Note: Thanks for being patient the past several weeks! The last chapter was a little rough so I will be smoothing it out a little bit. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the next chapter!
~Shaka!
Chapter Nine
She sighed as she hiked past the Kilauea volcano and made her way to a little hut standing on the outskirts of a village nearby. It had been five short years since she had last been here. She would rather not come back again but she had made a deal and it was better to get it over with.
"Aramoana… You're back," a familiar voice called her as she came nearer to the hut. Kamapua'a smiled and waved at her as he leaned on the doorframe of Pele's hut. "How is sailing these days? I hear Maui has been chasing you from one end of the ocean to the other."
"Tangaroa has been good to me. As for Maui, I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him or heard about him for years," Aramoana answered stiffly.
"You know he'll find you eventually now that he knows your alive, right?" Kamapua'a stated bluntly. "What will you do when he does?"
Aramoana ignored his questions pointedly and walked into Pele's hut, forcing herself to ignore the knowing grin on his face.
"Welcome, Aramoana! So… a little someone told me you saw Maui. How did it go?" Pele quipped with a smirk.
"Don't. You have just as much to do with my misery as Maui does," Aramoana answered with a bitter glare.
"Yet here you are in my hut," Pele smiled smartly. "I'm surprised Kamapua'a drugged Maui like that. How did you talk him into doing it?"
"I didn't. Kamapua'a just didn't want Maui to find out that he hadn't told the whole truth. His plan was to drug Maui and trick him into thinking that seeing me was just a dream. But I didn't want to be stuck as a tree for the next hundred years so I left," Moana explained.
"And stranded Maui in the middle of the ocean," Pele finished for her, leaning back in her chair thoughtfully. "You refuse to see him. Why?"
Aramoana's head snapped up. "Because he is the whole reason why I was cursed in the first place! I lost... everything. If we had never gotten close…"
"Do you really think I sent all of that trouble to you just because you and Maui got close?" Pele asked.
"Well…"
"Don't get me wrong. I was very angry with Maui for favoring a human soooooo much, but he wasn't the only one. You had three other gods smiling down on you as well. Tangaroa still favors you, Te Fiti continues to pester me when she can, and KAMAPUA'A IMMORTALIZED YOU!" Pele screamed the last part out the front door of her hut so Kamapua'a could hear her.
Pele took a calming deep breath and flipped her steaming hair.
"Besides, weren't you the one that kissed Maui in the first place?" the fire goddess continued.
Aramoana's face flushed and looked away.
"Not that it is any of my business… By all means, blame Maui!" Pele laughed. "He is selfish, annoying, and continuously behaves like a child. It will be fun to see him suffer a little bit."
Aramoana bristled and glared at Pele who only smiled wider at her.
"Ah! How is Lani?" the fire goddess asked excitedly, leaning forward eagerly. "You haven't forgotten about our little agreement have you?"
"Of course not… I have been looking over Lani and teaching him. He is showing great skill as a Wayfinder. He also has a knack for trouble which I think will serve him well," Aramoana mused.
"Good! I would appreciate it if you continued to teach him what you know about sailing. As for Rehua, I persuaded him not to hinder your power anymore. The stars have been fixed and the Heart constellation has been erased. It wasn't hard to convince him to fix the mess he made since he was getting bored with meddling in your life. He should leave you alone for at least a few centuries," Pele smirked.
"Good. Thank you," Aramoana said with a small smile. She turned towards the door and made her way out of the hut.
"Oh, and Mo?" Pele called.
Aramoana cringed at the name and looked back.
"Don't worry too much. I am sure Maui will be back to his normal self in a hundred years or so. Until then, enjoy your long and guiltless immortality," the goddess smiled with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "Also, can you send Kamapua'a in? I think I have neglected him long enough."
. . . . . . . . .
Maui looked around from his spot under the little girl's arm. The village was a good size and the people looked happy enough. A small group of men had just brought back the nets of fish they had caught and the rest of the village had already begun cooking the most delicious smelling food.
The little girl walked around the edge of the village and made her way to the men who had just arrived with their fish.
