There is, tucked under the vines that hold the outrigger to the hull.

[okay I remember seeing Mau go on a sea voyage, I can probably round this parp]

[carefully easing out the paddle and climbing in]

[oops still pulled up on the shore]

[shoving off and climbing in]

[if the surroundings weren't so creepy this would no doubt be laughable]

As it turns out, the paddle is unnecessary. The canoe guides itself, arrow straight, across the still water towards the light.

The stars go out.

[...oh]

[even more on edge now]

It's now pitch black except for the flickering firelight, which grows rapidly closer. Soon you can make out the shape of the fire, and see silhouettes moving around it. Happy, laughing voices ring out, but somehow you can't make out quite what they're saying... it has the cadence of the language you're most familiar with, but doesn't seem to contain real words.

[a few quick looks around him as the light fades, holding onto the sides of the canoe with both hands, and then looking straight ahead]

...hello?

They call out in welcome, still wordless. If you're listening, the slow steady beat continues on in the background. And now by the light of the huge bonfire ahead, you can see a crowd of people, dancing, beckoning, from a little white sand islet, with strange black waves lapping at the edges.

[how close am I to landing at this point, out of curiosity?]

Only about ten meters, though you're slowing down a little.

[listening intently for the last bit of the trip, not just to their voices to see if he can make anything out, but to that beat in the background]

The voices don't come any clearer, but the beat is louder, closer. Are you looking anywhere in particular?

[can he see behind them, see more of where they're standing? also can he get any better sense of what that beat is?]

The beat comes from all around you now. It fills the air. Behind them is just darkness... the islet is held in darkness. The water doesn't reflect the firelight, it's just... black. It doesn't move like water, either.

[a few deep breaths as the canoe drifts up. the unnaturalness of it all is starting to make him wonder about just...what this is. but if he's about to walk among the dead, well, maybe he's not entirely out of place.]

Can you...understand me?

They reply cheerfully, but without any sense to it, and as you draw close, you can see that they are not quite right. Their faces change constantly, flickering between Islanders and people you've seen in Aather -- a dark skinned woman in a grass skirt turns toward you, smiling, wearing Cassie's face, which turns into Cahle's...

[blinking a bit as he notices that, a little unsettled, and then accepting it, smiling back and waving]

They all smile and wave back, beckoning; an island boy a little older than Mau who becomes Josh and then Ven and then Daphne... a woman in her early thirties with Mau's eyes, who becomes Hakkai and then a tall, muscular island man... except one figure, a grown man, who does not change, and is standing a little way a way from the others with his back turned, looking up.

(Have you disembarked?)

[yeah noticing that guy]

[and...disembarking now, yes]

The islet lurches as your feet touch the sand -- lurches up.

Somewhere behind you, someone is screaming your name.

[--turning!]

It's Mau, and he's running toward you, running like something is chasing him, skimming across the surface of the water like it's flat turf -- but the islet is still rising, lurching away from him.

"Ven! Ven!"

[flinging himself off the islet and into a glide, keyblade flashing into his hand in case he needs the glider]

Mau! What's wrong?

[can I see anything behind him]

There's nothing behind him -- he's flinging himself at something behind you with an expression of panicked fury.

"No!"

[wheeling around in midair--what is even going on, he has no idea right now, but he's got Mau's back]

The islet is still rising into the air -- but now that you're not actually on it, you can see that it's cupped in a pair of enormous hands, which are slowly closing around it. And greyness is closing in on every side, with a rush of air... the great wings you could hear beating before are closing around you.

The people on the islet are calling out in fear now. You hear screams of confusion and pain... but that one lone figure is still looking up eagerly into the face of death.

Mau has thrown himself at the closing fist, prying and beating at it, but each finger is much, much bigger than he is.