He wouldn't come back for her. He was a coward. Vahi'a knew this as she twisted in the net, hissing as several hooks pulled from where they were stuck in her tail. She wasn't squirming her way out of this rope and he wasn't coming for her. So think of something else.

She was pulled out of the sea dangled high above the water surrounded by the Kakamora as a fishing trophy. They jabbed at her, pulled at the net which in turn pulled at the hooks. One was holding a bone that had been carved into a knife. That was it, the something else she needed to think.

With a steadying breath she braced herself for pain and threw herself against the net, one hook ripping out of her tail, and grabbed the Kakamora's arm lifting him into the air with her. Snatching the knife out of his mean little hand she let him go and watched him fall into the sea with a large splash as he broke the surface.

Vahi'a couldn't get out of the net but she could cut the rope the net was attached to. Which is exactly what she did. For a second she was still in the air, neither rising nor falling, and stared at the horizon finding it so very beautiful from up high. And then she was plummeting where she struck the water with such force it knocked the breath out of her. For some time she sank, a bundle of twisted body parts until she finally managed to squeeze her torso through a hole in the rope so that she could at least use her arms. She swam under the canoe for a ways, hearing Moana land with a thud on top of Maui with the chicken and heart in hand. And she stayed under them, grabbing onto a piece of wood, as they skirted between two of the Kakamora's ships before they smashed together.

"Yeah, we did it! WOOHOO!" Moana cried.

Maui chuckled as he began pulling the blow darts out of the side of the boat. "Congratulations on not being dead curly. You surprised me." He grabbed the hand that clung to the underside of the boat and pulled the still caught sea woman onto the canoe beside him. "We gotta stop meeting like this babe," he told her, grinning at her scowl. He pulled on her tail and she found herself flat on her back staring at the clear sky above them. She felt his hands around her waist pulling at the net, removing each hook more gentle than his large hands seemed capable. "Good job back there," he told her, though it wasn't what he meant to say. "I knew you could handle it."

She sat up with a fire in her eyes and she ripped the last two hooks out of her tail before striking him in the face again. He turned to her wide eyed and slack jawed holding a hand to his cheek. "You insufferable oaf," she swore, self righteousness thick in her voice. She wanted to do more, whether to speak or hit him again she just wanted to give action to the anger warming her blood. "I need some air," she grumbled before flinging herself off the canoe and swimming away.

She didn't want to hear his infuriating voice anymore, or see his oversized face with his large nose and small eyes that were somehow both strange and attractive. She didn't want it. So she swam, deeper than she normally did so that the cool water could soothe her overheated skin. She let the water calm her, let it heal her until the sharp pain turned to a memory. And still she swam wondering how they were going to defeat Te Ka and whether she had any part in this. She was weak, and out of the water she was useless.

It was late when she returned, the stars already dancing. It wasn't any sense of purpose that brought her back, nothing within herself that made her feel needed; it was the thought of letting Moana down, who was counting on her be there. And Vahi'a thought she could at least do that.

Swimming closer she found Maui lying on his belly over the canoe's outrigger. She swam beneath him for a little ways watching his expression, which was one of annoyance and boredom. His neck was tired from craning to look up, to see anything but the empty ocean beneath him. And so his cheek was resting on a bar of wood and his eyes were on the water as it broke against the side of the canoe. He sighed.

A woman emerged from the depths of the sea, her hair splayed in the water a shadow of a halo. He found her beautiful, more than he thought she had any right. Her head cocked to the side and he read her confusion. "Blow dart," he mumbled. "And I don't wanna hear a word out of you."

A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. Before a stream of water spewed from between her lips hitting him in the face, and he couldn't even raise a hand to wipe it off. "Aw come on," he groaned.

She laughed lightly as she pulled herself onto the outrigger and lay with her head beside his, creating a line out of their bodies. "I like you better this way." She looked to find Moana fast asleep, and she turned back to the stars overhead wishing she could dance with them. How she missed dancing.

"Yeah you would," he grumbled, still sore over her slapping him again. "You know," he said trying to win her on his side – where he'd wanted her from the beginning – "my hook could give you legs. Have you ever been on land, cause you'd love it."

"Already tried it."

"What?" he demanded. This whole time and the fish chick knew where it was. He wanted to wad her into a ball and throw her as far as he could.

"I was there," she answered softly.

His voice was quieter this time, realizing his first thought had been wrong, as he asked, "what?"

She turned to him, seeing only his hair as he lay immobile. "Te Fiti was my home. I loved her." She released a breath turning for the stars, wishing she had instead been placed there instead of the sea. At least then she could shine. "I saw your hook sink, I tried to grab it. I wanted it so much."

He didn't need to ask why she didn't take it, he could hear it in her whispered voice she would have if she'd been able. "Its magic wasn't meant for you."

"I wasn't strong enough. In the end," she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, "I never am."

They lay quietly for a long while as the boat rocked and swayed, a gentle lull. Silence and solitude was something they both knew well, he having been marooned for a thousand years and her being sentenced to a lonely life at sea. It was quiet then, but they didn't feel so alone. "You know," he said again, this time with more sincerity, "we never had a proper introduction."

"That's because you flirted with me and then tied me to the boat."

"No," he said aiming to shake his head but it only flopped to the side, "you hit me. And then I tied you to the boat. Look that's not the point."

"Oh there's a point?" she asked with sarcasm laced in her toneless voice.

"The point is, you and I got off on the wrong foot."

"Fin."

"Whatever," he sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm Maui." He raised a hand to shake her, to seal their greeting, forgetting that he couldn't move. So he laid there. "This is the part where you say your name," he prodded.

She turned to him in irritable question. "You already know it."

