The grass beneath Akali was soft, cradling her as she sat to eat in the garden outside the acacia tree. Other workers of Pinta sat around her, talking amongst themselves. Now and then, Akali would hear the words human and hate, so she kept to herself and her meal, avoiding the conversations.

A diwata like her--a woman with white hair, bright brown eyes, and beautiful porcelain skin--tended the garden. All diwata had a certain charm. Akali's honey-brown skin and deep black hair were her own. But this diwata had more, and Akali watched in amusement as the woman waved her hand, making the flowers bloom and the grass grow.

Akali smiled. It was nice to see a diwata working. Tending to nature was what they were meant to do, but not Akali. She was meant to be something else--the best tattoo artist, her ink mesmerizing all the Realm of the Engkanto.

She sighed and came back to reality. She wasn't that, not yet.

She looked down at the bowl of stew in her hand and scooped out a bark, then popped it in her mouth. The bark crunched against her teeth, and the taste of sprinkled moonlight came sweet on her tongue. Moonlight was the food of most Engkanto as it gave them immediate strength and health, and the effect on her as she swallowed was as expected, making her light, happy, and smiling.

Something soared above the garden, and Akali looked up. A bakunawa flew above the treetops, its scaled wings widely shadowed the land beneath, its snake-like body trailing in the air.

"Oh!" Akali exclaimed, craning her neck to see the majestic white beast as it landed at the top of the acacia tree and disappeared within the branches. "A bakunawa!" Within her lifetime, she'd only seen a bakunawa thrice, only during eclipses, for they were responsible for eating the sun and the moon at those times--a habit that the creatures need satisfied every few years. She only saw their silhouette then, but now one flew right above her head so that she could make out the details of its midnight scales that glittered like the evening sky.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes." Makka had sat down on the grass beside Akali, holding her bowl of stew. "That is one of the richest creatures in the realm. Owner of many shops in the Central Forest."

"Owner?" Akali whispered, her eyes lingering on the branches, hoping to glimpse the bakunawa again. "What's up there?" Akali jerked her chin to the top of Pinta, where the creature landed.

"The owner's business office. Yes, yes, yes. That's where business is made, but workers aren't allowed there. No, no, no," Makka answered, nodding and then shaking her head.

Akali continued to stare at the branches and leaves of the acacia tree. She never knew that the owner of Pinta was a bakunawa. It made sense to her now. Bakunawa were creatures who hoarded gold, moonlight, and sunlight--the richest, most powerful, and most majestic among the Engkanto.

"I want to meet him," Akali said, excited. This could be her chance to prove herself. If Ma'am Nyan wouldn't allow her to show her artwork, then the owner of Pinta might.

"Meet who? Who, who, who?" Makka asked as she raised the bowl of stew to her mouth, moonlight reflecting on her dark cheeks.

"The bakunawa. The owner of Pinta," Akali pointed to the tree top.

Makka coughed out some of the stew she'd drunk, spilling the glowing liquid on her chin and bark bits on her red sarong. She used the back of her arm to wipe her mouth before saying, "The owner is very busy, busy, busy with business." She nodded as she spoke, dusting the bits of bark from her clothes. "Workers are not allowed to disturb the owner."

Akali sighed her disappointment and looked down at her bowl. Is the bakunawa worse than ma'am Nyan? Would she be thrown out of the shop if she tried to talk to him?

Makka watched her. "I know something you'll like. Yes, you'll like, you'll like, you'll very much like," she said.

"What is it?" Akali looked up at the dwende and observed as a sweet smile grew on Makka's small round face, wrinkling the sides of her large eyes.

"I'll show you where they make the ink for the tattoos. Yes, yes, yes, you will like that."

"Oh!" Akali's shoulders rose. "I'd like that very much. Yes, please." Her disappointment would have to wait. She'd heard of the famous sarimanok that creates the magical tattoo inks used in Pinta. She would not miss this opportunity.

They both quickly finished their meal and left the garden, making their way to the back of the acacia tree, past the waste area, and toward a barn made of tangled vines arched into a shelter. As soon as they neared, the smell of fresh manure wafted in the air.

The inside of the barn was lined with large coops, and inside them were full-grown sarimanok as tall as Akali--their feathers shining with all the colors she couldn't even begin to imagine.

Akali gaped. She'd never seen sarimanok before, and she'd only dreamed of them from stories. They were rare and expensive to keep. And inside the barn were at least five of them.

A sarimanok near the barn entrance loudly flapped its wings and crowed as if announcing Akali and Makka's presence, its comb and wattle swaying around as it danced back and forth in its pen.

There were dwende stationed at each pen, shoveling the birds' manure that spattered on the ground in different colors--rainbow dung. When the sarimanok crowed, they all turned to the entrance of the barn and greeted Akali and Makka. "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!"

"Hello, hello, hello, Makka!" the dwende at the nearest pen bellowed. He was a thumb taller than Makka, wearing a dusty gray sarong. His skin was white like hers. "Who is your friend?" He asked, glancing at Akali.

"Hello, Andong." Makka waved a hand. "This is Akali. She's new. Yes, yes, yes, she is. Been working in the parlor with me as a cleaner."

"A cleaner?" Andong studied Akali from head to toe. She expected the dwende to comment on why she worked here when she was a diwata, but he said nothing about that. "I see." He nodded. "So what are you here for?"

