Whare Potae (The House of Mourning)

Chapter Twenty-One

Author's Note: Oof, so a few of you have asked me about running a theater company, and what that's like (thanks to anyone who has expressed interest!)

Well, this morning, one of my regular actresses called me, elated, sobbing tears of joy.

"Mercy," she announced, "I'm going to have a baby! I can't audition for Much Ado About Nothing. Sorry!"

Now, don't' get me wrong; I'm genuinely happy for her, but I had kinda planned on having her play a major role in this upcoming show...which auditions in just a little over a week. Subsequently, I'm spending my evening alternating between job applications and sending out new audition notices.

And now, back to our story.

Chapter Twenty-One

Back in the island cave, Moana was starting to get desperate.

For maybe the hundredth time, she was preparing to jump down into the hole that led into the realm of the dead. This time, though, she was taking drastic action against the ocean. She'd found the largest rock she could successfully carry, and had tied it to one of her ankles. Theoretically, she decided, if she jumped into the hole carrying the rock, and then dropped it, it's weight would drag her down fast and hard enough that the ocean might not be able to force her back up to the surface in time. She knew it was a long shot, and she was very aware that, with a rock tied to her leg, she wouldn't be able to run or swim for it if something else, like one of the Turehu, or a giant Moana-eating crab came after her, but there didn't seem to be a lot of other options at this point.

She could feel the ocean watching her as she took a deep breath, steeling herself for the jump. The ocean didn't seem any happier than Moana felt.

"I wouldn't have to do this," she reminded it, "if you'd just be reasonable and let me go down there the regular way, okay? Don't look at me like that; this wasn't exactly my favorite idea either. Ugh. Please, just...please don't get in the way this time. Okay. Here goes."

Moana shut her eyes and fell off the ledge into the hole, clutching the rock against her chest. The descent was definitely faster this time, and it felt much less controlled.

Before she had a chance to triumph too much, however, the ocean scooped her up and blasted her back to the surface, snapping the rope that tied the rock to her ankle. It sent the rock up after her a few seconds later, and that landed with a crunch on the cave floor beside her, leaving Moana feeling completely deflated and out of ideas.

"AAAGGHHHHHH." Flinging her arms out on either side in a gesture of absolute disgust and abandon, she stared down the hole at the ocean, who was poking it's 'head' ever-so-hesitantly up over the ledge at her.

"Look," she sighed, completely exasperated. "You're not helping. You're not helping at all. I know that you want to make things right, that you're worried about me getting hurt...I get it. I do, but, honestly? It's a liiiiittle late for that at this point. We're already in this mess, and you can't pretend that we're gonna get out of it by closing our eyes, uh, figuratively, in your case, and pretending it isn't happening. I AM going down there, and if you really want to apologize and to help set things right, then instead of trying to stop me, you should go with me."

The ocean stared, somehow managing to look genuinely surprised.

"If you're worried that I'm going to get hurt," Moana muttered, "or, and let's be honest with each other, here, if you're worried that maybe I'm gonna get into some kind of a jam with Hine-nui-te-po that doesn't end so well on either side, then all you have to do is stick with me and watch my back. It's like I said; we used to be a team. We can be a team again. We can't be a very effective team if we keep coming at this problem from totally different angles. I want to save Maui, you want to save me, and neither of us really wants to piss off the goddess more than we absolutely have to...so, great. That's sort of a plan. So, let's get to it."