Even in the afterlife, she is known as the Village Crazy Lady. Whether the nickname followed her into the afterlife, or if her fellow spirits truly believe she's out of her mind, Tala's not completely sure, but she would be less surprised finding out it were the latter than the former.
Because just as the people in Motunui did, almost nobody believes what she has to say. On Motunui, nobody believed that the ocean spoke to her. That it called to her, just as it called to her son, and to her granddaughter Moana. Here in the afterworld, nobody seems to believe what she says about Moana. The story of Te Fiti's heart, they believed instantly. They saw the mother island come back to life with their own two eyes. But what they don't believe is when she says she always knows how her granddaughter is feeling. But if she didn't know she was in distress, Tala had quipped with a wide smirk across her face, then how could she have known to visit her the moment Moana started doubting herself?
But they just brushed off her remark, and claimed she knew when to visit her because she just happened to be watching over her when she needed help, and they explained her appearance on Moana's boat with convenient timing at best. But they're wrong, because if there's one thing Tala knows best, that would be her granddaughter.
Even when Moana was very young, she couldn't sneak anything past her grandmother. Every time she snuck down to the beach, and every time Tui followed her to drag her back to the village, Moana tried to put on a smile for her father to prove to him that she could handle being Chief, that she wasn't going to run off again, but it was only Tala who could see her smile falter, and the way she bounced back and forth on her feet when she promised her father she would stay still.
And to no surprise of Tala's own, it wasn't long before Moana started coming to her when she was upset. Why can't we go past the reef? What's out there? Why is Tui so afraid of leaving?
Very early on, Tala would skip over the gruesome details of Tui's friend to save the young girl the nightmares and out of fear of lessening the call to the ocean her granddaughter felt so strongly, but as Moana got older and her call grew stronger and stronger she would be more willing to open up about why Tui didn't want his people to cross the reef.
And Sina may have been the one who ended up telling Moana about Tui's friend, which may be what Tui claims to be the reason none of his people were allowed to cross the reef, but Tala knew better.
Maui.
It was all Maui's fault. When he selfishly ripped Te Fiti's heart out of her chest, a fatal darkness began falling over the island, and sea monsters began popping up in the water like flowers, attacking every boat that came even half a kilometer within their territory. It's all Maui's fault their people stopped voyaging, and he didn't care one bit. He stole the heart for himself, despite his already immortal status that would render the stone useless to him. Nobody knows for sure why he stole the heart, but Tala wouldn't be surprised in the least if it was only so nobody else could have it.
A selfish trickster. That's all Maui's ever been, and that's all he'll ever be.
Because although she was not with Moana directly, Tala was with her in spirit for the entire trip to Te Fiti, and even with Moana's first meeting with the demigod he was nothing but selfish. Tala had been half-joking when she suggested that Moana drag him to Te Fiti by the ear, but he spent so much time talking about himself, and yanking Moana's oar out of her hand, that Tala almost felt pleased with herself when Moana actually whacked him in the stomach and yanked him down by the ear to force him to listen to her.
Which, despite the authority and confidence in Moana's voice as she yelled at him, it did nothing to deter the demigod. Instead, in attempt to murder Moana, he locked her in a cavern and took off in her canoe.
And even after Moana escaped, he was nothing but rude to her. When the Kakamora surrounded them, he yelled at her when she brought up a suggestion he found useless. He simply glared at her when she revealed to him that she had no wayfinding skill of her own. When Moana's pet chicken swallowed the heart, he did nothing to help her retrieve it back. And when she excitedly asked him to teach her how to sail, he simply scoffed in her face.
And as far as Tala was concerned, Maui was incapable of change.
But Moana must have seen more in him than she did, because she acted very differently towards him after she and Maui escaped Lalotai. Because Lalotai also functions as the underworld, Tala was unable to watch over her granddaughter while she was down there, and she scoffed at herself when she eventually had to give up on trying and hoping the demigod would be enough to look after her in her place.
