The next morning, it rained, and Maui was gone.
It wasn't the rainy season yet, but from the steady pouring of showers from above, it seemed to have come in early this year.
Her hut was separate from her parents', a sign of her womanhood and the independence it brought, so she thought that she and Maui could enjoy peace there together. But when she woke, it was without him. Her hair was mussed and fluffy from the frizz that came with humidity. Moana tried pushing it back from her face as she slid up from her bedding, her cheeks burning against the cool of the rain. What was she expecting to happen? He'd spend a lazy morning with her, snuggling up to her and kissing when the rain was too strong for them to do anything else?
Maybe he went back to his temple.
She opened the partition to her own strongly built hut, hearing the rain more clearly now. Moana relaxed forward onto her stomach, laying with the entrance's clothe draped over her, watching a few villagers busily make their way through the rain. A few children splashed in puddles, though their mothers warned them against the cold.
Her hand held out, letting it succumb to the rain, wondering when Maui would come back to her. Maybe he was getting fruit for breakfast. Moana lingered for an hour, then two, waiting for the rain to let up. It would not.
She ran to the largest longhouse they had, which regularly housed meetings and gatherings, drying herself off near the firepit once she came inside. Elders had been summoned; her father wore his concerned frown.
"It's a little early, for the rainy season." She gathered her hair over one shoulder, squeezing it on the hearth, smiling broadly despite the gloomy weather.
"Four months early, according to the calendar." One of the elders spoke, raising a few tools constructed out of whale bone and stone. From the grim sound of his voice, her disposition turned quiet, and serious. She straightened her body, then let her fingers come up to her hair, stroking through it in as dignified a manner as she could.
It seemed a serious enough notion to have the local demi-god present.
Her eyes looked around, foolishly, because she'd never miss his gigantic face in the crowd. "And Maui's… sleeping?"
It was her father that spoke this time, quietly and gravely. "He requested one of our mid-size ships, and sought out the East in the early morning."
Thankfully, the attention was drawn from her and onto the archaic tools they'd crafted to tell time, the position of the stars and the sun, despite not being able to see them with the clouds. She gripped her hair, releasing it behind her shoulders and stepped up to watch over her father's shoulder, her fingers tentatively gripping him.
"Did he say why?" She asked him, quiet enough so that the busy elders wouldn't hear her concern.
He knew his daughter well, and every expression she betrayed. She and Maui had traveled across the sea together, and he thought he understood their bond. His eyes met hers with confidence. "He was restless; like he was being rushed. He did not take well to the rain. It seemed as if the clouds boded ill for him."
The clouds. He'd taught her a little about the clouds and what types of storms came after them, depending on their shape. But never any that would cause him to leave. What scared him so?
She shielded her face from the rain with her hands, stepping out to look up where she hadn't before.
To her, the sky was simply dark. She squinted her eyes, blinking out the rain. No. There was something, a dark etching in the sky, spreading like lightening across the clouds. A shadow that took form and dissolved into something else. What had he taught her about that?
For the faintest flicker of a moment, it looked like a dancer, a wicked smile emboldened with another flash of bright electricity. As soon as the image came to view, it was gone, and her father was guiding her back into the longhouse by the shoulders.
Usually the rain didn't last long enough to stop productivity. It just meant a lazy day in doors, telling stories, listlessly sulking until the sunshine returned. Moana wasn't sulking because of the weather, however. She wasn't drowning in the rain pour, but the absence of Maui. Was the rain really cause for him to leave? Was it the way she kissed? Was it because she didn't fully give herself to him?
But she remembered, from when she was small, something her grandmother had told her. Her head lifted from her arms, scrutinizing a groove in the wooden pillar before her.
"Tawhiri, the goddess of wind, rain and storm. See how she dances in the clouds?" Her arms smoothly mimicked the unseen goddess, wildly smoothing out the dance of chaos.
What did Moana say back then? She couldn't have been older than ten, or twelve, gaping up at the dark, rainy sky.
"Granny! There's no one dancing… that's the lightening!" She remembered telling her, trying to squint through the rain, though each little pellet plopped onto her young face.
Her grandmother continued dancing anyway, mimicking the only storm Moana remembered from childhood. "Oh, but she is… maybe you're too young. The wrath of Tawhiri does not usually make itself known to children."
"Wrath?"
"Wrath. Anger, fury. She expresses it in dance, and makes the ocean restless."
Moana pouted, playing with her hair, just as frizzy from the humidity then as it was now. "That's not very nice- -upsetting the ocean."
She remembered her grandmother laughing, and it made her smile, warmness in her heart. What would she tell her now?
