The Austronesians had many Gods.

  Because there was no purity in belief, the Gods abandoned Austronesia. And then the Austronesians fought. They blamed one another for the loss of purity. To keep them from fighting more the Gods broke the Austronesian into many separate islands.

  But the Austronesians never stopped fighting. Also they never stopped looking for one another. They developed all manner of sea craft just to search for one another. For many centuries the Austronesian spent all their lives on the water. They became masters of the sea. They developed their unsinkable outriggers on which they crossed great distances. They lived on their palutangs some of which were so big they had livestock on board.

  The Austronesians on the 2 big islands, Sunda and Sahul, learned to terrace the mountain side. They learned to domesticate animals. For a while unity seemed possible. Several great Kings brokered a peace among factions. But then new religions ushered in new Gods. and the Austronesians fought each other again. It is not any gods intention to kill people. Without people gods will have no adherents to offer incense and prayer to them and perhaps do their bidding. But the Austronesians they fought again. And they killed again. So their gods sundered the Austronesian even more, breaking them up into even smaller islands.

  Tawalesi or the “Steps of Bathala” is an island chain stretching southward a thousand kilometers from it’s main island Lingayen towards the equator. A few thousand kilometers after it’s end point, called the Mendanao rock cluster, the equator passes. For the Tawalesi crossing the equator is a rite of passage and they all make that crossing at one point in their life.

  The equator defines the boundary between the Kanluran sea and the Natuna Sea. Upon crossing in the equator, tides and winds suddenly shift in direction. Eddies that swirl clockwise suddenly swirl counterclockwise. Winds blowing north suddenly blow south. Between these two seas lies the deepest chasm of the known world that the Tawalesi refers to as the Kalaliman. At the Kalaliman winds vital to sea travel are often still. These long lulls drive sailors mad. There are occasional whirlwinds that can lift small vessels high into the air, and drop the vessel with a force that can destroy the hull of even the tightest lashed boards. And then there are these strange underwater creatures that inhabit the Kalaliman that are terrifying predators. All Tawalesi cross the equator to Sunda to pledge to the the Naga Queen Shima mother of all present day Tawalesi. Then they must sail back. Until this voyage is completed a man is nothing and a woman can never be fit for office.

  In the Year of the Boar, Urduja was brought to the Khan's court and submitted as a vassal heir. Despite the fanfare, Udayan understood that to the five temple monks of the Khannate, Urduja was nothing but a buffer for the Khan against his enemies—like fodder for the cannons of a Sung revival. Vassal heirs swear to protect their Liege Lord with their lives. Many have died upholding their pledge.

  Udayan's fleet prepared for a month long voyage to Tianjin Xina at Hilaga Port. The balangay is not too big a sea vessel, but its outriggers make it unsinkable; it cannot be capsized. However, on this occasion, the submission of the Batang Mutya Urduja as vassal heir at the Khuriltai of the Khan at XanaDu necessitated an entire diplomatic entourage. Udayan's fleet consisted of four balangays : one for Queen Udayan and her household, another vessel for her trade minister and her officers, a vessel for Urduja and her handmaidens and the queen's musicians, and a vessel for the Queen's guard.

  The entire Balay na Bato was busy supplying and outfitting the four vessels headed for Xina, where the mighty, terrible Khublai Khan ruled.

  That day some of the Elders—Dalisay (Urduja's father), Alonto, Sikat, Dagul and Tanda—were having a meeting. Dagul is not an Elder, but Tanda's assistant.

  "Why should we agree to offer tribute?" asks Dalisay.

  "And when do we start paying tribute to the Medang King? In Java?" asks Sikat.

  "And who do we send as vassal heir to the Kalinga Queen Shima and the BatangHari at Jeppara?" asks Alonto.

  "My question too.... And when does Khubilai decide that the young Medang King must be taught a lesson? Whose side do we take? The Medang King is our cousin," Dalisay inserts. They are Austronesians too.

  "The Khan is gonna have to take on the Annamese first before he looks in our direction. . The Khan insists that Annam is part of Xina. They are formidable," Alonto asserts in counter.

  "The Annam, the Cham, the Lan, the Ayuthaians, and the dancing Khmers don't stand a chance against the mighty Khan," counters Sikat.

  "Just because it is a small kingdom doesn't mean it is a weak one. The Khan will never take Annam. And of those little kingdoms, Annam is Buddhist. The beautiful kingdoms by the sea... they're all Shaivites . They burn their widows," Tanda argues.

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  "Khan will have little justification for a war with Annam," Alonto says nodding.

  "Yes, the Khan does not burn widows, but he declares war against everyone," Sikat remarks.

  "He won't launch a conquest against you if you declare yourself his vassal," Alonto assures.

  "But the Annamese were willing to do that, and he still declared war on them," Sikat retorts.

  "It's another matter; the Annamese defeated his father," Alonto explains.

  "So now he must declare war on those who are willing to cooperate with him—just because his father failed to conquer them? Nonsense..." Sikat grumbles.

  Tanda laughs. "We are caught between the widow-burning Shaivites and the Taoist priests who want war," Tanda summarizes.

  "The Vedics have magic," Alonto adds.

  "Those Taoists practice some form of magic too—some kind of black and white magic that makes them unstoppable fighters; makes them invisible," Sikat claims.

