When Mountains Move

“When the highest mountain sleeps and the deepest ocean rests; when the wind falls and the mist clears; only then little Mahuika, will you feel safe…”

The girl just blinks uncertainly, she has never known any other world than the clashing of storms above and the rumblings of earth below…

She knew the legend, her mother had told her about how the handsome and bold Tane (Tanemahuta) had loved his sister, the first Mahuika, so much, more than anyone or anything else, but when he separated their parents Rangi (Ranginui) their father and Papa (Papatuanuku) their mother by using his siblings, tricking them into playing a game which helped to cause the separation, but also caused such turmoil and strife within the family, that she could not forgive him and tried to escape the turbulence by leaving the family and living alone in a cave – but one day, she realized that she missed him so much, that she decided to forgive him and went out of the cave in search of Tane, to find that he then loved another, a younger sister – so she felt as though he had broken her heart twice, and returned to and ventured even deeper into the caverns. She became an expert of her environment though, learned how to use volcanic lava flint to make slow, long lasting fires, and the sometimes-steaming water to cook food – she found a place where some openings to her underground world went out to the sea, the crashing waves in the rocky area quite dangerous, but she had to eat, and whilst fishing, mastered that terrain as well…

She was very beautiful, with lots of lovely long hair, which attracted the attention of males – but after losing Tane to another, she was heartbroken and vowed she would never commit herself to any, and would use them to her advantage – teach her how to build a boat for instance, in return for her knowledge of how to make better, longer lasting, fires – but Mahuika realized that normal boats were useless in their volatile domain, and made a bigger one, with small canoes on either side for better balance – she also found that pounded bark made better sails than woven flax – she did realize that woven flax or vines was still best for ropes, though…

That first Mahuika outlived her brother – in fact, she outlived all her siblings – or so it seemed - at first, it was supposed that living mostly underground, being hardly exposed to the sun, preserved her youth and vitality – however, it was later found out that the unforgiving sister, having non-committal affairs, assured there would be generations of Mahuikas, the daughters knowing no other way of life, she kept, but the sons (don’t forget, because Tane broke her heart, she didn’t like males) she, or should I say they, the Mahuikas, let their fathers bring up.

The girls also knew how one of the previous Mahuikas dived into their mountain volcano to prevent it from erupting further, and it worked – the ultimate sacrifice, which they had no other reason to do, except to obviously attempt to save a younger daughter/s. At a young age, the girls did not know anything about death, and simply accepted the fact that diving into the volcano could be a natural part of their very existence…until one day, one of the Mahuikas decided that she no longer wanted to live in the belly of the mountain, nor wait for that sacrificial time;

WHEN MOUNTAINS MOVE

As she was growing up, the latest girl Mahuika, at first, loved listening to her mother speak of her grandmother/s all named the same. As if they were special. Unlike the normal people of the nearby village. She loved being taught knowledge, learning how to use their environment. Which was dark. Most of the time. There were areas of fireflies, which lit up the place, but one had to be silent when that happened, or the pretty lights would promptly go out. There were parts of the pools that glowed, including a large one that had an underwater outlet to the ocean so would light up when the sun shone as it moved passed overhead. And she loved sailing and fishing. Which was mostly done at dawn or dusk. Their eyes were not used to the brightest part of the day. They would sometimes walk around their island at night also, rather than during the daytime, for the same reason.

It was during one of these occasions, that the girl, now a grown woman, enjoying a lovely fresh sea-breeze under a full moon, literally bumped into a young man…

At first, neither knew who was more surprised.

“Ooops, so sorry,” the youth started, “I…I thought everyone had…um…retired for the…er…night…”

She wanted to giggle at his youthful stammering but swallowed instead. “So did I…”

In the light of the moon, he realized that he did not know her. He knew all the villagers, all the females, but he had never seen anyone this beautiful before. Large eyes, almost level with his own, so she was not a short small female, with long eyelashes, so long that they fanned her eyes so he was unsure if she was peering up at him, or not – high cheek bones, which also seemed to be fanned by her eyelashes, flaring nostrils, full lips, and a prominent chin – she had sinewy muscles of one who obviously sailed, swam, ran, or perhaps even danced often. Neither did she appear to be quite as dark as him and his people, but that could possibly be because of the moonlight. Unless…he had heard of…could it be…Mahuika of the mountain, who hardly came out during the daytime?

As if reading his mind, she whispered so softly that at first, he wondered if she’d said anything at all. “My name is…Mahuika…”

“Oh, I…I’m…a…I’m…”

“You are either Prince Muri, or Kapua,” she interrupted his stuttering, “I know about you identical royal twins…” she stopped, she was not going to admit that she’d sometimes spied on the villagers. “I’d better get back…” she stepped back.

He grabbed her. “Wait,” then let her go. “Yes, I’m Kapua…can I…can I walk you back?”