Go, Moana. Find him.
"Whether he wants it or not?" Moana started grumbling to herself, sinking into her arms. She'd never had much hesitation about things until now, with her heart on the line. It'd been a Hell of a lot easier finding him to save her island. Chasing after him just to satisfy her own pride? Wasn't easy.
But she prepared herself to leave nonetheless, not surprised when her father sternly held her back.
"You can't be serious." He didn't think he'd have to tell her, but he ended up doing it anyway, his features set as she scanned the horizon. She couldn't even see it, what with the sky and the ocean blurred together in endless, swirling grey. Just standing outside in the whirlwind of rain was soaking them to the bone.
"I have to, Dad. Maui's out there, and he can't last off a boat- -"
"He is a Demi-god." Her father's grip on her tightened, and she winced. He lessened his grip and ripped his hand from her completely, his shoulders slumping in a sigh. "You are mortal. The sea will not calm, even for you, Moana."
It would yield to her, just as it had done before. It chose her.
She was special.
She... had to be. Right?
Moana was under her father's constant watch. Every day seemed to be spent indoors, and it drove her crazy. All that was left was to think about wayfinding, or Maui, and that helplessness drove her crazy. She found herself pacing in the hut, jogging in place, boredly weaving baskets with the others. Tales that they usually reserved for rainy days were being stretched out, some made up on the spot for lack of better entertainment. Everyone was restless, not just her, including her father.
"We have enough rations on land to sustain us..." She overheard him tell an elder, "But it will not last us forever. Our crops are being beaten down. Fishing is out of the question."
She grew even more antsy by the minute. Her father would kill her if he saw her even thinking about taking one of the ships.
Her knees were drawn up to her chest, arms dangling over them. Her eye caught a dark spot on the inside of her wrist. A mole? No, it was dark. Like ink.
Moana scratched at it, then forgot it promptly when she was asked to watch over the children.
She'd noticed it a week later, and it'd grown to the size of a small shell, barely enough to take up a third of her small wrist. The borders of it were murky, uncertain, almost as if it were perpetually in motion. Her finger tapped it, and it wriggled from her touch, disappearing up her arm.
"WwwwHAT THE- -" She scrambled to smack the moving, black spot over herself but it escaped every which way, migrating along the caramel bronze of her skin, turning her into a joke as she wildly chased after it, much to the confusion of the others in the long hut. Her father's head cocked. Her mother rushed by her side, trying to reason with her.
"There's th-this thing on my skin, but it's- -I can't grab it!" Moana's dark eyes followed it down her clavicles and between her breasts, hurriedly lifting up the lower half of her top. Her mother turned white and covered her daughter back up, moving her to privacy.
"The rain has been affecting everyone, Moana. I think you just need some time alone." She reasoned softly, using one of the makeshift umbrellas to ensure their journey back to Moana's own hut was a dry one. Moana huffed in her mountain of frizzy hair, plopping onto the floor with a pout. She looked at her wrist, the spot gone. It'd been a month since the rain began, and Moana was an expert in restraining her hair into a bun. She looked longingly at the puddle that collected on her porch, staring at herself, her figure bundled up in traditional rainy weather ware.
She caught a flicker of movement on her shoulder. She looked down, seeing the small, black hand waving to her.
Moana jumped back into the hut, screeching. Two little hands were visible from what she could see on her own shoulder, and they were pulling up the image of a little man.
He comically clamored up onto her shoulder, jumping up and down as if to get her attention. She'd recognize that wily grin and wavy hair anywhere.
"Maui? No, mini-Maui." Moana clarified, watching him nod excitedly, gesturing down her arm. He slid down the smooth expanse of her skin like a slide, before occupying the space of her palm. She flexed her fingers and he bounced on the pads of her palm. She smiled briefly, her heart warming from the inside. She'd missed the cheeky little character.
"Maui's... left you behind, too?" She guessed, watching the usually cheerful tattoo frown, shaking his head. He transformed into the clever shape of a storm cloud, lightening striking from it.
"The storm made him leave. Is he..." Moana held out both of her palms, letting him travel freely between them. "Is he okay?"
Mini-Maui stood still, and wordlessly pointed toward the sea. East, where they'd said Maui had gone. The expressive drawing was now stoically answering her. She'd never been more scared in her life.
"You're going to guide me back to him, aren't you?" She asked him, earning a quick nod. Her body renewed itself with energy as she stood, using the cover of the rain to advance toward the encaved shipyard.
Much to her surprise, there were two figures guarding the entrance to the cave. She muttered a "Kookydooks," for good measure under her breath, wondering how on Earth she could possibly distract them away from their duty.
