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Chapter Text

The entire village had turned out for their arrival in the last fading light of the evening, greeting their canoe with enthusiastic shouts of “bula!” and copious offerings of fragrant flowers strung into salusalu leis.  Then the chief’s spokesman, a man named Mbeke, had come forth to speak with them.

“Welcome, Maui—shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of men!  Ratu Toki invites you to join him in the Vale ni Bose for kava and to be formally welcomed to the village of Rukua.”

Maui, naturally, had accepted the invitation.  The spokesman had not even looked at Tamatoa, but it hadn’t seemed important at the time and Tamatoa had let it slide.  Instead, he cheerfully followed along after Maui as they were led to the village, concentrating on keeping his bioluminescent colors burning brightly.  He’d only recently been able to control his natural lights with more precision and he was pleased to show that new skill off.  This was the first human village they’d visited since his last molt—since he’d outgrown the need to wear a borrowed gastropod shell for protection and Tamatoa was very proud of that, too.  He was heavily armored all over now and his colors were bright and vivid, no longer the drab, dull purple of his juvenile days.  With the prospect of an audience near at hand, Tamatoa was eager to strut his stuff.  He pranced through the village, all aglow and grinning.

In no time, the high-peaked, palm-thatched roof of the Vale ni Bose—the meeting house—came into view.  It was a large structure, bigger than most others in the village, and raised off the ground.  A rough hewn set of stone stairs lead up towards the entryway.

Maui stepped up into the vale, but when Tamatoa began to ascend the stone steps he suddenly found a tall human blocking his path.  He looked up at the man, eyestalks quirked in confusion.  The man was glaring down at him with a stern, unyielding stare and arms folded across his chest.  Drawing back uncertainly, Tamatoa scuttled to the side and tried to edge carefully around him.  Again he was blocked.  “Hey!” he said with an indignant flick of his antennae.  “Let me by!”

“No,” came the brusque reply.

“Wha—? Why?” Tamatoa demanded, irked.

The human’s face was set like stone.  “No crabs.”

“No cra—but—I—“ he stammered.  His antennae swept back, flattening against his shell.  Bewildered, he looked at the guard again—standing firm like an impassable obstacle.  Why couldn’t he come in?  He wasn’t just some crab, he was Maui’s friend!  They went everywhere together!

With that, a thread of anger rose to the surface.  He clicked a pincer, flexing the claw opened and closed while he considered the best place to pinch the stubborn human.  An obstacle, yes, but not an impassable one.  Tamatoa had fended off supernatural swamp creatures all by himself, he could get this one annoying human out of the way.

The human, however, was apparently more savvy than he looked.  He reached down to retrieve a heavy wooden club that had been leaning against one of the vale poles, holding it casually but with a subtly implied threat.

Tamatoa’s eyes flicked from the human to the club in his hands, lingering on the weapon as he weighed his options.  He clicked his pincer again.  The human tilted the club a bit.  It was a very heavy club—a fine piece of quality mahogany, he noted—with knobby burls marking the business end of it.  He stared at it.  Freshly molted and hardened carapace or not, it still looked like it would hurt.  A lot.

“Maaaaauiiii!” Tamatoa howled out, loud and strident.

Maui would set this right.  Tamatoa was certain of that.  He gave the human a confident smirk and crossed his claws in a mimicry of the guard’s pose, settling in to wait.

It only took a moment for Maui to reappear, poking his head out of the vale to see what was going on.  “Huh?  What is it?”

“Maui!” he exclaimed, giving his friend a grateful look.  “I was just trying to come up the stairs and—“  He jabbed an accusatory claw at the guard.  “—he won’t let me in!”

Maui looked from Tamatoa to the guard.  The guard shifted his weight slightly, clearly intimidated by the demigod, but remained standing where he was.

Maui gave the human a lazy half-smile.  “What’s the problem?”

It took the human a moment to respond, as if carefully considering his words.  “The kava ceremony is an honor meant for people, it is not for animals.”

“Animals!” Tamatoa spat, deeply offended.  He raised his pincers again and snapped them angrily.  How dare this human!  How dare—

“Well, he’s with me,” Maui asserted, stepping in easily before Tamatoa could say another word.  “Can’t you just make an exception this time?”

The human shook his head decisively, standing his ground.  “No.  I am sorry, but this is not possible.”

Maui shrugged.  “Let’s see what Ratu Toki has to say about it,” he said, then disappeared back into the vale to speak with the chief.

Tamatoa waited in smirking silence, glaring at the guard and tapping his claw tips together to remind the human that he had claws.  Claws that could pinch!  But the human didn’t even look at him, nor did he loosen his grip on the bludgeon in his hands.

A few minutes later, Maui reappeared.  One look at his sheepish expression and Tamatoa felt a twinge of apprehension.

“Heeeey,” the demigod drawled, drawing his words out in an obvious attempt to stall for time.  “Sooo, why don’t you wait for me back at the canoe?  It’s getting late, you know?  I’ll be back in a little while.”

Tamatoa’s mouth fell open and his glowing colors flickered in surprise.  For a long moment he stared at Maui in disbelief.  Finally, his temper flared through his shock.  “What?  No!” he sputtered, aghast.  “Maui!”

“Sorry, kid,” the demigod shrugged awkwardly, looking uncomfortable with the whole situation.  “The rules are the rules, can’t change them.”

Tamatoa heard a voice call from within the vale and Maui glanced over his shoulder anxiously.  He looked antsy, eager to get back to the laughing crowd of villagers within.  Tamatoa felt a spike of annoyance.  It was always the same with humans.  Maui wanted their attention so badly, for reasons Tamatoa still didn’t fully understand.  It made no sense.  The humans were so fleeting.  Sometimes they would return to a village only to discover that none of the humans they’d met the previous time were still alive—even the young ones were long gone.  Yet, despite this, Maui was always trying to impress them.  It was almost obsessive.  Most of the time, it didn’t bother Tamatoa.

This time, it did.

He was grown now, no longer a juvenile needing a borrowed protective shell.  He’d proven himself on their last adventure against the swamp witches.  There was no reason why he should be left behind now.  They were friends, partners.

As Maui looked longingly towards the little soiree already in progress, Tamatoa’s anger gave way to hurt.  His antennae drooped and his eyestalks sagged.  “But Maui,” he said, dejection in every syllable, “what about—“

“Not this time, Tamatoa,” Maui said absently.  He was barely paying attention, casting distracted looks inside the vale.  “Go wait at the canoe.  Tomorrow we’ll go explore the island, okay?  I’ll see you later.”  Then he ducked back inside the vale and vanished.

Tamatoa was left standing at the base of the steps, mouth agape and utterly shocked.

The human guard, to his credit, didn’t rub it in.  He simply moved back to block the stairs and looked down at Tamatoa impassively.

Tamatoa took a slow step backwards, deeply hurt and not understanding why he was being shut out—why Maui wasn’t doing more to stand up for him.  Maui was a demigod, after all, couldn’t he just change the rules?  Then he took another step and righteous anger rose back up to cover up the hurt.  Tamatoa wouldn’t be turned away so easily!

With a huffy flick of his antennae, he spun around and marched stiffly off.  He stomped through the village, cranking his glow up as bright as he could make it.

Then, as he passed behind the shadow of a small bure, he forced his bioluminescence to extinguish and slipped into the darkness between two small huts.  Doubling back, he raced from shadow to shadow, dodging the gleam of bright moonlight, towards the big vale again.

Skidding to a halt as he reached the meeting house, Tamatoa moved forward with greater care.  Tapa cloths, intricately painted with fanciful designs, were drawn down like shades between the support pillars of the massive structure.  He couldn’t see in, but nor could the occupants see out.  Thus concealed, he circled carefully around it in the shadows, approaching instead from the back where no human watchmen waited to harass him.

There were no stairs here, so he instead wrapped his long legs around a thick wooden support post.  It was just like climbing a coconut palm and he shimmied up with ease.  Still clinging to it tightly, he edged around until he was even with the dangling end of a tapa panel, hanging just above the raised wooden platform that served as a floor.  Cautious and careful, he slipped his antennae under the cloth.  Then his eyestalks followed, peeking under the tapa without disturbing its natural drape.

His eyes adjusted quickly to the dim vale, lit by a few small bundles of dried fish that gave off a weak bioluminescent glow of their own.  Fresh flowers hung from the rafters, their sweet smell filling the enclosed space.  The humans were seated in a circle on a woven mat.  They were murmuring softly amongst themselves.  At the focus of the circle, a wizened old man sat before a wide wooden basin.  Tamatoa watched curiously as the man wiped the basin out with a damp cloth.  Then he filled a small bag with some brown powder.  Even at a distance, Tamatoa could smell its sharp, earthy odor.

The old man placed the filled bag in the wooden bowl, then nodded.  Another brought forward a thick bamboo pole, which he tilted over the seated man’s shoulder.  Clean river water flowed out, pouring over the bag and filling the bowl.  Then the old man’s hands began to move, kneading the bag gently within the water.  He worked with his gnarled fingers, occasionally lifting the bag to squeeze the water through it, until the clear water began to turn a pale, creamy brown color.  It looked like the frothy mud of a fast moving river after a heavy rain, when the water ran thin and was filled with churned up silt.

Tamatoa quirked an eye, watching the whole process curiously.  He’d never seen such a thing before, but it was fascinating.  For a moment, he almost forgot his anger at being turned away.  Then the man began to speak, a solemn litany invoking gods and the like.  Boring.  It quickly shifted, though, and the attention was centered on Maui—Maui, their honored guest that they were welcoming to the village, honoring with the sharing of kava.  They went on, running through his titles  and enumerating his great deeds.  Tamatoa’s eyes narrowed and he let out a huff, burying hurt under annoyance.  All of this was to welcome Maui, to make him an official, honorary member of the village; and Tamatoa was shunted to the side, left out and ignored.

He could just barely see Maui’s face in the low light, but he could see enough to know that the demigod was eating it all up.  He looked pleased as could be to have the humans welcome and praise him.  A half coconut shell, polished smooth and thin, was dipped into the brown water.  An attendant carried it, two handed, across to Maui and presented it to him with an air of formality.

Maui clapped his hands once, accepted the cup with both hands, and drank it down in one long gulp.  He handed the empty shell back and clapped his hands three more times.  Tamatoa was perplexed, wishing he knew what the clapping meant.  He loved details, but apparently he wasn’t welcome to these.  His antennae drooped unhappily.

The ceremony continued on and drinks were passed around to the other humans one at a time, in what appeared to be some order of precedence and status.  When all the humans had drunk, the ceremony lost some of its formality and became more social and casual.  They began another round, again starting with Maui.  He said something to the attendant and they filled the coconut cup to the very rim this time.  As before, he drank it all down in one long gulp.

Round after round, the villagers drank until the heavy basin was empty.  The humans grew more chatty as the rounds went on, laughing and joking with a relaxed air.  Then suddenly the spokesman for the chief stood and made an announcement—the celebration would now commence, with dancing and feasting awaiting them.  With cheers and whoops, the villagers all stood and began to depart.

