Stars Align

A Quick Stop

I waited a good few minutes until Maui in fish form popped up out of the water.
"Anything there?" He asks sarcastically.
"No," I reply. He jumps onto the canoe and turns back into Maui.
"What was that all about?" he inquired, a confused look on his face. I sigh.
"At first it was anxiety," I say, "Then I saw something. A canoe heading toward us. A canoe from my island." He looks at me with a confused glare.
"You sure, princess? Some canoes look alike," he said, "and they probably didn't mean any harm. Maybe some other voyagers from a different island."
"It couldn't have been voyagers," I say stubbornly. "There was only one canoe. Unless it's only one family voyaging, I think not." He nods in agreement.
I sigh.
"All I'm saying, is we should keep an eye out," I state, "for protection." He smiles.
"And if anything does come up, I'll protect you." Maui states, putting his hand around me. I look up and kiss him tenderly on the lips.
"Get some rest," he says, breaking the kiss, "I'll take over."
"Are you sure?" I look at him questionably.
"Yes, go to bed," he says. I lay my head down on the board and slowly drift off...

I wake up to see Maui sitting on the end of the canoe with his hair tied up in a bun. Why is he so handsome, I think to myself.
"Hey princess," he says as I sit up.
"Good morning," I reply. I open up the small cutout board on the boat and grab a coconut and crack it open and take a big gulp of the fresh water, "Wanna sip?" He shakes his head no and rubs his stomach.
"Already ate."
"Where are we?" I ask.
"Heading North. Probably a day or two before we go to Tafiti and face Kahõtū," Maui states. I feel a knot tie in my stomach. I don't know why I just got so nervous, it just hit me this will be like defeating Te Ka, only I didn't know what a life-or-death situation it would be.
I look off into the distance and see a small island coming into sight.
"Look!" I cry, "Land!" Maui glares and puts his hand over his eyes to see clearer.
"We're running out of supplies, anyway. We can stop and get some coconuts and maybe hunt for some meat," I suggest. My stomach rumbles at the thought of pork, maybe some chicken, even eggs if we're lucky...
"Sure," Maui agrees, "worth a shot."
We get closer till we realize that the island isn't so small- it stretches Far East than I thought.
Maui pulls the boat on the coast and we go to gather supplies.
I start to climb the tree and shake the branches to get coconuts down. With all my luck, I only dropped down five.
"Watch and learn, curly," Maui says. He shape shifts into a gecko and climbs up the tree, then into his regular self. He takes a giant jump, causing him and the coconuts to fly into the air. He then turns into a eagle, gracefully grabbing coconuts on his back.
"Ha, ha. Unfortunately, I can't shapeshift," I smirk.
"Ahh, forgot about that curly," he smiles. I roll my eyes and grab some coconuts and put them in the canoe before we go deeper into the brush.
As we're collecting bananas and other fruits, I hear a rustle in the bushes. I turn and see nothing .
"Maui, did you hear that?" I turn to him and he shrugs his shoulders.
"Probably a bunny. A bunny!" He smiles and runs over to the bush, "Finally, we can have some actual meat to eat!"
"Wait!" I yell.
"C'mon, it's not like a canoe his hiding in this- ahh!" Maui screams. A woman, probably my mothers age, covered in tattoos, runs from the brush.
"What the heck?" I yell. Maui looks at me with a dazed expression.
"What was she doing in there?" He asks, surprised as I am. Soon a man with a spear, jumps out from behind me. I gasp and drop bananas and berries on the ground.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The man with the spear asks as many men and women come out of bushes, all holding spears.
"I'm Chief Moana of Motinui, and this is the demigod of wind and sea Maui. We mean no harm, we just came looking for supplies," I say, trying to hide the shakiness in my voice.
"Our supplies? So you're theives?" The man inquires, pointing the spear closer.
"Wow, watch it hot shot. Me and Moana just came for supplies, we didn't know a whole tribe lived here," Maui states.
"We are on our way to defeat Kahõtū," I say. The man lifts his spear down and everyone follows in per suit.
"You got the earthquake, too?"
~~~
The man leads us through a series of large trees and vines to a small village.
"Welcome to the Dene tribe," the man says, pride swelling in him.
"Nice place," Maui looks around nodding.
"Come, meet Zamar, our chief," he says motioning down a path to the village.
The walk down is peaceful and silent. I take in the beautiful trees.
We don't have trees like this in Motinui, I think. The trees are huge and have long vines going down as leaves.
"We call them weeping willows," the man states, noticing my interest in them, "because they look as if they are crying."
I nod. Fascinating.
We make it to the center of town where people have gathered to see us. We go to what I think is the town hall, yet it has the leaves from the willow as curtains instead of tapestry like we have.
An old, fragile man sits in the middle, candles lit, even though it's in the middle of the day.
The man walks me and Maui to the middle of the room, where a child, maybe eleven or ten, walks up to the man and helps him up.
"Chief Zamar, this is Cheif Moana of... ?" The man gestures at me.
"Motinui."
"Ah, welcome," the man says, limping over to me. I bow and he bows back.
He gasps when he looks at Maui.
"Maui, Demigod of the wind and sea, hero to men," he bows, "it is a pleasure to meet you."
Maui bows back and thanks the chief.
"What can our village do for you?" Chief asks.
"We could use some supplies," I say, "and a place to stay for the night."
"Be my guest. Our village has a guest hut. It has three cots and plenty of food. Take all of it."
"Really?" I gasp, "thank you sir." The guards lead me and Maui to the village hut. The inside is filled with meat, veggies, and lots of fruit. Tapestries hang on the wall, and the cots are filled with soft wool.
"Nice," Maui says, laying down on the cot, "I can get used to this."
"Me too," I say. I lay down, then realize the sun is setting.
"We've been here this long?" Maui asks. I nod, and hear my stomach rumbling, realizing I haven't eaten all day.
"Imma grab a snack," I say, going to the kitchenette and grabbing two banana. I give one to Maui, and he nods his head.
"Thank you," he says.
"You're welcome."
I say it in a sing-song voice. He laughs and yawns.
"Let's hit the hay," he says.
"Okay. Goodnight, love you," I smile at him.
"Love you too, princess."
And we drift off to sleep
•Her Dream•
Kahõtū! I yell, staring at the giant wave of a monster. It's just water. I am a friend of the ocean. The ocean is a friend of mine. Suddenly I hear a swoosh, and I quickly turn around, and I see an arrow go through Maui's chest...
•Back to Reality•

I wake up in a cold sweat. I didn't realize I let out a faint scream, because Maui's bed is already pulled next to mine.
"S-sorry," I stutter, "can you cudle with me?" He nods tiredly and he quickly embraces me into his arms.

Authors note
~~~
Just to tell you guys, I will be on hiatus Friday night, (school dance) Saturday and Sunday (family event) and I might through in some 'tease' chapters in between this holiday season. So, I wanted to make it up to you by giving you a big chapter.
Also, Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, enjoy time with your family. Bye ❤️