  "Maybe if we trained, we'd have that magic too," says Alonto. And we should do some farming on some of the bigger islands. Then we wouldn't be dependent on others.

  "But the only thing I want to do is ride water, and that's the only thing you want to do too. You hypocrite, talking about training and farming like that?" Sikat avers.

  "The Medang has those rice terraces; there's plenty of rice there," Dalisay counters.

  "But they keep fighting! They killed each other, brother against brother. All 4 Datus and all their kin have been killed. Queen Shima the PutriRani and the Batang Hari is what is left of the Royal house. Queen Shima is old, and Jakarta, the surviving heir, is a toddler; he is the Batang Hari," relates Alonto. "Sumatra is Shaivite, the other Datu Kalimantan follows the Prophet, Java believes in Sang Hyang Kersa of the Ring of Fire. And the youngest brother Sulawesi leans Messiahnist. The fighting was fierce."and after years of fighting the royal house was dead.”

  “I thought Sumatra, Java Kalimantan and Sulawesi had agreed to that Brotherhood of Equals.” Sikat says

  “Fat chance” Alonto snorted

  “And the PutriRani Shima which god does she follow. ?” Dalisay asks

  “She belongs to the old religion. Which means she and the Mutya Udayan are cousins! These 2 women own the Kalaliman”

  "My uncles capsized there, and Uncle Bulan was lost to the sea—taken by a mermaid. And my other uncle, his brother Ulap, lost an arm battling a serpent," Sikat recounts.

  "Yeah, saw him on the waves the other day. Strange surfing style," Tanda jokes.

  "He has one arm," Dagul notes dryly.

  "You'll have to take off my head to make me stop surfing," Sikat declares.

  "Forget the silk. Tanda the master designer interjected. Those cocoons are waterproof! We should stretch sails with them. They tighten up when wet; they can be spun so thin they are almost translucent. Think of it: see-through sails!" said the master designer, Tanda.

  Everyone agrees. The elders fell silent. Then the guilt returned.

  "Without our Queen, we would never be able to surf. We would have to grub for food the entire day," Dalisay

  "It was the Queens of the past who planted those reeds. It's the queens who made the pearl farms and the salt beds," Tanda affirms. It's the Queens Likha that weave all our sails, spin hemp for rope, build all the balangays....to create the hulma

  "It's our Queen who barters food for us." asserts Sikat

  "ARRGHH! We are just useless! We can't fight or farm. We are only good at surfing! WE trade our women!!!" they cry out in chorus, in agony. "We are sending our Mutya Urduja to live with those monstrous Khans! We will be cursed by Bathala. He won't let us surf anymore! NOOOO!"

  "What have we done? We have lost our future Queen?" Sikat laments. "For rice and bolts of cotton and silk...."

  "What shall we do?" Dalisay asks.

  "We need those cocoons!" Tanda insists.

  "We make another Queen, like bees in a hive; when their queen dies, they produce another," Alonto suggests. She’s still young. We can have another.”

  "You're not loyal," Sikat shouts in anger at Alonto. They schuffle, cursing each other, punching and kicking each other.

  "Break it up, you guys," says Tanda. They are pulled apart by Dagul. Dalisay looks wretched. Alonto's lip is bleeding, and Sikat is unsteady

  "You just want those cocoons," mutters Sikat.

  "We all want those cocoons," they say together.

  Then Urduja shows up, porting her surfboard. The Tawalesi invented surfing. And in the ancient world of the Tawalesi, the BathaLikha and their Mutya had perfected a technology using reeds to make light, air-filled, water-resistant boards they called hulma . The Tawalesi were famous for their wind and wave technology and their expertise at building small sea vessels

  "Here she comes. Pretend like we weren't talking about her. The Queen will not like it if we let on the feeling that we think she's doomed," Alonto cautions.

  "Sshhh,!".

  "Hi, uncles," Urduja greets the Elders.

  "Hi, Urduja," reply the Elders. "You look great in the water. You're the best."

  "You know, of course, I intend to come home with those cocoons," says Urduja, looking directly at Tanda.

  "Urduja, the Khan will marry you to a desert barbarian, and you'll never see the sea again! You'll never surf again!" Sikat with a voice breaking did not hold back his tears.

  "Didn't we say not to say she's doomed? You divulged everything." Alonto tries to hit Sikat, but Dagul is between them.

  "No, it might not be so bad. I just have to learn Turkic and their culture—whatever that means. I also heard that the Khan eats 8-year-olds, but I'm 10....so I'm safe. I'm inedible." says Urduja, winking at Tanda.

  Dalisay, Alonto, and Sikat are amazed at her calm acceptance of her fate.

  "Master designer, I shall get you those cocoons." She says determinedly, picking up her board.

  "Thank you, Mutya. It will make a difference," says Tanda.

  "Did you feel that?"asks Alonto

  "What?" Interjects Sikat.

  "The temperature is dropping. The tide changes."

  "Time to surf!". They announce together

  "CHARGE!" chorus the Elders.

  Then the Council of Elders charge out to sea, grabbing their surfboards on the way. Everybody is already in the water. When it comes to reading waves and understanding wind, the Tawalesi are unmatched.