Heavy is the Head

Elsa - 2

Chapter 29

✧"Writing a journal means that facing your ocean you are afraid to swim across it, so you attempt to drink it drop by drop." - George Sand ✧

PART 2: WATER (still.) 

I don't know exactly how long it was that I spent living with Moana in her glowing underwater cave but if I were to guess, I'd say several months to a year. The days passed by so quickly. We spent most mornings sailing out to a remote location, which changed every time. Sailing was always when Moana was in her element, the wind in her hair and life in her eyes. In the evenings, I would study the customs and laws followed in Atlantica and become accustomed to the different types of magical creatures that existed. I had entered an entirely new world and would need to relearn everything.

The very first thing she taught me was that the ocean was alive. "And so, what better way is there to practice hydrokinesis than on the largest living body of water in existence?"

Then, I jumped down into the water and would begin my attempt to "become one with the water" (whatever that meant) while the Ocean resisted at every turn. I was plunged underneath the surface again and again before I could even begin to get my bearings straight, gasping for air as I struggled to remain in control of my body. And all this was me struggling to just do simple water manipulation, not even the creation of it itself which is what I originally thought I would struggle with the most.

"You have to work together." Moana would say, like it was that easy to command over a hundred million square miles of water to cooperate with me. Just yesterday, I didn't even know it was possible for water to be sentient! On my lowest days I begged and pleaded with the Ocean like a petulant child, all dignity eroded right the way down.

Things were always at its worst on the days that Ariel came along. I felt safer than ever, knowing the speed at which Ariel could swim at to rescue me if push came to shove. But the Ocean, charmed to be in the presence of a mermaid princess, insisted on showing off even more than ever to drive home the point that I was a mere human. Colossal waves beat down on me everywhere I turned. Sometimes, the embarrassment of my repeated failures got too heavy to bear and I began to believe that I had reached my limit and would be sent back home to slosh water around in a bathtub for eternity.

After such a day as this, when I was beginning to losing all hope, Moana took me along with her on one of her trips back to Motunui to see her friend Maui. She explained that he would understand exactly how I was feeling and might be able to offer some words of encouragement. By now, I had learned all about Moana's voyage to return the heart of Te Fiti and Maui and his hook. I have to admit, I didn't understand how meeting a demigod with crippling insecurity masked with extreme arrogance could help me in any way. However, (although I would never in a million years admit this to him) meeting Maui turned out to be crucial in the development of my powers.

I had just finished being introduced to Chief Tui and Sina, Moana's parents when he made his dramatic entrance, swooping down from the heavens in the form of an enormous hawk and landing on the island in a loud explosion of tribal markings and hair.

"Greetings, fragile humans! I am Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero to men and women..."

"Maui!" Moana grinned. "Just who I was looking for." 

Maui seemed slightly taken aback at Moana's elatedness to see him and raised an eyebrow. "You were looking for me? What for? What do you want now?"