She nodded, then shook her head. She didn’t want him to accidentally see her mother. The people were in awe of the seemingly ageless woman of the caves and her mother thinks that they are safer, that way. As if men might be too afraid to hurt someone who had managed to survive for so long. “I wasn’t going home, I was enjoying a nice walk, under the beautiful moon…”

“May I walk with you then?” He managed without stammering; panic had made him bolder. He had stumbled across the legendary beautiful woman of the mountain, more beautiful than he had possibly imagined, and he did not want the moment with her to end, yet. “Please?”

She smiled and turned back to him. He was young, but already had the body of one who warrior trained regularly. And this close, she noticed the cleft in brow, and strong jawline. He was interested, and she was pleased. As a prince, she could become royal, and live in the village, their Queen, instead of in the cold, dark caves. An opportunity to change the destiny of the long line of Mahuikas. “I have a better idea.” She sat and patted the ground next to her. “Now why don’t you tell me why an important Prince is wandering around this late at night?”

He crossed one foot over the other the way warriors do and lowered himself to the ground. “My family thinks it’s time that I…” he sighed as though it was a burden, “get married…”

“And that’s a problem because?”

He looked to the ground. “My brother! Kiri, the girl I liked, and I thought liked me, chose Muri, my…brother!”

“At her circle dance?”

He nodded. “At her circle dance. I sat in her circle of hopeful admirers. I really thought we liked each other. I was surprised when Muri joined her circle…” Kapua hesitated, as if having difficulties continuing. “Still, I thought she’d choose me, I didn’t think that they even knew each other that well. But after her wedding dance, she went to him, and placed her flower necklace…” his voice faltered, “over him…she chose him, to be her husband!”

Mahuika placed a hand on his arm. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Kapua…”

“I think…” he looked at her hand, “I think my parents and her parents indicated to her that that’s what they wanted, Muri was born first, and she was being an obedient daughter.” He took her hand in his and looked at her, “well, that’s what I keep telling myself…”

She leaned closer to him. “Then you’re better off without her…”

He blinked at her as if he’d finally realized the truth and leaned closer to her. “Yes, I am…”

An owl hooted as if agreeing with him. The moon seemed to shine down much brighter on them than before. The cool sea breeze turned warm and cozy. She pulled him to her. He let her. And lost himself in her embrace, and the embrace of the magical full moon night…

The older mother Mahuika scrutinized her daughter. She had lost the virgin sheen on her skin and had darker nipples which suggested pregnancy. The mother just shrugged. It was time her daughter did something about bearing the next Mahuika. In fact, it was long past that time. Her daughter was twenty full seasons old. She had been fifteen when she was pregnant with her. But her daughter also seemed different. Not in the usual delightful way of experiencing intimacy and believing that the inexperienced were able to keep such a thing a precious secret, her daughter seemed more distracted. With no other people to discuss anything with, the Mahuikas were usually open with each other. Had the younger Mahuika foolishly fallen in love with the man she’d finally been smitten with enough to mate with? The mothers had always told their daughters about Tane, and warned them about how men used females, could not really love them, but taught their daughters, the strong independent Mahuikas, to use men first, instead…

She looked at her daughter. They had been filleting fish together for their meal. “Who is the father?”

The daughter blinked at her mother in surprise. “What?”

The mother wanted to laugh as she remembered this exact same conversation with her own mother. “Who is the father?”

“I’m not pregnant…”

And that’s exactly what she’d told her mother. And like her mother, she answered, “yes, you are…”

“How?” she was about to say, ‘how can you possibly know such a thing?’ But she looked down at her stomach. Surely it would not be growing yet?!?

But her mother interrupted her, “your breasts, not your belly…your breasts give you away…”

And like she did when having this conversation with her mother, her daughter looked, and gasped, and nodded. “Oh…it’s ah…it’s um…” then she smiled as she thought of the prince, and how he had stuttered in her presence, just like she was doing right now. “Kapua…”

“The Prince?”

“Yea…”

“So…what could the wealthy Prince, with servants, possibly need…in return?”

“Nothing…”

For a moment the older woman was speechless. Then she laughed proudly. “Well! You took your time, but when you decided the time was right, you had to have the best of the bunch…and to think I was starting to worry about you, worried that you may be the last of us Mahuikas…”

But the daughter did not laugh. She went back to preparing their meal. Fate literally bumped the young Prince into her. So, if things worked out as she’d planned, she possibly will be, the last…the last that resided in the mountain at least, and resided in the tribal village, in comfort, instead…

But fate had other plans, for the pregnant Mahuika.

The clouds shrouded the moon when Mahuika made her way to Kapua - they met at the same spot every night. Still, she knew every inch of this area, which was a fraction closer to her home than to his, and yet still, for those reasons, she was always surprised to find that he would already be there first and pacing impatiently, for her arrival. And as always, every time he started suspecting that she wasn’t going to turn up, she did – and also as always, he couldn’t hide his sigh of relief, as he drew her into his arms. “You always keep me waiting…”

They were almost halfway between his village and her cave. There were quite a few people in the village, but at this time of night, it was always silent. From where they were, slightly higher than the village, she could see a few flares glowing softly among the swaying palm trees below them. ‘Heaven’, she thought to herself. She could hear the crashing of the waves mercilessly on the rocks and caverns at her place behind her, and she inwardly groaned. She blinked up at the young man who held her so lovingly, so tightly. With her news, she might be leaving her tempestuous home forever. She hoped so, as she smiled up at Kapua. “Yet you always wait…”

He held her up against a tree trunk. “What have you done to me Mahuika? I can hardly think straight, and the days seem so long, and I race here as soon as my family’s retired for the night, to be with you…I’d heard that you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and it’s true…I’ve heard the stories of how clever you are too…” he held her hands above her head, against the tree, “have you cast a spell on me?”

