A wince escaped from Hinatea's lips as she sat across the dimly lit fale while the sixty-year-old Taulāsea Waiola rubbed a thin paste made from 'awapuhi, ash from burnt small bamboo leaves and kukui nut sap on her bruised skin. Waiola lifted one of her thin fingers to her lips and shushed her sharply as they sat in the same space where she, her elder granddaughters, and youngest son all slept. "Goodness sake girl, it's just a bruise stop acting like you're going to die." Waiola scolded with a fed-up tone as she continued without holding anything back, "You made your father angry, didn't you?"

"Nothing gets past you does it?" Hinatea muttered with low spirit before she yelped from the sharp whack Waiola gave to the back of her head before she finished treating Hinatea's wound by wrapping it in tapa.

"That was for Hiapo and my other sons," Waiola scolded as she turned to the young woman before her, and much to her surprise, and a little dismay, Hinatea didn't let out her hot temper as usual, in fact, all Waiola could see was a young woman weighed down by the mountains of burden on her shoulders. "Alright, go on and tell me what's bothering you, and let's just get this over with. Seeing you moping like this is making me nervous."

"It's nothing…" Hinatea replied, "I already tried talking to my dad about it… and it sounded stupid the more I thought about it."

Waiola raised an eyebrow, "Young lady, I've raised five daughters, believe me, I've had my share of stupid. Now, out with it."

Hinatea hesitated but decided to take the plunge, "Well… it turns out Dad and both feel like outsiders––not that I'm an outsider no! I mean––"

"You're right, that is stupid." Waiola retorted before she neatly placed a strand of her curly gray hair back in her thick bun before she leaned forward and waited for her to continue, when she felt Hinatea was taking too long, she sternly asked, "Are you going to continue or not?"

"Well… the thing is, what if I'm one too?" Hinatea questioned, "What if Whakaī is right, I don't look like anyone in my family… so––"

"And why would you listen to that idiot?" Waiola scolded as she put her hands on her surprisingly small hips, "He doesn't know what he's talking about, look at Hiapo, he doesn't look a thing like me but I certainly remember giving birth to him." The more Hinatea thought about it, the more she began to question if Waiola did give birth at all, her thin but aged physique certainly said otherwise.

But Hinatea pushed those thoughts out of her head and asked, "Is that why you consider your sons-in-law as your children too?"

"Well, of course!" Waiola said as if it were the obvious thing in the world, "I knew those boys since before they could walk. But I wouldn't imagine any of my daughters wanting to marry them." She muttered her breath, "They could've chosen better if you ask me." She waved her hand in the air again, "Ugh. I'm getting off-topic. The point is, don't listen to that arrogant idiot, understand?"

"Understood," Hinatea replied as she managed to smile a little, slowly that smile changed to a look of confusion, and for a moment Hinatea believed her mind was playing tricks on her when the distant hums of a conch shell were heard outside, but the confused look on Waiola's face told her otherwise. The sound seemed to grow closer with each minute.

Hiapo slowly stirred and let out a half-tired grunt as he blurted out, "What's going on?" He listened as one by one his nieces woke up behind him. He squinted his eyes while trying to get his mind to wake up, and once he realized what the sound was, he quickly got up and left the fale for the beach in front of the island. Hinatea immediately followed after him and picked up a long stick on the way.

IIIIIIIIIIII

A pair of dark brown upturned eyes, narrowed as the scene played on. Huamo had collapsed in his feverish stupor, and Tala rushed to her father's aid, before turning him over, and that's when the Ocean decided to make its presence known by rising out of the water.

Soon, that same pair of eyes glinted in victory as the ocean breeze blew against his long black half-tied hair, lifting some of the layers off his shoulders, "I knew it," The young man slowly stood up from the cliffside overlooking the small beach, as he triumphally crossed his arms over his chest. The Ocean quickly reverted to its watery form, and a few minutes later, a fisherman's canoe was deliberately being pushed by the water toward where Tala sat with her father's head resting on her lap before she gently laid him back down on the sand and quickly got on the canoe, and then the Ocean reappeared and wrapped itself around Huamo before placing him on the boat.

Whakaī always knew there was something off about this stupid island and its increasingly brainless inhabitants. Whakaī walked toward the fale talimalo with purpose, the same time the villagers had awoke to the call of the conch shell and left their houses for the beach, as he carried on––even having to push past some of them to get where he needed to go.

He climbed up the short stone steps, pushed the pola to one side, and saw both his parents were still up.