When they escaped, Maui was limping, using half of his strength to use his newly-retrieved hook as a walking stick and the other to rely on Moana. At a glimpse Tala was convinced he was trying to belittle her, and make her feel smaller than him, but at a second, more careful glance she saw that Moana actually had an arm going around his shoulder to help him stand up straight.
And as far as Moana was concerned, he was capable of change. Because after that fateful trip down in Lalotai, the demigod softened up. No longer did he yell, or roll his eyes at her when she wasn't looking. Only once did he knock her off of the boat again, but even Tala could see the regret on his expression after he did so, and afterwards when the ocean placed her back on her boat Moana and Maui spoke in soft voices for the rest of the night.
And Tala was almost ready to believe Maui was capable of change after all. Because after that night, he and Moana worked together like they'd known each other their entire lives. Moana trusted the demigod, and it was clear that he trusted her as well. Now, when she turned her back to him, Maui would smile at her as opposed to rolling her eyes. When she made a joke, or simply did something he found amusing, he would genuinely laugh instead of scoffing in her face.
And when he taught her to wayfind, it was on her own terms. She didn't even need to ask.
Whatever had happened in Lalotai, and whatever Moana had said to him on the night they spoke in hushed voices, it worked well enough to convince even Tala that everything was going to be okay.
Until they faced Te Kā for the first time. For the first time in weeks, the two of them got into an argument. Moana was convinced their boat could make it through a large crack in the barrier islands, and Maui was convinced that trying to sneak through would get them killed. His hook cracked when he was blocking an attack from Te Kā, and it was about when he started blaming Moana for what happened did Tala realize she had been right all along.
Maui is incapable of change, and cares for nobody but himself.
And when he took off in the middle of the night to leave Moana to fend for herself, that's when Tala swooped in and took over for him. Because Moana didn't need him. Forget about him, because he cares for nobody, she wanted to say, but kept her mouth shut for her granddaughter's sake. Moana really did seem to grow to care for the demigod, and the last thing Tala wanted to do was to hurt her. So instead she convinced her she could do things herself, and that nothing should be able to stop her, and she sailed off with the heart clenched in her fist determined to save the world herself.
It's later, much later, when Moana tells her herself that Maui came back. He sacrificed his hook to save her life, and had Moana not discovered the location of the spiral when she did, he wouldn't have hesitated to sacrifice his own life.
And when Moana goes on to explain his new tattoo, that's when Tala is truly convinced that there may be some good in Maui after all.
Just not very much.
It's a little under a year after Te Fiti is restored when Tala feels Moana's deep distress again. She's in a similar setting, out in her canoe in the middle of the ocean, and her sail is closed. The only significant difference between this time and the time she visited Moana just outside of Te Fiti is that this time she's in broad daylight rather than a murky nighttime fog. Moana's sitting at the edge of the canoe, feet dangling in the water.
With no demigod in sight.
So it's with a frustrated sigh that Tala manifests her manta ray form and swims around Moana's canoe in a large circle. One of the downsides of visiting Moana in the daylight, however, is that the sun's bright light makes both her ray form and her spirit form hard to see. So even when Tala is sitting on the edge of Moana's canoe with her legs crossed, Moana does not turn around.
Tala rolls her eyes in amusement, and she's about to clear her throat to catch Moana's attention, but a loud hawk's screech from the sky interrupts her before she can. Moana looks towards the sky at the same time Tala does, and when the hawk spots her it dives down towards her canoe and takes the form of a man just before it reaches the deck. Although his back is turned to her, Tala instantly recognizes Maui when he sees him.
"Moana!" he says, and his voice is cheery. It's so unfitting to the situation Tala's almost considering asking him to leave and come back at a better time. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you".
"You have?" Moana responds, but it's a half-response, one that usually means that Moana's not in the mood for talking.
"Course I have!" he replies. "I went to Motunui looking for you and I couldn't find you anywhere. I asked your parents where you were, and you wanna know what they said?" he asks, almost laughing, and takes a few steps closer to her. But then he stop mid-step, and frowns, dropping his hook down to his side, like he can tell even without seeing her face that something is bothering her. "Are-are you okay?"