Tamatoa’s eyes went wide and he swiftly yanked his antennae and eyestalks out from under the tapa cloth before he could be spotted.  Hastily, he shimmied back down the post and hid under the raised wooden floor.  Overhead, he could hear the cacophony of footsteps made by many humans, all blended together as they hurried en masse to their waiting festivities.  He could easily pick out Maui’s heavier footfalls, leaving with the rest of the crowd.

Then all was silent and Tamatoa was left alone, crouched in the damp earth under the vale.

He stayed there for a long time, trying to decide what to do.  He was supposed to be waiting at the canoe.  Would Maui go look for him there?  His antennae perked.  Maybe Maui would come to invite him to the festivities!  With that in mind, he scurried quickly out from under the vale and slipped back into the shadows.  He knew he had to get through the village without getting caught, but quickly enough to beat Maui back to the canoe and be waiting there like he was supposed to be when the demigod showed up to invite him.

Tamatoa could be both quick and stealthy, though, and had little trouble making his way back to their boat.  Once there, he clambered up onto the deck and laid down on the wooden planks.  He carefully arranged his legs around him and laid his head on a claw, draping his antennae loosely.  He swiveled an eyestalk to look at himself and suppressed a grin.  Yep, he was the model of casualness—displayed in a meticulously cultivated pose implying that he’d just been quietly napping all along and certainly not spying.

Thus posed, he settled in to wait for Maui to arrive and invite him to the feast.

He waited.

In the distance, log drums beat their fast rhythm.  The smell of roasted pork, fresh from an earthen oven, drifted through the air to him and Tamatoa’s mouth watered.  He was so hungry.  When was Maui going to come back to get him?  Surely he’d be along any minute now.  Maybe he wasn’t welcome in the kava ceremony, but surely he could come to the feast.

Right?

Time passed.  He could hear singing now, clear and strong.  Someone obviously had a lovely singing voice in that village.  The song would sound even better if Tamatoa sang along with them!  His legs scratched restlessly at the deck, the sharp points leaving little marks on the planks.  He curled an eyestalk to examine the marks, blemishes marring the fine wood.  Ugly little marks—it was a shame to damage the finish like that.  He dug his legs into the deck harder, carving deep, spiteful gouges.

More time passed and he picked at the gouges in the wood with a claw, pulling splinters loose and tossing them into the sand dejectedly.  He looked wistfully down the darkened path to the village, lit only by the moon.  There was no rustle of movement, no crunching footsteps, no shadow of an approaching figure.  The realization slowly crept in on him, settling like a heavy weight on his shell.

Maui wasn’t coming.

Tamatoa stood up, moving stiffly but holding his head up high, his mouth set in a thin line.  He was hungry.  If Maui wasn’t going to come invite him to the feast, he’d just go help himself to something.

He jumped off the deck, landing in the sand with a thump.  With his bioluminescence still muted, he stalked off towards the village.

Keeping low and out of sight, he slipped with ease through the shadows once again.  There were clusters of humans standing around, chatting gaily in the moonlit night.  Laughter and music flowed from the center of the village.  A pang of hurt ran through him.  Tamatoa wanted so badly to join the festivities—to sing and laugh and tap his legs along with the music.  He still didn’t understand why he was being excluded.  He had accompanied Maui to plenty of other villages when he was smaller and there had never been any issue.  Why was this one different?

He paused as he reached the edge of the festivities, clinging to the shadows still.  There were men dancing now, while the women chanted a harsh meke and others beat out a pounding rhythm on the log drums.

The dancers were moving in tight formation, their movements fluid and perfectly synced to each other.  It was a fierce dance, with the men striking aggressive poses and sticking their tongues out in what they must imagine was a ferocious grimace.  Tamatoa wasn’t impressed by the posturing.  Humans didn’t even have strong teeth, so what threat was there in making a face like that?

As they danced, they carried lightweight wooden war clubs, wickedly curved to a fan-shaped head and bearing a brutal wooden spur near the end.  The dancers swung them around, making mock charges at the audience.  He could see the details, but there was nothing fantastic about them, really.  The clubs were carved and painted with fanciful designs, clearly more ceremonial than functional.  The dance was clearly highly regarded, however, if the cheers from the audience were any indication.  Tamatoa, on the other hand, was nonplussed—the dance props were only wood and paint and not even remotely shiny.  And who cared about some silly war club, anyway?

He kept moving.

As much as he’d have liked to stay for the singing and dancing, he was hungry first and foremost.  He edged around the crowd watching the dancers and followed the scent of roasted meat and baked taro.  It wasn’t difficult to find and when Tamatoa finally reached it, his eyes went wide.

The lovo had long since been unearthed; its stone-lined pit was open to the air and still warm—heated by the volcanic forces at work just below the island’s surface.  Waiting nearby was a vast banquet of foods still laid out on banana leaves to cool.  Savory pork and chicken was piled high, along with stacks of baked cassava and taro root.  There were steaming packets of shredded meat and coconut milk, wrapped in layers of taro leaves and tied closed with a strip of screwpine leaf.  Off to the side were bowls of tender fern sprouts and a basket of fragrant pandanus fruit keys, their sweet smell pungent even amongst the delicious scents of the meat and root vegetables.

Tamatoa grinned wide.  It was a veritable feast!  And best of all, it was completely unattended.

He took a few steps forward towards the tantalizing buffet, but then hesitated.  Tamatoa had never stolen food from a human village before.  Granted, he’d never been shut out of a celebration before either.  Humans had always been willing to share food with him and Maui.  Would Maui be mad if he just took some uninvited?

The food all smelled so good, only sharpening his hunger as he gazed longingly at it.  A flick of his antennae into the air and a quick glance around was enough to tell him that he was alone. No one was nearby to catch him or tell him to go away.  His stomach growled and that was all it took—he made up his mind.

Maui would understand.

Wasting no time, he stepped over to the spread and began sampling the fare.  Sampling, that is, by way of big clawfuls that he stuffed gracelessly into his mouth.  He made short work of the meat, polishing it off first, then he started in on the taro packets.  By the time those were gone, there was a faint rustle of sound nearby.  His antennae twitched, picking up the signs of unfamiliar humans.  Someone was coming.

Snatching up as many taro roots as he could carry, he hurried over to the basket of pandanus fruits.  He piled the taro on top, grabbed the basket in his claws, and skittered away into the undergrowth with his prize just as a pair of humans arrived on the scene.

Behind him, he could hear their raised voices, yelling about the missing food.  No one pursued him as he darted nimbly through the brush.  Tamatoa grinned back over his shoulder, feeling pretty good about himself.  He hadn’t been spotted and had gotten away clean.  He headed for the beach, aiming to go enjoy the rest of his meal in peace down by the water where the night sky wasn’t obscured by trees overhead.

The brush thinned out as he approached the shore until finally he could see the wide, sandy  expanse, gleaming in the moonlight.  Just as he went to step onto the beach, he heard a noise and shrank quickly back into the sheltering fronds of a low-slung screwpine.  After a moment, he poked an eyestalk out cautiously.

Stumbling out of the bushes was Maui.  He was laughing and singing off-key to himself as he reeled over to the edge of the high tide line.  The demigod went to sit down, but he seemed off-balance and it was more like an awkward collapse.  Legs splayed, he sat heavily and let his hook fall loosely from his hand.  Once settled on the sand, he leaned back to look up at the sky.  Of course, he kept leaning back until he hit a tipping point and flopped back to the sand with a giddy laugh.

Tamatoa peeked his other eyestalk out, flicking his antennae forward as well.  He waited for an excruciatingly long time, keeping alert for anyone else who might emerge from the brush to join him.

The sound of heavy snoring drifted down the beach.

Tamatoa snorted.  He set his basket of stolen snacks down, concealing it in the fronds, and stepped onto the beach.  Silently, he crept to where Maui was sprawled in the sand until he reached the demigod’s side.  Maui’s eyes were closed, but his mouth was hanging slack.  The thunderous, rasping snores made Tamatoa cringe.  Mammals had such weird quirks.  And was that a string of drool or was it snot smeared on Maui’s face?  Gross.

It must have been quite a party, if Maui had passed out like this.  As he looked down at his friend, Tamatoa felt a sense of injustice rise in him again at being left out.  Indignant, he poked Maui in the side with a claw, intending to wake him up and give him a proper down-dressing about his rudeness—about leaving him behind.  “Maui?”

There was no reaction, not even a hitch in the awful noises the demigod was making.  Irritated, Tamatoa grabbed ahold of Maui’s hand and pinched it.  “Maui!” he hissed, more insistent now.  The demigod let out a grumbly snort, mumbling something incoherent, then he pulled his hand free and rolled over onto his side, his face turned away from Tamatoa.  For a moment, everything was silent except for the gentle lapping of the surf.  Then the snoring resumed, now at a higher volume.

Tamatoa flopped down on the sand beside him, frustrated and angry and upset in equal measure.  “Fine,” he huffed.  “Be that way.”

He stared idly at the tattoos on Maui’s arms and shoulders.  On his arms there was one for his shapeshifting, another for defeating a bird monster, and another still for harnessing the wind.  The cool ones were on the front though, lassoing the sun and lifting up the sky.  He loved hearing those stories and never got tired of Maui telling them.  The demigod’s back was mostly blank, though.  Tamatoa reached forward to push Maui’s bushy hair away with a claw.  Blank except this one—the one under there that Maui refused to talk about.

Tamatoa’s lip turned down in a thoughtful frown.  Maui said he’d earned these for his great deeds and adventures, but there were none on there for any of the things they had done together.  A sly smile slowly spread across Tamatoa’s face.  Maybe Maui’s tattoos could use a little improvement.  And maybe with those improvements, Maui would remember not to leave his best friend behind next time.

His basket of snacks forgotten, Tamatoa jumped up from the sand and scurried down the beach to their canoe.  He had an idea!  Once there, he yanked open the hatch and climbed into the hold, dumping baskets out heedlessly until he found what he was looking for.  Clutching a small package in his claw, he clambered out of the hold—barely able to squeeze out of the narrow opening.  He’d grown a lot in his last molt, it would seem.  Next time, he’d probably outgrow the little hatch and that would be the end of his having a dark, cozy place below decks to sleep.

He wasn’t worried about that now, though.  He had a plan!

Back down the beach he ran, hoping Maui didn’t wake up before he got his chance.  He was in luck, though—Maui was still snoozing, utterly oblivious.  With a grin, Tamatoa unwrapped the package he’d taken from the boat.  Inside was a thin wooden stick, the end frayed to make a brush, and a bundle of brown dye made from mangrove bark.  It was all they had left after painting the new sail on the canoe.  Maui had insisted on painting a huge fishhook to dominate the entire sail, but while he wasn’t looking Tamatoa had added a little claw to the corner.  Now, however, it was Tamatoa’s turn to make all the artistic choices!

He put his claw to his chin, thoughtful as he considered his canvas.  Well, first of all, some general embellishments.  He carefully stepped around to Maui’s front and examined the tattoos already there.  Maui had done all these things before they had met, but that didn’t mean those stories wouldn’t be improved with the addition of himself.  What stories wouldn’t be, after all?  Tamatoa grinned.

