The boat glided onto the shore without much resistance, as it had done hundreds of times before. The villagers waited for them by the shore, the sun shown down on them, causing their brown skin to shine. It was a scene they had encountered many times before, the village was welcoming its victorious warriors. This time though, there were no smiling faces. Maui didn't notice, and was the first off the boat with a flip to show off to the expectant crowd waiting for the pair on the beach. With his characteristic enthusiasm he bellowed "Those villainous, vicious, vile, bloodsucking Mu are defeated by me, your favorite hero, you're welcome." The people of Motunui remained stoic. Even the children, who were usually running up and hugging the demigod around the knees were silent and sad. Moana remained on the boat, guessing what the matter was and not wanting to face the truth.

Maui wasn't having it. "Come on, Moana, get out of the boat, don't be shy." He grabbed her by the hand and twirled her around, pinning her body against his. "Your chief helped too." HE laughed, she had helped, more specifically, she had saved his ass multiple times throughout the voyage. Usually any Maui joke was a big hit, today there wasn't even a chuckle. Moana pushed against the demigod, wishing he would realize how awkward the situation was. . Now they were close enough to see the tears dripping down everyone's faces.

Finally, Moana's elderly mother slowly approached them. "Moana, your father died last night, peacefully, in his sleep, there was no pain." She said in her cracking voice.

As if Moana was an electric eel, Maui jumped away from her, clutching his hand to his chest, where mini maui sat dejectedly. Moana, on the other hand, ran to her mother and held her close as her mother sobbed. Moana shed a few tears of her own. Really, she had known from a dream the previous night, but she had hoped it had just been a nightmare. Her father had been sick for years, his love of pork finally got to him. He was in his sixties, he wasn't ancient, but he wasn't a spring chicken either, life expectancy was volatile in Motunui.

Moana's younger sister ran up and hugged the pair, then Maui came and picked all three women up in one giant bear hug, soon the whole village was in a hug circle around them, sending their love and comfort towards what was left of their royal family.

"Chief Tui, We love and honor you, and you go to the afterlife a warrior and a friend, a chief, a father, a husband, a great man." They chanted, "Tumuaki, E aroha ana matou me whakahonore koe, a ka haere koe ki te ākeāke he toa, me te hoa, he rangatira, he papa, he tahu, he tangata nui'"

The whole village walked up to the large wigwam where her father lay the same place that Moana had gone through the rites of becoming chief ten years earlier. The men of the village came and carried his fragile body down to their burial grounds and buried him with songs and ballads to his exploits, which were a bit boring compared to his daughter's, but the love in them was reall. He was buried between the grave of Grandmother Tala and a coconut tree, appropriately.

The next morning Moana sat beside the grave, thinking. The sky was gray, as if the ocean was acknowledging Moana's hurt. "Dad, what do I do without you?" She said, wiping the tears that dripped down her face. She faintly smiled through the tears. "Who is going to remind me of the many good qualities of coconuts?" She heard a cough behind her. She whirled around, her ebony hair catching the morning rays. "Maui?" The demigod was in front of her, trying to crack his signature smile.

"I can tell you all of the good qualities of coconuts kid, I'm the one who made them out of an eel's actual nuts in the first place." Maui plopped down behind her and started to braid her hair. After twenty years of friendship, they were comfortable enough to do these things without asking.

Moana giggled as he laced her locks together. "You would think that such an old demigod would have matured more over the millennia."

Maui gave her hair a playful tug, causing Moana to flinch. "I am not old, I am still in my prime, baby girl. Besides, I'm not the one with grayyyy…" Maui jumped up and gasped. Moana had a gray hair at the top of her scalp.

Moana rolled her eyes. "Maui, I'm nearly forty, I'm old, it's normal in this stage of my life."

Maui's eyes were wide and scared. "No, you can't be old, you aren't even married yet!"

"My younger sister has been married for seven years! She has children, Maui, she is ten years younger than me!" Moana held her forearms, clearly uncomfortable. "I was always too busy wayfinding with you to settle down."

Mini Maui was going crazy, arguing with Mini Moana on Maui's chest. Maui was clearly confused. "But, but." Maui stuttered. It was as if he had forgotten that Moana was mortal.

"Maui," Moana put her hands on his. "You know that one day, I'm going to get old and die like my father, right? I can't be with you forever."

Maui wouldn't ever admit it, but he felt like crying. He had wanted to take Moana as his wife for years, it was clear that they loved each other, they had gone from one end of the ocean to the other to protect each other and their people, but he had never made a move because he had wanted to wait till she was older, and he had waited too long. For the first time ever he noticed the fine lines around her eyes that he had been denying were there, he saw the way she moved more slowly as she rose towards him. The crows feet around her eyes and mouth stood out most of all, years of blessing him with that bright, brilliant smile were showing. She was still beautiful, but the signs of age were there. She had always been a constant to him, he had wanted to forget that she would grow old and eventually die and leave him as mortals tended to do, but that reality was right in front of him right now.

Maui refused that reality.

Moana gently stroked his arm, trying to calm him down. She could tell he was fighting back tears. In many ways, Maui was still a little boy, one that she was sister, friend, and mother to. If she ever was honest with him, she wanted to be his lover as well. "You know, if I ever had chosen to settle down with a man, if you had been a mortal, it would have been you. "

Maui glanced down at her, his gap toothed mouth was cast down in a scowl. He picked her up by her waist and kissed her ferociously on the mouth.

Moana kissed him back with equal fervor. They bit and sucked and expressed all those pent up emotions over the years. Maui kissed her neck and Moana sighed his name and ran her hands through his extremely shiny hair. Suddenly, they both pulled back and Maui released the chief back to her feet.

"We can't do this, it can't last, Maui." Moana said, biting her reddened lip.

"Bull shit Moana, we will see about that." and with that, Maui changed into a hawk and flew off into the night.