His mother Kura whom he'd inherited from his dark upturned eyes, strong features, and straight hair sat across from his father. Her hair which she'd up in a full topknot and decorated with leaves from their home island bounced as she turned to face him, and her clothing consisted of a one-piece red siapo held up by a woven tapa neck strap that went around the back of her neck to the center front part of her dress. Her slightly wide-spread eyes stared at him as she asked, "What's happening out there?"

Whakaī strode over and sat cross-legged between his parents and said, "It looks like that lowly man touched something he wasn't supposed to."

Kura knew exactly who he was referring to and reminded him, "That lowly man is married to the Chiefess,"

"Was. She's been gone for two years, Mother. She's as good as dead at this point," Whakaī stated as if it were fact. He turned and saw a brief glimpse of sadness in her eyes. "Don't tell me you're actually sad about it." He rolled his eyes at her and asked, "Why are you even sad about it anyway, I say this is the perfect time to put them all in their––"

"In their what?" Chief Turu interrupted, "You were going to say: Place. Weren't you?"

"Exactly." Whakaī spoke, his tone a little too eager for his parents' liking, "They have no High Chief, their Orator looks like he could die any day––"

"Watch your tongue." Chief Turu scolded sharply, "Think where you are before you open that stupid mouth of yours, and I respect Tui and his people. Unlike some people within my village." He looked pointedly at his son as he reached over for the ipu and took a sip of kava. "Moana is twice the warrior you'll ever be, and I will not have you speak about her that way."

Whakaī quickly turned to his mother, hoping she could see his logic in all this, but Kura narrowed her eyes in disapproval, showing that she sided with his father.

Chief Turu reminded him, "Many lives were lost during the thousand years Te Fiti lost her heart. Not, just lives Whakaī but our histories––our identities, how much is twenty-four years compared to that?" He took a deep breath as he could feel his temper rising, "Barely a ripple, it's thanks to Chiefess Moana that all of us have found ourselves again. She's accomplished more than what our people can repay."

Whakaī leaned forward and said, "That was then, this is now."

"Whakaī, you will drop this issue." Kura stated and repeated firmly when he opened his mouth, "You will drop this issue. The time for fighting is done, the time for compassion is now. You're going to go out there and offer your help."

"But––"

"So says your mother, now go," Kura told him with a sharp tilt of her head and a widening of her fierce-looking eyes.

"Yes, Mother," Whakaī replied bitterly before he pushed himself up, while Chief Turu handed his wife a newly poured cup of kava.

"Whakaī," Chief Turu called out just as his son was about to push the pola to one side, "Did you see what Huamo touched?"

Whakaī answered truthfully, "No. I was too high up the cliff, but all I know is the Ocean was about to hand that low-born brat of his something."

Chief Turu and his wife stared at each other for a moment, before he turned back to Whakaī, "You saw the Ocean rise?"

"Yes, in a tall swell, that low-born brat––"

"Tala." Kura interrupted, "She is still a Chiefess' daughter and you will call her by her proper name."

"Tala was down in that tiny sandpit they call a beach, and the Ocean wanted to give something to her, and her idiot father got in the way and grabbed the thing." Whakaī paused for a moment and asked, "Do you think he's going to die?"

"Enough." Chief Turu commanded after he finished his kava, and stood up to approach his son, "And it seems I can't trust you to put your disrespect aside, stay here with your mother and I will help them myself."

Whakaī turned to his mother with an astonished look as he asked, "Are you going to let him talk to me like that?"

Kura narrowed her eyes and asked, "Why shouldn't I? Did he say anything that wasn't true?" Her expression hardened as she stood to walk and looked her son in the eyes, "I've never been more ashamed of you in my entire life."

"Because I lost the race?" Whakaī questioned as he stared his mother down.

"No, because of your pride, I'd hope losing that canoe race taught you some humility, but I guess I had my hopes set too high with you." With that Kura headed toward the front entrance of the fale.

"Where are you going?" Whakaī questioned as he followed behind her after rolling his eyes in exaggeration and added, "This is none of our concern you know."

"So long as we're on this island, their concerns are our concerns." Kura stated before letting a disappointed exhale and she muttered softly but loud enough just for him to hear, "We should've taken Toa instead of you," Her hand had already pushed the pola to one side as she turned to look at her son over her shoulder, "At least he would know when to keep certain opinions to himself." With that, she walked out after her husband and left her son alone with his thoughts.