Holding the brush delicately in his pincer, he dipped it into the dye and started to paint.  First, he added himself to the scene where Maui was lassoing the sun.  Tamatoa was no great artist, but the figure now pulling the rope beside Maui was clearly a monster crab.  He paused to admire his work.  It looked just right, as if he really had helped Maui slow down the sun in some other life, and Tamatoa smiled.

Next he added himself beside the depiction of Maui lifting up the sky.  Although, this time he drew himself pinching Maui’s leg while he was trying to hold up the sky and added little stress marks around the demigod’s face as if he was yelping in pain.  Tamatoa snickered.

What next?  Maui’s arm was curled around his midsection, making reaching the bare skin there difficult, so instead Tamatoa stepped around to the other side.  There was far more canvas to work with here, with most of Maui’s back empty of ink.  Maybe it was time for some real adventures now.  On Maui’s right side, just below the shoulder, he began to paint a large lizard.  When he was done, there was a good representation of the two of them defeating a Mo’o.  That had been their first adventure together when he was just a drab little thing and, even years later, Tamatoa still remembered it perfectly.  Despite his anger, he gave his friend a fond look.

He moved to the other half of his back, under his left shoulder.  Here, he painted their most recent victory.  Tongue between his teeth, Tamatoa concentrated hard on getting this one just right.  It had been him saving Maui from the swamp witches on the previous island they had visited.  If not for him, they would have surely lured Maui to his death with their siren’s song.  Tamatoa puffed up with pride just thinking about it.  Scene complete, he leaned back to survey his work with a critical eye.  Perfect.

What else now?  Tamatoa giggled, another idea coming to him.  He moved to the demigod’s lower back, just above the worn and frayed lavalava circling his waist.  Very carefully, he drew a tiny pair of thin crab legs, tipped with tiny claws, as if they were emerging from under the tapa cloth of the skirt.  He put a claw over his mouth to muffle another snicker, absolutely sure that Maui would have no idea what those were even for.

He was almost out of dye now, so he had to make the rest count.  He paced circles around the demigod, considering what to do next.  His eyes fell on Maui’s face and his grin grew wider.

Tamatoa had never understood how mammals could possibly get by without antennae.  It must be awful to only have their sniffly little noses to smell things with—terribly limiting.  Even a demigod like Maui could barely smell anything by Tamatoa’s standards.  Well, he couldn’t give him real antennae but he could at least improve his looks by adding a rough approximation of them.  He applied the brush and the last of the paint to Maui’s face, drawing a pair of sweeping antennae from just above his eyebrows all the way down the side of his face to his chin.  Much better.

Then he noticed the dye smeared in Maui’s hair around his face, gluing the silky locks together in little patches.  Oops.  He hadn’t meant to do that, but now that he had maybe he ought to teach Maui one more lesson for snubbing him.  One glance at Maui told him the demigod wasn’t going to be waking up anytime soon.

He put the brush away and marched down the beach towards a stand of mangroves lining a murky freshwater stream that emptied into the sea.  The water was milky brown, almost the same color as the kava Tamatoa had not been permitted to try.  He reached a claw into the water under the arching roots of the mangroves, then dug down deep into the muck lining the bottom.  The claw came back up with a good amount of thick, sticky, smelly brown mud.  It was full of rotting detritus and reeked of swamp scum.  Tamatoa held his antennae away from the stinky muck and headed back down to where Maui slumbered on.

With an admittedly vindictive gleam in his eye, Tamatoa smeared the mud generously all throughout Maui’s precious hair.  There was a certain righteous satisfaction in working the squelchy mud deeply into those clean, well-maintained curly locks.  It was pretty nasty muck and it would likely take several good washes to get it all out.  The mud was filled with little bits of sticks and rotten leaves and even some squirmy little critters, too.  Tamatoa picked one out and held it up to his eye, examining it closely as its tiny legs thrashed the air in his grip.  It was a young mangrove crab, small and shiny black in color.  Tamatoa popped it in his mouth absently, just a crunchy little snack while he admired his handiwork.

Maui was covered in graffiti now, with the added bonus of his hair being absolutely filthy.  Tamatoa flicked an antenna, satisfied.  This ought to get the point across fairly effectively.  With that, he wiped his claws off on the edge of Maui’s lavalava, stepped carefully over the hook laying on the ground, and returned to where he’d stashed his stolen food.  He grabbed up the basket and set off for the canoe.  He’d finish his dinner there and then settle in to wait for the fun to begin in the morning when Maui woke up.

***

The morning dawned bright and clear—too bright and clear.  Maui groaned miserably, his head aching already.  The harsh light seemed to pierce straight through his closed eyelids and into his skull.  His limbs felt heavy and for a long moment he just laid there on his side, putting off the inevitable.  Maybe if he waited long enough, the awful feeling would go away.

It didn’t.

In fact, the longer he laid there the worse he felt.  The sand was uncomfortably hot and he was exposed, baking in the blazing tropical sun.  Finally, he reluctantly opened his eyes.  The brilliant light reflecting off the pale sand and water hurt his eyes and he squinted against it, trying to adjust.  Every muscle dragging him down, he somehow managed to force himself to sit up.  A wave of dizziness swept through him, but he closed his eyes until it passed.

Steadier now, he opened his eyes and, looking around, took stock of his surroundings.  He had been sprawled on the beach, not too far away from the canoe.  He squinted again, staring down the beach towards where the boat was beached.  He could see it, but his vision was still a bit hazy and he couldn’t make out any fine detail yet.

What had he gotten into last night?  He couldn’t remember much after the celebration had begun.  The last he could recall, he’d been inducted to the village through a kava ceremony and then they had all gone out to enjoy the music and dancing.  He remembered that there had been food and drinks as well, but the very idea of food right now made him queasy and he pushed the thought away.

His skin felt itchy and he absently scratched at his chest.  His fingertips came away stained brown.  Uncomprehending, he stared blankly at the brown on his fingers for a moment that stretched on into several.  When his mind finally caught up, he looked down at himself.

There were drawings all over him.  Drawings that were tacked onto his existing tattoos.  Drawings that were quite conspicuously all containing a very easily identifiable crab.  Eyes still bleary, he examined them.  Wait, was that Tamatoa pinching him while he held up the sky?

His back itched too, so he craned his neck to look.  There were even more drawings back there, including a curious pair of little clawed legs right above his lavalava.  He looked at them in confusion but without much understanding.  Maybe it was a crab thing.  Straining to look over his shoulder had made his headache flare up again, though, and he groaned, dropping his head to his hands.

When he lifted his head back up, his hands came away streaked with paint again.  There must be drawings on his face, too.  Maui sighed wearily, too miserable to be angry.  Clearly, Tamatoa must have been a little miffed about being left out last night.

Trying to get himself centered, Maui straightened his back and ran a hand through his hair.  His fingers caught on something and he pulled his hand away to look.

It was mud.  Sticky, slimy mud that smelled like death and clung to his fingertips like some swamp mucus.  He reached up to touch his hair with both hands now and was horrified to discover his hair was positively inundated with the gunk.  Rotted leaves and bugs sprinkled like rain from his shoulders.  His hair was filthy.  It was disgusting.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t too miserable to be angry.

“Tamatoa!” he bellowed down the beach, even as his own yelling made the pain in his head spike even higher.

There was no answer and no motion that he could see back at the canoe.

Maui stood up, his vision briefly going dark around the edges with the too-fast movement.  He reached for his hook, but found it wasn’t beside him.  Getting irked now, he glanced around, but the hook was nowhere in sight.  He swore floridly under his breath.

“Tamatoa!” he roared again, stomping unsteadily towards the canoe.

The crab wasn’t above decks, but the hatch was open and Maui glared into the darkness of the hold.  A pair of glowing eyes looked back at him.  Tamatoa was tucked comfortably into a dark alcove, far in the back and out of Maui’s reach.

That didn’t stop Maui from making a grab for him anyway.  Tamatoa didn’t even flinch, watching nonchalantly as Maui’s hand fell short.

“Problem?” the crab drawled and the eyes tilted into a shamelessly amused expression.

“Tamatoa!” Maui barked angrily.  “Come out of there right now!”

There was a snicker from in the hold.  “Nope.”

Maui growled out an exasperated sound and made another grab for him.  Again, he fell shy of reaching the grinning crab.  He simply couldn’t reach and he knew that, short of tearing the deck apart, there was no way to dislodge Tamatoa until the crab was good and ready to come out on his own.

“Something the matter, Maui?” Tamatoa asked, badly feigning innocence.

“You drew all over me!”

Another snicker drifted out of the hold.  “Your tattoos needed some improvement.  I’m not in any of them!  Much better now.”

The crab sounded ridiculously smug and Maui wanted to tear his own hair out in annoyance.  His filthy hair, which brought him to the next thing.  “And you put mud in my hair!”

There was no laugh this time from Tamatoa, the glowing eyes went round and lost their mischievous gleam.  “Well, you left me behind!” he countered.  It was said hotly, but even Maui could detect the hurt in it.

Maui felt some of his anger wither, suddenly feeling a little guilty.  The mortals were adamant about the rules of the kava ceremony, but they had said nothing about the feast afterwards.  He probably could and should have gone back to get Tamatoa for that, but he’d forgotten all about it once the party began.

Not that any of that excused the disaster that was his hair right now.  Or his missing hook.

His head hurt too much to keep arguing, though.  He let out a weary, resigned sigh.  “Okay, okay.  Well, you’ve had your fun.  Now, where is it?”

The eyes quirked, one higher than the other and one narrowed to a squint.  “Where is what?”

“You know what,” Maui said, not buying the crab’s confusion.  “Where’d you put my hook, Tamatoa?”

“Your hook?” he echoed, confusion evident in his voice.

“You heard me!” Maui said sharply.  “Don’t play games, not about this.  Messing with my hair is bad enough, but hiding my hook?  Not cool.”

There was a scratching of hard exoskeleton against wood as the crab moved, then pair of long antennae unfolded out of the hatch, followed by a pair of eyestalks.  Tamatoa, eyes no longer glowing in the light of morning, looked up at him, remarkably devoid of guile.  “I didn’t hide your hook,” he said, still sounding confused and a touch defensive.

“Then where is it?” Maui demanded.  “Don’t lie to me!”

The eyestalks shied away, dipping back into the hold just slightly.  “I’m not lying!”

“Tamatoa!”

His whole head popped up out of the hold now.  “I’m not lying!” the crab repeated, emphatic.  “Yes, I drew on you and put mud in your hair—which you deserved, by the way—but I didn’t touch your hook!” he insisted.  “It was right beside you when I left you!”

“Well, it’s not there now!”

Tamatoa’s eyes went round and wide at that.  “Someone must have taken it,” he said slowly, apprehension creeping into his voice.  “We gotta find it!”

There was such earnest worry and concern in the crab’s expression that Maui suddenly felt as if someone had poured cold water onto him.  Perhaps Tamatoa wasn’t messing with him, after all.  Maui felt guilty again, but that feeling was quickly drowned out by a disquieting question:  If Tamatoa hadn’t hid his hook to mess with him, then where was it?

