Battle for Dreamrock Island
Chapter 2: Life on Dreamrock Island
Life continued onward on Dreamrock Island.
Over the years, Tai and the rest of the villagers continued to strive through the traditions, though the chief wasn't quite on with the changes that Wester had made on the other side of the island, making plans on making a tropical escape for those wishing for a nice holiday. These ideas and plans included a plaza, a beach resort, a hotel and even an amusement park.
Throughout the years, Tai helped teach Moana all about the traditions and tasks around the island as she grew up, claiming that everything they needed was here in their village or their own island.
There was one tiny little setback. Moana was too interested in taking off to sea and even thinking about sailing.
While his wife, Eia, thought it was nice for Moana to have a small interest, Tai did everything he could from preventing her from taking off on a boat, trying to keep her occupied in various sorts, like weaving baskets, learning traditional songs (he claimed that the villagers only needed just one and didn't need to learn new ones) and even tarp painting.
All of these, of course, were still not enough, and he kept dragging her away no matter what.
Aside from Eia, the only ones proud of her interest in the ocean were Yuzo and Tala, who kept on encouraging her to go forth, despite their son telling them to stop getting in the way.
One day, Tai took Moana, nearing teenagehood, to one of the highest parts of the island and showed her a giant stack of stone slabes.
"This is a sacred place. The place of chiefs." he explained to her, "There will come a time when you will stand on this peak and place a stone on this mountain. Like I did. Like my father did. And his father and every chief there has ever been. And on that day, when you place your stone, you will raise this whole island higher. You are the future of our people, Moana." he then pointed to beyond the ocean, "They are not out there." the gestured downwards to the village as he replied, "They are right here. It's time to be who they need you to be."
This allowed Moana to help learn about assisting the people of her village.
A few years later, Wester (who was starting to get a few streaks of grey hair) arrived back to the village again, and was greeted by Yuzo and Tala, who both have been getting older, several streaks of grey fur, and a few wrinkles too.
"Greetings, dear senior citizens." Wester smiled.
"Wester, so good to see you again." Yuzo smiled back.
"Indeed," Tala replied with a nod, before letting out a mischievous grin as she added, "you get so much more handsome every year."
"Steady, Tala, you're married, remember?" Yuzo eyed her with a grin.
"I know."
"Do you know where your son is, I wanted to speak to him." Wester explained.
"He'd be with his wife and daughter," Yuzo stated, as he and Tala escorted Wester, "follow us."
"Speaking of, how is that daughter of his? Moana, was it?"
"She's doing great," Tala happily explained, "she's been helping out the villagers around here for quite some time, helping out with farming and fishing. Teaching art and dancing to children. She even got two pets, burrowhog and a chicken."
"Really?" Wester asked, "And you're serious that she had a chicken for a pet too?"
"Yep," Yuzo replied, "though still skeptical of that chicken. Always trying to eat a rock, always getting in trouble. If you ask me, that chicken seems to lack the basic intelligence required for pretty much... everything."
"I know, but remember what Moana said to us when someone suggested cooking him, 'Sometimes our strength lies beneath the surface. Far beneath... in... some cases. But there's probably more to Hei-Hei than meets the eye.'" Tala reminded him what their granddaughter said, remembering one of the villages requesting to cook the chicken that wasn't too bright.
Soon, the three came up to chief and his family, Wester looked and saw Moana, who had indeed grew up into a young woman, at 16 years old, Moana had a slender yet muscular build and wore a crop top made out of red Tapa with a layered style accessorized with seashells along the perimeter. She wore a red sash made from the same material that wraps around her skirt made out of shredded Pandanas and layered Tapa, with a slit for mobility purposes on her journey. On her head at the moment, she wore a lei made out of green leaves and pink flowers.
"Greetings, everyone." Wester waved hello.
While Eia waved hello back, Tai just let out a small grumble, though Moana was happy to meet him.
"Wester! It's so good to see you again!" she said with a smile.
"Nice to see you too, princess." Wester smiled, "And look at you, you look like a spitting image of your mother."
Moana and her mother giggled at that.
"So what brings you here, Wester?" Moana asked.
"Well, as you know, I've researched that, every few years or so, a special aurora event occurs on Dreamrock Island, surrounding the night sky, as if it was made of sparkling rainbow gems." Wester said, "Which is why I've decided to start off a new traditional celebration here, which I'm happy to call, the Twilight Gala, a special party filled with fine food, drinks and festivities for the whole family to enjoy!"