IIIIIIIIIIII

"Grandpa. GRANDPA!" Makoa shouted as he bounced right next to his grandfather's fala tapito before he rushed and headbutted his sleeping grandfather on his side. Tui let out a loud cry of surprise, and then he felt the throbbing just below his ribcage, just as he was ready to scold his grandson, Makoa shouted from the top of his lungs and woke everyone up, "Mom's back! Mom's back!" The little eight-year-old could barely contain himself and rushed out of the faletofa as fast as he could, still shouting the news of his mother's return for the whole island to hear.

Manaia immediately got up and handed her grandfather his walking cane as he tried to get up as quickly as he could, the euphoria was in the air as the two helped each other walk toward the front entrance.

Melelani ran over and gripped her grandfather's siapo, "Where are you going?" She asked, Tui didn't answer, instead, he lifted his youngest granddaughter onto his left arm as he took short, careful, but quick steps outside the fale, with Manaia using herself to help him maintain his balance and speed the whole way down to the beach.

IIIIIIIIIIII

Tala held on to the rope and the oar, while her father lay down on the outrigger with his injured hand hung off the edge of the outrigger and into the water. The Ocean used its abilities to clean out the effects of the powerful incantation in his hand, and it seemed to work. Huamo slowly started becoming more lucid––lucid enough to know he was on the water and a boat, and someone was steering it. The only person he knew who could steer a canoe was, "Moana…?" And for a moment in his blurry haze, he saw her there looking just as beautiful as the day they met eighteen years ago.

IIIIIIIIIIII

A large crowd had gathered out on the beach by the time Tui and the rest of his family had arrived, Hinatea quickly grabbed hold of Makoa as he attempted to zoom past her and run to the water.

Everyone's hearts had stopped in pure anticipation as renewed hope was mixed for some, one of those who felt its effects was her grandfather as Manaia helped him through the crowd as the canoe got closer.

Makoa's eyes widened with joy and then he saw who was steering the canoe, his expression immediately became expressionless as he muttered flatly, "Oh… it's just Tala."

Tui had no time for disappointment as his eyes immediately noticed the second figure lying on the outrigger, and it would seem Hiapo noticed as well as he and several of the young men rushed toward as the canoe finally reached the shore.

Tui quickly pulled his arm off his granddaughter's shoulders and trotted his way over to the scene. "What happened Tala?" Tui questioned barely containing the concern in his voice.

"I'm going to get my mother," Hiapo announced urgently after he pushed the rest of the canoe to the sand, and dashed off back to the village path, and that's when Tui noticed one of Huamo's hands hanging off as the ocean waves drew forward and back against his skin.

He trotted over and turned the limb back to front with the end of his cane, a second later he felt someone rushing beside him, and he held his cane sideways to stop Hinatea and Manaia from moving closer, "Don't touch him yet," He warned them. Hinatea tried pushing her way forward, but he used his cane to push her back and then grabbed Melelani's little hand when she tried running toward the boat, Manaia got down and pulled her baby sister into her arms.

Chief Turu and Kura watched on a few away from them, and they only caught a glimpse of what was inflicting Huamo. Unbeknownst to them Whakaī also stood amongst the crowd closest to the family. He stood there apathetically even as he saw the black charred marks between each of the finger joints on Huamo's right hand. Still, he turned his head just to see the expression on Hinatea's face, and a smirk formed on the left corner of his lips as his eyes narrowed with gleeful anticipation as the ideas kept flowing in his mind.

IIIIIIIIIIII

An hour had passed since Huamo was moved from the outrigger to Waiola's fale, and much to Hinatea and Manaia's dismay, only Tala, Tui, and two of Waiola's eldest daughters were permitted to enter, while the rest of their families had to wait outside.

Hinatea took a deep breath before she turned around to address the crowd, she started awkwardly as words were never her strength, but they were looking up to her now. "I know, it's my grandfather's job to give speeches but, uh…" She turned to Hiapo with an unsure look, he gestured for her to keep doing it while giving her an encouraging smile at the same time, she took another deep breath and continued, "He can't be here right now, so as the taupou I thank you all for being here, wishing for my father's recovery from whatever sickness he has…" She cleared her throat awkwardly before she continued trying to sound certain, "And he will recover. His name means: to be raised in the waves. If he was able to rise out of the great ocean, then he can rise above anything."