Maui felt his stomach flip, dread settling like a rock inside him.  He’d had it with him when he passed out and Tamatoa had seen it while he was engaging in his little art project.  That left only one logical conclusion.

Someone had stolen his hook.

Chapter Text

There was no sign of it.

The two of them had searched all around where Maui had been passed out in the sand, but there was no trace of his hook anywhere.  Maui had been asleep just above the high tide line.  The tide had come and gone in the night, leaving the sand between him and the sea smooth.  But beyond that towards the land, there were no footprints either.  A crafty thief could have come and gone along the water if they had timed it right, but they would have at least left some traces behind.  A scent trail, at the very least.

There were, in fact, traces of a smell Tamatoa could not identify, but it was faint and hard to discern amongst the smells of the sea and the distinctive scent of a demigod.  He had tried his best, but in the end Tamatoa was forced to throw his claws up in defeat.  The look Maui had given him in that defeat was one of disappointment and Tamatoa, despite knowing this was all Maui’s own fault to begin with, nevertheless felt chastised.  He’d failed his friend.

Antennae drooping dejectedly, Tamatoa followed Maui along the trail to the village.  They’d have to continue their search there.  He stared up at Maui’s back as they walked in sullen silence, looking at the drawings still visible there despite Maui’s best efforts to scrub them away in the sea.  The dye was persistent, though, and would probably linger a while before finally fading away.  Weeks maybe.  Tamatoa couldn’t help but crack a smile.  Now everybody would know he was part of the story too—at least for a little while, until the dye wore off.  And maybe someday he’d show up in those tattoos for real.

They had barely made it more than halfway down the footpath to the village when a pair of women appeared on the trail ahead of them.  They had been chatting gaily amongst themselves, but when they spied Maui they suddenly fell silent.  Tamatoa peeked around Maui’s legs to see why.

The women were staring with wide eyes at Maui’s face, decorated with painted-on antennae.  Then their gaze traveled down to see the other drawings on his chest.  The taller woman hastily put her hand over her mouth, muffling a giggle.  The shorter woman, however, at least attempted to keep her composure and maintain some sense of decorum in the presence of a demigod.  For about half a moment, anyway.  Then she burst into peals of laughter.  Unable to contain herself, she turned and fled back the way she came.  Her companion followed swiftly and their laughter hung in the air even after they were out of sight.

Maui turned slowly and fixed Tamatoa with a wordless glare.

Tamatoa was trying to contain his own snickering without much success, pincers held at his mouth to hold the laughter in check.  “You should have showed them the ones—”  A guffaw escaped him, slipping around his claw.  “—on your back, too.”

Maui was not amused.  He spun on his heel and continued marching back to the village.  Stolen hook or not, he really was being a poor sport about all this.

The humans were already bustling about with their morning routines—preparing food and readying fishing nets and all that other stuff humans did—when Tamatoa and Maui arrived in the village.

As they walked through the village, there were more muffled snickers from many of the humans they passed.  Some had the good grace to try and conceal their laughter, but others were far less successful.  Maui’s expression darkened with every jeering giggle and he cast increasingly baleful, glowering looks back at Tamatoa.

Well, Tamatoa had just about had enough of that.  It was Maui’s own fault that he’d lost his hook and that he was covered in rude drawings.  He probably wouldn’t have lost his hook at all if Tamatoa had been there!

Yet, Tamatoa was still going to help find it.  He was betting he could find it first, too!  Surely Maui would be impressed then!  If he found it, Maui certainly wouldn’t leave him behind next time.

Eager to prove himself, Tamatoa couldn’t help but grin a little.  “I’m gonna search the village for your hook,” he told Maui, then hurried off without waiting for a reply.

A surreptitious peek behind him with one eye earned Tamatoa a glimpse of Maui staring after him, the demigod’s expression one of mixed confusion and irritation—framed by the artistic rendition of antennae painted on his face.  Tamatoa stifled a giggle, then ducked around a corner and into the shadow of a sturdily built vale.

Alone now and out of sight, he considered his options.  He’d start by searching the quiet outer buildings of the village, then work his way in towards the busier areas.  Let Maui go ask the humans questions and see what good that did him.  Tamatoa knew better than to trust the humans, never forgetting his first nearly disastrous encounter with them.

His claws clenched just thinking about it—the feeling of the net closing around him, the terror as he was dragged off, and the hands closing around his legs and pulling.  Even more than a century later, it still stayed fresh in his mind.  They would have eaten him like he was just some common little crab.  Well, he wouldn’t be little forever and then—

He shook off the memory.  That was a long time ago.  Besides, the humans stank of lies.  No, Tamatoa would do the smart thing and just go dig through their homes, where they kept their treasures, to find where they had stashed Maui’s hook.

With that in mind, he crept stealthily from the shadow of one structure to the next until he reached the more isolated huts along the village perimeter.  Sidling up silently to the entryway of one, he carefully slipped his antennae around the corner and into the open door.  The vale was empty and quiet, with the only smells being those of regular human habitation.

Not wasting any time, he hurried up the stone steps into the hut.  With a practiced eye, he did a preliminary search.  Aha!  He zeroed in on a little area partitioned off by hanging tapa cloths, ornately painted in intricate designs.  He ducked under the trailing edge of the barkcloth and was rewarded with a collection of trinkets and oddities tucked into reed baskets.  For a moment he forgot his task and dug eagerly through the piles of carved bracelets and pretty seashells.  Then he pushed aside some coconut shell pendants and a glint caught his eye.  Tamatoa stared, dazzled by what his claws had uncovered.

Shimmering even in the dim light was a pearl.  Not just any pearl, but one of a quality that even Tamatoa had rarely encountered before.  It was an iridescent dark green, but touched with gold and purple that emerged as the light played over it.  He’d never seen a pearl of such radiant beauty before.  Transfixed, he picked it up delicately in his pincer and slowly held it up to admire it.  The pearl gleamed enticingly in a stray shaft of sunlight, brilliant and beautiful and shiny.

There was a shuffling noise outside the vale and Tamatoa was startled out of his trance.  Oh, right!  He was supposed to be looking for Maui’s hook!  He looked around quickly.  Well, it wasn’t here and someone was coming.

It occurred to Tamatoa that now that he no longer needed to wear a borrowed shell for protection, he had nowhere to stash his treasures.  His mind raced, trying to figure out what to do, and the steps outside drew closer.

Coming to a snap decision, he reached back and tucked the precious pearl between his underside and his tail-like abdomen, pressing his abdomen tighter against himself to hold it in place.  Then he dashed outside and back into the safety of the shadows under the vale, just as one of the villagers appeared and entered the hut.  Tamatoa crouched in the darkness, listening and waiting until he heard the footsteps exit the hut and retreat once more.

The coast clear, he emerged from under the structure and grinned.  Time to check the next one!  Moving quickly from shadow to shadow, he pressed on and continued his search of the other buildings.

It soon became obvious, however, that the hook just wasn’t here.  By the time the light was beginning to slant into afternoon, he had searched nearly every home in the village and had found nothing.  Not a trace.

He was just about to set off to find Maui when he caught a whiff of something he couldn’t quite identify.  The scent was faint and overlaid with the stink of the human village and Maui’s scent.  It was hard to pinpoint, but he did his best to follow it anyway as it wound through the village.  He wasn’t even sure it was really anything more than just—

Oh, there was Maui!  Just up ahead, the demigod was conversing with a strange man.  This villager would have been considered quite attractive by human standards, tall and lean, yet highly muscled under his smooth, dark skin, and possessing a certain charismatic presence that drew the eye.  He stood poised with a lazy arrogance not too dissimilar from Maui himself.  The man probably made the women (and the men!) of the island swoon.  Tamatoa, however, was utterly unimpressed.

Scent trail forgotten, he hurried over.  As Tamatoa approached, however, the stranger walked away.  Maui turned, a far more cheerful look on his face now—the demigod was practically grinning.

“There you are!” Maui called to him in the first friendly tone he’d used all day.  “C’mon, I’ve got a lead!”

Tamatoa tilted his head to the side, flicking an antenna curiously.  “Yeah?” he replied tentatively.

“There’s a giant eel, living in a lake back in the hills,” Maui told him, eyes already brightening at the prospect of a good fight.  “Probably the thief!”

Tamatoa squinted at him, eyestalks pulling closer together thoughtfully.  “An eel?  In a lake?”  Well, that just didn’t make any sense.  He hadn’t smelled any old eel by the beach, after all, and just how was an eel in a lake up in the mountains going to steal Maui’s hook down on the beach?  “Maui, I don’t think—”

But Maui wasn’t listening and started off across the village, heading towards the outskirts.  With little else in the way of options, Tamatoa hurried after him.

He caught up just as Maui stopped so suddenly that Tamatoa nearly crashed into him, but he managed to skid to a halt just in time.  He stretched his eyestalks to peer around the demigod’s legs.  They were on the very edges of the village, where the cleared area of human habitation began to fade back into wild, untamed forest.  A trail was cut into the woods and it lead away from the village, overgrown and poorly maintained.  Blood red dirt marked its pathway, with vines and creepers edging across as if the forest itself sought to reclaim it.  It wound up the hillside until vanishing into the darkness of the trees.  Farther up, past where the path vanished, the trees were blanketed in heavy fog.  There was an ill favored look about the whole thing.

Tamatoa looked at the path skeptically.  “You sure this is right?”

“That’s what he said,” Maui replied with a shrug.

“Who said?”

“That mortal,” Maui said, barely glancing back at him.  “The one I was just talking to.  The one who looked almost as good as me.”

Tamatoa narrowed his eyes, ignoring Maui’s boast and instead focusing on what was actually important.  “How do you know he was telling the truth?  What if he took your hook?”

Maui snorted, blowing a strand of hair out of his face.  “Nah.  The humans wouldn’t take it, Tamatoa.  Why would they?”

Tamatoa could think of a few reasons, but he kept his mouth shut.  He didn’t trust humans any further than he could throw them—which wasn’t very far at all.  Nowhere, in fact.  These humans in particular had not made a good impression on him and he was even less inclined than usual to believe anything they said.

Maui, on the other hand, always seemed to bend over backwards for them and ate up their attention, accepting everything they told him.  Again, Tamatoa wondered why.

There was little time to dwell on this, though.  Maui was already starting up the path, striding off determinedly.  All Tamatoa could do was hurry after him once again, scurrying up into the forest.

They carried on in silence for a span, with only the singing of birds in the trees to break up the quiet as they climbed the hillside.  Well, Tamatoa couldn’t abide that.  Dead space in a conversation never suited him.

“Maui?” he called to his friend to get his attention.

“Hm?” was the reply.

“Why didn’t you come back to get me last night?”

Maui’s steps faltered and he nearly tripped over a root jutting out into the path.  He turned to look back at Tamatoa.  “Uh...”

Tamatoa looked up at him expectantly, stepping around the same root with great care.  “I was hungry, you know,” he went on pointedly.

“Uh, well.”  Maui at least had the decency to look a little abashed.  He rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward gesture.  “Guess I forgot.  I’ll make it up to you, though.  Next time.”

Tamatoa gave him a long, scrutinizing look.  “You promise?”

“Sure, kid.”

“And the next time they won’t let me in?” he prompted, not letting it drop at just that.