"So say it anyway."

She sighed. "My name is Vahi'a," she grumbled through her teeth.

This woman was impossible. "It's nice to meet you Vahi'a."

Rolling her eyes she replied, "it's nice to meet you too." He cleared his throat and she added an exasperated, "Maui."

With his head cocked to the side he could see the side of her face. "I see you smiling."

"Oh shut up," she complained rolling on her side with her back to him.

"No no, it's to be expected. Everyone likes Maui. Demigod of the wind and sea, hero to man and everything. Don't beat yourself up." He said it all with a grin, hearing the large breath pass through her nose.

"Do you want me to hit you again?" she demanded. She laid back satisfied, and a bit smug, at his lack of response.

It didn't last long. Little Maui climbed his way to the tattoo on his shoulder urging Maui to say something, to be nice. Little Maui liked her more. "Gotta say, you're making it hard for me not to be attracted to you." This time he was the smug one at her silence. Though he looked at Little Maui on his shoulder who stared like he was pressed against a glass trying to see her better. Suddenly the tattoo turned and drew Vahi'a, a smile included, and began dancing with her. Maui rolled his eyes with a scoff. He'd never dance with her, not only did she not have feet she was also impossible.
He felt the boat drift slowly left and he sighed. The girl wasn't a good wayfinder. They'd soon be well off track and he'd only just gotten feeling in his toes, there was still a lot of him left to go. And then they straightened, once more sailing the way they needed. His eyes found half of Vahi'a's tail in the water acting as a paddle directing them. "You know how to get to Lalotai?"

"No. But I know the stars, and I can keep us going right enough until you can actually be useful."

"Ouch," he mocked. "You take us a little more right we could actually go in the right direction."

Heaving a sigh she felt a splash of cold water, a warning. So she bit her tongue instead of his and steered a little more to the right. For a long while they drifted along not sharing a word between them, both too stubborn to speak first.

[*][*][*]

Vahi'a woke curled on her side, her head propped up on a warm soft pillow. Her eyes slowly blinked and she found herself staring at Maui's upside down face, her pillow his shoulder. The sound she made was a mix of startlement and ew as she pushed herself away from him.

"Aw don't be like that fish stick," he said with an arrogant smirk. "You were so content a second ago. A little smile on your face." He stood up and stretched his aching muscles. He'd been poking her nose for several minutes trying to wake her up. "Told ya she liked me," he said looking down at Little Maui standing with his arms crossed. "Yeah whatever," Maui told him making for the stern.

She rubbed her tired eyes wondering how long she'd been asleep, it was still dark. She sat with her tail curled under her enjoying the cool breeze. Maui blinked feeling his eyes straying to where she sat, her back straight hands folded in her lap. There was something he couldn't put his finger on. "Can I ask you something, fish stick?"

"I feel like you're going to no matter my answer," she said only half turning toward him, her eyes catching the faint hint of light as the sun began peeking over the horizon.

"Probably," he agreed. "So, uh, your tail," he started uncomfortably. They both looked at the fin that half hung off the boat, in the newly dawning morn it was easy to tell where the blue turned black. "You're dying aren't you?"

She turned at his soft voice, at the guilt she saw in his very round face. In that moment, and that moment alone, she found him sweet. It changed nothing. Her answer was still, "yeah." They spent the rest of the morning in silence, the boat swaying with the gentle waves, the sun creeping higher in the cloudy sky. Her mind was nowhere and everywhere, and his sad face filled the in between. A breath swelled in her chest and she turned to him. "Can I ask you a question?"

He looked at where she sat and time seemed to slow. Her eyes were a deep green that morning, the sun glinting off the red strands of her dry hair and it blew faintly along the breeze. He cleared his throat. "Got nothing better to do." It wasn't what he meant.

With a shake of her head she turned back to the horizon to the tall mountain they were sailing toward, missing his defeated sigh. She was quiet several moments, grinding her teeth, until her want to know outweighed her stubbornness. "How'd you know I could handle it?"

That answer came easy. "Well, you weren't getting out of my knot." He knelt by the outrigger and pulled at the second bar where she'd broken the string tying it to the canoe. "So you found a way off the wood." He looked up at her grinning, proving he'd known from the beginning she was a tough fish. "I guess I should say thanks," he mumbled looking at the wood of the boat.

"What?"

He sighed. "I said I should say thanks, you know for," he scuffed his foot irritably, "letting yourself get captured for me." He snuck a glance in her direction to see half her mouth curled in a smirk. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he demanded.

"I heard you the first time," she told him with an offhanded shrug. "Just wanted to hear you say thank you again."

For a moment he stared, his brows raised his eyes widened and his mouth slightly gaping in surprise, and then he shook himself and frowned. "You are impossible," he told her turning back to the rig, hearing her light chuckling. He looked down to Little Maui, who stood with his hands clasped together making a kissy-face. He flicked him to his back and grumbled about how fish belonged in the ocean not on a boat. "You know you were the one who jumped in front of the net, for me. So what does that say about y-"

"You're welcome," she said cutting him off. "Alright? It's over, under the rug." She watched him consider it before giving a curt nod. "We never have to speak of it," she added, his brows furrowing as she continued talking. "How Maui demigod of the wind and sea, hero of man and everything needed an impossible fish woman to save his life."

He rolled his eyes so hard they might've stuck. "You didn't save my life," he informed her.

"Thought we weren't talking about it?"

He opened his mouth to respond realizing if he said anything then they were talking about it, and she had saved him. With a sigh he closed his mouth and turned back to the rig refusing to so much as look her way. There was a tapping in shoulder, he didn't look at Little Maui because he knew if they'd been keeping score she'd have a few points more than he.