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There was another creature on his beach. Tamatoa had never seen anything like it, though he was still very young and there were a great many things he had yet to see. But he had lived on this little island for most of his life and no creature like this had ever appeared before.
It stood on two legs and had only two arms, which it was using to throw stones into the turbid water. It was making muffled sniffling noises, too, and it had the gangly, uncoordinated movements of a young animal.
Tamatoa hung back, concealed in the ferns that clustered beneath swaying palms. Antennae, slender and striped, tilted forward to catch the stranger's scent, driven inland by the wind.
Carried on the breeze, intermingled with the salt of the sea, were the distinct scents of a mammal: sweat, dusty fur, and skin oils, overlaid upon the faint tang of iron-rich blood. This one was a young male and, unlike the other mammals that Tamatoa had encountered, only had hair upon the top of its head--a thick, shaggy mass of it. The rest of its body was hairless, covered in soft skin in a uniform brown color, except for a small collection of stark black markings on its back, right between the shoulder blades.
Tamatoa stared. He'd never seen any markings quite like them on any animal or monster. They appeared to depict a larger creature of the same species, with longer hair, throwing a smaller one into the ocean. Tamatoa had seen any number of interesting markings on other creatures, but never any that depicted a scene like this.
There was another smell, too. Salty, but in a different way than that of the ocean or sweat, with a hint of something that he had only recently learned indicated distress. It was all fascinating and Tamatoa wanted to know more.
Curious, he took another step forward, trying to get a better read on the scent. One dactyl reached out to step over a thick fallen branch as he got closer.
Unfortunately, the little crab was so invested in figuring out the new scent that he failed to check where he was stepping. His dactyl touched down on the edge of the branch instead of the earth beneath. The branch rolled beneath his leg, fouling the others, and together they sent him tumbling out of the foliage, clattering all around him. With a crash of breaking branches, he rolled onto the hot sand.
The stranger's head snapped up, turning to look at the sudden racket.
Exposed and in the open, Tamatoa scrambled to get his legs beneath him. No sooner did he accomplish that than he realized the stranger was looking right at him.
Tamatoa froze, antennae stiff and eyes wide.
The stranger's face was wet, streaks of salty not-seawater running down from his eyes.
"Go away!" the stranger shouted, but his words were as watery as his eyes.
There was a rock in the stranger's hand, however. When Tamatoa did not immediately move, the creature flung the stone at him.
Startled out of his shock, Tamatoa tried to duck. The stranger's aim was true, however, and the rock struck his carapace dead-center. Thankfully, Tamatoa's shell was tough and the rock bounced off without doing any real damage.
But just because he was so well armored, it didn't mean that he didn't feel pain.
"Hey!" Tamatoa shouted back, peeved enough to ignore any instinctive fear of the stranger. "That hurt!"
Now it was the stranger's eyes that went wide.
"You can talk?" he asked, reaching up with one hand to hurriedly wipe at his face.
Antennae flicked in annoyance. "Of course I can!" he told the stranger, matter-of-fact.
"But… you're a crab."
Tamatoa narrowed his eyes. "And what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, just…" The stranger shook his head. "Most crabs don't talk."
"Well, how many crabs do you know?" he fired back.
Caught off guard, the stranger stumbled over his words. "Well… I… uh…"
Tamatoa beamed, triumphant. "That's what I thought," he stated with an air of finality. Then he peered critically at the stranger, antennae stretching forward to get a better read on the unfamiliar creature. "And what exactly are you? "
"I'm…" Here, the stranger hesitated, as if uncertain.
"What, you don't even know what you are??" Tamatoa cut in, frankly astonished.
The stranger glared, fists clenching. "I know what I am! I'm a demigod! " he declared fiercely. "And my name is Maui! "
Tamatoa had no idea what a demigod was, but he nodded along as if he did. "Right, a demigod. Of course. Third one this week."
At Maui-the-demigod's skeptical look and raised eyebrow, Tamatoa hurried on to the important part. "I'm Tamatoa!" he announced, standing up a little taller.
Of course, he still only stood about waist-high on the young demigod.
"Hey," he continued, before Maui could say another word. "You want to see something cool? "
Before even waiting for an answer, Tamatoa had a claw around Maui's arm and was practically dragging him away from the beach and into the island's interior.
