"Let me tell you a story…"

The sounds of sanding and the rubbing of a hibiscus stick inside an even bigger hibiscus wood, then came the exhale of a blower's breath on the smoldering coconut fibers, before the fibers were waved around to air the smoke before it was blown one more giving the breath of life. The fire immediately sparked giving light to the unusual darkness in the mid-afternoon and revealing the storyteller's face within the fale.

With her long graying wavy hair bound up in a full topknot. A red hibiscus perched behind her right ear. The middle-aged woman, dressed in deep red puletasi with a patterned tapa cloth wrapped around her waist, was appropriately named after her great-grandmother. The storyteller set the carved coconut with the unlit candlenuts inside. She set the lit coconut fibers on the candlenuts and placed the husk down as she turned to face her young audience, most of them were the village children, two were her grandchildren, two were her brother's grandchildren, and one was her youngest sister's child. The children were scared by the sudden disappearance of the sun as it appeared to be swallowed by the "dark circle of death" as the young ones called it.

The fifty-year-old woman continued as she decided against the original tale, she wanted to tell the children, she walked over to the youngest of the group, and balanced the scared child against her hip before she booped the child's nose, causing the little one to giggle as she continued, "…of a young woman who faced her deepest fears and sought answers to find where she belonged, and this girl lived on this very island a long time ago."

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Thirty-seven-years ago.

With a grunt and another mountain crack to push herself up through, a sixteen-year-old Hinatea pulled herself up against the second tallest peak on her island and finally reached the top. She stood up, her long thick curly hair swaying slightly in the breeze as she turned around to look at the glistening sea toward the shore where wooden pieces of her failure floated in the water, from the mast to the main hull of her canoe.

The several hours before leading up to this disaster she played up in her mind, like a newly fresh lash to her pride.

IIIIIIIIIIII

Hinatea closed her eyes and sucked on her lips before she turned back toward the ocean in front of her, where the competition was supposed to take place… where she was supposed to be on the beach standing in front of her two sisters, one Manaia was everything she wasn't, she was lean, graceful, and the spitting image of their mother… with the except of her soft shiny wavy hair, and her personality; she was a wuss and a bit officious. Who did she think she was telling her what to do? True they both were the same age––but as far as Hinatea was concerned she was the eldest by one minute.

The call of the conch shell snapped her out of her stewing annoyance, and Hinatea looked back her round eyes going wide. She took another deep breath before whispering, "Sorry Mom." Hinatea then gathered up all of her hair and rolled it up into a bun before she reached over and fastened the mask over her face before she headed over toward the small canoe she'd borrowed from one of the visiting Wayfinders last night.

She took a deep breath and said to herself, "Okay, okay, remember all the basics Hiapo taught you yesterday." Hinatea saw the waves and gulped before muttering, "And hope for the best." She lifted the back end of the canoe and then pushed it out to sea.

This had to be one of the craziest—stupidest even—stunts she'd ever done. There was no way she would pull this off. But, there was no way she was going to let anybody else fight her battles.

Not by a long shot.

Especially when that arrogant Whakaī was involved, well, if she didn't win, at least she'd take him down with her.

IIIIIIIIIIII

Six young able-bodied men in a single canoe. The leader of this group was a man––a fisherman no older than twenty with shoulder-length wavy hair tied up in a short half-knot, he slowly glanced over and saw that the opposing group––their island's visitors were catching up to them and there was clear his smug pride in his competitor's eyes. The leader's name was Hiapo, the youngest and only son of the island's Taulasea and Faatosaga Waiola, the other five rowers behind were all his older sisters' husbands and fathers to his multitude of young nieces and nephews. Speaking of his sisters, nieces and nephews were all on the beach, the youngest of whom were still being held in their mothers' arms.

"Hey, Fisherman!" Whakaī shouted not too far behind him, "Save yourself the humiliation and just forfeit!"
 'Oh, he's in for it now.' Hiapo thought to himself as he and his five brothers-in-law began rowing as fast as they could that's when he felt a sense of competition burning up inside him and he shouted, "Not a chance!" And hearing his older brothers-in-law's words and cheers only motivated him further.

They'd just barely begun the competition when out of nowhere, "No! No! No!" A familiar girl's voice screamed as the mysterious masked rider came crashing right through the other competitors' canoe. Hiapo and his group were right in the path of the rogue canoe, the six of them quickly pulled their oars and quickly rowed all on one side, causing the canoe to angle slightly against the water.

Thanks to the window and the open sail, the rogue canoe then slid right up against their boat, flew a few feet in the air, and came crashing right through the competitor's canoe, breaking both canoes in an instant.