‘Perhaps I have,’ she thought to herself, ‘he certainly doesn’t stutter like an inexperienced kid anymore,’ but she said out loud, “have you also heard that I’m…old?”

He grinned down at her. “Yea…”

“Perhaps even…ancient?”

He buried his face in her hair. “Yea…”

She pulled from his grasp and slid around the tree, peered at him from the other side of the trunk. Now was the time to get serious. “Yet…you like me?”

He leaned against the tree, the clouds had shifted, and in the moonlight, looked deeply into her eyes, and sighed. He knew that she was manipulating him, and he wanted to be manipulated by her. “I…I love you…”

She leaned against the tree on the other side and peered deeply into his eyes. “How much?”

“Are you going to have a wedding dance? I’ll sit in your circle of hopeful suitors, but…you’d better choose me, to be your husband…”

She smiled. “I don’t…dance…”

He blinked uncertainly.

She laughed. “Well at least you didn’t sigh with relief. But…your father’s a Chief. We could get your father’s consent and blessing, to be…a couple…”

He hesitated.

She started backing backwards towards her home.

He ran around the tree, to her, grabbed her. “I will.” A wind blew through the tree above them, swaying its branches into them, hitting at them. He closed his eyes. We are all connected on this world and help each other, he recalled the teachers saying, all we must do is watch and listen. He ignored nature’s warning and opened his eyes. “First thing in the morning. Meet me here. We’ll go to my parents together.”

“I will…”

But in case he’d changed his mind, this time, first thing in the morning, she arrived at their meeting spot first, and carried on, towards the village…

It was a lovely morning, and the King was sitting outside, enjoying the sunshine, when Kapua approached him. “Good morning father, I have some good news…” Kapua sat next to him, “you wanted me to get married, and…and I have found someone…”

“Mahuika!” His father did not seem pleased.

“I…how did you know?”

The Chief looked at a Tohunga teacher/healer who was on the other side of the village, telling some of the children stories – it was early, not everyone had risen yet, but Tama, a Tohunga, was always one of the first to rise, and obviously, one of the last to retire, and he’d witnessed the two courting in secret. “She’s too old for you, my son…”

“Mother’s older than you…”

“Only by a couple of full moons! Mahuika’s been around since the beginning of time!”

Kapua raised an eyebrow as if he doubted it.

“Since the beginning of time, as we know it!” His father tried to convince him.

“And that makes a difference because?”

The King sighed and moved closer to his son. “Kapua, you’re just doing this because Kiri chose your brother. You want to be with a superior woman, to spite them both!”

Right then, gasps went around the now waking and rising villagers. Some were pulling up large window shutters, and others were stretching on verandas.

When the Chief, his wife, his sons, and Muri’s wife Kiri and Kapua looked up to see what was happening, Mahuika was entering the village – the normally just loin-cloth and knife belt clad woman had donned a long simple but slinky Mo-o gown tied on one shoulder and was wearing a large flower above one ear, which held her lustrous long hair back on that side – that was all – no other jewellery or adornments of any kind, yet they had never seen a more elegant, graceful woman walk slowly yet purposefully towards the Chief and his family – head held high, shoulders back but relaxed, and her curves rolled with every seductive step – but her lips – not a big smile, not a hopeful smile, a slight smile of one who was so confident that she didn’t care what anyone thought – so confident that she didn’t look at Kapua as he started to rise, she only looked at the Chief as she approached, as if gliding on air, and as he rose, facing the beautiful Goddess looking creature, all objections he had had evaporated, as he welcomed her to his home.

Kapua looked with both pride and amusement as he watched his brother blatantly stare at the beautiful Mahuika – Muri didn’t even try to hide his attraction, with mouth hanging open, in front of his wife – and his wife Kiri, looked from husband with such jealousy, to Mahuika with such hatred, that Kapua could not hide his grin – revenge was so, so sweet – Mahuika might be wanting to leave her life in the caverns, maybe even become Queen of the village, but Kapua also had his reason to marry the superior most beautiful woman on the island, and it worked – so much so that the Chief actually stood, bowed to her, and embraced her, called for Kapua to join them and when he did, promptly put Mahuika’s hand in Kapua’s, and in front of the rather flabbergasted villagers, all witnesses, gave them his consent, and blessed them, pronouncing them man and wife, without even consulting his own wife first. But his wife was glad to see Kapua happy, for he had hoped to marry Kiri, so she promptly made sure that she was the first to hug Kapua and his amazing wife, congratulated the pair, and welcomed Mahuika into their family…

