Akala blinked her large eyes at him in alarm, even going so far as to hold out both of her hands, palms out. "I'm sorry, Ha'aheo. I didn't know it would upset you... I won't touch your nose again. I promise." That was a strange reaction, she thought! It was just so common amongst her people, that she had never considered it would somehow offend a mershark!
She bore his confusion over the word "friend" patiently, waiting for him to come to terms with what it meant. When he gestured to the men out in the water (who were now, she saw, making their way towards the shore at a slow, laborious pace), she rose to her feet. "No, they aren't my friends," she confirmed. "I don't know why, but they were taking me out to the boat. I didn't want to go, but they made me..." Moreorless.
She smiled down at the mershark then, adding, "We should go before they come this way again. I probably can't swim as fast as you, and you obviously can't come ashore and walk with me..." Which did present a bit of a problem...