I know some of you are going to really hate me for this update. But! It's necessary to get the ball rolling and head towards the climax of the story.
I am aware many of you wondering when Maui would finally reveal himself. Rest assure he will :-) you'll see him do that in a couple of chapters, and wouldn't be more interesting if Tane, our beloved antagonist, were thrown into the mixture?
"Because I…―" he stalled because in front of him Moana was studying his queer expression intently.
"Because I what?" the girl urged impatiently, arching her brows full of question.
"Because I am kind… generous….and handsome!" replied another voice coming from behind the bush, revealing a familiar scrawny frame.
Moana and Maui froze where they were, expression of sheer surprise, confusion and most of all aggravation, plastered across their face.
Unfortunately, the source of their annoyance was none other than Tai, who was smiling suavely, oblivious that he just intervened with one life changing phenomenon between the two of them. Seconds later, Anahera emerged from behind her brother, heaving, and puffing from the lack of oxygen.
"Tai, I told you to…―" Anahera's eyes widened when she realized what her brother had caught the two of them in the most critical time. She directed a discreet, apologetic smile at Maui, who pinched the bridge of his nose to channel his frustration.
"Did I...did I disturb you two?" asked the lanky man, grinning innocently.
Maui was about to reprimand him. But, what would he say?
Thanks to you, I may become a bachelor for another decade―ugh no, that sounded pathetic!
Or…
Don't you know, you just destroy my chance to steal someone's fiance?―Dang, no. This could potentially make a scandalous headline news.
Since Moana and her friend just stood mutely, unable to explain themselves, the Prince went on. "I take that as a 'no' then. Good, because I am here to deliver an important news…" he paused for dramatic suspense. "My Father has generously invited you two for the formal dinner in celebration for his thirty years reign. Don't worry," he added calmly. "You still have a week to sort your outfit."
What―?! Did he come barging like a tsunami just to invite them to a party?
"Thanks for the invitation…!" Maui replied through gritted teeth, before stomping out of the scene. Moana trailed behind him without saying a word.
Anahera scowled at her brother. "Now, look what have you done!"
"What?" Tai retaliated cluelessly, only to be answered by Anahera infuriated scoff.
The prince suddenly realized he had done something fatal, showing his nervous wince to his sister. "He isn't going to kill me, is he?"
"Well, if he did. Rest assure I'm not going to help you."
After the epic intervention by the Prince (which obviously couldn't be blamed, he is the Prince after all ) Maui went on the execute his plan to charm Moana with a romantic musical number. With a little help from Anahera, he was set to have private lessons with a few most distinguished musicians in the islands. After much discussion on his finger size and his vocal range, the general consensus had decided for Maui to try a Porutu, a kind of flute longer than what he had seen Tane demonstrated.
The three-hour marathon lesson drained everything out of Maui. Everything. His breaths were spent, his throat was dry, his lips were sore, and his legs numbed with pins and needles from sitting cross-legged far too long. Just the physical agony itself won't deter him from trying. What gutted him the most was because he was terrible at it, let alone planning to make a girl swoon in overwhelming delight. The notes he made sounds like a painful moan than a melancholic tune. It was plain hard to endure on his own ears, let alone to stir someone's mood for romance.
Understanding that his proficiency to play a musical instrument would not produce the desired effect, Maui ventured on a different direction.
"So, you planned to charm her with a dance?" Anahera raised her brows when Maikai stated the change of plan.
"Yes, she'll be very impressed," Maui went on, pulling his trademark smile.
"Of course it is," Anahera mumbled, rolling her eyes sardonically as she turned to leave.
"Well, you've never seen me dance! Now, that's a sight to behold," Maui insisted.
"Fine," Anahera caved in. "I will arrange an informal dinner tomorrow, and we shall dance afterward."
"Brilliant! I can't wait!"
True to her words, the next night, Anahera had gathered a few citizen to join them on her impromptu soiree. There was a generous spread of food, fire burning in the center of the congregation and soothing music floated in the air, all summed up the recipe for a great evening. Deep down, Maui was very impressed with Anahera's organizational skill, had he not met her he wouldn't have believed it was impossible to arrange something so quick and effortless.
As their dug into their dinner, the musician began strumming an energetic tune, encouraging the crowds to rise on their feet.
At first, Maui boldly soldiered on, entering the arena with much bravado. But it seemed like fate had played another cruel trick on him.