Of course, orders were then made to prepare a wedding breakfast, all the villagers, apart from Kiri, were happy to have the mysterious beautiful woman of the mountain join them, which not many had ever seen, and most had not even believed that she actually existed, they’d heard the rumours, of a beautiful, strong, clever woman, but who would live in a dark cave, all on her own? None had believed she could still be beautiful, and apparently ageless, after all, that was impossible, but here she was, among them, and had married their Prince Kapua – Kapua’s friends good naturedly teased him, the Tohunga winked at Mahuika, causing Kapua to wonder if they’d planned this together, if so, he was glad, for he had never seen his usually cocky brother so quiet – he had been upstaged – by the brother that Kiri had rejected – and Kapua had never felt happier, since Kiri had rejected him for Muri…

But his happiness, did not last long…

They had their baby, a girl, which Mahuika promptly named Mahuika, which the villagers thought weird, but Kapua was so happy to have married the beautiful woman most had believed had been just a legend, that he always let her have her way; but to cease confusion when speaking to them, he started calling his wife Ma and she liked that – to her, it was a nickname, a pet name, a term of endearment…

It was obvious that the new Mahuika was going to be just as beautiful as her mother. Everyone loved the pretty baby, so Kiri decided to be friendlier with the woman now called Ma, the mother, after all, it wasn’t the woman’s fault that all the men swooned in her presence, until she saw Muri happily and lovingly cooing with the child Mahuika, and promptly changed her mind. It was bad enough being jealous of the woman. Being jealous of the child too, was unbearable. It was all her own fault. She should have chosen Kapua. She and Kapua loved each other. But her parents told her that Muri was born first, that if she chose Muri, she could one day become Queen…

And that’s exactly what happened.

The Chief died. A simple, sudden accident. While seeking out Tama, the newest head Tohunga, he slipped, and fell over the close by cliff where Tama preferred to live.

Muri presumed he’d become the next Chief. He had not expected Kapua to challenge him. “What are you doing Kapua, everyone knows I was born first…”

“Do they?” Kapua looked around at his friends. “The Tohunga who birthed us is dead. He’s no longer here to admit that fact, isn’t that, right?”

His friends all called ‘yes’, in unison.

Muri gulped. Being sure of his birthright, he had become complacent, and hadn’t expected he should have been making sure he was popular, like Kapua obviously had been doing. It seemed like almost the whole village was cheering for Kapua. And who was that standing silently yet smiling at the end of Kapua’s friends, Kapua’s wife, staring at him. The brothers had always been close. Until she joined the village. It was her, behind this deception. And he couldn’t help but wonder. She was known as the strong, clever woman of the mountain. She was thought to have been around forever. Before she haughtily and brazenly walked into the village, she was even suspected to have been a legend. Just a story. She looked proud. Even the way she stared at him, with dark eyes, and breast heaving, made him feel afraid. He lost his confidence. Who knows what other powers the amazing woman of the mountain had. She had made his brother feel powerful, invincible. And where was his own wife right now, his female partner? Not here, by his side, he looked around, and caught a glimpse of her in their window, behind a curtain. He felt like joining her.

“Stop!” That was Tama, their new head Tohunga, coming down from his clifftop, among the trees between his tent and the village, cape flying behind him, a spear in his hand. He strode between the twins and drove his spear into the ground. “Enough!”

The whole town went silent.

Tama had known the last head Tohunga, for he had been Tama’s teacher, and he knew that the expert had not been a liar. Still, with him gone, there was no proof. “The people need a strong Chief! So, brothers who were born on the same day, fight for your birthright!”

At first, the brothers shook their heads, looked uncertain. Kapua was popular, he didn’t need to fight. Muri had momentarily lost his confidence but remembered how he used to win their boyhood brawls.

Tama pulled his spear back out of the ground, stepped back out of the way, and looking around at the townspeople, shook his spear in the air. “What do you say people, should they fight for their birthright?” The people shouted “Yes!”

Tama shook his spear in the air again. “And the winner become the next Chief?”

“Yes!” The people shouted louder.

Tama twirled his spear around himself then held it high. “And the loser leaves the village, with his followers, in exile?”

The people were so used to shouting in agreement to everything the Tohunga said, that before they realized what they were agreeing to, they shouted even louder, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Tama knew it had to be a serious commitment, a sore loser could hang around, continue to be a serious nuisance to the next Chief and people. He started jumping. Yelling. “Yes!” Every time he did so.

And the people mimicked him. Jumping and yelling. “Yes!” every time they did so.

When Tama stopped, the people stopped.

The brothers knew that they had no choice but to fight each other for leadership. Kapua dived at his brother first. He knew that his brother was stronger, so had to take him by surprise and hopefully win. But Muri remembered that he was stronger, and the fight wasn’t long, before he won.

Kiri came running out of her house, arms outstretched, and Muri gathered her up into his arms.

