Over the next few days Moana played her role as engaged Chieftess so well that she had everyone believing she was happy. But deep down inside she wanted to do nothing more than once again, pack her boat and go. Though she knew that she couldn't keep running any longer from her problems, hoping that an obnoxiously loud demigod would help her out of this jam as well.

The winds were beginning to gust heavily, but not enough to throw the day's chores out the window. As Moana looked up from her basket weaving, she saw the black curtain of clouds making way towards the island. Tomorrow it would hit, and now she would need to warn the village.

"So, Moana," Lani, a girl the same age as Moana nudged her elbow, speaking in low towns so as to not let the older women, and Sina, over hear. However Moana knew that they were always listening.

"Yes, Lani?" Moana replied, side eyeing the girl with suspicion. Lani had always been a trickster, an eavesdropper and a tattle tale. They had grown up together, had gotten into a fair share of fights, but for some reason Lani could not get the hint that even though Moana was forced to be nice to her, she did not like her.

"How is the courting going with Kekoa? Are you guys able to be alone yet?" Her words were lilting and song like, emphasized and nosey. Lani snapped her leaf taught on the word alone, before she shot Moana a look.

"No." Moana stared at her blankly, Lani's tan skin was shimmery with sweat from the mugginess of the day giving her a eel like look. Turning away Moana quickly tied off her basket and set it on the pile, "Now excuse me, there is a storm coming and I need to prepare the village." Moana said forcefully, irritated, and turned to walk away before Lani interjected.

"You know Moana, you should be grateful to have Kekoa courting you, any girl would love to have him."

The hair on Moana's neck crawled and she clenched her fist. If her position wasn't to be questioned, and if she wasn't none the wiser, she knew Lani was poking her buttons. Tilting her head to the side she shot Lani a smug smile, "Good thing he doesn't like little girls." Moana replied, the look on Lani's face more than enough satisfaction for her to walk off towards the lagoon.

Her blood was still buzzing when she arrived at the water, watching the few boats out in the lagoon raise their sails to come in. Hopefully there was enough of a catch throughout the day to last the village through the storm. Moana would have to check the storage sheds next after helping the fishermen.

One of the canoes was close to shore and she watched it come in. The sail swung the wrong direction causing the fisherman to duck and Moana saw that Kekoa was riding in on the boat. His hand came up, and she could see his dark skin splitting in a smile. A groan came up in her throat but she masked it with a smile of her own.

"Kekoa," Moana said as she walked over to him, taking the guiding rope to secure the boat to shore, pulling it as he pushed the boat on half-buried logs, "How is the catch?" Walking up to her, Kekoa bent down to place his forehead against hers, and then stepped away. Moana smiled widely trying to hide the cringe as she felt his sweat on her brow. She watched him take the other guiding rope before he spoke.

"It's good. We managed to catch enough before that storm comes in. We should be okay for at least three days." He looked up at her and grinned.

While Moana wasn't ready to be tied down, to have to listen to a man, she had to give it to Kekoa and admit he was extremely good looking. The tattoo that was just started on his pectoral had now wrapped its way down to his elbow, and his pe'a tattoo was clearly visible today since he wore just his wrapped red loin cloth, exposing the well muscled legs that were most of the time hidden under his lava-lava. When Moana looked back up, she saw he was staring at her with a small smile, a raised brow.

An uncomfortably familiar look on a different face.

"I-uh…" Moana pulled the boat in with him, "That is great to hear! I was concerned, so I thought I would come down and check because you know, who would know better then you?! Right?" She was talking with her hands as she watched him tie the canoe off onto a fallen palm, she noted his smile was still there.

"Right." Was all Kekoa said when he looked at her again.

"Well they are-" Moana stammered.

"No one is calling you, Moana."

Stopping mid turn, arms looking like she was ready to bolt, Moana shut her eyes tightly and pursed her lips. Taking a deep breath a she turned to Kekoa and opened her mouth to speak.

He was standing on the canoe, a few ropes in his hand before he closed the distance, taking one of her hands in his fingertips, where he held it gently. He wasn't looking at her, but instead at their hands, and it gave her a moment to look at the sleek black hair that was tied so neatly in a low pony tail, his necklace of small white shells resting on his collar bones.

"Moana," he said softly, " I know you don't like me," He looked up at her, a look of understanding on his face, "I know you try to get away from me as much as possible. I feel like we have only spent the tiniest of moments together, like now, before you run, and that is okay."

"Kekoa, it isn't that.."Moana trailed off as he brushed a bit of her hair off of her forehead and behind her ear, like how she would have done it herself. She looked him in the eyes, a bright gold and she felt her bottom lip quiver. Not from frustration or disgust, but from a familiar kindness she only received from her mother and father.

