The months following the wedding were ordinary in every way. Keoni was now accustomed to his new status, but he always shadowed his wife out of comfort. Even if he was used to the new changes, he still preferred the comfort of Moana leading the pair.
All that considered, Moana began to feel… off. She couldn't quite explain it, but her body just didn't feel right. She felt so tired, and her head constantly felt stuffy, something she never experienced before. And then on top of that, she felt dizzy. Sometimes even taking a few steps was a challenge, having to be steadied. She was getting annoyed by it way more than she used to. Just, constant irritation.
Huihana and Sina recognized those symptoms. They shared their suspiscions out of earshot from Moana, while it was evident she and Keoni were ready for a family, they still wanted some time as a couple before kids came into the picture.
And poor Moana was outright miserable. Her dizziness turned into nausea, which was worse than just wanting to vomit. Even constantly drinking coconut water wasn't enough to soothe her.
Eventually Keoni had enough and told Moana to go see the physician, and something told him to be prepared for what the result might be. And of course, Moana was confirmed to be two months pregnant. After the talks, and the patience, and the love between them, Moana and Keoni finally had a baby on the way, and Keoni was over the moon, though still worried with Moana still feeling sick.
While Moana slept that night, Keoni went to the sacred mountain, hoping his mother would hear him. And sure enough, not only did she come, but so did his father and Tala, whom he hadn't seen in quite some time.
"Moana's pregnant!" He exclaimed the second all three of them came. Fetia gasped and pulled her son in for a tight hug, Lawai'a did the same, and Tala just smiled.
"Your child will have a lot to look forward to in life, and I know you and my granddaughter will be wonderful parents." Keoni chuckled.
"Thank you, Tala."
"Now go be with her, she'll need you more than ever," Lawai'a said gently giving his son a push. Keoni nodded and headed back down to the village, still absolutely beaming. To say Fetia, Lawai'a, and Tala were proud of Keoni and Moana was an understatement.
Keoni made his way back down to the village, holding his torch. He walked through his home, it was quiet, dark, and therefore peaceful. He couldn't be happier. He made his way into his fale, extinguishing the torch and getting into bed next to Moana, hoping he wouldn't wake her.
Moana did stir awake when he came in.
"Keoni…? She mumbled. Gods she sounded so cute when she was sleepy. Keoni kissed her cheek and then her lips as he settled down into bed next to her.
"Shh, go back to sleep." He whispered, pushing back a strand of her hair. She rubbed her eyes and rolled over to face him.
"Where were you?" She asked, cuddling against him, hand on her growing stomach.
"Talking to your grandmother and my parents, telling them the good news." She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Moana made a face.
"I just, Keoni… what if I'm not good enough to be a mother? I feel like… what if my impulsiveness puts the baby in danger somehow? Or what if the baby takes after me that way, I don't want to have you deal with that kind of stress."
"Hey, hey… don't worry about that. I know you, you'll do whatever you can for the baby. Yes, you are impulsive at times, but I can assure you, you're going to be just fine. And we have the rest of our family to help us. We're going to be okay, I assure you." He knew she was both genuinely feeling this way, but also because of the mood swings.
He kissed her again and waited until she fell asleep.
Moana actually had nothing to worry about in terms of her impulsiveness, as she became less and less so as her pregnancy progressed. She was calmer and more intuitive than Keoni had expected her to be. She had also decided to start wearing her hair in a braid now, and Keoni had no complaints of doing her hair every morning and night, if it helped her to relax, then how could he say no?
The best part was when Moana said she could finally feel the baby kicking. It was so surreal for Keoni knowing that a baby, a baby he helped create, was growing, it was moving, and it must be happy. The first time he felt a tiny foot hit his palm nearly had him burst into tears.
And Moana had the intuition that it had to be a girl. Because of this, the whole village became pretty convinced too.
Keoni really wanted a little girl. Another girl to cherish, and to definitely be a daddy's girl.
Moana had to laugh when Keoni told her this.
"You want a daddy's girl?" Keoni grinned.
"I know for a fact that my sister was, so… it would seem fitting that if we have a daughter, that she be a daddy's girl." Moana chuckled as she stretched but flinching upon feeling a strong kick.
"Ow, geez, they've got a strong kick." Moana looked down at her belly, rubbing the sore spot. "Man, if kicking for one baby hurts this much I can't imagine how sore your sisters body was after having twins." Keoni snickered.
"She said it felt exactly what you think it would feel being kicked by two pairs of feet." Then Keoni got an idea, "let's go to the shore, maybe wading around in the water will help you a little bit." Moana grinned.
"Thinking the same thing." With the sun setting, there'd be fewer villagers at shore, and the water would be cooler, and therefore more refreshing. Keoni sat down on the sand while Moana slowly waded into the water, and much to their delight, the ocean popped up to say hello.
"Ocean!" Moana exclaimed, giggling as the water circled around her. Even though Keoni was fully aware the ocean wouldn't harm his wife, he still kept an eye on her, watching with a smile. Suddenly the ocean came up to him, getting right in his face. He stared at it awkwardly.
"Uh, hey?" He looked at Moana who shrugged her shoulder.
"I guess it wants you to get in the water, too?" If that was the case; "Alright, I guess it couldn't hurt." Koeni never admitted it, but after nearly drowning, twice, first by a storm and then by a Taniwha, Keoni was always a little hesitant getting in large bodies of water. He came to Moana's side, placing his hand on her lower back, mostly to reassure himself he wasn't alone, after all, they were only waist deep.
The ocean looked at the couple, and nudged at Moana's growing belly.
"We're having a baby." She said with a smile. If the ocean had a face, it'd be absolutely beaming. In that moment, Moana sensed that the ocean pledged its protection on their unborn child.
After spending some time with their old friend, they walked back home and fell asleep. But Moana dreamt. It'd been years since she'd gotten a vision, and Moana knew that this wasn't a dream. She was being shown glimpses of the future.
She saw glimpses of the baby she was carrying; a beautiful little girl. She couldn't see her face, but Moana could sense that this daughter would take after her. And then, much to her surprise, there was another little girl, another daughter. She couldn't sense anything yet about her, all she could feel was that she was perhaps going to take after Keoni more.
The eldest would be strong-willed and have a taste for adventure. Moana saw little flashes of the daughter sailing, carrying on the tradition of wayfinding, taking her farther than even Moana herself had gone. Far, far to the north, where new opportunities unfolded. And as for the youngest, it was shown she would pick up in her mother's footsteps and become chief instead of the older sister.
Moana then even saw that Huihana would have a daughter of her own.
The visions stopped and turned into regular dreams. Moana was the first to wake for a change, and she took a few moments to process what'd been shown to her. It had to have been Fetia, since Fetia knew the futures of everyone, as they were written in the stars.
