(I know Moana takes place far before the vikings, but just roll with it. I Advanced the Polynesian technology and used older equipment for the vikings. It's adorable just go with it.)
Something went wrong. There was a huge storm, and the ship was badly beaten. Thyra and her crew were shaken, but alive.
The supplies on the ship had been jumbled. After digging up the compass and checking the stars she realized they were way off course.
"Bad news." She spoke to her crew. "We got knocked down a good hundred leagues. We won't have enough supplies to to get to Ireland. We have to turn back."
Her crew simply nodded. They began to re organize the supplies as Thyra looked at her map. Where were they exactly? No where near their goal, that's for sure. But they had to get back to the mainland for supplies within a week.
After she pinpointed the location of their ship, she tried again. And again. Always ending up in the same place - nowhere. They were in a huge stretch of empty ocean far south of the mainland.
This was bad. Not wanting to tell her crew that they were more or less screwed, she figured they could all go north until they were somewhere recognizable. But before she could, another storm hit.
Fast winds and massive waved shook the ship more violently than before. Thrya quickly ducked inside, the rest of her crew vanishing below the deck.
…
Thyra knew she was knocked out because she woke, laying on the wooden floor of her ship. Her head was throbbing, but she had bigger things to worry about. How was her crew? Where did they end up? Before she moved she realized something -she wasn't moving. She was a bit dizzy, sure, but there was no movement of waves beneath her. We must have crashed.
She stumbled to her feet, grabbing some loose wood as a support. Her ankle hurt, and there was dried blood in her hair. Other than that she was okay. She limped forward, opening the door to the room that kept her safe.
A wave of bright, burning sunlight hit her. She closed her eyes quickly, blinking to re adjust. She looked out over clear waters, far more clear than usual sea water. She stepped out and looked around. There was a beach covered in sand and trees. Trees she had never seen before. Where am I? She wondered, limping forward. She jumped off of the wreak and onto the sand and that's when she saw it, the entire bottom of the ship was gone. All of her crew that ran below deck for cover were probably dead. Or worse, stranded in the ocean until their deaths.
She fell to her knees and cried.
…
The storm was over. Now Moana, as chief, was charged with doing a count to see if everyone was okay.
One young boy had a nasty gash on his arm, but other than that there were no bad injuries.
Her father came over and patted her on the back. "You did great."
Her mother nodded. "You got us through the storm. You should be proud."
Moana smiled. "Thank you. I'm going to go check on the fishing boats. See if any are salvageable."
"We will stay here and help rebuild." Her father offered.
Moana gave them both a hug, and went down to the beach were they kept the canoes.
It was a mess. Bits and pieces of broken boats were littered across the beach. She found a few intact sails and even an unharmed ore, but that seemed to be it. But then Moana spotted something strange. There was a thick, flat piece of wood. Not palm tree wood or anything she could recognize. She stopped and crouched, flipping it over. Nothing like this had ever washed up on the shore here before.
"Strange." She muttered to herself.
…
Thyra stood, wiping away her tears.
"Alright. I can do this. For them." She spoke aloud. She climbed back onto the ship, searching for equipment. A wooden shield, her compas, a map, and a spear. She sighed.
"This will have to do." She stepped back onto the sand and sat. She put her shield across her lap like a table and began to study her map. She had to be somewhere… Right?
…
Moana began to notice more and more strange debris. Her with her endless curiosity had to know what it all was. She knew it was probably a bad idea to be following this trail all alone but she was never one to shy away from bad ideas.
She heard someone muttering to themselves. Weird. No one else should be near the coast right now. She cautiously approached. Peeking through some of the island's flora.
It was a human, at least she thought it looked like one. It had weird yellow-pink hair. It wore brown clothes with animal fur sticking from it. Or maybe those weren't clothes? It was certainly not like any human she had ever seen before. It had a circle of wood across it's lap and looked very focused on it.
She was staring in awe, but also in shock. Then, she noticed the huge wooden building behind it. It was made of the same weird wood that she found on the beach. This is where it must have come from.
Moana was curious, of course. And without thinking she stepped from her hiding spot. "Hello?" Her voice was gentle, not wanting to startle the probably-human before her.
It jumped, placing the circle of wood in front of its body. "Who said that?" It was looking around frantically. Then it's eyes met Moana's.
Another weird thing, it had blue eyes. But, it could speak and it definitely looked human standing up like that.
Moana raised her hands, trying to signal that she was harmless.
"Who are you? Where am I?" It was was scared.
"My name is Moana, and you are on the island of Motunui."
It seemed caught off guard and relaxed a little. "Motunui?" It repeated. "What country is this in?"
