Time passes quickly without anything to mark its passage. At first, Tamatoa had spent a fair amount of time on the headland, watching to see if Maui was returning. Nevertheless, after a while with no sails on the horizon, he had eventually ceased to go up there at all. He wasn't really even certain how long he'd been on his little island anymore. He'd long since investigated every last inch of it and knew every blade of grass and every rock formation from top to bottom. He had uncovered every remotely interesting item to be found, too-every colorful stone and every pearly seashell. When he'd finished with that, he started over and did a second sweep to make sure he didn't miss any. And a third. And another after that. He'd lost count after a while, but that didn't change the fact that there was nothing else to find.
When all that was thoroughly exhausted and the island had relinquished all its goodies, he spent his days organizing the treasures he'd brought with him to this miserable little island. He would admire how they glittered in the sunshine and contemplate when and where he had acquired each of them before putting them back in their baskets again.
Eventually, it seemed silly to put them away. There was no need to store them, after all. He wasn't going anywhere and there was no one to take them. Why should he hide them away? They looked so pretty in the sun, too.
He piled them all onto his shell, adding them to the small collection he had artfully added before. There wasn't quite enough to completely cover it, but it was plenty to make it sparkle. He spent hours arranging them to suit his tastes-shifting them around, then rearranging them as his mood struck him. Then he would find a nice, well-lit spot to admire his handiwork with delight.
He wanted more, though. There were gaps where his shell was visible through the treasure. He needed more. Unfortunately, there was nothing more to be found on the island. Maybe Maui would remember and bring him something if he ever came back.
Nothing changed on the island, nothing new happened, and time sped by. Until something finally did happen.
It was a windy afternoon that found Tamatoa rearranging his collection for what must be the thousandth time in the warm sunlight on a hill above the island's protected cove. It was only by chance that he lifted his gaze from the enticing gleam of his shell and spotted something out of the ordinary. He instantly snapped out of his haze, antennae sweeping forward in surprise.
There was a canoe approaching.
Maui was enjoying himself immensely. He had pulled off what he considered his greatest feat yet, stealing fire from the underworld as a gift to the mortals. It had been a difficult task, but he had succeeded and had earned a fantastic new tattoo in the process. The humans were utterly ecstatic in a way he hadn't experienced in ages. He'd sailed from village to village, spreading the gift to new tribes and reveling in their adoration and thanks. There had been feasting and celebration in every single settlement without fail. Some of the festivities went on for months, so grateful were they for this most useful gift. Maui soaked it all up eagerly. He couldn't remember a time when he felt so overwhelmed with their affections.
The festivities in one village would end and he'd go to the next and the next after that. Eventually, though, there were no more new villages to pass the fire to. The celebrations dried up as the mortals returned to their normal routines. Maui became an afterthought, his services no longer needed for now. They still tolerated him as a guest, of course, but there was less interest in hearing the stories he'd told over and over and no great celebrations in his honor.
Even surrounded by great crowds of the mortals, he began to feel lonely again.
As his loneliness grew, he recalled that he hadn't gone back to pay Tamatoa a visit yet. He'd been so caught up in everything else that it had fallen to the back of his mind. He wondered how long it had been. Surely it couldn't have been that long, he figured. There was never really any urgency to do anything for an immortal, though. Time passes without one realizing it sometimes. and it occurred to him that it might have actually been quite a while since he set the crab up on his island. He suddenly felt a small stab of guilt at having waited so long. Even while not present, the crab could still apparently guilt trip him.
He was sure Tamatoa would understand the delay, though. Maui brightened suddenly, a thought striking him. He could tell the crab all about his adventure to retrieve fire! The humans might have heard it enough times for the effect to have worn off, but he bet his old friend would be impressed to hear it.
With that thought in mind, he made his excuses to the chief of the village he was currently a guest of, then headed for his canoe with a cheerful spring in his step.
Tamatoa watched the canoe approach the island, trying to suppress his excitement. The canoe was a medium-sized vessel, with double hulls, not unlike the one he and Maui had sailed before he had outgrown it. It had to be him.