The lead dancer, Kona, an older woman with a stocky build, decided that tonight they would do the Ori dance. Without further questioning the lady, Maui splashed a generous grin and agreed to join the public demonstration (to the delight of a few young girls who immediately rose up to join him, trying to attract his attention). The ordeal didn't become immediately apparent to Maui, not until he realized the movement clearly wasn't for him.
"No...no, Maikai, like this!" Moana stood up and began showing the gait of her hips followed by the fluent movement of her hand."Swing your hips more, no...no… together with your knee!"
Sucking a measured breath, Maui followed her instruction. Unfortunately, whatever his brain processed, contrasted extensively with the things his limbs were doing.
"This is hard!" Maui whined while the crowds of man and woman blustered in laughter watching his lame attempt. His movement looked tipsy, stiff and awkward. About a dozen of keen eyes were on him, congregating around the fire, eating, dancing and drinking merrily. While Maui had done a lot more embarrassing, self-humiliating stuff in Motonui, he hardly could bring himself to display the same self-confidence persona in front of a bunch of strangers.
Moana was surprised to see Maikai appeared hesitant and unsure of himself―an expression very untypical of him. He was always so confident and smooth. Somehow, she speculated that Maikai wanted to impress her with his magnificence, showing what he be willing to do for her. But suddenly he was faced with reality doing something he was completely incompetent at, and worse, something she excelled at.
Maui berated himself for even suggesting this ludicrous idea. He might be a good Haka dancer, but Ori was designed and meant for women, to display their wonderful curvature, effeminate twirling and fluid movement of their hips. Yet, he was so keen to impress Moana that he had jumped impulsively at the idea, just to realize how preposterous he must look doing it. (And agreeing to wear the silly multicolor skirt was an added point to his stupidity).
"You just need practice, Mister. And perhaps loosen up a bit," Kona remarked. Despite her unseeming figure and lacking in curvature department, Kona was the best, most sensuous Ori dancer in Kabara.
"Don't let a woman like me beat the hell out of you!" she chided Maui and smacked him so hard with her meaty palm it created a loud sound."You move like you have constipation. C'mon, it supposed to be a sensual dance, just think as if you are on... on a gorgeous girl…!"
Maui wasn't sure why intuitively he looked over his shoulder, just to see Moana directing a warm smile at him. He became oddly self-conscious and immediately tore his gaze away. Now, that's doesn't help. Maui berated, gulping the sizeable knot on his throat. Meanwhile, his awkward performance certainly had become the best entertainment for the night, everyone hooted and whooped feverishly at the comical sight.
Maui's embarrassment certainly served as a catalyst to the ample woman to tease him even further. "I swear, have you really ever been on a girl? A hot bachelor like you should have some experience!"
Well, I won't be on a girl in front of this many audiences for sure. The voice in his head said, but his lips remain cruelly paralyzed."Ugh..." Maui squeaked low and strained, keenly aware of his awkwardness. Even though his reaction was somewhat looked unmanly, Moana found this terribly heartwarming.
"Well, then this dance would make a man out of you!" Kona went on and yanked the hapless man's limbs to give it a forceful twirl. A few girls made use of the chance to approach the hapless hunk and showcasing the curve of their bodies as they danced. The crowds gushed in laughter again, until Moana mercifully grabbed his hands and whispered reassuringly. "You did great, may I have your dance?" she beamed at him.
Well, according to the plan, Maui was supposed to be the one who said that, but he was too elated to even think straight.
Emboldened by her words and thrilled by the touch of her, Maui tried to sway his hips again. Not much different in audience's response, they still laughed uncontrollably, but Maui hardly felt ashamed of himself, because the goddess incarnation in front of him was smiling profoundly. The gush of emotion suddenly overwhelmed him, and the words just rolled from his mouth. "I love you, Curly," he whispered softly, just when Moana glanced away, and the music was loud enough to dissolve his words from reaching her ears.
After the dance, Moana sat alone, collecting her thoughts by curving shoreline of Kabara. Anahera and Tai already disappeared somewhere, perhaps tending some political duties, while Maikai had offered to assist a villager, Roha, to fix the roof of her house.
Under the wan moonlight, the ocean moved and soaked the sandy beach below, shattering its silver surface into thousand crystal pieces.
Moana smiled at herself reminiscing the ultimately crazy endeavor of styling a silly hairdo on Maikai. Both of them were warned never again to spend the night together in her fale, but that shocked expression her Aunt beheld was indescribably rare that Moana could giggle to herself reminiscing that.
