Free Mana by John A. Broussard Page A

and that’s the notion this force is independent of everyone, gods and humans alike. It can be controlled, but only in part. The chief who possesses this gift is only a transmitter of the power, a kind of temporary guardian.
    â€œThe problem is the word is used in so many different ways. Famous athletes are said to have mana. So are exceptional dancers, artists and other people with outstanding skills. Kahuna claim it. But, independently of all that, there’s constant reference to mana as a special force giving whoever has it a quality of untouchability.”
    Millie still looked puzzled, as Tessa continued. “As for the talking board, I had a long talk with Cy Walton. Before I was through, we were having a telephone conference call, with half the department over there taking part. They’re all excited about the board. I faxed them a copy of the rubbing, and the consensus is it’s the real thing. It would take someone really knowledgeable to have faked it.”
    â€œCould anyone there read it?”
    â€œOh, no. Nothing like that. It’s just that it has a lot of the elements of other boards they know are genuine.”
    â€œDid you tell them about me?”
    â€œNo. There wouldn’t have been much point to telling them.” An amused Tessa looked over at Millie who was shaking her head. “They’d have just reacted the way your friend is reacting right now.”
    â€œDid they know of any connection between the boards and mana?”
    Tessa’s eyes lit up. “I see you’ve been giving this a lot of thought. There’s one possible connection. One of the graduate students is doing her dissertation on early European contacts with Polynesians. She’s found a reference to a Portuguese priest who was taken captive by the Tongans back in the sixteenth century. When he was finally rescued by a Spanish ship, he was in pretty bad shape, but the story he told was copied down by one of the crew before the priest died. According to the student, the Spaniard had a poor grasp of Portuguese, and the priest’s Spanish probably wasn’t any better, so the story is badly garbled. The part we’re interested in deals with how the chiefs acquired mana.”
    Lehua sat forward in her chair. Millie simply looked even more puzzled. Tessa went on with her story. “When the great chief died, the oldest of the Tongan kahuna would take one of the chief’s sons aside, normally the eldest, and talk to him. Afterwards, no one could touch the son, and he became the new chief.”
    â€œNo board?”
    â€œNo mention of it in the chronicle.”
    â€œThat’s all there was?”
    â€œThere was one more thing. The kahuna told whatever he told the son three times.”
    â€œThat’s something.”
    â€œI did find out something more about mana itself from a couple of the faculty over there.”
    Lehua leaned forward again. “What?”
    Tessa paused, then said, “I should warn you ahead of time a lot of this is speculation. I guess the best that can be said for it is it’s educated speculation.”
    â€œWhatever you found out is more than I know now.”
    â€œTo begin with, it probably isn’t as impersonal as I pictured it to be. Somehow it seems to be like a reactive force, with intent to harm resulting in harm to the doer. Evil intent leads to a resulting evil.”
    â€œSo the basketball was interpreted as being not harmful.”
    â€œExactly. But mana works by a different set of logic than you and I are familiar with. Evil as we know it is a human construct, even a cultural construct. Mana doesn’t necessarily share our views concerning the nature of evil. There’s a lot of evidence those serving a chief who possessed mana had to be extremely careful, no matter how friendly their intentions.”
    Millie was about to say something, but Lehua broke in first. “What’s that mean?”
    â€œThe one