Whare Potae (The House of Mourning)

Chapter Fourteen

Author's Note: Happy Hannukkah, and Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates. I don't, myself; I'm Jewish, and my family tends to celebrate on the latter half of the holiday, but my husband is Catholic, and so we spent the morning with my nieces and nephew, which was very nice.

I know that not everybody enjoys or has positive experiences/memories of the holiday season. I think a lot of us tend to turn to fandom when we're looking for a comforting place to go in difficult times, so if you're struggling with the ugly truth of not being happy during "the happiest time of the year," I hear you and I'm still listening. Feel free to shoot me a message, and we'll stay up late and chat about Moana while our religious friends ring in the Christmas whatever at midnight.

...and with that, here's some fanfiction.

Chapter Fourteen

"All of this talk about my parents," Moana told Maui, "has got me thinking about families. I've always had my Mom and Dad, and they've always been there to rein me in when I've gone too far, or to calm me down when I've gotten so excited that I'm about to get myself into some serious trouble. If it hadn't been for my Dad, I'd probably have drowned long before I even made it to age sixteen, although I...would really rather he not know that I said that, so please don't tell him."

Maui just raised an eyebrow at her. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Great, agreed Moana, hurrying on. "Anyway, I was thinking about all this, and then I realized; what we're trying to do is impossible."

Maui looked surprised. "Wait, that's...okay, that's not what I was expecting you to say. I thought you said you had a plan."

"I do," agreed Moana. "It's just that I think, at this point, our plan needs to involve asking somebody else for help, because we're just not the right people for this job. We can't help Hine-nui-te-po, because...well, listen, when you're angry, or scared, or sad, or upset, who do you go to for help? You go to someone you trust, right?"

Maui just gave Moana a blank look. "I, uh, wouldn't know much about that. Lone wolf, remember?"

"O-oh." Moana opened her mouth, closed it, then shook her head and tried again. "Well, okay. That's what I would do, anyway. If we're going to stop Hine-nui-te-po from destroying the world, or calm the ocean's anger against the islands, then we need help from someone who's going to matter to them. We need someone who they're actually going to listen to. We can't do this alone, or, just the two of us. We aren't enough."

Maui considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay, I see your point. It's a cute theory, but-!"

"Maui," interrupted Moana, "you know all about the gods and the ancient legends. I mean, you were there for a lot of them, right?"

"Jeez, you're making me sound like some old man," muttered Maui defensively, but Moana wasn't really listening.

"Who would be the person," she went on urgently, "that Hine-nui-te-po would trust the most? I'm pretty sure Grandma once told me something about a father and a mother, so what if we-?"

"No." Maui cut her off, shaking his head emphatically. "No way, absolutely not. Let me put it like this, Moana; Hine-nui-te-po and her father do NOT get along for some pretty uncomfortable reasons, and getting him involved in this, assuming we could even find him, wouldn't help, not at all. Actually, it'd probably make the whole thing worse."

Moana deflated a little.

"Okay," she said, chewing unhappily on her lip. "Then, her mother, maybe?"

"Maybe even worse," Maui assured her. "Hine-nui-te-po's father was also her first husband. Her mother was the, uh, 'other woman,' if you want to put it like that. It gets complicated, and frankly, I don't want to know any more about the mechanics than I already do, so I've pointedly never asked."