Moana was a bit confused, but came up with a reply. "It's Motunui. An Island. Please, I won't hurt you." She plead. She wanted to know more about this human, but it seemed far too scared to be rational.
It looked at her skeptical, but relaxed slightly.
Moana smiled and lowered her hands. "Who are you?"
"Thyra." It replied. It then shifted its weight onto one foot.
"Are you hurt, Thyra?" Moana asked, pointing to the other's leg.
Thyra lifted the circle again, getting defencive. "I am fine!"
"We can help."
"We?"
Moana nodded. "I can take you back to the village where…"
"I am not going anywhere with you." Thyra spoke sternly.
Moana was a bit taken back, but then replied calmly. "Okay. I understand. I will be back with food for you. I'm sure you're hungry after that storm."
Thyra looked surprised. "Food? You're going to give me food? Just like that?"
"Well, sure." Moana smiled at it -no, her- as she began to lower the protective circle.
"Okay, well, uh.. Thanks?" Thyra replied, obviously confused. She dropped the shield completely.
Moana nodded. As she began to walk away, she snuck a glance back at the visitor. She began to shrug off the thick, heavy fur that lined her arms. It was probably too warm wearing all of that. Her skin was just as pale as her face. Maybe she was sick? Moana didn't want her to catch her staring, so she just bean to briskly walk away. She didn't really want to let any of the other villagers know of this strange new guest. Partially because there is a chance that she was sick, and partially because she seemed so scared. Everyone would want to know who this new person was, and would probably overwhelm her by trying to be friendly.
When she got back to the village, everything was going smoothly. However, her dad did spot her. Moana was trying her best to act natural as he approached. "Moana! How are the boats?"
"I, uh, found a few sails and even an ore we could salvage. How is everything going here?"
"Very well. The buildings stood strong. We mostly have to fix the roofs. You were gone for a while, Moana."
Moana needed and excuse to leave before he asked more questions, but didn't want to lie to her father either. Thinking quickly she decided to be vague. "You're right! I was. I'm going to go get a drink and some snacks before I get back to work." She spoke quickly.
"Ah, well, should we send some people to the beach to help?"
Moana held back her panic. "No, we should focus on rebuilding the homes. I can start of the fishing boats alone."
Her father smiled warmly at her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Good idea."
Moana smiled back, happy that she managed to get out of this mess.
…
Thyra was getting nervous. That girl was going to come back with an army and lock her up until she told them the plans they had for their peaceful island.
And there was nothing she could do about it.
Well, if she held her tongue she would die with honor. To Valhalla!
Russiling in the bushed startled her. She jumped, looking over to see Moana holding a green basket filled with… Stuff.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
Thyra looked at her skeptically. "You didn't bring anyone with you?"
Moana blinked in confusion. "No, did you want me to?"
"I just thought…"
Moana cut her off, sitting on the ground next to her. "I meant it when I said that I wasn't going to harm you." She took the lid off the basket, revealing fruits.
"What's that?" Thrya asked, staring at the food confused.
"Food. Here." Moana grabbed out a banana and handed it to Thyra.
"What is this?"
"A banana. Have you never seen one before?"
Thyra shook her head. "I'm supposed to eat this?"
Moana stifled a laugh. "Yes."
After staring at it, Thyra turned the yellow fruit sideways, and bit into the tough peel.
Moana couldn't help but laugh this time. Thyra stuck her tongue out in disgust. "No, no." She spoke between laughs as she took the banana back. She took off the outer layer, revealing the paler insides. "You eat this part."
"If it tastes like that then I'd rather starve."
Moana laughed again, handing her the half peeled banana. "I promise you that this part is better."
Thyra obviously didn't believe her, but decided to try it anyway. She bit into the soft fruit, humming in happiness.
"Better right?"
"Much better." Thyra smiled, taking another bite. "It's so sweet."
"You don't have those on your island?"
Thyra shook her head. "I'm not from an island." She replied, still enjoying the banana.
"Huh." Moana spoke in thought.
"Have you ever had visitors to your island before?" Thyra didn't want to ask the real question of 'have vikings come here, killed your people, and taken all of your stuff' so she tried to word it more vague, and it seemed to have worked.
Moana shook her head. "No, never."
Well, that explains why she was being so kind and welcoming. She didn't know about them. About.. Her.
After a while of eating some bananas, Moana finally spoke up. "Look, if I don't get back to the village people are going to start wondering where I am."
"They don't know you're out here?"
Moana shook her head. "I didn't want them to bother you."
Thyra looked down at her hands. "You really are too kind to me."
Moana smiled. "It's no trouble, really. I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"
Thyra smiled and nodded. "Okay."
(Please share with your friends! This was super fun to write and I hope to continue it!)