The People in the Trees

Norton spends his days observing the villagers and notices that the children go unsupervised while the men and women fulfill their daily duties. Once, he witnesses a child nearly choke to death without garnering a response from the adults. It becomes apparent to the group that the villagers rarely stray far from the village and seem to have no knowledge of the sea. Norton also notices that the village culture relies heavily on ceremonies for everything from birthdays and first steps to first sexual experiences and a partial eclipse. The most severe ritual Norton observes is at the mysterious hut. One day, he sees the villagers gathering around it and joins them, only to witness the village chief rape a 10-year-old boy. The boy is given to the chief by his parents, who takes him into the hut and when he is finished, eight other men follow. As each man exits the hut, they bow to the boy’s parents. When the ritual ends, the village returns to their daily tasks as though nothing of significance has happened. After this, Norton begins to notice sexual promiscuity everywhere in the village between all ages and genders, with no privacy needed for partnering. Tallent asks the chief about what happened in the hut and is told that it is a ritual called a’ina’ina, in which a boy of roughly 10 is taught how to make love by the men of the village. There is another such ritual coming soon, and the researchers are invited to witness it. While Esme rejects the ritual as uncivil and a violation of a child, Norton sees it as a logical rite of passage.

Norton, Tallent, and Esme attend a ceremony for the chief’s 60th birthday and witness him kill an opa’ivu’eke and eat it, sharing it with the only other person in the village of such an advanced age. When they return to the dreamers, Norton asks Mua about his own 60th birthday, and Mua reveals that the ceremony is called the vaka’ina. Every dreamer celebrated their vaka’ina and ate part of an opa’ivu’eke. At that point, they were rewarded by the gods, who will now let them live forever. Mua reveals that the opa’ivu’eke live in a lake close to the village. When Norton tells him that they need an opa’ivu’eke for Tallent’s vaka’ina, Mua agrees to show them the place.

Mua shares that only those who reach 60 can touch an opa’ivu’eke and that anyone who touches one before their time will bring a curse upon their family. The curse dictates that someone else in their family will live to 60, but that when they eat the opa’ivu’eke, they will become mo’o kua’au and lose their humanity, their memories, and their knowledge of being human. Those who become mo’o kua’au are banished from the village. Mua was banished, and Norton finally sees the connection between the dreamers and the opa’ivu’eke.

They return from the lake and Tallent and Norton meet with the chief. The chief tells them that they recently led three mo’o kua’au people away from the village and left them in the woods, and that of those three, only Mua returned. The chief also reveals that they currently have a mo’o kua’au in the village and haven’t yet exiled him because he is the father of a friend. The man’s state confirms Norton’s suspicions about the opa’ivu’eke. He interviews Mua again and discovers that the others he was exiled with fled or died and that he wandered alone around the island until he found the dreamers. They became a group and helped protect each other, finding food and fighting off other groups of mo’o kua’aus.

One night, Norton stumbles through the forest, looking for Tallent and Esme, whom he suspects of sharing a sexual relationship. He is jealous of their relationship and harbors his own sexual attraction to Tallent. Suddenly, he comes upon the 10-year-old boy from the a’ina’ina ritual. The boy approaches him, and although Norton asserts that he at first resists, the two lie together in the forest.

Norton realizes that Eve is a fully realized mo’o kua’au and upon further inquiries, learns that she is at least 250 years old. With this realization, Norton lobbies to take an opa’ivu’eke and at least two dreamers back to a lab to prove his theory. Tallent and Esme both deny and condemn his plan, but Norton is determined to discover the connection between the dreamers and the opa’ivu’eke and commits to his plan despite their disapproval. He wakes Mua in the night and tricks him into bringing him back to the lake, where he kills an opa’ivu’eke and starts dissecting the turtle for easy transport back to the US. Fa’a witnesses this. Angered by Norton’s transgression, he raises his spear. Norton in return touches the opa’ivu’eke to Fa’a’s hand. Fa’a begins weeping, believing that he has now doomed a member of his family to become a mo’o kua’au. As Fa’a laments, Norton returns to his work and the three soon return to the group, where Norton hides the meat. The next day it is apparent that because Fa’a is ashamed, he will keep the events of the previous night a secret. Tallent announces that their time on the island is coming to an end.

As they prepare to depart, Norton looks forward to the future and the opportunity to gain fame through his discovery. He also succeeds in convincing Tallent to bring some of the dreamers with them. The chief allows Norton and Tallent to take four of the dreamers. The chief also confirms to Norton that all who eat the opa’ivu’eke eventually become mo’o kua’au, and Norton can see in the chief’s face that he knows he will eventually be exiled as well.

The group leaves the village and take Eve, Mua, Vanu, and Ika’ana with them. They loosely tie the other four to a tree and leave them with food, splintering their small community. They walk through the night to put distance between them and the remaining dreamers, and while all seem saddened by their abandonment, Fa’a expresses regret for leaving them behind. When they reach the beach, Fa’a leaves the group. They find him the next morning hanging from a tree, and only Norton knows the true reason why he chose to die by suicide. Tu and Uva, Fa’a’s cousins, tend to the body before leading the group to the boat waiting to take them back to U’ivu.