"I just wanted to see how ink is made here," Akali said excitedly, ready to learn.

Andong chuckled. "Well, you're in luck. The sarimanok just popped a fresh batch, as you can see. Fresh, fresh, fresh." He pointed at the manure on the floor. "We separate the colors and put them into these buckets." He kicked at one of the wooden buckets by his feet. "We mostly get red, green, and blue, but sometimes we get the rare colors. This one here--" he gestured at the sarimanok "--pooped pink yesterday. Pink! Pink! Pink! That's one of the most expensive colors for tattoos. Gets a pretty large sum of gold or moonlight for the business. Yes, gold, gold, and moonlight! Sometimes even blood." He gave a toothy grin.

"That's amazing!" Akali exclaimed, wanting to touch the manure. She reached out a hand to try.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," Andong said. "It's not exactly clean yet."

Akali pulled her hand away. She didn't mind touching the manure. They were magic, giving tattoos an extra boost of power and energy. So this, to her, was a dream--a smelly one but still a dream.

"Other shops don't use sarimanok manure because these beasts are rare. Rare, rare, rare!" Andong explained.

Akali knew that. Most would use mashed flowers to get the colors and charred wood for the blank ink. Back at home, she used to sneak into the human village at night to scrape off the char from under their cooking pots.

"These buckets then get delivered to the back to get cleaned--" Andong pointed to the other end of the barn where another entryway of vines stood. "--and mixtures are carefully made there to make the other colors. Sarimanok manure is the best ink. It gives the brightest colors and the finest effectivity of the tattoo's magic. The best, the best, the best indeed."

Makka giggled. "Oh, I like it when you talk so passionately about your work. I like, I like, I like."

Akali felt it, too, both Andong's passion and the power that emanated from the manure, almost as if she could absorb it through her skin. She stepped forward and pointed to the back to ask if they could go in and see the process behind the door, but someone shouted from the barn door.

"What are you doing here?" The familiar voice of ma'am Nyan.

The three turned at the same time toward the entryway and saw a very angry, growling nuno--teeth bared, nostrils flaring, and pointy ears twitching.

Akali's instinct was to step back and run, but she paused for a while, watching as Ma'am Nyan stomped toward them. There was humor in the way the nuno looked. A small creature so furious that she almost looked cute.

"And why are you smiling?" Ma'am Nyan came closer, dark eyes flaring at Akali.

Makka and Andong looked up at Akali, and she realized that she was grinning. She forced her smile to go away, but it didn't, and a laugh came out instead. "I'm sorry," she said with a giggle. "I can't help it."

Ma'am Nyan growled, but it sounded like a squeak, and Akali laughed louder that Makka was infected, bursting out a snort in the same manner.

"Why you!" Ma'am Nyan raised her hand, and a bamboo stick appeared to threaten them. She stomped closer without looking at where she stepped on. As she came near one more step, her feet landed on a green manure, and she slipped and landed on her bum. She screamed! "Stop laughing!" She waved the stick in the air. "You dwende and your little tricks. You did this!" She pointed a furious finger at Andong, but he only shrugged innocently.

"Oh, you better get out of here. Run! Run! Run!" Andong pushed Akali and Makka to a window at the corner of the barn.

Akali jumped out the window quickly and helped Makka climb out, pulling the dwende by the waist of her sarong. They still laughed and giggled as they landed on the ground outside.

"Come on!" Makka led them back to the acacia tree.

Ma'am Nyan's voice screamed in the distance. "Come back here!"

They climbed up the stairs to the second floor. Akali looked up to the top of the tree, wanting to continue. This was her chance to meet the owner of Pinta to make her appeal. She took the first step going up, but Makka grabbed at her leg.

"No, no, no! Not up there! Here! Here! Here!" She pointed to the hall toward one of the tattoo rooms. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" She pulled Akali from the stairs, and they both stumbled through one of the bamboo-woven doors.

Inside the room was the diwata with the many tattoos, standing alone beside a chair. He was tying his trousers, and he stopped when he saw Akali and Makka.

Makka murmured something that Akali didn't understand.

Akali was about to turn around when the diwata jerked his thumb to the wall. "Closets," he said.

Makka grabbed Akali's hand and pulled her into one of the closets built into the inner wall of the tree's trunk. They closed the door and waited, peeking through the crack between the hinges.

Ma'am Nyan barged into the room, carrying the scent of manure, as the diwata finished tying his trousers.

"Oh, my apologies, Kayn!" Ma'am Nyan bowed.

Kayn, Akali noted his name.

"What's going on?" the diwata asked, pretending to know nothing.

"Have you seen a dwende and a diwata come by?" the nuno asked.

"No, just me in here," Kayn shrugged.

"You sure?" Ma'am Nyan raised a brow, and her eyes darted to the closets on the wall.

Akali stifled a gasp, pressing her hands to cover her lips.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've been meaning to ask you something about the design of my new tattoos." Kayn stepped to the nuno and blocked her view. "I'm thinking of changing my artist."

Ma'am Nyan's angry expression changed as if the news was terrible, and she quickly forgot about Akali and Makka. "Oh, no," she said. "What's wrong with your current artist?"

"Let's talk outside." Kayn gestured, leading Ma'am Nyan through the door, the nuno dragging manure through the floor. But before they left, Kayn took one last glance over his shoulder, and as if he knew that Akali and Makka were watching, he smiled and winked.