Broken pieces of wood came bubbling up to the surface of the water. An unmasked Hinatea burst out of the water, clung to the nearest piece of wood she could find, and coughed the excess water out of her mouth.

The mask she used floated right next to her. She quickly reached over for the mask and saw the large gash scratched diagonally from its bottom cheek toward the open slot for the wearer's right eye.

The race was then brought to an abrupt end with the low resonating sound of the conch shell horn. Hiapo and his brothers-in-law quickly rowed to where she was. Once they floated next to her he quickly got up, walked to the back of the canoe, and gave her his hand to grab.

IIIIIIIIIIII

Everyone was there, not just the people of their newly formed eighteen-year-old island village: Tuatahi. All of them were wearing their best lavalava, pāreu, and puletasi just for this. Even most of her family had worn their tuiga on their heads.

"Pfft. Get over yourself Hinatea." She began to speak to herself as she rubbed her hands over her hair and turned away from the ocean. "You're the eldest daughter to Chiefess Moana Waialiki…" There was a pause as the feelings of shame, injured pride and self-loathing bubbled into one. "Who am I kidding?" She snapped at herself, "You're the Queen of Shame." Before she plopped down to lie on the grass, with her arms outstretched, the hibiscus fibers of her skirt spread out slightly while being held back together by her mother's waist cloth and belt made from woven dried pandanus leaves, with half-dyed ti leaves peeking out from the bottom. Her round eyes stared up at the sky, watching as the hours came by and its color changed from blue to an orange tinge and then a deep reddish purple.

"I thought you'd be here." A strong elderly man's voice from behind her. Hinatea didn't even move from where she lay instead, she sighed and tilted her head back to see who it was. Standing proud and strong despite his age, was her grandfather. With her head still tilted back, she watched and heard the impact of his cane hitting the ground.

Tui with his graying hair, the red patterned siapo wrapped around his waist filled with large designs of leaves, several stars, and other shapes that symbolize his new role within their community. And then there were traditional pe'a that marked his waist, lower back, knees, and the tatau on his left pectoral, upper arm, and bellybutton, and lastly, the vibrant red ula fala around his neck, and the help of his cane approached and despite his aching knees, managed to sit cross-legged beside her.

Tui took a deep breath to regather his strength from the long hike up and looked over at the nightly colored ocean in a minute silence before he held out his hand to her, "You dropped this."

Hinatea reluctantly sat up while her grandfather simultaneously opened his hand, revealing a necklace adorned with pearls, and a blue abalone shell pendant as its centerpiece. Hinatea turned her head away, not wanting to look at it, and said as she pulled her knees up to her chest before she hid her face on her kneecaps.

She felt her grandfather place his hand on her back before she felt him put her mother's necklace back on her neck, but still she didn't move the gesture seemed to harden her a little more. Tui could only guess what thoughts were running through her mind or what feelings were coursing through her heart, but one thing was clear he could see just how much she was trying to emulate her mother as much as possible, from the reddish-orange top to the color of her fiber skirt and even how hard she tried to tame her already too curly hair.

A soft smile came to Tui's lips as he told her, "Come on, everyone's looking for you, especially Melelani."

Hinatea lifted her head briefly inceptive flashed before her eyes the second the name was mentioned. Melelani at only three-years-old, was the youngest of her four siblings, and the only one Hinatea clung to the most. But whatever motivation was there quickly disappeared when the feelings of shame came. Hinatea sighed, "She wouldn't want to see me, not after what happened."

The memories came flooding back as Hinatea stopped in her tracks, her thoughts automatically going back to Melelani. She muttered under her breath, "I didn't want her to see that…"

She then buried her face in her hands in frustration, what made it worse was seeing her baby sister's letting big bubbling sobs as she neared the shore. That hurt a lot more than seeing their father's eyes flash with anger and disappointment after she handed him the broken mask.

Hinatea immediately jumped to her feet and started pacing around the mountaintop. "I'm supposed to make her look up to me, I'm supposed to make them all look up to me… " She stopped and sighed dejectedly after a long pause before she plopped herself on the ground, letting her legs dangle against the cliff edge as she stared out into space, "And I can't even do that."

Finally, she let out a frustrated grunt, slamming her fist on the earth to her right as she started muttering, "I swear the next time I see his stupid smug fa––"

Tui stood up to place a hand on his granddaughter's back, as he shakily and slowly sat down beside her. He continued, "I know why you did it. Whakaī told us everything, but he's still demanding that we compensate for his boat."

Hearing that Hinatea's eyes widened, "Grandpa you can't!" She shouted as she simultaneously jumped to her feet, "You can't let him win––"

"This isn't a matter of winning of Hinatea." Tui cut her off with a calm tone as he slowly rose to his feet with the help of his cane, he saw the look on her face, how her already round eyes were wide, and how her nostrils flared up.