He scrambled down to the cove, making no further attempt to conceal his enthusiasm to greet his absent friend. Despite their previous troubles, he missed the demigod and was eager to have someone to talk to.
When he reached the beach, though, he realized something was amiss.
The canoe was tacking erratically, guided by amateurish handling. Battling with the stiff wind of the afternoon, it slipped sideways suddenly and the sail swung wildly to the side. The canoe was at the mercy of the wind and current now, pushed fast to the side until it ran aground with a crash on the shoals at the edge of the seagrass flats. The wind grabbed at the sail viciously, flipping the doomed boat over, snapping the mast, and swamping it completely in the shallows.
Tamatoa watched this with narrowed eyes. It wasn't Maui. Maui would never have made such an unskilled, clumsy mistake. The conditions were tricky out by those shoals, but not so much as to confound a master wayfinder like Maui.
Nevertheless, it was something new and exciting-the only novel thing to have occurred in ages on this forsaken dirt heap. Tamatoa waded out into the shallows to investigate. The seagrass flats extended far into the sea, but never got deeper than the first couple segments of his legs. It was therefore easy to reach the crashed canoe.
The current was stronger at the edge of the flats where the canoe was swamped. The fast water swirled around his legs as he inspected the wreckage. He saw no sign of whatever humans had been so artlessly piloting the boat. Perhaps they had already been swept away by the current. It was of little interest to him, though. Indeed, he soon forgot all about the fate of the hapless humans as he caught a flash of shine from under the overturned hull.
He lifted the corner of the canoe with a pincer and smiled wide. The sand was carpeted in gleaming treasures, spilled from the cracked hull and twinkling through ripples of the clear water. Tamatoa laughed in utter delight at his stroke of good fortune.
He spent the rest of the afternoon salvaging every single beautiful piece of this unexpected windfall. Once he'd pulled all the glittery bits from the sand, he'd pulled the canoe apart piece-by-piece to search inside for anything that hadn't fallen out. Everything he found went onto his shell, nicely starting to fill in the gaps in his collection there.
Satisfied that he had picked the wreck clean, he broke the remaining chunks of the boat apart and set them adrift in the current to clear the flats of wreckage. After all, without a warning to mark the spot, perhaps another boat might wash up on the shoals full of treasure.
Maui had every intention of going straight to Tamatoa's island. However, upon stopping to rest and resupply on a little remote island along the way, he learned that the villagers of that isle were being plagued by some heinous flying creature. He couldn't just sail away while these mortals were being tormented by some stray monster, of course. Tamatoa would understand.
Thus, Maui set out into the jungles of the island with his hook to track down the creature that had been carrying off villagers. The island was covered in low, tangled foliage but lacked the soaring trees of older forests. Instead, the skies were open and the sun bore down heavily as he struggled through the grasping branches and knotty vines.
It didn't take long for him to find the creature-or rather, for the creature to find him. It plummeted out of the sky towards him with a high pitched whine, almost too high to even hear. As it dove towards him, Maui could see that it was an eight-eyed bat-a common monster from Lalotai and one that Maui had experience dealing with. It was barely even a challenge, really. Half bored, he put the creature down easily.
Not finished yet, however, Maui followed the direction is had come from. He tracked back to find it's lair-a dark, rocky cavern in the jungle. Thankfully, there were no traces of other monstrous bats to be found. He was about to leave when he heard a whimper from a dark corner of the cavern. Returning to investigate, he discovered a human child hiding amongst the bones and refuse discarded by the bat-one of the snatched villagers, no doubt. With words of reassurance, he gently picked the child up and carried him back to the village.
The mortals were overjoyed. The child had been the son of a high ranking member of the tribe, who had then insisted Maui stay so they could properly honor him for saving the boy. How could Maui refuse? It would just be a short delay then he'd be on his way again. Tamatoa would understand.