"That's wonderful!" Eia smiled.
"I know, it'll be great for everyone to take part in this!" Moana added.
However, a little sarcastic and annoyed chuckle from Tai got the groups attention.
"That's… nice and all, Wester," Tai said his doubts, "but we've only needed one tradition, and we've been doing a fine job of keeping it."
"Well I'm sure it won't hurt to have one extra tradition for your homelife." Wester said, hoping to get on his good side.
"Son, at least give him a chance." Yuzo said, Tala rolling her eyes at her son's denial.
Just then, one of the villagers came up to them, and approached Moana.
"Princess Moana," she said, "We have a situation."
A little later, the group were approached by some villagers who have been doing the harvest, however, while their baskets were full of coconuts, they had faces of worry and concern.
"It's the harvest." one female villager explained, "This morning I was husking the coconuts and…"
She opened up one of the coconuts, revealing to the group the insides, showing some sort of moldy blank that had taken over most of the inside from the whiteness, and was empty and dry.
Moana looked to the coconuts that had seemingly gone off, and had an idea, "Well... We should clear the diseased trees. And we will start a new grove… there." she then pointed to a new location nearby, perfect for planting new coconut trees.
"Thanks, Moana." the villager replied, as she and the others headed to the new location for the coconut trees, but not before stopping for a second as she whispered to her parents, "She's doing great."
"Very good motivation, Moana." Wester smiled.
"For once I agree with Wester," Tai nodded, "this suits you."
Just then, Wester phone rang, getting his attention, as he answered, a female voice (no doubt, Wester's secretary) spoke up.
"Mr. Wester," she said, "we have a situation."
At the same time, another villager came up getting Tai and his family's attention, "Chief! There's something you need to see."
The group were summoned to the fishing grounds at the beach, not far from the village, all the fishing boats had returned, but there was one little problem.
"Our traps in the east lagoon. They're pulling up less and less fish." the villager, who also worked as a fisherman, explained, as he showed the group an empty fishing trap.
Moana had a good look, and then made her decision, "Then we'll rotate the fishing ground."
"We have," the fisherman replied, "there's no fish."
Moana looked a little baffled at that, "Oh… Then we'll fish on the far side of the island."
"We tried." the fisherman stated.
"The windward side?"
"And the leeward side. The shallows, the channel." the fisherman explained, listing everywhere they tried, "We tried the whole lagoon. They're just… gone."
"They're not the only ones with the fishing problem." Wester's voice got everyone's attention, as he came up to them.
"I just got off the phone from one of my agents," he explained, "it turns out that our fishing boats at the harbour have started to return dry as well, even with fishing further from the island, I've been told that the latest fishing trips have been returning with fewer fish by the seconds."
Moana was completely stumped upon hearing this, as his father spoke to the fishermen about the possible suggestions on what to do, even if they already tried most of those ideas.
As they did, Moana looked out to sea, and a small thought came to her…
"I will talk to the council." Tai said to the fishermen, "I'm sure we'll…"
"What if…" Moana's voice got their attention, as she looked to them and said, "we fished beyond the reef?"
"Moana," Tai said, sternly, "no one goes beyond the reef."
"I know." Moana said, before picking up an oar and continuing, "But if there are no fish in the lagoon…"
"Moana…"
"And there's a whole ocean…"
"Moana, We have one rule!" Tai said, getting a bit more angry.
"An old rule, when there were fish." Moana stated.
"A rule that keeps us safe!" Tai stated back, as he picked up his daughter.
"But Dad!"
"Instead of endangering our people so you can run right back to the water!" Tai furiously stated to his daughter as he put her down, he then looked up to see everyone, feeling a little awkward and nervous about what had happened, trying to act conspicuous as if they weren't paying attention.
Tai let out an annoyed sigh, before looking at Moana, very disappointed and mad at her, "Every time I think you're past this."
He then snatched the oar from Moana's hands, as he walked off with a huff, piercing the sandy ground with the oar as he recalled yell, "No one goes beyond the reef!"
Yuzo sighed and shook his head at what had happened, "Oh… son…"
Tala and Eia looked back to Moana, who let out a small sad sigh and went in the other direction, walking along the beach as she took off her lei and sulked away a little.
"I was just trying to help…" she sadly muttered, as she walked away.