The cave was obviously once a home. That much was clear to Makani. A huge cot was pushed against one wall and empty, broken barrels and baskets were littered over the floor. It looked like a temporary home that had been left in haste.

None of this pointed to Maui or his location, however. It was the carvings that had shocked Makani.

Makani knew from Gramma's stories that Maui was covered in tattoos showing his adventures. Gramma had later told her, just before she left on her quest, that one of the tattoos involved her own quest that she had gone on so many years ago.

The paintings on the ceiling and walls of the cave were clearly about Maui. It showed his greatest feats, such as pulling the sun across the sky or growing the coconut tree. These paintings were, Makani assumed, just like the ink painted on Maui's skin.

But the biggest one, the one that took up most of the room, was the one that Makani had gasped at.

It was her gramma. Her gramma, as a much younger woman. She was glancing downwards, a small smile playing over her face, her dark hair tumbling to the side in an invisible breeze. She was dressed in the typical wear of a young female islander, and Makani wondered if this was taken from the first time Maui had met Gramma. She doubted it; Gramma would be looking right at him, defiantly staring him down. It was who she was. Not this secretive, smiling girl.

But then again, maybe this was a version of Gramma. After all, Makani hadn't known about a huge, defining event in her life until mere days ago, mere days before her death. Perhaps the Moana that Maui had known was this girl on the wall

Makani had nearly forgotten about Lulani and Akela until Akela said loudly, destroying the mood, "Who's that girl?"

"My gramma," Makani said breathlessly, crossing the cave to press her hands over the hands of the drawing, hanging in fists at her sides. "This is Moana."

"She's pretty," Akela noted.

"Maui lived here," Lulani murmured as if scared of being overheard. "He stayed with us until very recently, and then he left."

"How recently was he here? When did he leave?" Makani demanded, her excitement rising. Even though she had missed the demigod, she could still find him with the help of these two children.

"He left right before the disease set in. He's not very loved on this island," Lulani said darkly. "Most people blame him for the disease."

"But - but why would he make a disease to kill your people?"

"Who knows? Who cares?" Lulani snapped, and Makani realized that Lulani was one of the "most people."

"Did you ever get the chance to speak to him?" Makani tried instead, glancing from Lulani to Akela.

"Oh yeah, all the time!" Akela exclaimed happily, and Makani knew that he was either too young to understand the sentiment of betrayal that his sister held, or he simply didn't share the opinion. "He played with us kids all the time. He told us stories and let us ride on his shoulders and he would turn into whatever animal we wanted!"

Makani thought of the wonder of growing up with a demigod, only to have him abandon her just as she needed him most. She was starting to understand Lulani's reaction to Maui's departure.

"Did he tell you he was leaving?" Makani asked.

"No. Akela and a few other friends of his came here to get him to come play with them, and he wasn't here. These baskets were emptied of all of his supplies and things. His hook was gone. And all of these paintings were here."

"They hadn't been here before?"

"No."

"She wasn't here before," Akela said loudly, pointing to Moana.

"No, Akela, none of them were," Lulani said patiently. "He painted them the night before he abandoned us."

"But that painting wasn't here! When I came to get him and he was gone, that wall was empty!" Akela insisted.

Makani felt her heart beating faster and she glanced around, as though the demigod might be hiding in a corner. "You haven't been back in this cave since Maui left you?"

"No. Why would we?" Lulani asked stiffly. She obviously didn't understand the significance of this painting.

"Lulani, Maui must have been back to paint this!" Makani exclaimed. "Which means something was making him think of my gramma, which means he might have known she was sick, which means he might already be at my home island!"

"Are you going back, then?" Akela asked sadly.

"No, I can't. Just in case he moved on to another island. I need to go now, though. Please, can we go back to the beach?"

Lulani nodded and led the way.

Makani's thoughts were a storm. This had been Maui's home for so many years - roughly fourteen, if she had guessed Lulani's age correctly! But why would he choose to settle down here rather than Moana's island? Why would he stay here for so long when other island needed his help, only to abandon this one just as tragedy struck?

There were a lot of mysteries surrounding the disappearing demigod, and while Makani had more hope than she previously had, there was still a note of despair growing within her.

Perhaps Maui was not the demigod that Gramma had believed him to be. Perhaps Maui had changed.