In Tahua is a hua poporo glyph (Aa1-14) with only 3 'droplets':

There is a short sequence of glyphs in the Tahua text which is initiated with a niu glyph: Aa1-13 Aa1-14 Aa1-15 The intended meaning of the sequence may be to bring to mind the story about 'killing' the old fire and how a new fire then is alighted, corresponding to the new year sun. Here niu would then correspond to the first phase of the story - when the old fire has been stamped out and only the ghost of it remains at the top. The bottom part is like a sack into which the still red hot embers of the old fire have been put. Aa1-13 marks the 'dawn' of a new year. The 3 glyphs arrive after 12 glyphs referring to the solar year.

The 'nut' at bottom in Aa1-14 is not a droplet - it presumably represents the 'head' of the old sun from which the new year grows. The 1st quarter of the year is emerging from the 'nut' of the old year. It is rewarding to read the story about Ure Honu and the skull of king Hotu Matua.

We can also compare niu in Aa1-13 with Ca1-25:

The 'sack' at bottom in Aa1-13 seems to be another representation of the old year. Instead of a single 'stem' (the left two curved lines above the 'sack' in Ca1-25) we see the 4 'limbs' of the old quarters. In Ca1-25 the oval still has life within (the oval is closed), not so in Aa1-13 - the nut has already been perpetuated into the next year (Aa1-14).