Moana

Chapter Eight

As the sun bore down on the little boat the next day, Moana and Aukai struggled to sail.

"We are Moana and Aukai of Motunui," Moana, who had her hair tied up in a bun, said as she tried tying a knot from the sail to the oar. "You will board our boat... and I can't remember the rest."

"I think the next part goes, 'sail across the sea and restore the heart of Te Fiti,'" Aukai said as he tried to tie another knot near the front of the boat.

"Thank you for that," Moana said. "We are Moana and Aukai..."

A thud from below deck cut her off. Thinking it was nothing, Moana continued.

"Of Motu..."

Another thud.

"...nui."

A third thud. Reaching for his sword, Aukai inspected it. Moana screamed as half a coconut popped out.

Curious, she lifted it before slamming it back down.

"Hei-Hei?" she asked.

"The chicken?" Aukai asked as Moana pulled Hei-Hei out and onto the deck. She then lifted the coconut off his head. Clucking, Hei-Hei turned around.

The ocean was in front of him.

He turned around again with another cluck.

The ocean was behind him.

Hei-Hei then looked up, his eye twitching.

The ocean was all around him.

Raising his head to the sky, Hei-Hei let out a loud caw that resembled a scream. He didn't stop until Moana slammed the coconut back on his head.

"Is he done?" Aukai asked.

"I don't know," Moana answered with a shrug. She lifted the coconut off again. Hei-Hei cawed loudly again, this time higher in pitch until Moana slammed the coconut on his head again. She lifted it off a third time and Hei-Hei screamed higher and louder until she slammed it back on his head.

"It's okay," Moana said to her pet chicken as she slowly lifted the coconut off his head. "You're all right."

Hei-Hei didn't scream this time.

"See?" Aukai asked as the chicken turned toward him. "The water won't hurt you."

"Yeah," Moana agreed as she ran her hand into the ocean. "Nice water. The ocean is a friend of mine."

"Like I am," Aukai agreed.

Clucking, Hei-Hei took four steps and walked right into the ocean.

"Hei-Hei?" Aukai asked. As if an answer to his call, Hei-Hei's legs poked out of the ocean.

"Hei-Hei!" Moana shouted. She then dove into the water to grab him. As soon as she did, Aukai ran back to the helm.

Moana gasped in horror once she grabbed her chicken. The wind had picked up and began moving the boat away.

"Moana, get over here!" Aukai shouted as he tried to slow the canoe so his friend and her chicken could climb aboard. Moana kicked her feet and paddled with one arm back toward the retreating boat.

Moana sat at the boat's helm, glaring at Hei-Hei as seawater dripped from her wet clothes. Aukai glared at him as well, also wet when he dove in to save the chicken a second time.

As soon as Moana turned to untie a rope, Hei-Hei walked back toward the water.

"Hey, Hei-Hei!" Aukai shouted as he grabbed the chicken by its tail.

"Stay," Moana ordered the chicken as she placed him back in the storage compartment.

"What do you say, Princess?" Aukai asked as he took a turn at the helm. "Next stop, Maui?"

"Next stop, Maui," Moana echoed. He then opened the sail, only to see the wind was blowing them the wrong way.'

——

"We are Moana and Aukai of Motunui," Aukai recited that night as he tried maneuvering over rough waters towards the fish hook that night.

"You will board our boat," he continued, "sail across the sea and restore the heart of Te Fiti."

——

"We are Moana and Aukai of Motu..." Moana mumbled in her sleep as she and Aukai slept at the helm later that night.

The ocean's mass pulled out of its massive body to see Moana and Aukai snoring. It slapped Moana on the back.

"Board our boat!" Moana shouted as she woke up.

"Don't make fun of me, Eugene!" Aukai shouted as he woke up.

"Wait, who's Eugene?" Moana asked.

"Who?" Aukai asked.

"Never mind."

Sometimes, Aukai's amnesia drove Moana crazy.

"Wait, where's the fish hook?" Aukai asked. The fish hook was nowhere in the sky.

"Oh, no," Moana whispered. She then turned and saw the constellation was on the boat's right. Groaning in frustration, she turned the boat.

But it was too much of a turn and the canoe tipped over.

Gasping and spluttering, Moana and Aukai gripped the boat's wooden side and looked up at Hei-Hei, who had somehow transported up to the top of the capsized canoe.

Hei-Hei clucked as he tilted his head. Didn't the two human teenagers say the water was a friend?

"Ocean..." Aukai said to the water, "can we get a little help here please?"

Immediately, lightning flashed as storm clouds gathered overhead.

"The universe just loves doing this to me, doesn't it?" Aukai asked as sheets of rain poured on top of them.

"Come on!" Moana said as she and Aukai tried fixing the canoe, only to fall under the water. They grasped the boat as the waves grew like mountains, tossing and turning them.

"Help us!" Moana cried to the sea. "Please!"

After getting pulled under the water and back out, Moana and Aukai looked up at a giant wave with wide eyes.

"Moana!" Aukai said as he wrapped his arms around her. The wave crashed down on top of them, submerging the little boat and its three passengers completely.

The last thing they remember before blacking out was the crack of thunder and the flash of lightning.