chat while drinking tea!

A teatime 'snack' was something she had found to be delightfully useless, so of course, she loved it all. Coffee, as a plant, had been introduced to the islands this year as well, but Hawaiʻi was reluctant to taste it, though if tea taught her anything, any bitter plant water probably tasted so much better with milk and sugar.

Hawaiʻi sat beside Britain happily, quite liking the way she could now simply visit her friend so much easier with a simple trip to the land in between. He had spoken of it and had talked for hours to her about it all.

And in the end, he had convinced her to change it all and finally had gone to visit him in this strange place. It had a pressure about it that popped in her ears, unlike anything she could describe at the time, but in the present day, she compares it to being on a highway and going through a tunnel.

He had called it the "Land In-Between," though the Romans had a different name for it, and there was some other name from before that, of which no one was able to remember.

She didn't like being here often; she would much rather stay on her islands, but it was nice, really, to be able to see different nations, different akua 'āina more often.

"-And of course, there's all those very pretty... What is the word? The clothes your men wear?"

"The uniforms?" Britain said. "I wouldn't describe them as pretty, though..."

"Yes!" Hawaiʻi said. "While I love the dresses I have gotten and all the gold fabric that is used to make them, I would love to wear a uniform like that. They're so... what's the word... regal!"

"Perhaps eventually, when you do learn to sew properly, you may learn to make something similar as a dress."

"No, you misunderstand me. I want to wear a uniform like them." Hawaiʻi said, speaking slowly to emphasise her point. "I want to be able to wear those. With the boots and the... the trousers?"