Later, he realized he'd earned yet another new tattoo-a depiction of the eight-eye bat on his arm. He couldn't wait to show it to his old friend, who was surely to appreciate all the new ink he was acquiring.
The celebration went on for more than a week, then Maui said his farewells and took to his canoe again.
Tamatoa had been peacefully napping, half buried in the sand of the beach as the sunlight gently warmed him. It had become one of his favorite spots-not too hot, but not too cool either. The beach was more than wide enough to accommodate his bulk, even though he had grown still larger as time flew by. The soft sand felt quite nice and was plenty deep enough to comfortably nestle into. Really, it was the simple pleasures like this that he'd come to embrace on this boring island.
He'd been having some lovely dream when his rest was suddenly disturbed, though. Something was climbing on his shell. His thoughts were groggy as he considered that he was alone on this island; and yet something was climbing on his shell!
He came to wakefulness sharply, rising from the sand quickly and twisting his eyestalks to see what it could possibly be. His eyes widened. It was a human. No, it was two humans. "What's this?" he said in surprise. "Where did you come from?"
Clearly, the humans were not expecting to find themselves face to face with a giant crab-particularly not one that could speak-and stood frozen, paralyzed with fear, and stared at him with wide eyes in dull shock. Their terrified reactions were, frankly, priceless. Amused by their panic, Tamatoa started to laugh. He quickly cut himself short, though, when he saw the baskets they were holding. The baskets were filled with his shinies.
Fury seized him as he realized he was being robbed. His amusement vanished in an instant. "You are stealing from me?" he asked, aghast.
The humans suddenly snapped out of their shock. Abandoning their baskets, which tumbled away and spilled their treasures on the ground, the pair of them attempted to flee-scurrying across his shell to escape. Tamatoa was much quicker, though, and caught both of them up in his claws before they could even get to the edge of his carapace.
He was large enough now to hold a full grown human in each claw and they squirmed uselessly in his grip, yelling and making all sorts of racket. "Hey, where did you come from?" he demanded. Their flailing and gibbering continued, so he gave them a little shake to focus their attention. "Eugh, enough with the wailing. Just answer me."
Finally one of them managed to get their terror under control and respond. "W-we were sailing by the island," he stuttered. "We saw a s-something reflecting the light on the beach, so we came to see what it was." The human shied away as Tamatoa drew his face closer. "We thought the treasure was abandoned."
"We didn't know it was y-yours!" the other human said desperately.
That gave Tamatoa pause. He eyed the humans thoughtfully. "How far off were you when you saw the shine?"
Both the humans glanced at each other, utterly perplexed by the unexpected question, but answered nevertheless.
"Hm." Tamatoa considered this. It was not just vanity that brought the question around, either. Canoes with interesting goodies were occasionally wrecked on the shoals, but not terribly often. Imagine how many more might drift onto the treacherous sandbar if lured in by the glitter of his treasures!
He grinned at the thought. The humans, made nervous by his smile, began to struggle again. Drawn from his thoughts by their squirming, he returned his attention to the pair of thieves. He looked at them with no small amount of contempt.
He'd never forgotten his first encounter with humans. Nor had he forgotten the piercing fear that had accompanied it-the helpless feeling of the net tightening around him when he was young and fragile. He had also not forgotten that Maui had left him here to go pursue their attention, valuing it more than their centuries of friendship. And Maui still hadn't come back, apparently too busy with these dumb humans.
Tamatoa's expression hardened. The humans, sensing danger, began to flail more frantically. "P-please let us go," one begged.
"We're so s-sorry!" the other pleaded, "we p-promise we'll never come b-back!"
Tamatoa was in no mood to be merciful to thieves and there was no one on this forgotten island to judge him-no one to dissuade him. No, he was alone here and could do what he pleased.
He flashed them a wicked grin and increased the force of his grip. The humans shrieked, a collective high, thin wail. Tamatoa thought about the human with the net, all those centuries ago, who would have gladly killed and eaten him when he was just a small, drab little thing. His claws closed tighter and the screaming cut off abruptly with a pop of bone. Spines severed, the two humans were silent in his grasp.