She was ready to explode, and suddenly she cried out after feeling a hard painful whack to her backside. Hinatea cried as she rubbed the sore spot, "Ow! Grandpa, what was that for––"

"Listen," Tui cut her off again this time with a firm tone, as he slowly moved his cane in front of
him, "It's time you put this rivalry of yours to an end."

Hinatea immediately became agitated as she argued, "But Grandpa, he's just such a––"

"You were taught better than that, I expect you to be civil," Tui stated very clearly, "If you don't learn to control that impulsive temper of yours, you'd do more than damage a canoe and ruin a family heirloom."

Heirloom. That word was the rope to pull her back from her competitive streak. Hinatea's expression immediately changed to one of fear and then regret as she hugged herself, once again the weight of her actions quickly came back to her mind and then she remembered the necklace her grandfather had and put it back on her neck… her mother's necklace, another heirloom and all that was left of her mother. She slowly raised her left hand toward the pendent, clutching it tight, realizing that she nearly ruined this one too. "I'm sorry." Hinatea sighed as she turned to look at her grandfather as he approached her with a small smile on his face.

Tui held his hand out to her, "Let's head back to the village."

IIIIIIIIIIII

Down in the forest below the mountain, a girl no older than thirteen wearing a light wrap-around top and a faded red pāreu decorated with stencil patterns of leaves, flowers, and several dolphin fins wrapped around her waist.

Her hair long wavy hair was fashioned in a thick side ponytail braid with the same woven hairband her maternal grandmother once had, and to add the finishing touch to her look was a yellow hibiscus flower perched slightly above her left ear, but that was the as far as the resemblance went.

True she, her grandmother Sina, and her mother Moana all had the same head shape, but her eyes, nose, and lips were a carbon copy of her grandfather's mother: Tala.

All the more reason why she was named after her great-grandmother, but of course that's not where the resemblance between them ended.

With one hand holding a torch and a conch shell in the other, she was about to blow the conch shell a young boy's voice echoed from the rainforest, "I found them!"

Soon enough her eight-year-old brother came bursting through the bushes, so fast his wild curly hair swishing all over the place as his undyed but patterned painted siapo flapped slightly from the impact of his rushing legs, the flame from his torch dipped back creating a tail as he rushed over to his older sister. Tala quickly scooted to the side just as her grandfather and older sister appeared.

Hinatea then called out, "Makoa slow down before you––" A loud thud echoed as he fell flat on his face, letting out an exhausted sigh, Hinatea continued with a deadpan look on her face, "––trip."

"I'm okay!" Came Makoa's muffled reply.

IIIIIIIIIIII

"How mad is he?" Hinatea asked Tala as they both spotted the glow of the candlelight flickering underneath the pola sheets that sheltered the inside of their fale. Hinatea felt the dread growing heavier and heavier in her chest, then came the chills, followed by the cold sweat, and how her stomach was slowly turning into knots. She could picture him looking her down with his never-ending disdain every time he'd laid his eyes on her as if he were looking at an invader.

"He's pretty mad." Tala replied as she and her sister walked ahead of their grandfather and younger brother, "But only because he's worried that you took off."

"You're lying," Hinatea stated bluntly, "He hates me. I mean––did you see the look he gave me when I came back?"

Tala turned and gave her sister a knowing smile before she started listing: "Well you did wreck our guest's canoe, broke an important heirloom, and destroyed one of our racing––"

Hinatea groaned, "Please don't lecture me right now…" Before she muttered under her breath, "I've heard enough from Grandpa already."

"I'm your little sister, I'm not going to lecture you on anything," Tala reassured her, "Plus Whakaī probably needed a good knocking or two."

Hiapo spoke out, his hair still in the same half-topknot from this morning, and moved away from the tree he was leaning on, "You two better keep those thoughts to yourself, especially since your dad's working on compensating his canoe."

Hinatea grunted in annoyance and then paused when it dawned on her, "Wait a minute, his canoe didn't break––"

"No, but one of theirs did," Hiapo stated, "It might as well be as good as his."

Hinatea let out a long groaning sigh as she hid half of her face behind one hand, and slowly opened her right eye to ask, "So… does that mean Dad's talking to Chief Turu right now?" She slowly pulled her hand from the left side of her face, while Hiapo nodded.

He added with an unsurprising tone, "Whakaī put up quite the fuss, and said they would be taking Melelani if we didn't agree to it."

Hinatea's eyes flashed in anger as she looked like she was ready to crush something with her bare hands, "Oh that little whiny son of––"