Moana's shoulders tense, but they relax just as quickly, and she's laughing as she turns to him, wiping at her eyes with her wrist. "Is it that obvious that I'm not?" she asks, and pats at the ground next to her, and much to Tala's surprise he doesn't hesitate for even half a second before he sits down beside her.
"You're sitting out here in the middle of the ocean and your parents have no idea where you are?" Maui says, and rolls his eyes. "I don't think you could be more obvious about it if you tried, Chosen One".
It's enough to make Moana snort, and Maui smiles inadvertently before his expression softens. "Seriously, Moana, what's wrong?" he asks, and Moana sighs and plants her head against his arm. He lifts it up for her, and when she plants her head against his side he drapes his arm around her.
"I don't know" she says, and scrubs her hands down her face. "I've just been incredibly stressed lately. Ever since I got back from Te Fiti, all I've been doing is catching up on training to become Chief, right? And it's just been so much work trying to get all of the boats in the cavern up and running again as well as attending to the village along with preparing for the official ceremony, which only means more work, and less sleep, and it's just been so much that it's just messing with my head". Moana shakes her head. "And it's gotten me thinking. My dad does this kind of work every day and he's fine. He never seems to need a break, or to stop moving, and he's always doing twice what I've done today without blinking an eye". She pauses. "Everyone thinks he's a great Chief. What if...What if I can't live up to that? If just preparing to be Chief stresses me out, what kind of Chief will that make me in the future?" she asks. "Not a very good one, that's what".
For a long moment, Maui is silent, and Tala's almost ready to step in for him. Because this is clearly a subject Maui doesn't know much about, and one Tala knows everything about. Of course Moana's going to be a great Chief, she's going to be the best Chief there ever was, and she's not going to let Moana convince herself she isn't because Maui's unable to convince her otherwise himself.
But just as Tala goes to stand up, she sees Maui's grip on Moana's arm tighten, and he tugs her closer to him. "Don't ever speak like that again, Moana, okay? I never want to hear those words coming out of your mouth again" he tells her, and though his voice is firm there's definitely something soft to it as well.
"But…" she starts, and Maui shakes his head sharply.
"I don't want to hear you say those words again. Do you want to know why? Because you're wrong. You couldn't be further from the truth if you tried" Maui starts, and rubs at her back gently as he pulls her closer to him still.
"You're gonna do amazing, Moana, trust me." he shakes his head. "You traveled across the sea. You stormed through Lalotai without a second thought. You brought a goddess to her knees with nothing but your own words" he smiles at her. "If that doesn't sound like a great Chief, like the greatest Chief there ever was, I don't know what does. You're gonna do great, Moana" he smiles, and leans his head against hers. "They're gonna love having you as Chief" he finishes, and Moana responds by turning and throwing her arms around him in a hug.
"Alright, alright, you're right" she says, and smiles up at him. "Thank you, Maui" she says, and he laughs as he winds his arms around her to hug her back.
"Yeah, well, you're welcome, Moana" he grins, and she giggles as she leans her head over to rest it against him.
And all Tala can do is sit and watch in shock.
Because everything she's ever known of Maui, everything she's ever been told, he just proved wrong in front of her very eyes.
As a young girl, Tala was told he never cared about anyone. All he did he did for himself, and that he couldn't care less about how his actions affected others. But here he is, less than fifteen away from her, cradling Moana lovingly in his arms, still speaking in a hushed voice, running his hands through his hair.
And it's after she died that Tala learned what Moana and Maui spoke about in hushed whispers the night after they escaped from Lalotai. When Maui was just an infant, his mother tossed him into the sea because she didn't want him. The ocean, having seen what his mother did, deposited him on the lap of the Gods because it saw someone who was worthy of being saved. One look, and the Gods could see he was destined for greatness.
And early on, Tala had almost wanted to laugh at the story, believing it to be a joke. But now that she's seen the other side of him Moana raved about to her the first time she saw her again after Te Fiti, to see how much he cares for her granddaughter, Tala realizes that the ocean was right.
That he truly is somebody worthy of being saved.