Maui seemed uncomfortable under Tamatoa’s gaze.  “Er...”

“You’re a demigod, you can change the ‘rules’ if you want to,” Tamatoa pointed out.

“Maybe, but—“

He was going to try and weasel out of it.  Irked, Tamatoa went right for the jugular and straight up asked, “Why is their attention so important to you?”

Maui appeared to fumble for words a moment.  When he did speak, it was brightly—too brightly.  “Hey, look!  There’s the lake!”

Tamatoa clicked a pincer, annoyed.  He was opening his mouth to complain about the obvious diversion, but then he followed the line of Maui’s gesture.

They had crested a ridge and a narrow valley lay ahead.  Mist clung to the hills around the low area, wisps of grey smudging their summits.  The verdant hillsides marched down towards a vast lake, nestled amongst them.  A bit of fog covered it as well, obscuring the majority of the lake from view and muting the faint gleam of sunlight reflecting off its glassy surface.  The muddy red path snaked its way down, descending through the lush vegetation and ending right at the lakeshore. 

Tamatoa stepped up to Maui’s side, peering down into the valley.

“C’mon,” Maui beckoned cheerfully.  “Let’s go kick some eel tail and get my hook back.”

With that the demigod started off jauntily down the path.  Tamatoa stared after him a moment, still frustrated and doubtful, but then a thought occurred to him.  Maybe if he could prove himself again here, Maui would see that he could be just as valuable as the humans.  More, even.  The humans only lived a handful of years and couldn’t do near the things Tamatoa could do.  He’d just have to show Maui that.  With that in mind, he quickly followed after his friend down the hill.

Maui had a head start on him, but Tamatoa was determined to catch up.  Nimble on four legs, he scampered down the path.  It narrowed, growing steeper and more treacherous as he descended.  It was as if the forest was closing in to ward off unwanted visitors.

He was doing quite well, though.  Quite well until—just as he reached Maui—he suddenly stumbled, his many legs tangled in a long creeper vine near where the path widened onto a muddy stretch of lakeshore.  Claws flailing, he somehow managed to regain his balance and stay upright though.

Irritated at himself, he huffed.  He wasn’t off to a very good start if he couldn’t even make it down the hillside without tripping.  As he gingerly picked his legs out of the ensnaring vine, he cast a quick glance over to Maui and hoped fervently that the demigod hadn’t seen the embarrassing misstep.

Maui, however, wasn’t looking.  He was stooped over and peering curiously at something on the ground.  The demigod reached down slowly to pick it up.  “Tamatoa,” he called, an odd note in his voice.  “What’s this?”

Tamatoa squinted to look, then his eyes went wide.  In the demigod’s hand was a perfect, darkly gleaming pearl.  It must have slipped from where he’d tucked it against his tail when he had stumbled.  “Hey, that’s mine!”  He skittered towards Maui, claw outstretched to snatch his newest treasure back.

Maui straightened and turned to look at him, scowling so fiercely that Tamatoa stopped cold and even backtracked a few hasty steps.   “Where did you get it?” Maui demanded, countenance darkening.

Tamatoa opened his mouth to reply, but never got the opportunity.

Maui went on, very nearly seething.  “You stole it, didn’t you?  Like you stole that food from the feast last night.”

Oh.  Uhoh.  Apparently that hadn’t gone unnoticed either.  “Maui, I—”

“You’re just bound and determined to ruin everything, aren’t you?”  Maui growled, not letting Tamatoa speak.

Stung, Tamatoa’s antennae flattened back and he shrank away from the demigod, feeling very small in the face of Maui’s temper.  “But, I—” he stammered.

Maui held the pearl out, clenched in a white-knuckled fist, and thrust it angrily in front of Tamatoa for emphasis.  “What happens when they find out this is missing?  They’ll throw me out of the village!” the demigod continued to seethe, but Tamatoa could hear a deeper undercurrent of desperation in his voice.

He crouched lower, flinching back as Maui stepped closer to tower over him.  He tried again to get a word in.  “I—”

“They’ll hate me!” the demigod interrupted once more, shouting now.  “Is that what you want?!”

The demigod was looming over him now, face twisted and angry.  Something shook loose in Tamatoa, however, and he broke out of his cringing crouch.  Lightning quick, he lunged for Maui’s legs, pincers open.  “Who cares if they hate you!” he shouted back, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice.  “They’re not your friends, I am!”

Maui jumped back in shock, only just avoiding the wild snap of claws.  He stared, blinking uncomprehendingly, down at Tamatoa for a long moment.  Then the anger began to recede from his face, replaced with the beginnings of a more sheepish look.

Tamatoa only glared back, claws wide in open threat.  He’d had enough of this nonsense today.  It wasn’t his fault that Maui lost his hook, but Maui had been nasty to him all day just the same and Tamatoa was sick of it.

Maui took a half step forward, looking almost contrite.  He opened his mouth to say something that Tamatoa certainly hoped was an apology, but before he could say a word there was a roar of water.

Tamatoa jerked his eyestalks around to look just as an enormous wave of lake water was upon them.  He frantically scooted backwards along the silty shore and out of the path of the onrushing wave, but Maui was caught unprepared and was shoved roughly back by the wall of water, which almost seemed as if it had been aimed straight at him.

“Maui!” Tamatoa yelled, watching helplessly as his friend disappeared under the water.

A long moment passed, then the demigod emerged, coughing and sputtering, as the water drew back into the lake.  Relief washed through Tamatoa, but it was short lived.  There was another great roar of water coming from the lake and he turned just in time to see its source.

Emerging from the lake was an enormous eel, rising up like a sea serpent from the depths.  Tamatoa’s first horrified impression was of massive, needle-sharp teeth—lots and lots of them in a long, narrow snout.  Brilliant, sea-blue eyes gleamed beyond that toothy smile, burning with a sharp intelligence that usually meant a more serious threat than just some regular run-of-the-mill dumb monster.

The rest of the creature began to lift from the water—a long sinuous body in a dusky teal color, mottled with contrastingly bright, blazing orange markings in intricate patterns that seemed to glow with their own light even in the afternoon sun.  It was taller and wider around than even Maui stood tall, but it’s length was impossible to discern with much of it still submerged beneath the murky lake water.  A flowing dorsal fin ran the length of its body from behind the head as far back as Tamatoa could see, a long streamer of turquoise fluttering along the eel’s spine.

He barely had time to register all this when the eel’s thick tail flicked from the water and landed between him and Maui, slamming down with a wet thud in the muck at the lake edge.  The eel followed up with a snarl and a snap of sharp teeth, lunging forward to drive a surprised Maui back from the water.

“Who dares disturb the creatures of this lake?”  The eel’s voice was undoubtably female, throaty and fierce but with a certain melodic rhythm to it.

Dripping wet with fetid lakewater and looking rather ridiculous with pond scum in his hair, Maui refused to be driven farther back and held his ground.  He went through his usual spiel—identifying himself, his titles, and whatever.  Blah blah blah.  Tamatoa had heard it all about a million times by now.

“—hero of men.  And I’m here for the hook you stole from me!”

“Some hero,” the eel hissed derisively through glistening fangs.  “I am Abaia, protector of this lake!  And I stole nothing from you, demigod.  Leave my domain in peace.  Go back to where you came from.”

“Not without my hook!” Maui yelled back, face set in harsh lines.  He pressed forward, fist raised, only to be repelled by flashing teeth again.

Then the eel’s tail curled closer around Tamatoa, hemming him in on all sides and blocking his view of Maui.  He strained, trying to look over the massive body, but try as he might he couldn’t see anything but more eel.

He could hear well enough, though.  Maui was clearly making a go at the monster if his loud taunts and challenges were anything to go by.  That, of course, and the foul language.  Tamatoa was pretty sure Maui would throw him off the canoe if he repeated some of those words within the demigod’s earshot.

Well, Tamatoa wasn’t going to just sit here, held captive, and let his friend fight alone.  He gingerly stepped closer to the eel’s mottled tail.  It looked wet and slippery, but he figured he could climb over it anyway.  He reached forward to get a clawhold and start to climb.  His pincer had just barely brushed the eel’s skin when he yanked it back, recoiling in disgust.  It was slimy.  The eel wasn’t wet, it was covered in clinging, nasty mucus.  Eww, gross!

On the other side, Maui was yelling something and there was another snap of teeth.  Tamatoa screwed his face up, repulsed.  There was going to be slime all over him and he was going to be so filthy.  He shuddered.  Well, Maui had better appreciate the sacrifices made to get back to him.  Wincing and trying not to think about the nasty slime, he reached up again and started to climb.  It was slippery footing to say the least, but he managed to pull himself up and over the top.

Then he lost his footing in the slick slime.  He snatched at the long dorsal fin, but it slipped through his claws and he tumbled down, landing with a squelching splat in the mud.  Dazed, it took him a moment to recover, but once he had regained his wits he groaned.  He was covered in mud—mud and sticky, smelly fish slime.  Disgusting!  He glanced at the lake, wondering if he had time to rinse off first—

“I’m not leaving without my hook!”

—no, probably not.

Maui had broken a heavy branch from a nearby tree and was swinging it savagely at the eel.  It was a poor substitute for his hook, but he must have had at least some success with it—there were a few gashes running down the eel’s side.  Nevertheless, the eel had him backed up against a massive rocky outcropping and there was little room left for him to maneuver.

“Stubborn oaf!  You are leaving,” the eel hissed back, clearly quite angry.  “You will not threaten the creatures under my protection.”

Tamatoa blinked, eyes drawing closer together.  A thought began to take shape.  He opened his mouth, but Maui’s yelled first and drowned out whatever he was going to say.

“Give me my hook, or I swear I will drain this lake and send you and everything in it down to Lalotai where you belong!” the demigod snarled, a brash threat that even Tamatoa thought was a bit harsh.  Needless to say, Maui was apparently still in a bad mood.

It was also apparently the dead wrong thing to say.  The eel roared with a fury far beyond what she had previously displayed.  Surging forward with nearly blinding speed, she snapped at him again.  This time her teeth closed around his makeshift weapon.  Abaia jerked her head up in one sharp, upward motion and wrenched the branch out of his hands.  Flinging it away, she glared down at him fiercely.

“I will kill you first,” she promised with cold certainty.

Her tail whipped forward, slamming into Maui and pinning him to the rocks before he could do anything about it.  Fangs bared menacingly, the eel drew back to strike.

“Wait!!” Tamatoa shouted, yelling as loud as he could to be heard this time.

The eel suddenly stopped, twisting around to focus her enormous blue eyes on Tamatoa.  There was no malice in her gaze, however.  Instead, she looked upon him with surprising kindness.

“Stay back, little one,” she instructed patiently, “I will handle this.”

She ducked her head to gently nudge him away, but he darted nimbly out of the way.  “No!  He’s my friend!”

Abaia cocked her head, squinting to look first at Tamatoa then back to Maui, then back to Tamatoa again.  “No, dear.  This is just another smelly, pushy demigod.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.  Tamatoa would have snickered had the situation not been so potentially perilous.  “I know, but he’s with me!” he insisted.