She approached them plainly, chest puffed out, hands on her hips. Even as the rain wilted down on her, she stuck her chin up. The guards looked at each other, then used their makeshift palm leaves as an umbrella over it. "Yes, Moana?" One chirped, as familiar with her as any of the villagers in the town.
"I think you know why I'm here." She began, sputtering a little now that she was out of the rain. She followed the two, until all three of them were underneath the shelter of the cave. However, the two brawny men still blocked her path.
"Yes. We know." The other one answered, folding his arms across his big chest. "Chief Tui has asked us not to let you through with a boat. And it's for good reason, Moana." Both of their bodies were tense with concern. They were willing to put up a fight and stand up for something they knew was right, even if Moana thought she knew better.
"But I," Moana struggled to explain this to them, before surrendering her palms. Mini-Maui danced between them, showing off to the impromptu guards the magic that'd been bestowed upon her. "He sent me this. He needs my help, I know it!" The guards' interest was piqued, they believed her, but they believed in the storm and the finality. "I'm sorry, Moana, we can't let you."
She puffed out her cheeks, and started pushing. This was ineffective, their bare bodies slicked with rain. She kept slipping from that impenetrable wall, not really doing much except painting troubled, half-amused expressions onto the guards' faces.
And then a voice, booming louder than the thunder, making both the girl and the guards jump all at once. "Moana! What is the meaning of this?" Chief Tui gave a single look to the guards, who stepped out of the way and soon out of sight, giving father and daughter privacy.
"I need a ship." Quiet. Determined.
It filled him with such fear and anger that his body could barely process it, flexing as he tried to control himself. "How many times- -HOW many times must we go through this?!" He muttered through gritted teeth, not fazing his fearless daughter.
"You don't understand, I- -"
"I do understand!" Chief Tui's whole body was tense, jumping at Moana. "I know you feel you must go. But I'm not willing to lose you. I've already lost so much to the ocean." Chief Tui's expression crumbled, seeing how dauntless she was, even when she knew how much it hurt him.
"Dad, you won't be... losing anyone." She placed a hand on his shoulder, her eyes steady on his. "Just like last time. Maui and I will save the island." She pushed away from him and turned her back, heading into the cave.
"Please, don't..." She heard him say, before a flurry of heavy footsteps followed behind. It was Chief Tui, and the men he'd dismissed earlier.
"What're you?" He brought his torch forward at a speeding pace and she whisked after him, tugging on his arm to make him stop. "No, you can't burn the boats- -"
"I'm not burning the stupid boats." A deep set frown. "I'm coming with you."
Moana didn't need to worry about what the village would be like without their absence. The villagers respected Sina and knew her well, her judgement was sound. "But, you're... I mean, you haven't sailed since- -"
"I know." Her father set the torch and started angling the ship toward the water with the other men. Moana got behind and pushed with him. Enough for three, maybe four. But two people could work the sails and steer, so it'd be a job for the both of them. Even outside the storm brewed violently, and Moana could feel the shaking in his shoulders. "Provisions." He commanded curtly, the men racing off to grab what they could in the short notice for the two adventurers. "What about Mom? Th-This is ridiculous, Dad, you can't just up and leave her."
"She'd never forgive me if I stayed while you went off in that storm." He clumsily wrapped rope around his fist. She showed him the proper way to do it. "If you're so Hell-bent on dooming yourself, then I will be doomed with you."
"But you hate the ocean... after what it did to your frie- -" Moana stopped herself, seeing the hurt flash across his expression at the sudden memory. No, it wasn't sudden. She realized he'd been shaking this entire time. His fists tightened. "The last time you left, it'd been months before you returned. I can't standby while you go out there alone. We will find him together."
Her smile shone with hope. "I know we will... and then we can see what's been keeping him so busy."
"You think Maui is in some sort of trouble?" He leaned downward, collecting the gathered supplies as each man returned, more following. Soon the boat was rocking against the shore, as if the storm intensified just by knowing Moana and her father would be in the thick of it.
"Thank you." He told the men, "Take care of the island in our absence." He rolled off with more confidence than he'd showed her earlier, encouraging his people from a bleak outlook, until they were cheering for their safe voyage.
The one time previous Moana had been caught in a storm, her time on the ship had ended quickly, and she was tossed onto Maui's island. This boat seemed to take better in the roughened sea, but not without proper strength and will. Moana held fast to the stays until her arms were trembling, wind and water whipping her face until the friction and salt water burned, and she was exhausted. Even mini-Maui was shivering in the cold, wet rain.
"You're doing so well, Moana."
