I made my way back to the village and watched as Chief Tui held Moana's hand all the way back to the village where his wife met them and instantly knelt down on one knee. Moana, seeing her mother smiling and reaching for her, waddled into her mother's arms happily.
"You are the next great chief of our people," Tui told her.
"And you'll do wondrous things, my little minow." Sina spun her toddler in the air before kissing her cheek.
"Oh yes, but first you must learn where you're meant to be." Tui placed his arm around his wife's shoulders leading her back to the village as Moana looked over her mother's shoulder back to the ocean. They walked into the village as I stayed in the shadows watching them go about their daily lives in peace. Tui had placed Moana on his shoulders as they approached a small crowd of people.
"Moana, make way, make way!" he slipped his daughter off his shoulders and down to the ground as he, Sina, and a few villagers started dancing. "Moana, it's time you knew the village of Motunui is all you need." Moana had started back to the ocean causing her parents to run after her.
They took her to some dancers and placed her back on the ground as they joined in the dance. "The dancers are practicing, they dance to an ancient song." Moana saw the ocean and made a beeline for it when three men stepped in front of her with lais.
"Who needs a new song? This old one's all we need." They placed the lais around her neck hiding her face and making me giggle at the sight.
Tui and Sina took her to a hut where children were drawing.
"This tradition is our mission and Moana, there's so much to do." I saw one child drew a hut, one the island, but Moana drew a boat on the water.
"Make way!"
Moana stood in the road as three chickens jumped over a rock in their way, but the rooster, Hei Hei, had a small bowl on his head. Moana quickly grabbed it so he could see the rock, but he still ended up tripping.
"Don't trip on the taro root."
"That's all you need."
"We share everything we make," Tui explained as they all worked on baskets for the harvest.
"We make." Tui held up his basket for her to see.
"We joke and we weave our baskets." Moana held up a small boat with a large grin on her face making her parent's smiles fall.
"Aha!"
Moana managed to leave her parents sides and made her way down to the beach going straight for the ocean with her father running behind her.
"The fishermen come back from the sea."
"I wanna see!"
"Don't walk away!" Tui picked her up and went back to the village.
"Moana, stay on the ground now," Tui ordered as he placed the now 8-year-old girl on the rock floor of their hut and moved to his wife's side, showing the child the headpiece she was to wear. "Our people will need a chief,"
"And there you are."
Moana and her pet pig, Pua, were in a small boat with Moana rowing towards the reef while looking behind her for her parents.
"There comes a day when you're gonna look around," Tui picked the girl up and she frowned as he placed her on his shoulder and forced her back to the village again. "And realize happiness is where you are!"
Tui slid down a tree, coconut in hand, while his daughter sat on a log staring at him.
"Consider the coconut!"
"The what?"
"Consider its tree!"
"We use each part of the coconut that's all we need." Tui tossed the coconut to Sina.
"We make our nets from the fibers,"
"We make our nets from the fibers,"
"The water is sweet inside." Moana gave her coconut water to Pua as two other children watched her happily.
"The water is sweet inside."
"We use the leaves to build fires," Sina told Moana as they cooked meat. Hei Hei walked on top of the hot rocks and sat down.
"We use the leaves to build fires,"
"We cook up the meat inside." Moana quickly grabbed Hei Hei and placed him back on the ground before he walked away, his body smoking from the near cooked experience he had. I shook my head at the rooster. How had he lived so long?
"We cook up the meat inside,"
I watched Moana in the bushes look around before trying to go to the ocean again.
"Consider the coconuts,"
"Consider the coconuts,"
"The trunks and the leaves," Moana was mid-jump when her father grabbed her by her waist pulling her back to him and Sina.
"Ha!"
"The island gives us what we need!" Her parents reminded her as they pulled her back to their hut and her new headpiece.
"And no one leaves." I watched as they lowered the headpiece onto Moana's head before they opened the curtain behind her to reveal the villagers waiting.
"That's right, we stay. We're safe and were well provided and when we look to the future,"
"There you are." Moana looked from the large hut to the ocean to see her grandmother dancing with the ocean. I smiled as I watched her run from her future to her grandmother.
"You'll be okay. In time you'll learn just as I did,"
"You must find happiness right,"
"Where you are." Sina smiled up at her husband as he just gave her a tired look, both knowing exactly where their giggling 8-year-old went. Tala continued dancing before turning to see Moana behind her. She nodded to me before looking back at her granddaughter.
"I like to dance with the water, the undertow, and the waves." Moana ran to her side before she tried copying Tala's movements. "The water is mischievous ha!" Moana giggled as Tala splashed her with water. "I like how it misbehaves!" she bumped the child's hip playfully as they continued to dance. "The village may think I'm crazy or say that I drift too far, but once you know what you like, well there you are."
8 years later, Moana was still dancing with Tala as I watched from the bushes. Watching over her had become a new habit of mine, but I couldn't be happier with the woman she was becoming. I knew she should decide to place her stone on the mountain soon as her forefathers did before her, but I couldn't help but hold onto the hope that she would be different. That she would be the one to bring her village back out onto the ocean.
"You are your father's daughter, stubbornness and pride, mind what he says but remember you may hear a voice inside," Tala told Moana before they began walking along the beach to where the fishermen kept the boats. "And if the voice starts to whisper to follow the farthest star, Moana, that voice inside is who you are." Tala moved the branches so Moana could see the unmanned boats. Moana started going for them when Tui stepped out in front of her with crossed arms.
"Ah!"
"Dad!" Moana exclaimed, obviously not expecting her father to be present. "I was only looking at the boats. I wasn't gonna get on them," she said the last part almost like a question and I sighed as Tui moved forward making Moana move away from the boats. Tui looked at his mother who just smiled at him and released the branches with her cane.
"Come on, there's something I need to show you." I watched them from next to Tala as she followed him to the mountain. I was there when the first chief placed his stone on the mountain and never stepped foot on it again. It was the highest point on the island which meant it was where Maui had brought it up from the ocean at. It was also sacred to the humans who lived here. I knew better than to enter sacred spaces that were not mine.
After coming down from the mountain, Moana made it her mission to help her village as the future chief.
"We make our nets from the fibers
(We weave our nets from the fibers)
The water is sweet inside
(A real tasty treat inside)
We use the leaves to build fires
(We sing these songs in our choir)
We cook up the meat inside
(We have mouths to feed inside)"
"The village believes in us," Tui told Moana as he handed her the basket of coconuts. Moana tossed them to the people waiting nearby so they could do their parts.
"That's right!"
"The village believes!"
"Ha!"
"The island gives us what we need and no one leaves!"
Moana danced with her fellow women, the crown of leaves and her hair falling down her back the only signs of her difference among them.
So here I'll stay. My home, my people beside me and when I think of tomorrow there we are."
The following week, I watched her place the headpiece over her hair that was in a bun on top of her head.
"I'll lead the way. I'll have my people to guide me. We'll build our future together,"
"Where we are." Just as when she was a child, she made her way to the large hut where the village met to decide important matters, this time hand in hand with her parents. She looked to the ocean to see her grandmother dancing alone again. She frowned before looking ahead once more.
"'Cause every path leads you back to..."
"Where you are!"
"You can find happiness right..."
"Where you are! Where you are!"