Moana stared at the bird a moment, and then stirred. "Are you ok?" Maui asked, concern in his voice.

Moana sat up, disentangling herself from his arms. Maui sat, bird in fist, eyes darting all over her, looking for signs of damage. Moana placed a hand on his knee. "Maui. I have to ask you something."

His eyes flew to her face, dove into her eyes and stared at her as he gave her his complete attention.

"Maui. In my village we have a saying." Maui was all ears, leaning forward, not daring to miss a single word.

"The saying goes like this:" Moana said, looking deep in his eyes, not daring to blink. "Using a feather is playful, but using the whole bird is kinky. I would love to hear your views on what it's called after you add honey to the mix." She quirked her eyebrow at him, eyes flicking to the bird.

Maui blinked. Looked at her in confusion a moment, looked at the bird in his hand, looked back at her. Then his cheeks tinged pink. "Uh..." He said, releasing the bird with a sudden movement. It squawked and flapped ponderously away. Maui's face burned bright red. "It's not... I wasn't... This isn't..." He fell over his words, completely tongue tied.

Moana laughed and sat back. She felt oddly heavy, feeling the labor of breathing a lot more than she thought she should. She felt her heart beating steadily in her chest. Despite this, she felt good. "What happened? How did we get here?"

Maui took a steadying breath, settled himself in front of her. "Kuolokele gave you a spirit severing potion. He threw your spirit god knows where with no tether to come back." He reached out and brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek. "I almost lost you." His eyes looked overbright.

Moana chewed this over in her mind, then dismissed it. "Doesn't matter, I got what I need. Maui-"

Maui's fist slammed into the earth, causing a huge indentation. "Doesn't matter? Moana! I told you something wasn't right! He nearly cast you adrift! Do you know what could have happened to you! Would have, had I not found a way to bring you back?"

"Maui, what's done is done. I'm sorry I scared you, but if I had it to do over, I wouldn't change a thing! I found out what I needed to know!"

They stared at each other in heated silence. Glaring at each others obstinate stance. Gradually, the anger faded from Moana first, she slumped slightly and tentatively reached out to Maui. "Maui, I'm sorry. I really am."

He sat there a moment more before his shoulders relaxed and he took her hand. "Just, be more careful. K? I really do know what I'm talking about at times."

Moana ducked her head and gave him a shy grin. Maui sighed heavily and looked out into the forest. "And we are no closer to figuring out how to get you to demigod status."

"But we do know what's going on with the ocean. Maui, the merpeople are stealing the ocean's mana!" Slowly, interrupted by many questions from Maui, Moana related the events that had transpired.

"It sounds like an ancient vampiric ritual. Transferring the essence of one to another. Typically there is a focusing object that the essence passes through from one individual to another. You saw no such object? Would have been like a crystal, or staff." Maui asked.

Moana thought a moment, then shook her head. "If I had to say anything was the focus of the ritual it would be the dancing mermaids."

Finger to his chin, Maui thought about this. "No mortal or even part-mortal could take on that much mana alone. Not even a god, probably. It's possible that the dance could be it. An insubstantial thing being the focus would mean that the full essence couldn't be completely transferred."

"So how do we destroy a dance?" Moana asked.

"We kill the dancers, and make the whole lot of them forget the dance somehow." His brow furrowed, contemplating the daunting task. "I think I know a way."

Moana sat forward. Maui smiled at her. "First, we need to get you someplace to rest. I'm not-" he held up a hand, stopping her from arguing "saying you're not going to help. I'll actually need your help with some of this. But you can't do anything worthwhile in your current condition." Moana pouted a moment, then nodded.

Maui stood, helping her to her feet. "You up for a quick trip? There are some supplies that I need on an island relatively close to here. You can sleep once we get there."

The island he took her to was an intense jungle. Vegetation choked every inch of the island. Maui's broad chest broke through the undergrowth, giving her a wide swath to follow him in. Before long they came to a rocky outcropping, Maui stooped and disappeared into a low entrance. After a moment, he stuck his head out and said "You comin' curly?" Moana followed.

The cave was snug and dry. While there wasn't a ton of room, there was enough for them to stretch out comfortably. It was cool and quiet compared to the sweltering heat and the raucous calls of the birds outside. Maui settled himself down then held his arms out to her with a small smile. Smiling herself, Moana sank down into his arms. He pulled her close, kissing the top of her head, rested his cheek against her hair. Smiling happily, he laid down, pulling her with him. She cuddled into his chest with a sigh and relaxed into his embrace. Maui slid his hand down her shoulder and ribs, coming to rest at her waist where he rubbed his thumb over her soft skin. "So what was that about feathers and honey you were talking about earlier?" he asked playfully. Moana's soft snore was her only answer. Chuckling, Maui let himself slip off into sleep.