Another voice cut through the crowd with a sneering tone, "And what if he can't." Whakaī slowly stood from where he sat at the very back, he slowly made his way down toward the space between the two rows of people, "What if he will die." He emphasized the last part while maintaining that lopsided smirk on his face as his eyes remained fixated on Hinatea as he wanted to burn her very spirit, "Then your people will have no High Chief, so what will you do then?"

"We will pick a new Chief." Hinatea countered after straightening her back as she stared him down.

Whakaī chuckled snidely as he shook his head before he continued taking bold steps toward her, "Who? Your grandfather?" He inched a little closer but Hiapo and his brothers-in-law immediately put themselves between Whakaī and Hinatea. Whakaī let out a soft snort as he looked at Hinatea over all of their shoulders, he saw the determined look on her face and let out another snide chuckle, "Wait, don't tell me you think you'll be the next Chief?"

Manaia put Melelani down and stepped in while keeping the three-year-old close to her, "And what if she does?"

"Yeah!" Makoa interjected as he went to stand with Hiapo and the others, "This is our village and we make the rules!"

Whakaī retorted, "Really, do the rules also say an orphan can be Chief?" Everything went silent, most of Tuatahi's adult villagers sat with consternation written on their faces, not from some unveiling of an unknown secret to all of them, but because the secret the adults knew about had been so blatantly revealed to the one person they promised to protect.

"What are you talking about?" Hinatea questioned.

Manaia was just as perplexed as Hinatea was feeling at that moment, and this was made even more evident as she turned to face her older sister and then turned to Hiapo and his brothers-in-law, who all stood around with uneasy looks on their faces.

Hinatea felt the anger rising and she marched over toward Whakaī and declared with an accusing tone "You're a liar––"

"Oh, am I?" Whakaī countered as he towered over her and he felt a surge of triumph over her, "Why don't you ask your dad before he––" Her fist immediately collided with his cheek with enough strength to knock him off his feet.

Hinatea started heaving as she slowly stood up with her back straight while looking down at Whakaī as he rubbed his jaw before he turned to look up at her, anger flashed in his eyes the second he saw that victorious look in her eyes, and he quickly got up and rushed at her, Hinatea was all ready for it, but Hiapo and his brothers-in-law immediately jumped in as well with Hiapo lifting his arm to block Whakaī's fist. Hiapo narrowed his eyes and stated, "You're outnumbered here."

Whakaī's eyes slowly shifted to look in front of him and counted ten heads in front of him and then he turned to look behind him to see at least a thousand or more.

Whakaī straightened his back as he faced Hiapo, "Fine, I get it, but before you start defending your precious taupou why don't have her ask her father what exactly he touched to get himself so sick?"

Hinatea was ready to rip his head off, but two of Hiapo's eldest brothers-in-law held her back by the arms. Whakaī smirked and added just to get under her skin, "Or, maybe you should ask him who your real father is."

"Whakaī, that's far enough." Chief Turu spoke up as he stood, "You've made your point quite clear."

Whakaī turned to his father and said, "Not yet," He turned back to the group as he stared pointedly at Hinatea, "You look like him, your real dad. The trickster, the one who stole the heart of Te Fiti, the famed demigod Maui––" Once again Whakaī was knocked off his feet by another punch to his other jaw. Everyone's eyes went wide when they saw who exactly had punched Whakaī.

Manaia straightened her back as she looked down at Whakaī heaving, she sniffed and quickly fixed her hair and her eyes went wide as she realized what she had done.

"Whoa. Little sister I didn't know you had in you." Hinatea remarked with an impressed grin on her face and her arms crossed on her chest.

Manaia quickly turned to Whakaī in panic as she held her hands out in front of him, "I'm sorry I didn't––" The words barely left her lips when Whakaī jumped to his feet and ran right at her. Hinatea quickly swooped in immediately, got in front of her sister, and instinctively gave Whakaī an uppercut to his stomach, knocking him and the wind out of his stomach as he fell to his knees.

Once the young man was down, Chief Turu pressed his hand on his shoulder and forced him to stay down as he knelt alongside him, "On behalf of my son and my people, I sincerely apologize for Whakaī's insult to you and your people."

Hinatea stood there with her arms crossed over her chest unsure what to make of it for the moment, but there was one thing she knew that she had to check out first. She turned to look over at Manaia behind her and asked, "You good?"

Manaia slowly nodded her head while she stood there in partial shock at just how close she was to being attacked.