A little boy who had come to greet his father looked at her with disgust, "Look, it's Pupuka…"
All of the men carrying fish looked up from their work and the little girl stopped walking. Her little frame began to quiver nervously as they watched her.
"Do you have any leftover fish? I can trade for it…" the little girl said, anxiously pulling a string of beautifully woven flowers from around her neck. Maui looked at it closer as she held it out for the men to see.
He was kind of impressed… kind of.
The men in front of her seemed almost sickened by the flower necklace. Some of them looked at each other and whispered to the man at the front of the group, not sure what to do.
"I am sorry, P… little one. We don't have any extra fish today," the leader of the group said with a grimace.
"O-okay…" the little girl nodded politely and then ran off in another direction. When she got to the other end of the village, she walked up to a group of women who had gathered around a pile of burning coals. They were just about to roast an assortment of meat when one of the women let out a loud shriek. All of the women flinched and turned their heads towards the child standing just behind them.
The little girl stood silently and began to shiver nervously again.
"D-do you have any leftover food? It doesn't have to be meat. I'll take anything. I can even tra…" the little girl began but was cut off by an elderly woman in the group.
"We don't have anything for you, Pupuka. Go away!" the old woman hissed. The little girl took a step back but forced herself not to run away.
"Please… Something small? Anything…" she begged.
Another woman from the group threw half of a coconut at her, hitting the little girl in the head, and yelled, "Get away, Pupuka! We don't need your curse here!" The rest of the group muttered and shouted their agreement.
Pressing her hand to her forehead, the little girl ran away towards the hut on the outskirts of the village. Tears streamed down her face as she ran. When she got to her hut, she stood outside the door and took a deep breath, wiping away her tears away as best as she could.
Forcing herself to smile, the little girl opened the door and walked up to the side of her mother's bed with Maui still clutched under her arm.
"Mama! You won't believe it! They gave me half of a coconut today! Isn't that great? The inside is still sweet too!" she laughed, holding the fruit out in front of her mother's unmoving gaze. Her mother's eyes blinked emotionlessly and the little girl smiled.
"Maybe I could even make something out of the shell to trade for tomorrow! I bet I could even buy a fish if I carve it just right!" the girl continued positively. Taking Maui out from under her arm, she took a blanket off of the floor and tied him up in it as securely as she could. He struggled a little but it was no use. The little girl was determined to keep him.
"There! Now you'll be warm and I can carve the coconut shell with both hands!" the little girl exclaimed, setting him down on the ground beside her. Once she felt he was balanced enough, she pulled a carving knife out from under her mother's bed and began cutting the meat of the fruit out of the shell.
*drip*
The little girl stopped cutting the fruit, looked at the floor where she saw a dark spot, and then lifted her hand to her forehead.
"Oh… I'm bleeding. Sorry, Mama," she muttered with a frown. Maui watched as the little girl got up from her place on the floor and left to wash her face and hands in a basin filled with saltwater and the grass outside her hut. When the bleeding finally stopped, she came back and began cutting the meat out of the coconut. Soon, all of the meat was placed in a bowl and she smashed it up as much as she could so she could feed it to her mother little by little.
The longer Maui looked around the room, the more he realized how bare the hut was. The mother was lying on a makeshift bed made out of leaves and old clothing; there was only one small basin for catching water, a few random sticks, and two blankets. The warmest blanket was laid over the little girl's mother and the other, which was rather thin, was being used to tie Maui up.
I have to get out of this place," Maui thought to himself uncomfortably.
"Nani!" the girl smiled, offering Maui a chunk of coconut. "Your dinner is ready, pretty bird!"
Maui turned his head away from her.
She scooted closer and touched the fruit to his beak. "Common! Just try it! It is really good, I promise!"
The closer she pushed the food, the more Maui craned his neck away. The little girl huffed in frustration.
"Aren't you hungry, Nani? You haven't eaten anything all day!" she asked, irritated by his refusal.
Maui stayed stubbornly silent.
"Fine. I'll leave it here then," the little girl sighed, laying the coconut chunk in a fold of the blanket that she had tied around Maui.
Maui groaned to himself when he saw her turn away and start eating what was left of the coconut. She had only saved a fourth of the fruit for herself.
Not that it bothered him… much…