Mahuika, now known as Ma, paled – her face twisted as she realized she had lost the life she had used Kapua to get – her shoulders seemed to crumble as she staggered towards her husband – but she no longer looked like the proud beauty she had been, even her lustrous hair now hung drab and limp, and he involuntarily coiled from her.

He was injured, and she, being knowledgeable of healing plants, should have been tending her husband, but she picked up their daughter and made for their boat. He managed to grab some of their belongings and followed her. All his followers had no choice but to gather their families and leave with him.

Their harbour was on a river that flowed from the mountain passed the village and on out into the sea. Tama stood up on his clifftop, twirling his spear, as he watched them leave. They were too afraid of him to complain.

As they sailed out into the sea, they started asking Kapua which direction they should take, but he was so sad and hurt that he was incoherent.

His wife stood on shaky legs, clutching her baby to her breast, and managed to croak as if in pain, “my place…”

Everyone was quiet, their lives dramatically changed, their moods dismal, as they were desperately attempting to secure their boats among rocks in a dismal area, but they had no other options. Their neighbouring group of islands were smaller than this one, each with its own tribe and as Muri was popular with all those people, he’d even bought some of them back to their island, including Kiri’s family, he had marriage in mind with the pretty Kiri, but Kapua had believed that she liked him better, until she did choose Muri to spend the rest of her life with, and Kapua did not believe that they would be welcomed at any of those places, now - and the next nearest reef-like lands were far away, and was home to the despicable marauding Te Atua pirates, pillages and plunderers – Kapua’s ancestors came from places even further away, but in their plight, Kapua and his supporters were unprepared for a lengthy trip – they planned to stay at Mahuika’s place until they were more prepared for a long voyage, but over time, they must have been hoping the twins would reunite and life might return to normal - and although Muri found out where they were from the wandering Tama the Tohunga, he instructed Tama to inform them that they could remain where they were, so long as they stayed there, and not venture further inland, onto the island. But Muri never visited his brother or told the rest of his people that Kapua and his followers resided on the windswept rocky terrain of the legendary Mahuika of the mountain caves.

As soon as they first arrived, Ma, still holding her baby, made sure, while the others were trying to secure their boats, to get to her mother before the others found the older woman, and told her mother to leave, live elsewhere and of course the older Mahuika agreed - if they were to keep the generations of Mahuikas a secret, they had no other choice. The older woman didn’t even get a chance to cuddle the baby, for the others were entering the place already, but the older woman knew every inch of her domain and knew where and how best to keep hidden.

It was getting dark by this time and after their ordeal, the others slumped down with their few belongings in the larger cavern near the entrance, to rest – they would decide how best to live together in their new home in the morning, when they could better explore the place. So it wasn’t long before Ma was helping her mother leave, silently moving around the others – there were winding caverns often only large enough to just crawl through, but the rope up the cliff and across the country was the quickest and safest option - only Kapua noticed them, unlike his tired companions, he was too upset at what had just happened to his life, and too worried about their future, to sleep – his eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he silently watched the women quietly move around his sleeping supporters – he did not go to help them – he was not sure how he felt about the woman he had loved and had listened to, anymore – he knew he had been young and stupid and infatuated by an older, beautiful woman. His baby was sleeping beside him. He held his daughter close and, in the darkness, let his tears flow…

There were ropes outside the cave, originally made, and placed there by one of Ma’s grandmothers, and replaced on a regular basis, when required – they went up the cliffs to the rest of the island and when the two women reached the top, they sat together for a moment, waiting for the older woman to get her breath back. Listening to the waves crashing on the rocks below, and some owls hooting in the trees above. The younger one had tried to escape this tempestuous area and had failed.

“You were too ambitious daughter,” the older one surprised the younger one, “you couldn’t be happy to have a nice new family life in the lovely village, you wanted to be the Queen…”

Although it was not cold, the younger one shivered. “You were watching?”

“Yea…and ran all the way back when Kapua lost the fight…I didn’t think I’d ever see you again…”

“We were unprepared…it was getting dark…Kapua thinks we’re resting until we get more organized, but…I think he’s hoping to reconcile with his brother, so we won’t have to leave, but…” she whispered almost to herself, “I don’t think I’m destined to ever leave this place…”

A vision of a beautiful young Mahuika being carried onto a large boat by a handsome man while the boat was starting to sail away went through the older woman’s mind. “One of us will eventually escape,” the older one sighed as she stood to leave, “I’ll be just on the other side of the island…”

“I’ll visit whenever I can…” The younger one knew where the older was going, there was a small opening to the myriad of caverns under the mountain on its opposite side. The caverns connected underground, but they were mostly too dark and often too small to walk upright through, it was quicker to cross over land, even at nighttime.

“You’d better…”

Years passed, when Kapua and Ma, both feeling guilty that their supporters had been thrown out of the village, threw themselves into making their domain as liveable as possible for their people. Shelters on boats were now hanging from the rocks and rope ladders were strung around their little bay. The children of their people found it fun, climbing around the place on ropes and ladders, like a game, and their enthusiasm was contagious – the people found themselves trying to outwit the waves and when they did, they cheered, and when they didn’t, they laughed – for the youngsters, it was a fun water playland and so it would become so for the adults as well. Still, however, Kapua had difficulty forgiving his wife for destroying his life…

So, Ma would spend more time visiting her mother, than she’d planned to.