Hinatea turned to face Chief Turu and Whakaī again as her eyes shifted between the two. She thought seeing Whakaī being put in his place would make her happy… well, it did, but not as much as she expected. Hinatea took a deep breath approached the two and knelt in front of Chief Turu, "You don't have to apologize," She told him kindly as she took his hands and helped him up before she added just as Whakaī was about to stand but stopped the second Hinatea referred to him, "Your kid on the other hand." Chief Turu looked behind him and nodded in understanding before he bowed his head in acceptance.

Hinatea thought of the perfect punishment and let his sentence be known, "He'll be tied up in the malae." She grinned as she called for her brother, "Makoa." The little boy immediately rushed to his sister's side with an equally excited-looking grin as she told him, "You and your friends can throw as much mud on him as much as you want."

"As much as we want?" Makoa asked gleefully.

"As much as you want!" Hinatea paused for a moment and answered with a wide smile, "You know what, I say we all can throw mud at him tomorrow." Soon the sounds of cheers echoed all around them. Hearing all the noise only made the smile on her face widen as she turned to face her sister, and was confused to see her in her shocked state, so she took the plunge and tried in her own way to cheer her sister up, "Okay, I gotta be honest––I was not expecting you to actually hit the jerk. So, uh… good job Manaia––"

Manaia took a deep breath and tried her best to remain as calm and graceful as possible, "Hitting our guests isn't something to be proud of Hinatea. Even if he deserved it––"

"Exactly." Hinatea cut in, "He deserved it, so don't feel bad about it, I mean if I were you––"

"You're not me." Manaia stated as she whirled around, "And I don't want to be like you. You're always on the offense Hina, that's a problem––a really big problem––"

Hinatea was taken aback and frankly very offended, "Hey, I'm just saying you impressed me––"

"I don't want anyone to be impressed! Especially Makoa and Melelani." Manaia stated, "The last thing I want is to be a bad influence on them like you––" She saw what their brother was doing in the corner of her eye, "Makoa put that rock down!" The eight-year-old boy stopped in his tracks and grumpily dropped the rock he was about to throw at Whakaī's face. Manaia shook her head in disappointment, "Mom would be so disappointed."

Hinatea scoffed as she put her hands on her hips, "Yeah. She'd be disappointed at what a big coward you're turning––"

Waiola suddenly cleared her throat to make her presence known, as she'd been silently standing at the entrance to her fale for the last ten minutes and saw everything that unfolded outside. Hinatea quickly turned and raced up the stone steps. Manaia walked over and picked Melelani up to follow after her.

"How is he?" Hinatea asked at the same time her younger siblings quickly rushed to stand behind her, as they all waited anxiously for the news.

Waiola pulled her pola to one side and told them, "One at a time, and since Hina's the eldest she gets to go in first." Soon the sounds of protests from Manaia and Makoa followed. Still, Waiola shut them both up with a single hand raise before she motioned Hinatea to enter, leaving Manaia to stand there with Melelani on her hip.

Makoa was standing by her side with his arms crossed in annoyance as he declared with a deadpan expression, "Why do all the good things always happen to her?"

IIIIIIIIIIII

Hinatea stepped inside and saw grandfather sitting to her father's left and Tala to their father's right, while Aimata and Mele sat by each side of Huamo's head, while the two continued trying to bring his fever down while he continued mumbling the same thing, he had been saying for the past hour, "When her skin touched the fire, she didn't burn…"

Hinatea turned to the tāulasea with a concerned look as Waiola sat down by the top of her father's head, Hinatea voiced her main concern, "Is he going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Waiola stated casually, "We managed to counter most of the effects that incantation––" She held her hand up to stop Hinatea from talking, and then carried on, "––had on your father, but as you can see it's a little stronger than what we've faced before."

"Before?" Hinatea questioned as her confusion became even more evident by the minute, she turned to her grandfather for a moment before she turned to Waiola, "What do you mean––" She physically stopped herself from asking that question and reminded herself of what was important, "Can't you do more for him?"

"I can't, but you can," Waiola stated bluntly before she turned and gave Tui a sharp look. Hinatea turned her head toward where her father lay still mumbling the same phrase, as she reached over and took his hand before she looked up at Waiola and her grandfather before she asked, "How?"

Tui took a deep breath, reached for his walking cane, and shakily rose to his feet with Tala letting him use her shoulder as a boost to help him stand, he took short but quick steps toward Hinatea as he told her while she stood up, he took her hand before he led her out through the back of Waiola's fale, "You'd best come with me. There's something I need to show you."