A/N: I have become too attached to the landscape of 'Moana' to not attempt exploring it myself. This is my first ever Disney fanfiction… I really hope you enjoy the beginning of this story and my own take on the beautiful world of the film. (Read whilst listening to the soundtrack- I found 'Cavern' particularly enchanting).
She was barely a week old when the ocean first licked her finger tips. It was a song that never felt complete without her part, so she danced amongst the waves until she became them- great towering crests, splintering in to what felt like star dust. The ocean was inside of her, feeding her, fuelling her, and she willing welcomed its kiss.
"Chase me," she whispers in to the water, like every evening, just seconds before the sun sinks in to the sea and the moon begins its soft hug. And, like every evening, the ocean always wins, tickling the heels of her tanned feet.
"I thought I might find you here," the soft voice breaks her game and she pivots, smiling at the chief before her.
"I'm always here," she replies, turning her gaze once again to her beloved ocean.
"You missed the meeting," the older woman begins, coming up behind the girl and bringing a hand to thick curls tenderly.
"It's always the same, mother."
"Iolana! You know these meetings are important," her voice sharpens slightly but the light touch still remains.
"Just because you're 'Moana', the girl who saved the world-"
Her mother rolls her eyes, laughing softly.
"-doesn't mean I have to be that girl too."
Moana hums, dragging her toe across the teetering waves rippling across the sand and touches a hand to her daughter's face, "You be whoever you want to be."
Iolana smiles in to her mother's touch, closing her eyes in response to the whispering wind. "Maybe I don't know who I want to be?"
The older woman turns her gaze to the smattering of stars shielding their island. Their home. "Do you know what your name means?"
"Er-"Iolana muses, "I'm guessing something to do with the ocean."
Moana shakes her head carefully, bringing a finger up to the canvas above them and swiping it across the night, "It means 'to soar'."
…
It wasn't that Iolana didn't love the island, because she did, dearly so. It was that she had grown accustomed to its hum. The trees that had seemed so enchanting when she was six, she could now scale in seconds. And when she reached the top, that's all she could see: more trees. Thousands of them, stretching in to an infinity that wasn't really infinity at all. Because beyond the green lines lay more of her beloved ocean.
And that terrified and excited her all at the same time.
"How big do you think this world is?" she says it nonchalantly one morning over breakfast but, unsurprisingly, it's met with bewildered stares.
"What do you mean, mea aloha?" Moana begins.
"I don't know… Just…. Is it all islands? Is there always sun? Is it all just sea and patches of green and palm trees?"
"Woah, slow down," her mother chuckles.
But she can't slow down, she won't slow down. It is as if her whole life has been mapped in the stars hung above their island and nothing has ever felt more imprisoning.
"I need to know, Mom!"
"I can tell you kid that all I've ever seen is sea and patches of green and palm trees…"
Iolana glances up from her plate and grins at the source of the voice- a large man filling their door frame
"Maui…" she breathes, enveloping the man in a hug that has her lifted off the ground and spun until the room blurs.
"That's me. I'm back," he glances at Moana shyly, bowing his head in greeting. Moana smiles with more than just her mouth in response- only Maui could ignite that flare of adventure in her iris.
"How have you been?" the chief asks, brushing her fingers against his large face in a gentle caress.
He rubs his neck and shrugs, "Oh you know, same old, same old. Mostly flying."
Iolana widened her eyes at this, "Flying?"
"Yeah kid, you know I fly."
"Can you take me?"
She's pushing boundaries, she knows, and judging by the concerned look adorning Maui's face and the terror evident in her mother's brow, it's unwelcomed.
(But Iolana means 'to soar').
"Mother, I am in a cage. A beautiful cage but… a cage all the same. Mama Makini tells me visions she's had of lands covered in white blankets! Can you imagine… A land covered in white. It's cold there and the white stuff melts in sun."
She stands, running to the window, gazing at the sun as if trying to imagine it damaging something so beautiful, as if trying to comprehend that there are such lands where it does not hang so brightly.
"Iolana-"Maui clears his throat and crouches awkwardly so that he shares her height, "There is no such thing as the land covered in white blankets. The sun has nothing to melt."
"No."
"No?"
"No, Maui. You just haven't travelled far enough. This can't be it. The ocean must lead to more than just this. It connects us. It has to!"
"Mea aloha, listen to me, Maui is right. Our world is beautiful, filled with water and islands bearing the fruits we need to survive-"
"How can you say that!" She's shaking as the sun shrouds her in a strangled hug. Her mother's touch burns and she pushes it away, pivoting to address her. "You're Moana. The ocean called you, Mom! And you listened… What if its calling for us again? We need to voyage further. We need to travel the whole ocean, every last inch of it!"
"There is nothing else."
There are tears in her eyes as she captures her mother's gaze, a broken cry tired of being suppressed. "But you said my name meant 'to soar'?"
It's defeated and Moana says nothing, her gaze clouded with something Iolana has never seen before. And she doesn't care to wait for an explanation, instead jumping out of the window on to the soft sand that suddenly seems to scratch her feet, warm from an aching sun that feels too hot against her skin.
Only when she reaches the ocean does she feel safe.
A/N: To be continued… Please do let me know what you think!