Moana's head peered up, watching her father scramble toward her, away from his own post. How long had they been like this? She couldn't see the stars, or the sun. They'd been crazy to venture out like this and she knew it, her father knew it. He reinforced her post when she was too weary to do so, persuading her into the small makeshift shelter of the large boat's amenities. They could no longer control the boat, and Tui ducked her underneath the cover, his big, strong arm wrapped around her cold wet body. She shivered pleasantly in his embrace, feeling the confidence leaving her in slow trickles.
"This boat is too big for two sailors on calm seas," laughed her father, contrastingly chipper. Seeing him like this, putting on a strong front, had her feeling even more miserable about this situation.
"Dad, 'm... I'm sorry I got you into this mess, I..." she trailed off, feeling her throat go tight. His hand immediately swept through her hair, cradling her against the stormy sea. "No, no. There is nothing to be sorry about. You followed your heart, my minnow." He kissed her forehead, comforting her only the way her father could.
"I really thought I'd find him. I didn't think he'd leave!" She was heartbroken, and letting herself feel it. Her father noticed and held her tighter against the violently tossing waves. He'd conquered his fear to help her and what good did it do if they were hopelessly lost, doomed to drown in the sea? Everything seemed hopeless without him.
~ ~Who~ ~
Her eyes blinked open and she searched through the darkness, the skies and the water flashed with occasional lightning.
~ ~is stupid enough to sail in Tawhiri's storm?~ ~
"Do you hear that?" She shouted to her father, wriggling in his grasp, trying to see above the hull. She strained her eyes in the darkness, seeing edges of light blur into existence.
~ ~...? You can hear me?~ ~
Her father was watching with her, black absolved by pure light, and sun. The figure was imposing, broad in shoulders, height and stature of a man in his prime. When the shock of the brightness faded from their sight, she could see that he was walking on the surface of the water, toward them.
"It's a demon, walking on the water like that." Her father growled, the storm clearing to scattered droplets as he found his bearings, standing on his feet. She crawled from the coverage, standing up with her father's help, finding herself helplessly staring from behind his protective arm.
~ ~A demon that's saved his life. He can't hear me, can he?~ ~
His lips weren't moving. Moana looked from the bright personage to her father, her hand insistently tugging him back. "Dad, he's not... I don't know who he is, but he's not a demon." She saw the change in his expression, and followed his gaze. The brightness lessened, and she could see him more clearly as he advanced. Broad, but lesser than Maui, naturally. He was fair skinned, unlike anything she'd seen before. He wore a sarong, tied around his toned waist, but nothing else. His hair was unruly's like her own, like those that had come from her island. It was tied up on top of his head, out of his face.
The sun came out.
Moana could walk on the deck of the ship without swaying, the water was unnaturally calm as they confronted this uncanny stranger. She felt like she could walk on water. When he realized she was going to try, the man reached out, but a moment to late.
"Pffft! Acckk!" Moana's eyes opened at the provocation of rough hands shaking her.
"Moana! What were you thinking?" Her father demanded, his worried face not the only one she was seeing. Beside him, dripping with salt water, was the one who spoke to her.
~ ~She wasn't thinking~ ~
"Hey! Take that back." She pushed herself up and glared at him, unafraid as Tui was by his otherworldliness. But the aggression seemed to be gone out of the Chief. "He pulled you out of the water after you walked into it, Moana." Tui explained as she squeezed the water from her hair, shivering in the pleasant warmth of the sun after not having felt it for so long. She could feel his eyes on her, but before she could point it out, her father was on him like a predatory hawk.
"And you- -who are you, that you can walk on water?" Chief Tui remembered himself as he distanced his daughter from this stranger, who stood.
Moana watched him, and softly began to speak. "His name is Fetuao. The morning star." The man's eyes shone.
"Fetua... you know him?" Tui asked, and Moana remembered the cause for familiarity. Fetu was the one she'd liked all those years ago. The one Maui had disguised himself as. She felt a sharp pain in her heart. "No, I don't know him. He just told me."
"But he's not speaking." Her father reminded her, though even he spoke sense, she could still feel his voice, warm and strong. Like the sun.
~ ~We're wasting time. Tawhiri has the one you seek. I will take you to him~ ~ He told her, his arms folding across his chest as he eyed her. She wasn't sure what to say- -how did he know she was looking for him? Why was he trying to help her? Fetuao rolled his eyes as if he could read her mind, cocking one hip. ~ ~You are Moana, of Motunui. You singlehandedly found Maui and restored the heart of Tafiti. The current's broadcasted your tale from island to island. You are a stranger to no one~ ~ The way he said it, there was a finality to it. She shuddered. Her island hadn't been the only thing she'd saved.