“Is that so?”  The eel’s tail shifted, wrapping swiftly around Maui’s legs.  She lifted the demigod up to get a better look at him—a better look at him upside down, actually.  Maui dangled by his ankles and was not happy about it, holding his lavalava up with one arm and flailing at the giant eel with the other, all the while yelling unflattering things about her ancestry.

Abaia ignored all that, casually turning him this way and that to look him over.  Her sharp eyes lingered on his tattoos, then turned back down to look at Tamatoa.

“Is this you?  Rescuing him from Abere and her swamp witches?” she inquired, indicating one of the ‘tattoos’ that Tamatoa had added to Maui’s back.

She actually sounded rather impressed and Tamatoa couldn’t help but feel a burst of pride.

He grinned, standing up straighter.  “That’s right!”

“And this one,” she went on lightly.  “You saved him from a mo’o?”

Tamatoa was practically beaming now, utterly thrilled to have his victories celebrated for once.  “Uh huh!”

Maui had stopped struggling now, staring at them in confused silence.

“Such a clever crab!” Abaia said, genuine praise in her voice.  Then she made a sound that might have been a laugh, peering at the little legs drawn on Maui’s back.  She looked back to Tamatoa with an amused gleam in her bright eyes.

Tamatoa didn’t hold back a snicker now, but quickly got ahold of himself.  “Well, he needs a lot of saving sometimes,” he told her, solemnly and with as straight a face as he could muster.

Abaia lowered her head down to his level.  Maui was still held aloft with her tail, but her eyes were only on Tamatoa now.  She looked long and hard at him, then made a thoughtful sound.  “You are a special one,” she said slowly.  “You are not actually from my lake, are you?”

“Nope,” Tamatoa said automatically and without thought, then his antennae swept up in alarm.  If she didn’t think he was from her protected lake, did that mean she’d turn on him?  “Uhh…” he floundered, trying to come up with something to fix his misstep.

Now the eel really did laugh.  “Do not worry, little one.  You may not be of my lake, but all creatures born of water are under my protection.”

Tamatoa’s antennae relaxed in relief.

“What’s your name, clever little crab?” she asked him.

Preening at the praise, he stood taller and gave her his most winning smile.  “Tamatoa.”

“Hmm,” she said, eyes distant as if in contemplation.  When she spoke, it was kindly but firm.  “Tamatoa, you are too good for this windbag.”  She flicked her tail for emphasis, making Maui yelp.

“Well, he’s still my friend,” he insisted once again.  “Uhh, so can you give him back?  In one piece?”

The eel made a sound like a sigh.  “If you insist.”

She uncoiled her tail, dropping Maui unceremoniously from her grasp.  He landed with a heavy thud and another undignified yelp.

Tamatoa grinned and hurried over to him.  The demigod had a perplexed look on his face.  The whole shift in the fight seemed to have put him utterly off balance, actually.  That was fair, Tamatoa supposed.  It wasn’t often they encountered monsters who turned friendly all of the sudden.  But why was Maui looking at him so strangely?  He didn’t have time to make sense of it now, though.

Abaia slithered closer and stared coolly down at Maui.  “You’re not the only demigod on this island,” she told him flatly.

Maui’s confusion only seemed to deepen, looking up warily at the giant eel.  “Huh?”

“There is another.  A jealous, arrogant, headstrong type,” she gave him a stern, sharp look.  “As most demigods are.”

If Maui was offended, he wisely managed to keep it to himself.  “And?  So what?”  Mostly, anyway.

Abaia was watching him closely now.  “Find him and I have no doubt that you’ll find your missing hook.”

“Oh.”

The eel’s gaze didn’t waver.  “I cannot leave this lake, demigod.  Even if I had some use for your lost toy, how would I even gotten it?”

Tamatoa felt vindicated.  That was exactly what he had thought from the very start!

Maui looked scandalized at her calling his hook a ‘toy’ and opened his mouth as if to object, but then paused and seemed to course correct somewhat.  After a long moment, he finally spoke again.  “I guess that makes sense,” he admitted, though each begrudging word seemed pried out of him at great cost.

Awkwardly, he looked at Tamatoa, then up to the eel looming above them.  Suddenly he seemed eager to leave.  “Well, then we’ll just be going then—"  He stood and stepped back towards to the trail.

The eel’s tail fell lightly into his path to cut off his exit, but she turned her gaze onto Tamatoa now instead.

“If he treats you poorly again, Tamatoa, you come tell mother Abaia.  I will set him straight,” she instructed firmly, smiling as kindly as a giant eel monster with a mouth full of wickedly sharp teeth could smile.

Tamatoa couldn’t help giggling just a bit, but he flicked an antenna in acknowledgement anyway.

“There’s a good crab,” she said, then lifted her tail away and retreated back into the lake.  “Good luck to you,” she said as a parting farewell, then slipped soundlessly back into the dark waters without even a ripple to mark her departure.

Tamatoa grinned widely, staring after where the eel had disappeared.  “I like her!”

Maui snorted.

“She’s probably right, you know,” Tamatoa told him, matter-of-factly.  He glanced back at the water.

The demigod muttered something that just might have been grudging agreement, then he shrugged dismissively.  “Maybe,” he said, with his usual easy, casual tone firmly back in place.  “But we needed to go check the village again anyway, so might as well.”

It was Tamatoa’s turn to snort this time.  Apparently Maui was going to play this off like it was his idea or something.  Typical.  He considered calling the demigod out on it, but Maui was already walking back towards the path.

“C’mon, Tamatoa,” Maui called back to him.  “Let’s go find this guy.”

Tamatoa hesitated.  His eyes swiveled back between his friend and the lake.

“Tamatoa!” Maui called again, a touch more insistent now.

“Okay!” he replied hastily.  “Just a second, I wanna rinse off!”

“Well, hurry up!”

Tamatoa scurried back to the water’s edge and splashed in just deep enough to clean all the gross mud and mucus off himself.  Satisfied with his work, he waded back out to the water’s edge.

As he stood there flicking the water off his antennae, a swift, tiny wave pushed towards the shore, as if directed just at him.  When it rolled back, he caught a tiny glint of shine washed up in the silty lake mud.

A wide smile spread across his face.

He glanced up the trail; Maui was picking his way up the slope again and paying absolutely no attention.

Quick as could be, Tamatoa reached down, delicately plucked the pearl from the lake, and tucked it safely away once more.  Beaming, he waved a claw at the dark water and the unseen eel swimming somewhere beneath it, then he turned and hurried up the trail.

“Wait up, Maui!”

Chapter Text

Silence, awkward and uncomfortable, reigned as they walked back through the forest.  The sun was getting low over the hills now, illuminating the cloying mist hanging over them with a soft orange glow.  The damp air took on a slight chill as the afternoon began to wane.

Tamatoa stared at Maui’s back as they traversed the narrow path back to the village, eyes riveted on the ‘tattoos’ he had painted there.  They were his own successes, displayed for the world to see just like Maui’s own—at least until the dye wore off. 

The eel monster had sounded so proud of him for those accomplishments, too.  Sure, Maui buttered him up with praise sometimes, but only when he wanted something.  Abaia hadn’t wanted anything from him, though.  She had genuinely sounded impressed and had said such nice things.  It was a strange feeling, but Tamatoa liked it.

Tamatoa was so tied up in his own thoughts that he barely noticed Maui glancing back over his shoulder at him.  When he finally did realize that Maui was looking at him, he quirked an eye, squinting back at the demigod curiously.

“Hey,” Maui said, almost hesitatingly and Tamatoa blinked in surprise, antennae perking up.  Was Maui actually going to apologize?

The demigod fidgeted with the edge of his lavalava.  “I—”  Then he stopped, closed his mouth and then opened it again.  His eyes drifted skyward, as if looking for words in the sky.  But whatever words he was looking for, he couldn’t seem to find them.  When he spoke again, his usual easygoing smile was fixed back in place and the softer, uncertain look was gone.  “Nice job back there.”

It wasn’t an apology.  Tamatoa’s antennae sagged a bit.  He wasn't sure Maui even knew how to apologize.  So, he mumbled something noncommittal in reply, then fell silent as they continued on.

The sun had set and the village was bathed in purple twilight by the time they reached it.  It was quiet, too, lacking the hustle and bustle that had characterized the village before.  No one came out to greet them, nor were any invitations extended to either of them.  It was strange, considering how welcoming they had been the night before.

Maui tried approaching a few villagers, but his every effort to engage in conversation was politely, but firmly, rebuffed.  Tamatoa watched his friend’s face shift, falling just a little more with each refusal.  If he kept getting turned away like this, Maui was really going to be difficult to deal with.

Tamatoa edged over.  He nudged Maui’s leg with a claw.  “I’m hungry, let’s go back to the canoe.  Then we can look some more.”  Anything to get out of this strange village before Maui could blame him for the humans’ lack of attention.  He was hungry, too.  He’d feel better after a snack.

Maui looked down at him.  For a moment it seemed as if there was a flash of temper in the demigod’s eyes, but it deflated quickly into a weary look.

“Ok, let’s go,” he finally conceded.

Without another word, Maui turned stiffly and began to trudge out of the village. 

The sunlight was long gone and the moon was hanging bright and low in the sky by the time they reached the canoe.  The pale moonlight cast everything in a hazy white glow, but shadows still clung tenaciously where the moonlight did not reach.

Their canoe was as they left it in the morning, beached well above the tide line.  As they approached it, Tamatoa’s antennae twitched and he hesitated.  Something smelled off, but he wasn’t sure exactly what.  The scent of the sea was heavy in the air, mixed with the familiar smell of a demigod, but—

Wait.

Tamatoa’s antennae jerked upward in alarm, all the pieces falling into place just a little bit too late to be useful.

Maui had continued on, not stopping when Tamatoa hesitated.  Lost in his brooding angst, the demigod was barely paying attention.  Tamatoa was just about to call out to him when a figure moved out of the shadows surrounding the canoe.

It was a man, features obscured by darkness but undeniably tall and strongly built.  He was rifling through the canoe’s open hold, digging out baskets and tossing things aside.  Engrossed in his task, he seemed not to have noticed the two of them.  He paused, then held something up into the moonlight.  In the pale glow, Tamatoa caught a flashing glint of reflected shine from the item.

It was one of Tamatoa’s trinkets.  The man was stealing one of his trinkets!  A deep well of anger bubbled up and an aggrieved shout escaped him before Tamatoa even knew what he was doing.  “HEY!”

Both the man at the canoe and Maui turned around at his shout.

Tamatoa was already hurrying towards them, long legs carrying him as fast as they could across the wide beach, and pointing emphatically with a claw at the stranger.  Maui turned back, following the line of Tamatoa’s gesture, and stiffened at the sight of the man rifling through their canoe.

Closer now as he reached Maui’s side, Tamatoa was able to distinguish the stranger’s scent more clearly.  It was a demigod’s smell, but not like Maui.  It smelled strongly of the sea in a more intrinsic way than Maui did from just sailing upon it.  There was an almost fishy smell, too, so faint as to be barely there.  It didn’t matter, though, this was clearly the other demigod.