"C'mon!" he encouraged, tugging on the arm until the demigod finally kept pace on his own.
It wasn't long before they stood before the small entrance to a cavern, overgrown and well hidden behind vines and sprawling ferns.
"Here! This is the place!" Tamatoa announced, quite proud of himself.
"It's just a cave," Maui said, unimpressed.
Tamatoa's antennae twitched in renewed annoyance. "I know that. It's what's inside the cave." He rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh. "Now, follow me."
With that, Tamatoa marched straight into the cavern. He heard Maui's footfalls as the demigod followed along.
But then there was a gasp from behind him.
Tamatoa turned, perplexed, to see what had startled his new companion. After all, they hadn't even gotten to the cool stuff yet!
In the faint reflected light of Tamatoa's bioluminescence, Maui was staring at him , slackjawed and eyes wide.
"You're a monster! "
Tamatoa stiffened and his eyes narrowed to glowing slits.
The word 'monster' was not one that implied good things.
"I'm a crab!" he fired back, emphasizing his certainty with an indignant stomp of a foreleg.
"You're glowing," Maui pointed out, as if stating the obvious was now the most fashionable new trend. "Only monsters glow like that!"
There was a look on Maui's face that Tamatoa couldn't fully read, but it very much resembled revulsion. Maui was looking at him like he was something fearful and detestable--a creature to be avoided at all costs, or perhaps stamped out.
Tamatoa's eyes swiveled, taking in his own bright markings. He had always been very proud of his glow, ever since he had first begun to shine in the dark as a young crabling. But now it suddenly felt as if the intricately patterned markings were a burning brand, marking him as something repulsive and abhorrent. Something monstrous. Something unwanted.
He found himself trying to hide his markings, trying to make them disappear. Yet, they only dimmed a little in the shadows of the cave. He had not yet learned how to control them with that sort of precision.
"I'm not a monster , I'm a crab," he insisted again, though his voice sounded very small in the hollow darkness.
Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the apprehensive look on Maui's face vanished.
"It's okay," he announced cheerfully, flipping his hair back over his shoulder. "We can be friends anyway."
Tamatoa's antennae perked up,
"Even if you are a crab monster."
Tamatoa's face began to fall again.
"A crab!" Maui corrected hastily, stumbling over his words. "Who might be a monster, but not a monster monster. You know?"
The young demigod flashed a broad smile.
"Really, it's fine," Maui said finally, giving Tamatoa an expectant look. "Friends?"
Tamatoa still felt just a little exposed; still felt the lingering urge to hide his shell away; to hide what he was away. It lessened with Maui's acceptance, tepid though it may be, but didn't fully go away.
But Tamatoa smiled back, hopeful. He liked the sound of that. He'd never had a friend before.
"Friends," he agreed.
---
By evening, they had thoroughly explored the caves. Maui had been suitably impressed by the sparkling green crystals embedded throughout the old lava tube, bits of olivine that Tamatoa hoped to someday be able to pry out of the basalt.
On the way back, they had taken up singing, trying to outdo each other with complicated melodies and improvised lyrical prowess. Maui wasn't half bad at it, Tamatoa decided. For a beginner, anyway.
Sunset found them back on the beach, throwing rocks into the waves and seeing who could throw the farthest. Maui was winning that competition handily, perhaps due to actually having hands .
As Maui reeled back to throw another one, Tamatoa again got a glimpse of the markings on the young demigod's back. They were just so unusual, it was hard not to stare. Even his own intricate bioluminescent markings--which were glowing to life again with nightfall--weren't so precise as to depict a scene . This time, he had to ask.
"What kind of markings are those?" he piped up, reaching forward with a single antennae to tap between Maui's shoulder blades.
Maui stiffened, his shoulders going hunched and muscles tightening. His fist tightened around the rock he was clutching, then he launched it with unexpected vehemence. It sailed beyond the breakers, disappearing somewhere over the distant horizon.
When Maui whirled around, his face was angry. But when he saw Tamatoa's wide, innocent eyes, he faltered. The anger faded and he took a deep breath.
"It's…" he began, hesitant. "It's not markings, not like an animal. It's a tattoo ," he said at last.
