The first few days were awkward, as expected. Tamatoa was basically unresponsive to Moana whenever she tried to strike up a conversation. She'd warned him about not pushing himself to stand or walk right away, but like a stupid human was going to stop him from trying. Unfortunately, though, she was right; the task was still incredibly difficult, and he almost broke one of the splints when he fell down once.

Oh, how he hated this.

Maui and Moana continued to catch fish for him, Maui giving the crab an occasional tease from time to time. Moana knew that he didn't mean it to be cruel; it probably used to be normal for them to poke fun at each other. After all, she and the demigod did that to each other all the time. But she seemed to think that now wasn't really an appropriate time for that. Especially when Tamatoa's behaving so unlike his regular self.

Moana had the ocean send a note to her people, saying that she would be staying with Maui on Motonui for a while, but conveniently leaving out the detail of caring for a giant crab monster. She had mentioned Tamatoa when telling the story of their adventure to the other voyagers, and she didn't want them to worry.

One day, Moana was watching the crustacean as he shakily combed the beach, picking up any shiny trinkets or sea shells he came across and adding them to his own shell. His walking had gotten a bit better, but he still tired easily and, though he wouldn't admit it, moving around still seemed to be quite painful. An idea came to Moana's mind, but she hesitated at the thought of leaving Maui to watch him. It's not that she didn't trust her friend, but she knew how pigheaded these two could be and didn't want either of them to do anything rash while she was gone. She was the one keeping them in line, after all.

Pulling Maui to the side, she said, "I have to go get something. Can you watch him while I'm gone?"

"Of course." Maui answered with a smug grin.

Moana raised an eyebrow. "No fighting?"

Maui laughed at that suggestion. "Well yeah, it's not like he could put up much of a fight if he tried anything, anyway."

Moana looked unimpressed, folding her arms. "Even if he does 'try anything', I expect not to come back to an even more injured crab." She retorted.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it." He assured her. "I'll leave the big fella alone."

Giving him a thankful smile, she darted off to a different area of the island. She stopped by the village to pick up a carrying pole with large baskets on each end, then continued on her way.

Maui and Tamatoa were silent for the hours that followed. Maui watched him from the branch of a nearby tree with a look of suspicion and contempt. Tamatoa, when he wasn't sorting through his new little pile of sparkly things, would glance up at the demigod with a similar expression. Finally, he had said, "I'm surprised you haven't gone off to look for Moana yet. You seem to hover around her like an overprotective puppy nowadays…" He knew it was a bad idea to try and get under the deity's skin right now, but something seemed to push him to do so anyways. "It astounds me that you've lasted so long without running off to check on her." He queried, glancing up at the man to see what kind of reaction he'd get.

Maui looked annoyed at first, but then he smirked. "Nah. Unlike you, she doesn't need a babysitter." He replied coolly.

Tamatoa looked down again, going back to his treasures. Well, you walked right into that one… He said to himself.

"So," Maui started, jumping down from the tree to get a better look at the crustacean, "you finally decide to talk and that's all you have to say?"

Tamatoa rolled his eyes, immediately regretting his decision to speak. He poked at some shells with his claw, hoping Maui would shut up again if he ignored him. The demigod leaned on his hook casually, keeping his eyes on the crustacean. "You're weirding me out, crab cake. Never seen you go this long without bragging about yourself before."

"There's not much to brag about right now." The crab whispered as he crushed one of the shells beneath his pincers, not loud enough for Maui to hear.

"What?" Maui asked, eyebrow raised.

Tamatoa looked at the deity again, eyes narrowed coldly. "I said I could say the same about you." He lied, not wanting Maui to catch on to his moment of self-doubt.

"Heh. Fair enough." He chuckled in response.

Much to Tamatoa's relief, he was quiet again after that.

Some more time passed, and Moana returned with her carrying pole.

Tamatoa gave her nothing more than a disinterested glance before going back to fiddling with his things. Maui walked over to Moana, asking "So what have you been doing all this time?"

Moana simply grinned at him and gestured to the containments of the baskets.

A look of surprise and impressment appeared on Maui's face as he saw what she was carrying. "You carried all that down here? You continue to surprise me."

Somewhat curious now, Tamatoa glimpsed over at them, head tilted slightly.

Moana wandered over to the crab, dumping the contents of the baskets out in front of him. Tamatoa's eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful treasures that fell out from within them. "Thought you'd appreciate a little more than just the odd piece of jewelry lost in the sand," she beamed with a wink.

Tamatoa slowly went through the lovely items, a very slight smile growing on his face. "Where did you get these…?" He asked quietly, voice filled with more delight than he intended to express.

Moana smiled in return, relieved that he liked the gift. It confused and amazed her that something so simple as any shiny object could bring such pure joy to the weird monster. "Well, there's this cavern where some huge old canoes are kept, and my people and I left the ones that were too worn out to sail down there. I thought that there might be some old valuables in them, and it looks like I was right."

Tamatoa stared at Moana for a moment, bewildered that she would go through so much effort just to bring these to him. And on a whim, nonetheless. He almost wanted to thank her for a second, but quickly shook that thought out of his head. How many times must he remind himself that the reason he lost so much of his own treasure in the first place was their fault? Not to mention the weeks spent on his back? He shifted his expression to that of a monotone look. "Hm. I see." Was all he bothered to say as he carefully placed the new trinkets on his back.

Maui and Moana exchanged amused glances, seeing through the crab's attempt to conceal his appreciation.