“Maui,” Tamatoa hissed urgently, “that’s him!  That’s the—”  He stopped, breaking off as he recognized the man’s shape.

It was the ‘villager’ who had sent them up into the hills after Abaia!  Tamatoa’s eyes, glowing in the darkness, narrowed to thin slits.

The man chuckled, tossing away the trinket in his hand as if it was nothing at all.  Tamatoa watched it arc and fall into the dirt.

The man stepped away from the canoe and towards them in a smooth, slinking stride.  He looked Maui up and down.  “Surprised to see you here,” he drawled with a haughty casualness that bespoke an easy confidence.  “So, did you kill old Abaia?”

Tamatoa bristled, snapping a pincer and glaring hotly at the man.  He liked that eel monster.  He opened his mouth to tell this strange demigod exactly what he thought about his casual disregard for her, but Maui cut him off as per the usual.

“You’re the other demigod,” Maui said slowly, as if he had come to the realization himself instead of having just been told that.  “Who are you?”

Tamatoa’s claws clicked shut again, irritated.  Who cares who this demigod was!  He huffed softly.  Just like Maui to miss the point as the man searched through their things and insulted them.

The man laughed, giving his hair a flick in a gesture uncannily similar to ones Maui himself employed.  “Who am I?  I am Dakuwaqa, demigod of the reef and sea,” he declared, running off an overblown, self-important list of titles.

Tamatoa stared.  It was like looking at a copy of Maui, except this one was a jerk.  Well, Maui was a jerk sometimes too, but he was a good jerk and clearly the better of the two.  He was Tamatoa’s friend, after all.

Dakuwaqa finished reciting his own well-practiced spiel, then fixed Maui with a piercing, chilly look.  “… and I am the only demigod this island needs.”

Maui was catching on now and it was about time he did.  “You sent us up there hoping that eel would kill us!” he said, anger starting to color his tone.

The man barked out a laugh.  “Disappointed that she didn’t.  She must be getting slow in her old age.”  Dakuwaqa’s dark eyes shifted to Tamatoa for a brief moment.  “Or soft.”

Tamatoa felt a growl build in his throat, dredged up from some hidden reserve.

Dakuwaqa paid him no heed and looked back to Maui.  “Or maybe you’re the soft one,” he sneered, eyes lingering on Maui’s tattoos and the drawings Tamatoa had added to them.  “A monster-loving demigod, never thought I’d see the day.  Who knew you had so little self-respect?  Letting that thing follow you around.”  He clicked his tongue in disapproval.

That thing?!  Tamatoa seethed, antennae quivering with only barely restrained emotion.  He ground the tips of his claws together, clenched and tense.

“You’d better watch it, buddy,” Maui warned, stepping forward.  He didn’t respond further to the taunts, but instead leveled a finger at Dakuwaqa.  “You took my hook, didn’t you?” he went on, very nearly spitting the words.

“You catch on quick,” was the jibing reply from the other demigod.  “But you must have already g—”

Tamatoa leapt forward, not waiting for Dakuwaqa to finish whatever he had to say.  He’d heard quite enough.  The insults were bad enough and the slurs against him still stung, but beyond just that the demigod had admitted to taking the hook.  If Tamatoa could get it back, maybe Maui would finally see how useful he could be.

It took only a few long strides to reach him, then, quick as lightning, he scaled the strange demigod’s body, climbing up onto his back before the startled man could react.  He tried to clamp down on Dakuwaqa’s arms, but the heavily muscled limbs were simply too thick to get his claws all the way around.  So instead he grabbed up as much flesh as he could in his pincers and squeezed.  Hard.

Dakuwaqa let out a hoarse, ragged yell.  Then, breaking out of his stupor, he reached around to snatch at Tamatoa.  He was less bulky than Maui and perhaps Tamatoa had underestimated him, as he was apparently nearly as strong and just as fast.  Before Tamatoa even realized what was happening, the demigod had flipped him around to the front and had grabbed him firmly by the edges of his shell.  Dakuwaqa was shoving at him, attempting to tear him loose and force him to relinquish the hold his claws had on the demigod’s arms.

Tamatoa tried to hold on, but the demigod was tugging him so forcefully that it was either let go or let himself be torn apart.  Out of self-preservation, he released his grip on the man’s arms, though not without tearing away some skin and leaving two bloody gashes behind in the process.  He may have let go, but Tamatoa was not idle for long.  He snapped at Dakuwaqa’s face, aiming to catch hold of his nose or ears or anything else that stuck out far enough to get his claws around.

As he was grappling with the demigod, Tamatoa heard a sharp intake of breath that ought to have warned him of the danger.  “You little thief!” Dakuwaqa snarled.

All at once, it seemed as if there were hands everywhere.  One caught his claws and twisted them behind his back.  Pain shot through him and Tamatoa cried out, trying desperately to pull his arms free.  The nasty demigod’s other hand was grabbing at Tamatoa’s body, roughly yanking on his tail-like abdomen and prying it away from his underside.

No!  The demigod had seen his new pearl!  Tamatoa struggled and snapped his claws ineffectively in the air, but the demigod was handily overpowering him despite his best efforts.

It was about this time that Maui finally broke out of his own slack-jawed astonishment and rushed forward to join the fray.  However, just as Maui reached them and grabbed at the other demigod’s shoulder, Dakuwaqa managed to pull Tamatoa’s tail away far enough to grab the little treasure tucked against it.

Time seemed to speed up and a million things happened at once—all within barely the span of a scant few heartbeats.

Dakuwaqa snatched the pearl, letting out a whoop of triumph.  As he touched the shiny little trinket, there was a flash of blue light, blindingly bright in the dark night.  Tamatoa blinked against the sudden burst and when his vision cleared, it was not a gleaming pearl of otherworldly beauty but Maui’s hook in Dakuwaqa’s hand.  The demigod was laughing now, an ill-intentioned grin starting to form on his features.

Tamatoa didn’t even hesitate, with a sharp jerk he pulled one of his claws free from the distracted demigod’s grip.  Bioluminescence flaring brightly against the darkness, he lunged for Dakuwaqa’s hand.  His claw closed around the man’s wrist in a flash.  Growling through gritted teeth, Tamatoa clamped down with all his strength and twisted.

Dakuwaqa’s laugh quickly morphed into a shriek of agony, which almost drowned out the crunching of bone in the man’s wrist.

The hook fell limply from Dakuwaqa’s hand.

Then Tamatoa was abruptly airborne, flung high into the air.  Dakuwaqa had thrown him!  With the strength of a demigod, it was no small throw either.  Time, which had felt so sped up before, now seemed to slow to a crawl.  He flailed, legs beating the air uselessly as he tumbled through the air.  The world spun and then suddenly there was blackness rushing towards him—vast, empty, terrible blackness.

It was the sea.  Dakuwaqa had flung him over the ocean.

Terror gripped Tamatoa as the water rushed up to meet him.  Then came the inevitable splash.  He struggled, legs slicing through the water as he tried to stay afloat.  His kind wasn’t built for swimming, however, and he could gain no traction.  Dark, cold seawater closed over his head.  Panic flooded through him and he thrashed harder against the water as he sank.

It did him no good and, exhausted, his limbs went limp.  All he could do was stare in naked fear at the rippling underside of the water retreating above him.  The moon, its light distorted by the waves on the surface, grew smaller and fainter as he slipped into the dark depths.

***

It had taken just a moment too long for Maui to break out of his surprise as Tamatoa had launched himself at the villager—no, not a villager, the other demigod.  The thief.  It had all happened so fast and, not for the first time today, Maui was caught wrong-footed.  He’d been so distracted, so lost without his hook, and it had clearly thrown him off his game.  By the time he’d finally regained his wits, Dakuwaqa was tearing furiously at Tamatoa’s underside, looking as if had every intention of ripping the crab in half.  Well, not on Maui’s watch!  With a whooping battle cry, he gathered himself and sprang into action.

He had only just grabbed for the other demigod’s arms when there was a flurry of movement and a burst of light, followed by a shrill scream.  Staggering back and blinking against the glare, Maui opened his eyes in time to see the man hurl something far out to sea—something that glowed a bright, erratically flickering blue.  It arced high over the water, almost leaving a trail of light like a falling star against the dark night sky.

There was a distant splash and the flickering lights slipped beneath the sea’s rippling surface.  Maui could feel the blood drain away from his face as the chilling realization hit him.  It was Tamatoa.  Dakuwaqa had thrown him out into the deep water.

The crab couldn’t swim, couldn’t float.  He’d sink like a stone out there.

Maui didn’t even think twice, spinning on his heel and starting towards the sea.  He’d made it only a few steps, however, before the howling curses of the other demigod stopped him cold.

Dakuwaqa was gripping his injured wrist, which was twisted at an unnatural angle, and yet still he stood braced in a fighting stance.  He fixed Maui with a dark, cold glare and yelled out a brash, ill-conceived challenge.

Maui turned to meet his eyes with an equally fierce gaze, fists balling up in fury.  He straightened, back rigid and muscles tense, and took a measured step back towards the wounded demigod, every stiff movement a silent, but clear answer to the challenge issued.  He widened his stance, twisting his expression into one of fierce defiance, and moved to slap his elbow--the start of a haka.  He had no time for this, but he also had no time to deal with this jerk either.

For his part, Dakuwaqa seemed to recognize the ritualistic gesture and abruptly change his mind about fighting.  Instead, he backed away a step and angled himself towards the shoreline.  “Fine then, but that little vermin is going to pay for this instead,” he snarled.

With a spray of sand, the other demigod sprinted towards the water.  A few long strides had him there, then Dakuwaqa leapt into the sea.  As his body knifed towards the water, there was a flash of green light.  In the wake of the light, it was not a man but a sleek, powerful shark that splashed into the surf.  Another shapeshifter!

The sharp, distinctive shape of a dorsal fin hissed through the water, cutting swiftly through the waves towards where Tamatoa had splashed down.  The fin moved fast, but it seemed to wobble on its course as if the injury done to the man’s wrist was fouling his steering even as a shark.

Maui was left alone on the beach.

He glanced down and caught a familiar gleam of curved ivory in the sand stirred up by the scuffle.  There was no question what it was.

Maui reached down for his hook, but hesitated just as his hand hovered a hair’s breadth away from the sennit-wrapped handle.  Guilt swam up to overwhelm him.  He'd gotten his hook back, but at what price?  He looked out to the sea, where Tamatoa was somewhere sinking beneath the waves, and felt the weight of blame settle on his own shoulders.

He took a breath and shook off the guilt, just as he always did.  He could think about that later, if he had to think about it at all.  Right now, he just had to get Tamatoa back.  There was no time to worry about the rest, not when his friend was out there about to drown.  That is, unless he became shark food first.

Maui snatched up his hook.  Bellowing out his war cry, he took to the air in a flash.  In his hawk’s skin, he angled after the retreating dorsal fin as quickly as his wings could carry him.

It didn’t take him long to catch up.  The shark was fast, but Maui’s wings were faster.

He swooped down to intercept, shifting quickly into his own shark form and splashed into the water.  Dakuwaqa was there ahead of him, and Maui burst forward, aiming to bite the other demigod on the tail.  It was too late, however, and his teeth closed on nothing but water as the other shark dove down, slipping swiftly into the deeper water.  It was then that Maui realized what was right below them:  a familiar, but faint, blue glow radiating up from the depths.

