Moana

Chapter Four

Pua scooted a bowl under a leaking roof as the villager who lived under it explained his problem to the chief family.

"And every storm, this roof leaks, no matter how many fronds I have," he said.

"Fixed," Aukai confirmed as he and Moana, who wore a crown of flowers, dropped down from the roof.

"The problem wasn't the fronds," Moana said. "Wind shifted the post."

"Ah!" the villager said as Moana took a bite of the food in his hand.

"Mmm! That's good pork!" she said but heard a pig's grunt. Looking down, she saw Pua looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"Oh! I didn't mean... I wasn't... What? They're calling me, so I gotta... Bye!"

She then ran out, leaving her parents, friend, villager, and pig all confused.

——

A few days later, Moana smiled as she watched Aukai help the men of the village build a new hut.

The stranger took off his shirt and jacket, for those were the names of the clothes he wore, revealing a muscled torso.

Moana learned a bit about Aukai the past few weeks since he arrived on the island. The things he hid his feet in were called "boots", and the brown leather snakes were called a "belt" and "buckler." His strange tunic had a funny name called "pants." And though he never used it, his cutlass, since that was the name of the metal stick, was leaning in the corner of the hut he moved into so no one got hurt trying to use it.

Anyway, Moana showed him his jobs with the fishermen, which was weaving nets and building traps, and with the builders in the village, making and fixing huts. He learned fast and did his jobs well.

Everyone in the village seemed to like him. Especially girls. The only person who didn't was Chief Tui, who never seemed to like boys Moana was friends with.

As she watched Aukai work, Moana could've sworn she heard something. Was that giggling?

Turning toward the sound, Moana couldn't believe it. It was Aukai's fan club. All it was was a large group of girls ages 8 to 16 who did nothing but swoon as they watched Aukai work and occasionally fetch him water. And the most annoying part? They seemed to appear out of nowhere right as soon as he took his shirt off.

Aukai finished the hut and proceeded to put his shirt back on.

"Awww," the girls whined with one voice as Aukai turned to notice them for the first time.

All Moana could do was roll her eyes as the girls followed Aukai to the beach so he could start helping the fishermen.

——

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" a villager complained as he was getting a tattoo nailed to his back.

"You're doing great," Moana said, holding his hand in a comforting manner.

"Is it done yet?" the villager asked before repeating the word, "Ow."

Moana looked to check, but only saw the first detail was just halfway done.

"So close," she lied as the villager shouted, "Ow!"

——

Drum beats played as Moana taught a dance class.

Three of the four kids mirrored her movements perfectly. But one boy went rogue.

He did these weird dance movements before looking at Moana with a confident smirk. He gave her a wink followed by a kissy face.

Moana just chuckled nervously as she continued the lesson.

——

"I'm curious about that chicken, eating the rock," a village elder told Moana as he pointed at Hei-Hei, who was indeed pecking a rock.

"He seems to lack the basic intelligence required for pretty much everything," the elder continued. "Should we maybe just cook him?"

"Uh, sometimes our strengths lie beneath the surface," Moana answered as Hei-Hei swallowed the stone he was pecking, leaving a giant lump in his scrawny throat.

"Far beneath, in some cases," Moana continued. "But I'm sure there's more to Hei-Hei than meets the eye." Just then, Hei-Hei cawed as he vomited the rock he swallowed.

He then bent down and resumed pecking it.

——

"It's the harvest," a villager told Moana and her parents, holding a coconut.

"This morning," she continued, "I was husking the coconuts and..." She then broke open the fruit with ease.

Inside was dry and empty, the once-white flesh was covered in black cracks. More harvesters came, carrying baskets with similar coconuts.

Tui and Sina looked at each other in worry.

"Well..." Moana said as she thought, "we should clear the diseased trees and start a new grove." She looked around and pointed out a grove of healthy trees.

"Thanks, Moana," the villager said as she led the way to the new grove.

"She's doing great," she whispered to the chief.

"This suits you," Tui said to his daughter with pride.

"Moana!" Aukai's voice said. Turning around, the chief family saw him running toward them with worry on his face.

"There's a problem with the fishermen you need to check," he said breathlessly.

——

"Our traps in the east lagoon are pulling up less and less fish," the head fisherman said as he showed Moana and Tui an empty trap.

"Then we'll rotate the fishing grounds," Moana suggested.

"We did," Aukai confirmed. "Still no fish."

"Oh," she said, getting another idea. "Then we'll fish the far side of the island."

"We tried that, too," Aukai said, his tone saying there was no fish there either.

"The Windward side."

"Same story, Princess. And the same with the Leeward side."

"The channels, the shallows," the head fisherman agreed. "We've tried the whole lagoon."

"We even tried the edge of the reef," Aukai said. "They're just... gone."

Moana turned to the horizon, standing on one of the canoes as she looked at it. Tui and the head fisherman shared a small conversation as Aukai looked at the horizon with her.

They must have had the same idea.

"What if we fish beyond the reef?" Moana suggested.

Anger flared in Tui's eyes.

"No one goes beyond the reef," he said.

"I know," Moana agreed as Aukai backed away. "But if there are no fish in the lagoon..."

"Moana," Tui warned

"And there's a whole ocean," Moana finished.

"We have one rule."

"An old rule, when there were fish."

"A rule that keeps us safe, instead of endangering our people," Tui picked Moana up and set her off the boat as he shouted, "so you can run right back to the water!"

He glared down at his daughter before looking up at the awkward fishermen with a sigh.

"Every time I think you're past this," Tui said as he grabbed the oar from Moana's hand, throwing it down as he stormed off.

"No one goes beyond the reef!"

Moana watched her father go. He didn't even hear her reasoning. As soon as she said it, his rage flared like a wildfire.

"Well, that went well," Aukai said with sarcastic humor.