One fine day, when Kapua and the now grown, married and pregnant daughter Mahuika, and her husband were out fishing (they spent most of their time together), Ma decided to walk over to visit her mother and while doing so, saw a man – but – she gulped – she was not sure that he was actually a man – he was pale – he had golden hair; soft, glistening curls – and soft, blue eyes – her first instinct was to hide, she was near a Hibiscus tree but before she had a chance to move behind it, he had noticed her, and smiled – she sighed – he seemed friendly – then he spoke, but she did not understand his words, and she frowned – moving closer to her, he tried using body language, indicating that he had been walking, looking around, and she laughed when she realized that she was understanding his actions and she indicated that she also, had been walking around, and he laughed.

Then he pointed to himself, and said, “Angaur…”

To which she promptly pointed to herself, and said, “Ma…”

By this time he was right in front of her and reaching to the tree beside her, picked a flower and placed it in her hair, the stem behind her ear, as he’d seen the villagers do, and she blinked up at him, in surprise – he was so close that she could feel his breath on her face, she could see his chest rise with every breath – his very muscular chest – and were those muscular arms enfolding her? They were – she was not used to being seduced, she had taken charge and had seduced Kapua – so this is how it feels, she thought, to be the victim instead of the perpetrator, and she loved the feeling…

So; so-called visits to her mother became more frequent – during that time Tama had informed them of the pale Gods now residing on the mountain, who all seemed friendly. ‘Very friendly’, Ma smiled to herself – once, Angaur had even tried to convince her to accompany him to a wedding dinner – they’d learned some of each other’s language, by then - apparently, the main God, Makea, was going to marry Muri and Kiri’s daughter, the Princess Taranga, who had been born soon after Kapua, she, and their supporters had been exiled – she’d been tempted, and although she was older, she hadn’t changed much, she was still a flawless beauty, but she was afraid that she’d be recognized, so she watched from behind some bushes until the formalities were over and couples were giggling as they ran into the bushes for privacy, including her and Angaur…

Kapua was watching his wife climb down the rope ladder after visiting her mother; the mother he and all were not supposed to know about - but he worked out their secret on their first night in this place when she thought that all were sleeping, and she was leaving the cave with another woman, and he’d hugged their baby and cried. That was the night he’d learned that she’d been using him – he shook his head – no, he had always suspected that she was using a foolish young Prince, but he was so enamoured of her, that he refused to believe it at the time. He even admitted to himself that he would have done anything she suggested, so besotted was he and watching the still beautiful, graceful woman blithely slip down the ladder, he sighed – she could have lived with her mother, moved in with her at any time, but she kept coming back – did she truly love him too, underneath all her previous scheming ambitions and plans? Right then he heard their daughter; a lovely young lady herself; laugh out loud with her husband and their new baby daughter that they’d also named Mahuika, and sighed – no, Ma kept coming back because of their daughter and granddaughter – even the cunning Ma knew that she, in fact no-one, could separate a Prince from his child and grandchild.

So they had stayed together because of their daughter, granddaughter, and the place – after all, the place was hers – he had grown used to it, and the younger generation, having never known any other lifestyle, loved it – laughed at the waves as if the water was playing with them – daring them to ‘catch me if you can’ – like some of them were doing right now, and he laughed with them.

He turned his attention back to his wife. She’d also turned at the sound of their daughter’s laughter and smiled at the girl, her husband and child – the bewitching smile that he’d hopelessly fallen in love with when they’d first met. Right then, a wave splashed over Ma and their daughter and husband laughed at the sight – Kapua couldn’t hide his grin either, and Ma laughed the loudest – she pulled all her lustrous long hair over a shoulder and was trying to wring all the water out – the water had also drenched her dress and it clung to her – she still had all the right curves in all the right places and he sighed – over the years he had convinced himself that they had never really loved each other, that he had been a young naive boy and she a conniving woman – that she wanted to live in the village and be its Queen and he had wanted to make Muri and Kiri jealous - but he couldn’t take his eyes from her pretty eyes, her pretty lips, and when she went into their cave, he followed her…

And so it was, that Ma was pregnant again – Kapua was ecstatic – what had started out as a whirlwind romance, banished to live in horrific conditions, years spent committing himself to trying to make life as liveable as possible for his people, and allowing himself to embrace his lot and his chosen spouse again, he finally let himself feel normal once more – and proud of himself – for his people, having had no choice, devoted themselves to succeeding and he also felt proud of their attempts – they loved swaying in their swinging hanging shelters, enjoyed being able to sit together on the highest flattest rock area when it wasn’t raining, they used the largest cavern in the cave as a communal hall when it was raining, and wandered the sand when the tide was out, collecting shellfish as they did so, along with wood at the outer reaches of their little bay when the water was low, for their fires and building boats and hanging boat houses, and plants for vegetable accompaniments to their fish and bird meals, also medicinal uses and vines for ropes – so he felt very pleased and proud of himself, his people, and, his pregnant again, wife.