And today, although Maikai had failed to show what kind of talented dancer he was, the effort itself had earned enough credit for him to gain her favor. Moana found herself inexplicably drawn to his boisterous and unsubtle tendencies. It may be illogical and irrational, clearly far from what she had envisioned when their friendship first bloomed.
He understood her, cherished her and….―
Moana stumbled forward when she heard a modest voice from behind. "Moana Waialiki?" The man prompted. "I am sorry… I don't mean to startle you. One of the villagers told me where you were." The phantom revealed himself from under the shadow of coconut grove. A man, perhaps in his late thirties, wearing a traditional skirt, stood a reasonable distance from her.
"I heard from your Aunt, Venerable Emere, that you are keen to talk to my wife, Ngaire?"
Acknowledging the man wasn't a threat, Moana relaxed and invited him to sit next to her. After introducing himself, the man went on. "So, I heard you are engaged to the Chief of Kailua―Tanemahuta?" He smiled while gesturing towards the pikorua bracelet that dangled from Moana's wrist as a way of congratulating.
"Yes," Moana replied, a little more dejected that she intended. "But this one," she pointed at the bracelet,"...was actually from my friend, the Demigod Maui." Before he left without a word, Moana spoke ruefully to herself.
"Oh….Yes―yes. Of course, it is," he shook his head as though reprimanding himself.
Moana was left confused by his remark. It sounded like as though this man had expected Maui naturally to know the meaning behind the pikorua symbols. But, she decided to keep the question for later.
There was a prolonged pause, and with hesitation, he finally spoke up. "The reason why I came here is actually to warn you."
"To warn me?" Moana responded tentatively, wasn't sure whether she wanted to hear what came next.
The guy cleared his throat. "You see…. Despite their close ties to Maui, people of Kailua aren't that fond of your Demigod friend. It occurred to me that I should share this detail with you before you have a chance to speak to my wife."
Moana was alarmed by his sentence. "Close ties? What kind of close ties?"
"Yes," the man added. "Haven't your fiance told you that the people from Kailua are direct descendants from the Demigod's brothers?"
What?! Moana's throat tightened abruptly, eliciting a sharp gasp.
It was one of the piece of the puzzle that connected a lot of things. No wonder the people from Kailua bore the similar resemblance to Maui―they were all big, hulking giants. No wonder that Maui knew what pikorua was, it must have been subconsciously grafted in his mind, perhaps the last piece of connection he had with his parents. It was their family symbols!
"I take it he hasn't then," the man retorted, reading her reaction after Moana failed to vocalize a definite answer. Not long after that, he excused himself, stating that he left his children under the neighbor's supervision so he could talk to her.
Truthfully there was a lot of questions running in Moana's mind, but her brain was tangled in a confused knot that she couldn't utter anything.
Why would Tane want to kill his own distant uncle?
Had Maui really done something so vicious to his brothers that he never told her?
The next morning, Moana woke up sluggishly from her disturbed sleep. At some point, she wasn't even sure she could differentiate between dreamscape and reality. But, she couldn't afford to be distracted―they were going to return the pendant to Namuka.
After much discussion, Moana decided that she was going to approach the guards and tried to explain herself civilly. Maui was skeptical with her proposal, but he acknowledged they had no time to argue (and knowing Moana's stubbornness, they could argue for another decade before coming to a sensible compromise).
At first, her plan seemed to run smoothly. After sailing for a day or two, they arrived on the Namuka's sandy beach.
Moana calmly executed her explanation together with exaggerated body language which they had tailored to be as simple as possible to understand. The guards on duty appeared to capture the meaning of the message ushered them to the large courtyard in front of a marae, where they were surrounded by more guards. Maui had a bad premonition about this.
An old man, dressed in a formal robe, emerged from the door of the marae and accepted the pendant nonchalantly. His face remained stoned and expression unreadable.
Thinking that their mission was accompanied, Maui was the first to bow down to excuse himself. He was keen for them to get out of that place. True enough, the old man muttered some incoherent words, which translated into the guards closing in on them.
"Mo, run!"
That was the most plausible plan that surfaced on Maui's head. He plucked Moana from the ground and launched her towards the far end of the courtyard, praying that he didn't sprain her ankle in the process. The girl did as she commanded, and disappeared behind the dense of the coppice with a bunch of guards chasing after her.
