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Nahori was also sitting on a little stall, this time in the Ko-Koro cablecar hut. He wasn’t cold, he never was. No Ko-Koronan was ever cold. That’s how they survived being frozen in solid ice for days. He could feel the vibrations of the wire getting stronger. They had started half an hour a go, someone must be coming from Ta-Koro. Nahori took out his disk and poked his head out of the side of the hut to see who was in the cablecar. A blue Ga-Koronan and a dull red Ta-Koronan. Not Rahi then, he put his disk away. The cablecar now entered the hut, and Nahori turned off the winch mechanism.

“Hi!” said Moana.

“…hello,” said Nahori.

“Which way to Ko-Koro?”

Nahori pointed to the North,

“Watch out for Rahi. Is your friend OK?” he asked.

“What? Oh Kaiwera, yeah he’s… fine…” Moana trailed off.

Kaiwera was still sitting in the cablecar, looking very cold. His movements were slow and clumsy. Even his eyes had slowed down.

“Kaiwera, what’s the matter?”

“Too… c-c-cold. Me f-fire, here… ice!”

“I’d better get him to Ko-Koro. They’ll be able to help him right? She asked Nahori.

“They will yes, but it takes a lot to get any warmth from the heart of a Ko-Koronan.”

“Err… thanks, well, we’ll go now. Bye.”

“…”

Moana helped Kaiwera out of the cablecar, and steered him towards the door. Once they had stepped through, Moana gasped, and dropped Kaiwera.

Spreading out from them were crystals of ice, covering the trees and the grass and the ground. Snow was thick on the path, and around the signpost there. Everything she looked at shimmered with the clarity of ice. Moana found it… enchanting.

“…! Ice!” mumbled Kaiwera.

“Oh great, don’t say your delirious. What is wrong with you?!”

“…!”

They carried on walking North. As they walked, the ground crunched beneath their feet. Little ice creatures and birds disturbed the snow and sent it down in dust from the trees.

“Hey… look Kaiwera, there’s the entrance to Ko-Koro!”

“G-g-great.”

“You could at least be a little more enthusiastic,” she complained.

Moana dragged Kaiwera the rest of the way, until he perked up a little bit as they got out of the bitter wind of the ice fields.

“Nurr… wa! Look at me! My red…”

Kaiwera was looking down on himself, his usually rosy and fiery red was no more, replaced with a lifeless brown. Only the firesword on his back gave any evidence he was from Ta-Koro and not Po-Koro.

“Something is very wrong with you Kaiwera. Lets go and find Turaga Nuju, maybe he can help us.”

They walked into Ko-Koro, and met two guards blocking the way.

“Err… can we come in please?”

The guards had black Huna Kanohi on, and snow had been deposited around their feet. They looked like they’d been there a long time.

Moana knocked on one of their Kanohi.

“Helllloooo? Sick Ta-Koronan here! Need – help! Understand? Open!”
There was no response from the guard.

“Right I’ve had enough of this,” said Moana, and brought her knee up hard.

The guards eyes widened a tiny bit, and then, very slowly, he fell over.

“Thank-you. At LAST!” Moana said, and walked over the groaning guard into Ko-Koro.

“Wow,” said Kaiwera.

Now they were in the village proper, and there were the huts made of ice and walls made of ice, and the well, made of ice… and the signs… also made of ice… in fact everywhere Kaiwera or Moana looked was made of very hard, ice. They walked up the big ice stairway to Nuju’s hut. The villagers walking around the village said nothing to them, nor paid them any attention.

They entered Nuju’s hut, and found him talking to a Tohunga with a pale blue Akaku mask.

“Turaga Nuju, my friend here needs help. As soon as we arrived in Ko-Wahi he… changed. He is a Ta-Koronan, but you wouldn’t guess would you?”

Nuju turned round slowly.

“I will translate Nuju’s words,” the Tohunga next to him said.

“<It is strange for Tohunga to travel, these days. Speak; why does a Ta-Koran and a Ga-Koran present themselves before me?>”

“We… Turaga, it’s so cold…” Kaiwera said weakly.

“<The cold only touches those who are willing to feel it, Tohunga of Mata Nui. Now tell me, why are you here?>”

“We have been sent here by Nokama, we are looking for a 'Chosen'... 'Chosen of Ice', I guess, right Kaiwera?”

“…”

“<Hmm. Chosen, indeed. So, Nokama agrees with Vakama's... theories?>”

“Uh... with respect, Turaga, you do not?” asked Moana.

“<No. There is very little evidence of their existence. I would have to see a Great Mask being work by a Tohunga before I did, and not just a replica.>”

Moana and Kaiwera looked at each other. Kaiwera gave the tiniest shake of his head.

“Well... do you know anyone who just might be the Chosen of Ice, if the legend were true?” asked Moana.

“<I am not aware of any unnatural abilities among my people. However, I do not often leave Ko-Koro with them- you should speak to a Ranger, if you wish to continue Vakama's quest.>”

“Oh, well, thank you Turaga. But, can you do something about Kaiwera?”

“<No. Just buy him some proper clothing in the shop in the village.>”

“Really? Well thanks Turaga, that helps a lo-“ but Nuju had already turned round and was reading the inscriptions carved into the wall next to him.

“I am Matoro. Nuju does not speak like we do, he uses the ancient language of the Turaga. If you want to find a ranger, ask around the town for where one might be. Pirihi might be about, ask for him.”

“Oh, ok, thanks Matoro.”

Matoro turned and joined his Turaga reading.

“Well, c’mon little Ta-Koronan, time to buy you some clothes! Lucky I found this in the Water Temple ‘eh?”

Moana pulled out of her rucksack a filthy bag, filled with filthy gold coins.

“Whoa… you didn’t tell me about that. Where did you get it?”

“Who knows? Oh look, here’s the clothes shop.”

The only visible evidence it was a shop was the big “S” carved into the sign outside. Otherwise, it looked like all the other huts in Ko-Koro, cold and uninviting. The Chosen stepped inside.

There was a Ko-Koronan sitting behind a counter, which was made of ice, staring into space. There were two racks worth of clothing in the hut, all thick and made with the fur of the ice Rahi. Kaiwera almost jumped into the thickest of all of them, did up the fastenings on the front, and then continued to put on some very thick trousers.

“Ahh… warm…” he said, and sat down heavily in the corner, apparently very pleased with himself.

“Hi!” Moana addressed the Ko-Koronan behind the counter.

His head whipped round to her so fast she jumped.

“Hello. Will you be buying those garments your friend is wearing?”

“Ye-es. How much please?”

“What do you have?”

“These.”

Moana tipped some of the gold coins onto the counter, their muck mixing with the water, creating a sort of sludge. The Ko-Koronan looked down, his Akaku lens moved back and forth a bit, and then the coins were gone from the counter, sludge and all. Moana looked up in surprise.

“Thank you,” said the Ko-Koronan quietly.

“What, no change?!” she exclaimed, “there were at least 20 coins there!”

“You can take this, if you like.”

The Ko-Koronan offered Moana a beautifully carved… charm, of some sort. It was round and on one side had an icicle design, much like a thick coin.

“Well, er thank you…?” she left the space open for his name, and took the charm.

“That’s OK. Closing time now. Please leave.”

Kaiwera jumped up from the corner, his usual red had returned.

“Right, thanks buddy! Let’s go Moana, got this Ranger person to find!” and then grabbed Moana’s arm and pulled her out of the shop.

Moana turned her head to shout goodbye, but the shop seemed to have disappeared, it was just another hut of the many.