But his joy would be short lived…

Every now and then Tama would make himself be seen on the cliff top, and Kapua would ascend the rope ladder, to be informed of the latest news and one day, he was informed that the Gods that had been residing on the mountain had left, and Tama now had a half-God half mortal boy to raise – apparently, Muri’s daughter Taranga had married the main God, but did not leave with her husband when he left – Kapua thought that sounded strange, for an almighty God not to demand he take his wife and son with him, but he never questioned Tama, so never knew that the God had indeed planned to take his family with him, but they were few, compared to the natives, and the baby had been hidden from its father, so even if they won a war because they had superior weapons, they may never find the hidden child, so to save the life of his own son, the main God had left with his crew, without him.

Soon after, Ma was in the throws of childbirth, in the cave. Kapua had built a hanging boat home for them like the other families had done, and their daughter loved it, but now she lived with her own husband and child in their own hanging boat, and Ma preferred to continue living in the place that she’d grown up in, so Kapua found himself having to halve his time between both places – he knew he should demand she move in with him, but theirs had been an estranged marriage for so long, that now he was afraid he might destroy their already delicate relationship completely, and let her have her way.

Women usually had their babies away from the tribe, in the forest – however; the only foliage they were exposed to were at the far reaches of their little harbour; so according to the tides and/or stormy seas, mothers could be there for a couple of days before being able to return – but Ma always did what she wanted – the others had no way of knowing that the long line of Mahuikas always bore their children in the cave. It was her domain, they all regarded this rocky harbour belonged to her, and she, although she failed to become the Queen of the tribe in the village, considered herself Kapua’s Queen of their own place.

The birth seemed to be taking a long time. Men usually stayed away at these times, but if Ma could break the rules, Kapua thought that he could too. Still, he walked slowly as he entered the cave, with a flare to light his way, calling softly, “Ma, where are you?”

Light glowed from the largest inner pool. It had an underground outlet to the ocean, so it often did, when the sun was shining. And there beside it, sat Mahuika, a baby beside her, lying on the edge of the pool.

Mahuika did not smile at her husband, or excitedly show him their second child. Kapua presumed that she was tired from having just given birth. “How are you Ma?”

After which, she silently looked at her husband, then pushed the baby into the pool.

For a split second, Kapua could not believe his own eyes. Throwing the flare aside, he dived into the water – luckily, the baby seemed to be floating, and the water was not too dark at this time, so he didn’t have to search for too long, and pulled himself and the child up out of the water. “What do you think you’re doing?” He yelled at his wife.

She looked at him with cold eyes. “Look at it…”

Expecting to see some kind of deformity, he inspected the baby – it was a girl, with two eyes, two ears, a nose, mouth, two arms, two legs, ten fingers and ten toes – he was about to ask what? What’s wrong with it, when in the light from both the water and flare, he noticed – it blinked up at him, with…blue eyes – and at closer inspection, the child was pale – very pale, quite white - he gasped, and looked at his wife. Tama had told him that the Gods that had resided on their mountain for a while were pale – Tama had also told him that he himself was looking after a pale blue eyed half God kid. The truth dawned on him, and he slumped up against the wall of the cavern. He groaned. “I thought…I thought we…were finally getting close…”

Silence.

“You used me…to change your life when we were young. Now you used me to make me think that you were pregnant with our child…”

“Ka…” Ma started, but Kapua interrupted her. “If it had not looked like its real father, you would have let me believe that it was my child!”

“I…” Ma started again, but Kapua interrupted her again. “And you tried to kill it. The innocent baby, the innocent child in our sick, twisted lives, you tried to Kill it!”

Silence again, for a moment.

Then their daughter Mahuika walked in. She blinked at the convoluted scene before her. Mother resting against one wall, father resting against the opposite wall, a wet baby on the floor between them. Mahuika ran to the baby and picked it up, cradled it, looking from one parent to the other for some kind of explanation.

But Kapua was seething. Their daughter was holding a half-sister with caring concern. The daughter that Ma had ensnared him with. Ma had always been ambitious. She seduced a Prince to improve her life and failed. She had even seduced a God to improve her life and again, failed. If he wasn’t feeling so disgusted, he would have laughed hysterically at the conniving woman. But at least the God; poor sod, had escaped her clutches. He hadn’t. But this time, he knew that he could never forgive her again.

He stood. He was still the Chief in charge. “I condemn you and your pale child, to this cavern. But if you murder the innocent child, like you just tried to do, I will kill you. This half God child is your penance…a living reminder of your sins. You can go out for some exercise at night when everyone else is sleeping. You and your baby are an embarrassment to yourself,” he looked at their daughter Mahuika, “to us, and your people. You are not worthy to be a part of this community. I wish I had never met you. It took me a long time to forgive you before. This time, I will…” he hesitated, “never forgive you!” He screwed up his nose as though she stank, “you mean nothing to me. You disgust me.”