"A tattoo," Tamatoa repeated, mulling over this unfamiliar word.
"That's right," Maui confirmed, clearly hoping Tamatoa would leave it at that.
"But it's a scene ," Tamatoa pressed. "Like a story. What's it mean?"
Maui looked away, desperately looking for another rock. " Nothing ," he insisted, still avoiding eye contact.
Tamatoa was a perceptive crab, exceptionally good at spotting weaknesses. It was the sort of instinct that made for an effective predator and would serve him well as he grew. And right now, that intuition was seeing right through Maui's dismissal.
"Is it why you were so upset earlier?"
Maui's shoulders hunched further. He flopped heavily to sit just above the waterline.
Tamatoa took that as a confirmation. He stepped closer, settling beside Maui on the wet sand.
"You can tell me," he assured Maui. "I'm your friend , remember?"
Maui turned to face him, a bit uncertain, but also a bit hopeful. Tamatoa wondered if this was the first time Maui had a friend, too.
"You can't tell anyone ," the demigod warned him.
Tamatoa looked around them at the empty beach, stretching on for miles without a single intelligent soul. "Who would I even tell?"
Maui gave him a stern look. "You gotta promise!"
"Ok, I promise!" After all, it was an easy promise to make when you didn't even know anybody else to tell a secret to.
Maui took a breath, held it for a long time, then let it out with a whoosh. Mammals were so weird about breathing.
Then Maui spoke.
"I wasn't born a demigod. I was born human . The gods made me a demigod after…"
He hesitated, took another noisy breath.
"My parents, they…" Maui looked at his feet, then off at the ocean waves, then at the sky--anywhere but Tamatoa's face. There was water collecting in the corner of his eyes again, sending that salty smell to mingle with the sea air once more. "They didn't want me. They… threw me in the sea."
Tamatoa's glowing eyes widened and he grinned wide. "Oh!" he blurted. "So did mine!"
Maui's gaze leapt back to him, narrowed in an angry glare. "What?" His fists clenched. "Are you making fun of me?"
Tamatoa barely noticed the defensive stance, too excited to realize his offense. "No!" he insisted. "That's cool! You're like me! "
Now the demigod just looked confused, though his fists were still gripped tightly. "What are you talking about?"
"Crabs are born in the sea," he explained with great enthusiasm, grin still a league wide. "My parents sent us into the sea to find our new lives!"
Maui still looked utterly baffled by all this. Tamatoa could see that Maui wasn't getting it yet. He didn't understand. He couldn't see the connection.
So, Tamatoa slowed down and explained it very carefully. His kind started as eggs, carried and protected by their parents until ready to hatch. Then they were released into the sea to hatch, where they began their lives as aquatic larvae, drifting on the currents to new islands. When they reached that new island, they came ashore and changed into land-based crabs and began their new life in a new shape.
When he had finished his explanation, he beamed. "See! You and I are alike!"
"But… they didn't… that's not…" Maui sputtered, apparently not fully sold on the idea yet. "That's not how humans do things!"
"But you're a demigod , not a human anymore," Tamatoa pointed out. "You changed like I did!"
"But my family didn't want me! " Maui insisted again, though he offered no reason why his family might have felt that way. "They abandoned me!"
Tamatoa flicked his antennae, dismissive of his protests. "Then maybe I can be your family," he declared.
And at that, Maui was struck speechless. He stared at Tamatoa with his mouth agape.
But Tamatoa was stubbornly certain. "You like going on adventures, I like going on adventures. You like treasure, I like treasure. You like to sing, I actually can sing. You were reborn from the sea, I was reborn from the sea. We're alike!"
Maui still looked unsure.
"Aren't you lonely? " Tamatoa asked.
Tamatoa certainly was. He had come ashore on this little island and hadn't left since. He'd explored every inch of it and hadn't found a single other creature that he could talk to. Until today.
He searched Maui's face, waiting for an answer.
"I guess, a little," the demigod admitted.
Tamatoa grinned. "Not anymore!" he declared proudly. "You and me, we found each other! We'll be family now. And go on adventures! And be friends forever!"
Maui considered this for a long, quiet moment. Then, at last, he smiled. "Family," he agreed. "Forever."