As soon as he was sure Moana had run far enough. He prepared his stance and concentrated. A strange silvery effulgence flashed, and he turned into a giant hawk. The guards stunned, struggling to process what just happened. Maui didn't waste the opportunity to abscond and catch up with Moana.
As soon as the glimpse of the girl appeared within his view, Maui transformed back into his disguise.
Moana looked relieved when she saw him made it with just a minor cuts on his skin. From where they stood, they could hear the rumbling footfalls of the angry guards.
"This way...!" Moana led the way. Putting up more pace into her legs, Moana was aware they were a few seconds distance away from their pursuer and that this was their chance to shake those sentries off of their trail.
Unfortunately, as they cut into the depth of the forest, it was quickly made clear that the island was divided by a large river. No matter where they navigated, blocking their way was a wide ravine with roaring torrents of water gushing violently underneath.
With limited options in his human form, Maui could only think to try and cross the crevasse as the only way out. He moved his hand, calculating the trajectory, analyzing the distance and judging how much leg power needed to project both of their weights to land safely on the other side.
Moana saw him methodologically move his palm and squinted his eyes, brows curled in deep concentration. Whatever this guy was planning to do, Moana knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.
"Do you trust me?" came Maikai's voice. The question felt so absurd in the situation and context they were on.
"Ugh, I don't think so," Moana deadpanned.
Maui chuckled, amused with Moana sense of sarcasm. "I take it as a yes then." He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to gain momentum. "When I say run… you run, when I say jump… you jump," he explained.
Unfortunately for them, the guards emerged sooner than they thought. Even when they had time to run and jump, the runway was a little too short to Maui's liking, but they had very little choice.
"Run!" he instructed before timely barked another order. "Jump!"
They both did, but somewhere in the air, Maui lost his grip on Moana's hand, and she landed a little too close to the rim of the ledge, while Maui was safely standing a few pace away from her. Suddenly, the ground underneath her feet began to crack, unable to withstand a sudden extra load. Part of the rock broke, and the earth drifted, sliding down. Moana desperately hopped to the rim of the ledge, but on placing her footing, the rock collapsed under her toes.
Maui hastily ran in an attempt to grab her hand, but before he could move any single muscle, The entire ledge crumbled off its support and toppled into the river. In pure horror he watched gravity take her lithe form together with the debris of the cliff.
"Mo…!" In his panic, without hesitation, he left his safe footing and jumped.
Maui swam rigorously against the unforgiving current of the river. Immediately, his sight registered Moana's frantic figure, desperately fighting the same battle as he was. After laboring relentlessly (and a little bit of luck!), he gradually made his way closer to her and managed to capture one of her limbs, but both of them were still being tossed and turned by the merciless current.
"We have to swim to the side!" Maui declared, shouting louder against the noise of the gushing water.
Still holding on to his neck, Moana could only reply with a weak nod. Maui realized how exhausting it must have been for her, and the torrent was getting progressively violent as the river flowed downstream.
As he toiled to pull both of them to the side, he heard an alarming roar, like a hungry beast that was coming from somewhere….. down below.
Both of them knew what it was even without looking: a hundred meter drop waterfall.
"Maikai, you swim to the side….!"
With the vestiges of her strength, Moana forcefully wriggled from his grip. But her effort didn't get her anywhere.
He glared at her. "What? Are you crazy?! I mean, how could I...―"
"We will both die if you hang on to me," she pleaded, realizing Maikai's grasp on her waist was far too strong to break. "Now go! Please―! Save yourself!"
His brows furled tightly and there was a strange mixture of sadness, determination, and anger in his eyes as he stared back at her. He was muted for a few second before biting a sharp "Never!" indignantly.
Before Moana could react, or impede Maikai from his illogical, reckless reaction, he pressed her closer to him and quickly tugged her waist to his torso, encasing her with his broad figure as they plummeted and swallowed by the raging water.
Note: I know… it's been a while since I mentioned about the bracelet Maui gave Moana back in chapter 9. I bet only those of you who binge-read this story noticed. Because I actually drafted this chapter long ago… even I forgot that Maui did give her that bracelet! (But this is an important clue, it's the missing link). Also, checkout the picture made by othersketches (Tumblr) for this chapter!
Preview of Chapter 20 will be posted on my Tumblr, and a little spoiler to those of you who had been wondering when Maui going to reveal himself:we'll see that in Chapter 21.