He was about to drop them to the sand and retrieve his fallen treasures when he suddenly thought better of it. He looked contemplatively at the two limp bodies for a long moment, while centuries of artificially imposed mores fell away like a molt. Honestly, it would be a shame to let such bona fortuna go to waste.
It was the best meal he'd had since coming to this bleak island.
Maui was on his way to Tamatoa's island at last. He knew he had been delayed far too much already and was worried he might have waited too long. What if Tamatoa had forgotten about him?
There was always something, though, to interrupt his journey there. He couldn't very well turn down mortals who needed his help, after all. There was always another monster killing villagers or sinking ships or terrorizing the islands. He was a demigod, it was his job to stop all that. There was always another heroic deed that needed to be done. The adulation he received for it didn't hurt, either. He rode the wave of their affections over and over, from one deed to the next, though it was always so fleeting. When they returned to their lives and bid him farewell, it always left a hole in his heart and an emptiness crept in.
And so when the next mortal came to him, begging for aid in their time of need, he never refused them.
This time, though, there was nothing that would stop him from finally sailing off to see his old friend. He wondered if the crab missed him.
He'd gained more tattoos lately, earned through all his newest victories and accomplishments. They now covered nearly every inch of his skin. He just couldn't wait to show them off and tell Tamatoa how he'd gotten them.
He wondered what the crab was doing while he was away.
Well, he'd find out soon enough. His canoe was prepared and ready to launch-soon he'd be on his way! He put his hands against the hull and pushed it towards the water, but just as the canoe inched forward a frantic voice called from down the beach. He stopped and looked up to see a young woman racing across the sand, hair flying behind her as she ran to him.
"Maui!" she exclaimed, breathless. "Oh, Maui! We need your help!"
He pulled the canoe back up onto the sand and gave her a winning smile. "Well, what's the trouble?" he asked her, secretly eager for another chance to impress.
Grateful and relieved, the woman hurriedly told him of her village's dilemma. There was an enormous bird monster destroying their fields and pillaging their livestock. Maui grinned and agreed to help. Just a small delay, that's all. Duty calls, after all!
Tamatoa would understand.
Tamatoa was quite pleased with the system he had devised on this rotten little island. Over time he'd perfected it until it was as efficient as a finely rigged canoe. He was quite proud of his accomplishment, too. It made life more interesting and brought him new treasures, which he considered an all around win.
It was flawless.
First he would wade out into the shallow flats towards where the shoals met the strong currents. Dipping his antennae into the swift current, he utilized his long unused skills at detecting signs in the water. It was easy to determine when a boat was approaching, even when they were still beyond the horizon line.
When he detected one approaching, it was time for the next step.
The tall headland, where he had once watched for Maui's canoe on the highland before abandoning the exercise, became useful again. Tamatoa would seat himself on the top of the tall bluff and angle his shell to catch the light just so. Inevitably, the gleam would draw distant ships closer to see what was causing it.
When they grew close enough, he would scramble back down to the cove and bury himself partially in the sand to disguise his true nature-leaving just his treasure-encrusted shell visible.
The baited canoe would be drawn towards the cove-and the dangerous shoals-almost without fail. Humans were invariably greedy when it came to large piles of seemingly unattended treasure, it seemed. It was a sentiment he was familiar with and he used it to his advantage.
Many wrecked on the treacherous sandbars, requiring no additional effort to pillage. Tamatoa could simply wade out through the shallows and retrieve any trinkets or interesting things found on the wreck. Others, however, were piloted by more skilled sailors and managed to navigate safely through them to make landfall.
Well, the ones who simply capsized and were swept away by the current were the lucky ones compared to those who actually stepped foot on the island.
Well supplied by wrecks, his collection grew. Well fed by the same, Tamatoa grew as well.
Once he had this system in place, he found he was actually content for the first time since being dumped on this dull island. It wasn't as good a life as he had before, not by any stretch, but he'd grown accustomed to it and had developed this little hobby to keep himself from being overwhelmed by tedium. He was still lonely, but he wasn't bored.
