Og and Ula were painted, chosen to be mated.

They had no objections. Secretly they were thrilled. Since childhood they had been close.

What they objected to was the cruel initiation ceremonies- in fact all the ceremonies, all the cruelty. They heard the words of their elders. Nothing resonated- pointless suffering. There had to be better, more humane ways to bind the community together, to teach valuable lessons with yes a stretch but not so much pain.

Running away meant, if they were caught, certain, humiliating and excruciating death.

They could not see raising their sons and daughters in their unfeeling society.

They risked escaping -separately, meeting at the gorge near the fjord all feared.

They had built a sturdy raft over the last months, stocking it with dried provisions, blankets, medicinal herbs. The raft was waterproof. It had a top-covering which made it look like a large log. They had worked in shifts. Each arriving, seeing the next thing which had to be done.

On the appointed night, dressed in their warmest cloths, armed with blow guns the lovers set out to the fjord. A full moon blesses them.

Torches burning, elders in pursuit: they were far out to sea by the time any of the search party was anywhere near the fjords.

It was a miraculous journey carefully planned with all the expectations that Nature would be as harsh, as unpredictable as ever.

Two months later they arrived on Tahiti. They had come from Tetiaroa. Not many miles away but traveling in a log it was about as far a distance as they could imagine. They had heard their wise elders talk about myths of Tahiti, but no one alive had gone there and returned. It might have been hundreds of generations previous that some brave sailors had made that return trip. Ug and Ula had lived the same way their ancestors had for countless millennia.

Their bravery was rewarded by somethings they could never have dreamed of. On Tetiaroa time stood still- or nearly so. There was no need to move forward except in the well-learned cycles of nature and life.

When they arrived on a black beach in Tahiti one summer’s night, all felt familiar.

They made camp near the shore in the shade in the protection of wild banana trees.

Over the next days they surreptitiously observed people of many different colors playing and resting on the beach. They spoke to gods who answered them. These gods were held in the palms of their hands  

Never had Ug and Ula heard gods and ancestors replying immediately to human speech. They wore unusual clothes not cloths or skins of animals they recognized. They ate novel foods in tiny well-organized portions. They drank beverages which made them act sloppy.

Ug and Ula of course had not just travelled a few miles. They had arrived in the present modern era. The same year as on their island but thousands of years apart in other ways.

A young attractive couple wearing what appeared to Ug, brightly colored loincloths found an object- sea glass but of a more regular shape. Odd he thought that it could emerge from the sea so symmetrically shaped. In a language he did not understand, the man expressed dismay that this object was on the otherwise pristine beach.

A woman sat on the beach reading a book which had a picture on it of an island in an ocean.

Ug did not know what to make of the book, never having seen paper before.