"I'm a patient person, Moana. I can wait for you for as long as you want to leave me and I'll always be right there when you get back." Kekoa said carefully, looking down again with a small smile on his face. He let go of her hand and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Go help the village, I'll take care of the canoes. You've got enough on your chest."

Moana stared at him as he walked away, watching the long back muscles strain under the weight of pulling the traps out of the boat. She watched long enough to see him haul out three huge crabs with a fiber cord wrapped tightly around both pinchers. Turning slowly, she made a mental note of checking in with him later about the crabs they have caught, Moana did notice that they had been eating a lot more crab lately.

The wind was beginning to pick up, knocking Moana's leaf headdress off as she walked towards the storage sheds. People were starting to scurry, the rain drops were beginning to fall, fat and warm they splattered against the skin causing the humidity to become almost unbearable, and difficult to breath. Moana picked up her pace, telling people that they needed to get their supplies and head for the largest fala so no one was to get lost or hurt. When she finally reached the sheds her father was already helping out the men of the families gather what they needed.

"Father."

"Moana," Chief Tui called out to her, grabbing her hand, " Have you seen the clouds?" Moana nodded before he continued, " I do not like the look of them. This will be a strong storm and we need all the supplies we can get to the fala so no one has to leave. Can you carry some of the items?"

"Of course," Moana said, handing the headdress to her father before stepping into the shed. Sina and Lani were inside, Moana ignored the latter, giving her mother a comforting pat on the arm before she gathered a basket and started stuffing it with essentials.

The fact that her father was uncomfortable about the storm was one thing, but with Moana being so closely connected to the ocean, and uncomfortable about it as well was a whole different meaning. He was probably concerned, just as she was, about the small villages that they had established on near by islands just recently. She would have to go visit after the storm died down.

The sound of a scream broke her concentration as Lani was frantically kicking in the darkness. Her wail was blood curdling and she had tears streaming down her face. Moana jumped up and ran over to her before stopping in her tracks. A coconut crab had gotten ahold of Lani's foot in its pincer, easily clearing the flesh away and bits of white bone could be seen. Looking around quickly she fumbled with an ax on a hook and managed to get it free.

"Mom! Grab Lani!" She yelled and then kicked Lani in the chest so she would lay down, "HOLD STILL!" Moana swung down on the crab, the scraping of its large brown legs scraping to get away, but still holding tight to the screaming woman. It took Moana four full swings to finally kill the crab, and had to sit on Lani to hack gently away at the claw that now would not let go of her foot.

Seeing the damage that the crab had done, Moana grimaced and looked at Sina, who was holding Lani against her chest.

"She needs to get to the fala, and it needs to be taken care of," Moana said gently to not frighten Lani, but the look on her face made it obvious that the wound was bad.

When Lani and Sina were being taken to shelter, Moana looked down at the shattered crab and squinted to see if there were anymore around her. She had never really seen one of these monstrous crabs, easily the size of her torso and claws the length of her hand she pushed it aside with the ax still in her hand. Why were they all here? This was a dry hutch, crabs were scavengers, they ate the rotten entrails of the fish and fish heads that were used for bait.

A clap of thunder brought her back to her senses and she jumped almost out of her skin. Grabbing three baskets full of fruits, coconuts, gourds of water and other necessities, Moana hauled them all out struggling under the weight of them but determined to get them to the fala. The sky was black, though she knew it was just after the highest setting of the sun, the dirt was now mud and was sucking her feet in to the ankle. She cursed as she fell, knocking the top basket of coconuts out and down the trail. As she scrambled to gather everything back again a hand came down to pick up a few coconuts, looking up she saw Kekoa with a determined look in his eye and he snatched up two of the baskets.

"We need you in the fala. When I didn't see you I came looking for you, good thing I did," he said loudly, the wind now was beginning to howl. Kekoa smiled at her and grabbed Moana's hand to help her up. Together they stumbled to the chiefs fala, where everyone was huddled under the frond roof.

Moana stood and looked at her people, peeling her wet hair off of her face and shoulders. She saw all twelve families gathered together, saw her father Tui and Sina at the head, and all the baskets full of everything they would all need in the center. A wave of relief rushed over her, and she turned to lower a tapestry. As her hand went to grab the string that held it up her eyes saw a small boat crashing into the lagoon.

"Moana?" Kekoa's voice was far away as she saw lightening split the sky and blue flash. Her heart beat in her lungs as a large bird tried pumping its wings but was engulfed by a wave.