 Owls were her messengers and were sacred to her.Her common and family name means "carried egg" - "hii", to hold or carry in the arms (as a child), and "aka", meaning embryo - referring to the story of how she was brought to Hawaii by her sister Pele.Her family line is called Hiiaka, and they take on the task of bearing the clouds, providing rain, thunder and lightning variously, those of storms and those produced by Pele's volcanoes.