Tamatoa was alarmingly far beneath the surface.

Quickly, Maui dove as well, racing to reach his friend first.

***

The circle of moonlight was growing smaller and smaller above him.  Panic was steadily creeping up within Tamatoa's mind, while the faint hope of rescue shrank along with the moon.  He was alone in a bottomless ocean, alone with only his doubts as he sank.  Maui had his hook back now, would he even come for him?  Would he--

Wait!  There!  The shadow of a shark cut across the light, then angled down towards him.  Elation bubbled up--it was Maui!  Maui was coming to save him!

He had only a moment to get a glimpse of the shark, lit by his own bioluminescent glow, to realize that it was not Maui before a wide, jagged-toothed open maw bit--hard!--down on his shell.  Terror overwhelmed him and he thrashed, kicking and flailing, as the teeth ground down against his carapace with bruising force.  Frenzied with fear, he struck wildly at his attacker with his claws--snapping at everything and anything he could reach.  He blindly grabbed at something--maybe a tooth--and pulled it loose, but it did nothing to stop the rest of the teeth, compressing down upon him and leaving gouges in his shell.

The crushing pressure around him was too much and, despite the strength of his tough shell, he knew it wouldn't be long until it splintered under the onslaught.  He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain and fear of what was surely coming.

Then there was a jolting impact as something slammed sidelong into his attacker.  The collision was deafeningly loud under the water, like two massive canoes crashing together.  Tumbling with the impact, the shark lost its grip on him and Tamatoa was very nearly free until the teeth closed around him again, though without as much strength behind them this time.

Something rammed the shark again, smashing into it with enough force to spin it sideways.  Abruptly, Tamatoa smelled blood in the water and, by some miracle, it wasn't his own yet.  Nevertheless, the shark held doggedly onto him.  Another heavy blow shook the shark, making its teeth rattle against Tamatoa's shell.  This time, the teeth around him released and Tamatoa was falling into the deep again.

Disoriented and terrified, he tried to make out what was going on above him.  The deep water was dark and the moon was but a faint memory above him, so he could see little except shadowy shapes overhead, accompanied by the sound of heavy bodies clashing with thundering blows that reverberated throughout the water.

Long moments passed and the need for air was growing pressing as he slipped farther from the light.  Above him, the sounds of the fight had faded.  Whether it was because it had ended or because he had fallen too far to hear it, Tamatoa had know way of knowing.  He couldn't dwell on that, though, not when his body burned for air so desperately.  He might have escaped the shark, but he was still going to drown.  His thoughts spiraled into chilly horror.  He was still sinking and the surface was impossibly far away and--

A shape appeared out of the darkness, racing towards him blindingly fast.  Reflexively, he opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out as the shark slashed its way through the water towards him.  Legs scrambling uselessly, he thrashed in full scale panic once more as he waited for the inevitable press of teeth around him.

The teeth never came.

There was a brilliant flash and a whump of sound, as if the water was rushing to fill empty space.  A soft hand began fumbling to grab ahold of him.  Out of terror, he instinctively snapped a claw onto it.  He heard a pained sound, muffled by water, and the hand let go.  Then something else snagged on his shell and pulled him, kicking and fighting, around to face--

Maui!

A familiar hook was looped around him, holding him steady and keeping him from sinking further.  Maui was there, giving him a reassuring look, illuminated by the glow of his hook and Tamatoa's own light.  Relief flooded through Tamatoa and he felt warm despite the cold water.  His struggles immediately ceased and he shoved off the hook towards Maui, wrapping all his limbs tightly around his friend and clinging to him desperately, even as his legs trembled with residual fear.  Maui reached up and gently stroked the back of his neck, a calming gesture that put Tamatoa more at ease.

Then Maui started swimming up, paddling fast towards the surface.

Comforted, Tamatoa rested his face against Maui's neck as they ascended back towards the world above.  It had seemed so certain that this was the end, but Maui had come back for him--had saved him!  Even after all the strife and turmoil since landing on this island, Maui had still come for him.  Tamatoa held on tighter to his friend, grateful beyond what any mere words could express.

***

After what seemed like an eternity--and Maui had to wonder just how deep had they really been--they finally broke through the sea's surface into the air once more.  Tamatoa was still clinging to his chest like a barnacle, gasping and sputtering as they burst from the water.  They'd made it to the top, but staying there was another matter.  With one hand holding on to his hook and the other wrapped around the crab, Maui was having a difficult time staying afloat.  Tamatoa was heavy and Maui, being mostly muscle, was not exactly all that buoyant either.  He struggled in the waves, kicking steadily but tiredly to keep them above the surface.

A quick look around was all Maui needed to gauge their position.  The pale crescent of beach, sand lit up by moonlight, was tiny and distant.  Yep, they were a really long way from shore.  Well, he wasn't going to be able to swim all the way back like this.  Not when he was exhausted.  And not if they wanted to survive the trip, anyway.

Maui glanced back at his friend.  Tamatoa still seemed a bit wide-eyed, nervous and dazed in the wake of what was likely a pretty frightening experience.  Maui had seen the sheer, unrelenting panic in his friend's face when he found him in the depths.  The last thing he wanted to do was scare him further.

"Hey, Tamatoa," he said gently, to get the crab's attention.  "I need to shift into something else to get us back to shore."

The multitude of legs clinging to him tightened a little more, as if Tamatoa was afraid to slip under the water again, but the crab didn't say anything yet.

"Okay?" Maui prompted again.  After a moment's thought, he added, "Not a shark this time."

The crab dipped an antenna in assent.  "No shark," he agreed, though his voice seemed a bit small.

Maui nodded.  "Climb onto my back," he instructed, "and hold on."

Tamatoa did as he was told, carefully shifting around to cling to Maui's shoulders.  "Okay, ready."

Maui adjusted the grip on his hook, unable to hold back a slight grin.  He hadn't used this particular form in a good long while.  It was terribly impractical most of the time, but utterly perfect for right now.  "Cheehoo!" he cried, then shifted.

He dipped just barely under the water with the change, but when he rose back to the surface it was in the shape of a massive sea turtle.  Tamatoa let out a tiny yelp as the water splashed over him, but clung tenaciously onto him--Maui was pretty sure he was never going to let go at this point.

Steady and level now at the surface, Maui started slowly paddling back to shore.

It was quiet, with the sea calm and the sky clear overhead.  Tamatoa was settling down some, easing his death grip just slightly, but still not saying much.  He was far too quiet, really.  The whole ordeal must have left him fairly shaken.  That obvious, unavoidable silence left Maui too much empty space for his own thoughts and the niggling feeling of guilt started to sneak back up on him.

Even he had to admit, if only to himself, that he had lost his hook through his own negligence on this little misadventure.  He’d spent the whole day taking out his frustration on Tamatoa, too.  Yet, Tamatoa had still stuck by him and had risked his own life more than once to get his hook back for him.  The crab had very nearly been killed, too.  He looked over his shoulder.  Tamatoa caught his gaze and smiled, but the expression seemed shaky and Maui could feel the crab’s legs trembling ever so slightly against him still.  There were deep scratches all across his shell from Dakuwaqa's teeth, showing up starkly against pale bioluminescence.  Maui knew Tamatoa was not going to be happy when he recovered enough to assess the extent of the damage--even if it was just a cosmetic blemish.

Maui tried to think of what to say--something to smooth everything over, to make up for everything that had gone awry today.  Something to make the guilt go away.  What did one say to fix things like this?

The crab beat him to it and the wisps of whatever he was going to say evaporated.  "I thought I was a goner.  But you came back for me," Tamatoa said slowly, then went on in a voice that was surprisingly, uncharacteristically quiet for the loud little crab.  "Thank you."

Maui smiled--or smiled as best he could in the shape of a turtle.  "Hey, I wasn't going to just leave you to that jerk," he said, tone breezy.  "You're my friend and I've got your back."

The crab seemed to mull this over a moment and Maui suddenly found himself wishing he knew what Tamatoa was thinking.  Finally, the crab came to some decision and smiled, wider and brighter than before.  "Best friend," he amended pointedly.  "And I've got your back too."  He grinned and tapped his legs lightly on Maui's sea turtle shell.  "Literally!  See?"

Maui laughed and just like that, it seemed all was forgiven.  Maui felt relieved.  He had his hook back, he had his best friend back, and he didn't have to worry about all the unpleasantness that had happened in the interim, either.  Everything was just how it should be.

Tamatoa seemed to relax a bit more behind him, looking up at the stars that stretched in a glittering tapestry overhead as they drifted slowly towards shore.  After a long, quiet moment, he looked back down to Maui.  "Can we leave this place now?" he asked bluntly.

Maui let out a rueful chuckle.  "Oh, absolutely.  I think it's definitely time to head back towards more familiar waters."  True, there had been some fun adventures on this side of the sea, but between the swamp witches of the previous island they'd visited and this jealous demigod causing trouble here, Maui had to agree--it was time to go.

"Oh good," Tamatoa said, sounding relieved.  Then he stopped and glanced around, concerned.  "Uhh, so where did Dakuwaqa go?"

Maui brightened with the prospect of telling a good story about his latest victory.  "Well, would you believe there was a really big octopus down there?  And wow, did she not like him at all!  After I rammed him, then I…"

***

The moon was still high when they reached their canoe and they wasted no time setting out.  Tamatoa was eager to put this whole weird place behind him, really.  While Maui prepped the canoe, he had hurried to collect up all their supplies and get them all safely stowed.

As he tucked the baskets away, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment.  There would be no shiny new additions to his collection from this island.  Even his pretty pearl turned out to just be Maui's hook in disguise.  Not that he begrudged Maui his hook or anything--no, of course not!  But nevertheless, he didn't get a single souvenir out of this mess.  Hmph.  He brushed it aside, though.  He was at least glad to have survived, really.  With a reluctant shrug, he got back to work and in no time at all, they were shoving off and setting sail under the starry skies.

As the beach shrank behind them, Tamatoa watched from the top of the mast.  He thought of Abaia, somewhere up in the misty hills.  He'd liked her--she wasn't bad for a monster eel.  He wondered if she'd remember him.

"Hey, Tamatoa," Maui's voice broke into his thoughts and he peered down at his friend.

Maui was standing near the steering oar, looking up with a lopsided smile on his face.  "You're getting pretty big now.  You want to try your claw at sailing?"

Tamatoa's antennae perked.  "Really?"

"Yes, really!"

He'd been helping navigate for what seemed like centuries--and, why yes, he was getting pretty big--but now Maui trusted him to actually steer the canoe, too?  A wide grin spread across his face and he scurried down the mast, then skittered eagerly across the deck to where Maui stood.  He looked up at his friend, who smiled back fondly and tilted the oar towards him.  Tentatively, Tamatoa extended a claw to take it.

Still smiling, Maui kneeled down to his level.  "Okay, so here's how this works…"

And with that, they set back out into the wide open sea and a future filled with promise.

Yet somewhere far astern, a shark's fin cut silently through the water.