AN: It has been ages since I have posted anything here, but I have had this idea knocking around inside my skull for a good long while. Embarrassingly enough I decided to write this in order to improve my report writing at work. Surprisingly enough it has actually seemed to help.
This is mostly complete, though I have hit a bit of a road block about five chapters in. I don't anticipate this being very long, though it is already longer than I anticipated. I will attempt to post every Saturday and the first five chapters are already written. Some are shorter than others but I tried to break them at good points as dictated by the story itself. This is one of the shorter chapters.
Please review, and comment your thoughts, it may help me get over the "hump" I've found myself at.
I fully anticipate finishing this story. Thank you for your time in reading my little head trip.
Moana stood at the prow of the ship feeling the wind blowing in her hair as the people behind her worked the sails and rudder. The ship was one of the largest styles currently in use, with a 30 ft mast, two outboard pontoons, and sleeping quarters in the cabin built amidships. It was also brand new. Moana had been working for more than a year with the people of the island Pohnpei to get it built. They had not been lucky enough to have a huge cavern where their boats could be stored while waiting for the waters of the world to be safe once more for voyaging, and the wind and weather had worn their once proud fleet down to rotting masses.
Though Moana had helped many other islands build a canoe or three since her return from restoring the heart of Te Fiti, she had never participated in the construction of one of this size. She was just glad that the one used by Montenui had required some repair work before they had taken it out. This had given her the opportunity to study the construction and she had remembered enough to at least have a place to start with the construction of this beast.
Moana breathed deep of the salty sea air and glanced behind her to watch the islanders manage their ship. She was here as a teacher and in case things started to get out of hand, she had to keep her distance and let them work the ship and manage their voyage. She had done this many times before, more times than she bothered to count. She had started with her very own people, bringing their canoes out into the light of day, checking them over, repairing them, and sometimes scrapping them and using the pieces to repair more sea worthy vessels. She had taught them to wayfind and led them on their first voyage. It had been a surprise when they had arrived at their first island and found it inhabited.
The islanders had been excited to see them and had welcomed them with a feast. Their canoes had been examined and there had been unending questions about their construction and the differences between these vessels and the ones used for fishing.
That night when Moana and her people began to tell their story they had been informed that the story teller of the tribe had already "heard" the story of how the heart of Te Fiti had been returned. She had received the story in her dreams several months prior and had shared it with her people. It was one of the reasons the villagers had been excited to meet them, for they had already suspected that among the voyagers would be one of the figures of the story, the girl who traveled with Maui and restored the heart.
It had been easy to set up trade between the two islands. The islanders were mostly interested in learning the skills of wayfinding. They wanted their own canoes and wished to voyage the seas on their own. So Moana had sent most of her people home while she had stayed and taught them how to build their canoes, using those from Mantenui as guides, and then she spent months teaching them the skills of wayfinding. She journeyed with them on their first voyage as she had done for her own people, allowing them to chart their own coarse, and they had eventually found another inhabited island.
Moana had found herself traveling from island to island, telling her story, speaking of her people, and then teaching the skills to build and maintain their fleet and finally voyage across the vast seas. She had long since lost count of the number of islands she had visited. Occasionally she would see Maui himself during the voyaging. He would always call out a greeting but he never stopped to visit. Despite that, she always got the feeling he was proud of her and what she was doing.
She had long since sent the last of her people home to Montenui. As a result it had been many seasons since she had seen anyone from her home. It was another reason she was excited to reach this voyage's conclusion, for the people of Pohnpei had decided to visit Montenui for their first voyage, and Moana was finally going home.
Moana looked down at herself, she had on brand new clothes, her hair was braided down her back, and a head piece worthy of her role as a teacher and master of her trade was woven into her hair. She was in the prime of her life, and strong and proud, she felt certain she had done much to bring honor to the teachings of her parents and to her people whom she represented.
In her travels, Moana had managed to pick up the nickname of "The Wayfinder" and though she tried to down play her position as the first master wayfinder in generations, she knew she had been instrumental into getting so many people back out onto the ocean once more. And though she hadn't seen the soul of the ocean since it had given her the shell she had placed on the mountain, she could feel how happy it was to once more have people traveling upon its back.
Her students manning the canoe were doing so with skill. They had been on the sea for two weeks now and in that time they had become a well oiled machine, making Moana feel slightly superfluous. They no longer needed her. They had faced two storms, and an attack by the Kukomori, during which she hardly had to intervene at all. Their wayfinder had charted their course with little to no input from Moana, and had managed their ship with very few hiccups. They no longer needed her, and it was time to go home.
AN: For the names of places and people in this fic I actually chose them from research on the pacific islanders. Pohnpei is an actual island, despite the name's similarity to Pompei of Roman history.