Chief Tui stood now between them, his eyes darting uncertainly from the two of them as they had something of a silent understanding. "Will you please tell me what is going on?!" He asked, frustratingly lost.
She broke from the contact and turned to him, smiling apologetically. "He says he'll take us. To Maui. You really can't hear him? He's so clear." She didn't see Fetuao's face as it darkened.
"How? He'll fly us across?" Now that she had the luxury to laugh, she enjoyed the way her father dramatically flapped his arms. "The storm surrounds us even now. Our ship has no chance of sustaining the weather any longer."
~ ~We're gonna walk. Tell him that~ ~ Fetuao stepped closer to her, as she began explaining, before his hands gathered her in by her elbows. Her father tensed, and prepared to strike him, before he saw what was happening. The glow over Fetuao intensified, his fairer forehead touching Moana's. With a single breath, some of that brightness was spilling over her. Her skin lightened to his complexion, and she felt so light, giddy enough to feel her heart leap as she looked between them. He stepped back, allowing her to progress naturally to the edge of the ship. This time, when she walked, her feet never broke the surface of the water. Her feet warmed the water beneath her, and she beamed toward her father.
"We're walking!"
Chief Tui felt his little heart strings being tugged at the sight of his happy daughter. He looked over at this silent, brooding figure, an odd thing for someone as literally bright as he was, and he saw the expression in Fetuao's eyes. "She's promised to another." Tui lied thickly.
Fetuao's eyes immediately fell half-lidded. ~ ~Don't worry. I don't burn torches for idiots.~ ~
"You're thinking something rude, aren't you?" He grunted, taken aback when Fetuao advanced on him. Fetuao was smaller in stature, but somewhat intimidating as the enigma Tui held him as, so he was tense as he accepted the light that Fetuao spilled over him, at the small contact they shared. The sun spread through him, and he sighed softly.
"You are an outsider. I do not know you. And I do not trust you." Tui held the young man's arm firmly in his grasp, and uttered a warning, despite the trembling in his fingers. "You do anything to hurt Moana, and you will feel the crushing weight of a father's fury." His eyes burned with the fire that Fetuao had temporarily instilled in him. Fetuao's eyes widened in surprise, and something else. If Tui had seen any guilt, then, he would've taken Moana back with him. Instead, he let Fetuao go, nodding to himself. "You cannot speak, so I will take it that you accept the risks."
It took a little more for Tui to walk off the boat, struggling like a newborn foal until he found his bearings and realized that this wasn't some crazy dream. Mini-Maui was on Moana's palm as she held it out in front of her, guiding her with all smiles toward Maui. Maybe it was the sun inside her. Maybe it was the new hope instilled deep underneath her skin. They walked with some of the provisions left from the storm, Tui choosing to walk behind the two younger ones.
"You said, Tawhiri has Maui." She spoke as they walked across the water, her steps quickening as Fetuao's did. "The goddess of the wind and rain. Is she the one making this neverending storm? Why?"
~ ~Too many questions. You get one a day~ ~ He told her, biting down a smirk at the way she huffed, then thought quietly about her question. Her father decided it was better to busy himself with his own thoughts, then ask later, instead of becoming even more frustrated about not being able to hear everything.
"Then... why are you helping us?" She caught up with him, and he felt her eyes on him. Why would she waste her question on this? He shrugged his shoulders.
~ ~Maui is not the only one who wishes to restore balance. And you... calmed Tafiti's fury. ~ ~ Moana didn't think she'd get more than a simple answer, or a scathing one, but he seemed to be serious. His voice pulsed softly inside her, like a steady stream of light. ~ ~You restored the light, and drove the blackness away. If you can instill sense into Tafiti, then you can do the same for Tawhiri, as fickle as she is.~ ~
Moana quietly absorbed this, then told her father all that she'd learned up till now. Fetuao was silent, until Tui spoke.
"Moana said she only gets one question a day." Fetuao glared at Moana, who spitefully lifted her chin up at him, before regarding her father's question. "I still don't understand your place in this. Just who are you to Tawhiri? Why does she have Maui?"
There was silence, but only to Tui. Moana's eyes widened. "Tawhiri is Fetuao's mother."
"Oh. Well. Even I couldn't talk sense into my own mother, sometimes." Tui remarked fondly, before noticing that his daughter had stopped. Fetuao had stopped too, and he was watching her carefully. Tui looked between them, worriedly. "Moana? You've stopped. What's wrong?"
"Maui is..." Her eyes were trained on Fetuao, and even as she said it, she felt her whole world going sick and dark.
"Maui's his father."