Moana sat in a clearing and pounded a rock against the rubbery hide of the fruit Maui had brought her. He had made frequent trips to the forest, bringing many different roots, fruits and leaves with each trip. Asking Moana to do various things ranging from squeezing the liquid into a bowl shaped leaf to finely cutting up roots into small squares. She had followed his instructions without question.

"How's it going, curly?" Maui asked, coming into their clearing with the bloody hide of some animal.

"On my last one." She said, flipping the fruit over and starting on the other side.

"Good. When you're done with that, can you get some seawater in that basket you finished earlier?" He replied as he started scraping the hide.

"Mmmhm." Moana said, focusing on her task. "So, what are we doing?"

"Making a potion. Basically what I intend to do is this." Maui sat back, inspecting the hide, then restretched it back out and continuing his work. "This potion is really powerful anti-memory potion, but it needs to be spread on the skin. Not very useful for 'top dwellers' unless you're giving a massage or something.

"Mmmm That sounds nice!" Moana interjected with a grin.

Maui flashed her a smile "Later. I'll work all your oo's and ah's out if you like." Moana blushed, dropped her eyes back to her work, fighting the urge to smile foolishly.

"Anyways. This stuff is oil based, so it'll float and not dilute in the water. If I can get down to where the merpeople are, dump it in the water where they perform their rituals, it should permeate the area pretty quickly and make them all forget the rituals, what they're doing, and even potentially who they are." Maui sat back on his heals, looking at the hide again before setting it up to cure. "The only problem is if they don't know who they are, they'll scatter when they see scary me. I need them to want to stay at the area until the dancers are taken care of. Otherwise, the ocean will never get its mana back."

"Ok. So you take care of the merpeople. I'll hide until the dancers are taken care of. Once they're gone, I'll sneak up and dump the potion and we'll be gold." Moana said, finally bursting open the leathery fruit.

Maui stopped what he was doing and lifted his head to look at her. "Come again?" he asked.

"I thought you said later!" Moana quipped, hiding a grin.

A smile flitted across Maui's face before he became serious again. "Princess, just how do you think you're going to get down to the ocean floor?"

Moana froze. She hadn't thought about that. She looked at him, brows furrowed. A horrible thought blooming in her mind.

"On top of that, Moana, this stuff-" Maui gestured towards the small pile of finished ingredients "-will affect you too. This isn't temporary. You will forget everything. Who you are. Who your people are. Your dreams. Your hopes." he swallowed noisily. "Me." he whispered.

She stared at him, hairs prickling on the back of her neck. "Are you going to forget too?"

Maui shook his head "I'm a demigod. This stuff won't affect me."

"But," she said, temper rising. "You can't go alone. The ocean is my friend! I can't let you do this alone! I want to help!"

He stood, dusting off his knees and walked over to her. Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder he looked gently at her. "You are helping, Moana. You're helping me make it. You're helping me get ready to do this. This is the kind of stuff that I do. I'll take care of it."

Moana glared at him in impotent rage. Brushing off his hand and jumping to her feet she yelled "It's not fair! I should be there!"

Maui stepped back and looked at her. "Unless you know of a way to breathe underwater, I've no clue how you can even go down there. And no-" He caught her chin, forcing her to look at him. "-asking Kuolokele for more of that vile stuff is NOT an option. For one, he's incapable of even going on that trip again. For two, he lost a lot of bees collecting the stuff he needed to make it. Even if he was willing to help, he is incapable of being able to do so." Kissing her forehead, he rubbed her arms. "Let me do this. Ok?"

Moana reluctantly nodded, hating herself for doing so.

The potion bubbled gently in its waterproof basket. Set close to the fire, they had added ingredients slowly, stirring often. It glowed faintly and had a deep greenish tinge to it. Maui finished up a long thick thong he had made from the hide and tied around a large glass jar he had rooted up somewhere. Moana stood back as he slowly poured the contents of the basket into the jar. Securing the lid tightly, Maui handed the jar gingerly to Moana, instructing her to ready their boat while he cleaned up. A few moments later Maui joined her and helped her finish up. They sailed out in sullen silence.

Maui was fairly certain from Moana's description of the ritual place and her vague memory of flying through the air back to her body, of where he needed to go. By late afternoon they had arrived. Moana looked at him with a mixture of feelings as he readied himself. Checking over his hook and confirming all was well, he draped the thong with the jar over his head. "Cheer up, princess. I'll be home in time for supper!" he said, cheekily. Unable to hold back his excitement for the upcoming escapades. Moana hugged him and then stepped back as he dove into the water with a loud "Cheeee-Hooo!" Gloomily she watched him sink into the ocean depths.

Notes

As always, thank you for reading. We're drawing to a close people! One chapter, maybe two more!

Thoughts, critiques and criticism welcome and wanted.