He supposed now he understood all those other monsters he'd encountered over the years with Maui-all inhabiting their own little fiefdoms and doing things not too dissimilar from what he was doing here. If he were a more reflective sort, he might have felt kinship with those long vanquished monsters or even remorse at hastening their demise with the demigod. He wasn't given to such things, though, and the thought never even crossed his mind. Tamatoa wasn't like those other monsters, anyway. Maui had raised him. He was different.
Ah, Maui. Despite knowing that the demigod would never approve of what was going on here, Tamatoa still missed him. He'd given up on waiting for him to return, though. It hurt to even think about it and it made the crushing loneliness feel more oppressive-so he tried not to let his thoughts stray that direction often.
Instead, he filled his free time between enticing ships into the shallows by admiring and curating his treasures. There was so much now and it filled him with happiness. He could lose himself in the glitter of his own shell for hours. He wasn't just a crab now; he was beautiful. It didn't make the loneliness go away, but it did sooth the hurt.
This wasn't the life he had wanted, but he had made the best of it and was content.
Maui had his canoe all prepared and ready to go. It was waiting on the beach beyond the village. He was going to leave tonight, in the dark to avoid any potential distractions, and sail straight for Tamatoa's island. He was overdue to a point where he felt unbearable guilt about it now. He didn't know how long it had been exactly-but only because he wouldn't admit to himself just how long he had let this get pushed aside. He knew he had waited too long and he wasn't sure that Tamatoa was going to be very understanding at this point.
Guilt gnawed at him day and night now, tainting even the most generous praise from any mortal. No matter how hard he tried to rationalize it, there was no disguising that he had abandoned his friend. He had done the absolute worst thing he knew of. He had done the thing his parents had done to him.
He had to do this now.
While the mortals gathered around the fire in their village and traded stories, he quietly slipped away from the festivities without a word to anyone. He had made a big mistake and he had to do something about it, without being waylaid by anyone else's problems this time.
If he could get off the island unseen, he would be in the clear. It was a short sail from here to the island he had given his friend. No need to stop, no need to resupply, nothing to keep him from making it there this time.
Stealthily, he crept in the dark to where his canoe was waiting. He put his hands on the hull and got ready to heave it into the water.
There was an unseen splash from down the beach, followed by a fit of gasping coughs. Maui inwardly groaned, but went to check it out just the same.
A mortal was washed up in the surf, coughing and sputtering as he dragged himself wearily up out of the water on his hands and knees. Maui rushed to help him, pulling him from the water and supporting his weight as he stumbled up the beach. Maui helped lower the human down to the dry sand and held him steady as he caught his breath.
"Are you okay?" he asked, once the mortal had stopped coughing up water and was breathing more normally. "What happened?"
Waving Maui off for a moment while he gathered his wits about him, the mortal took a long moment to respond. "We were wrecked in the shallows near an island," he finally wheezed. "We thought there was treasure for the taking, but there was a monster instead. The rest of our crew... the rest of the crew is..." He lowered his head to his hands in despair, his whole body shaking.
"Where's this island?" Maui asked, "and what sort of monster?"
The mortal looked up, his face streaked with tears. He pointed off to the horizon. "East of here, up the current." Then he looked to Maui hopelessly. "It was a giant crab."
Maui's blood ran cold.
He grabbed the man's shoulder, perhaps a bit too roughly. "Are you sure?" he asked, voice suddenly intense.
The mortal looked startled, but nodded vigorously. "It was huge and it's shell was covered in treasure. I swear it!"
Maui's heart sank, but his expression went rigid and stony.
"The village is just over the ridge. Go," he tersely told the castaway, pointing into the dark.
The man nodded and, perhaps intimidated by Maui's sudden intensity, went quickly.
Grimly, Maui pushed his canoe into the sea. He was finally on the way to Tamatoa's island.
Tamatoa sat on the headland, eyes watching the distant currents.
A sail appeared on the horizon and he smiled.