He looked at their daughter Mahuika who was still cradling the baby in her arms. He was about to order her to leave with him. But he couldn’t. It was not her fault that she had a manipulating mother and now also a half God half sister. He also knew that being confined to the cave; the mother would need someone to bring food to them. He nodded to her. Without words, they understood each other, and he left. Obviously, and especially in their small harbour, knowledge of the mother and pale child imprisoned in her own home would be impossible to be kept a secret. He just wanted to scare her enough to keep her away from him. He’d meant to keep them away from their daughter Mahuika also, but when he saw the protective way, his daughter was holding the baby, he could not bring himself to go that far.

With time, his people knew that the beautiful, mysterious woman of the mountain cave now only ventured out at night. They knew that her pale daughter did also. They knew that Kapua’s daughter Mahuika accompanied them. They knew that after being confined, Ma, the beautiful woman of the mountain cave rapidly aged. She no longer cared about anything, especially herself. She hardly ate. In fact, her daughter Mahuika had to find a wet nurse when her half-sister was a baby. If mothers do not eat enough, they did not produce milk. She had lost her opportunity to a nice life in the village. Her God had left without taking her with him. Without even saying good-bye. And finally, she had lost Kapua’s love and patience. She only had her daughters, but the oldest one lived with her own husband and child. She couldn’t be bothered naming the younger daughter. One day when Mahuika’s oldest daughter was feeding her own daughter and her toddler sister fish, the half God child had screwed up her nose and exclaimed, “Aw..hi…” closed her eyes and shook her head, “aaa…” which made both her and her own daughter Mahuika laugh, and from that time on, they referred to the pale child as Awhia…

But Awhia was not the only half God child that had been left behind by the visiting Gods. Tama told Kapua how he was looking after a half God boy called Maui. But Tama lived on a clifftop on his own, not in the village, and when the boy realized that he was different to the other children, stayed away from the village and as he grew, the curious boy while wandering around his island home would sometimes spy on the villagers, and Kapua’s area also. Knowing he was the Chief Muri’s grandson, therefore the heir to the main tribe, he knew that he could be considered a threat; even an enemy of Kapua’s, so the boy would silently crawl on his belly to peak at Kapua’s amazing place – completely different to Muri’s village – where Muri’s village was mostly tranquil, Kapua’s harbour was mostly tumultuous. Where Muri’s village had wooden and bamboo walls with flax and palm leafed roof type houses, Kapua’s lived in hanging boats on rocks with beaten bark and flax plaited tents which when lit up at night, looked quite pretty, regardless of the torrential habitat, and Maui was fascinated with the place. So, for years, Maui thought that he was secretly spying on them, when they knew, with some amusement, that the lonely boy was lying on his stomach, and peeking over the cliff edge to watch the people who managed to live where others wouldn’t even consider living.

So it was that when he was a young man, angry because Amira, the girl he loved married his best friend Kupe, one night Maui was running blindly around the island, managed to stop in time before falling over the cliff to the rock people that he regularly spied on, and saw a beautiful woman with thick dark hair – she looked back at him, but when she moved, another face appeared, or so he had thought at the time, and although it was night, in the moonlight, he could plainly see that she was pale, with pale hair, just like him, he lost consciousness, and literally fell over the cliff, into Kapua’s territory. The tide was in at the time, which broke his fall, but the people had trouble finding him in the dark, and he almost drowned.

When he regained consciousness, he was being nursed back to health by a couple of women, who attempted to keep him in bed until they were satisfied that he was healthy enough to leave; but the surprised and wary young man decided he needed to return to his foster father Tama, who was also the best healer on the island – while attempting to climb back up the cliff though, he noticed a boat staying on course for the precarious harbour despite the crashing waves around it; but what surprised him most, was that the solo sailor was a female – a very strong, beautiful woman clad only in a loin cloth and knife tied around it. Mesmerized, he watched as she expertly bought her boat in without damaging any of the other boats tied in the harbour, threw a rope around a rock and pulled her boat in place, tied the boat securely, then jumping out of the boat, half walked half swam to where he, who had been about to climb when he noticed her arriving, and her grandfather Kapua, were standing together on a ledge near the cave entrance.

Others swam to retrieve baskets of fish she had caught from her boat.

“Our guest is awake,” she spoke to Kapua, then looked at Maui. “Are you hungry Maui?”

Maui could only nod in disbelief.

So that evening, he found himself on the only high but flat rock large enough for everyone to gather and enjoy a meal together. He found out that these people were so used to their torrid conditions that they laughed whenever a rare but too high wave splashed them and reached out to hold onto ropes momentarily and he found himself also laughing and hanging on from possibly being swept away into the sea. But most of all, he found out that these people were fun loving, and were not a threat. In fact as he left, Kapua told him that he needn’t spy on them from above, that he was always welcome there – but best of all, he also found out from Kapua that the beautiful Mahuika was his granddaughter – as she had sat with Kapua at dinner, Maui had presumed that she was his wife, albeit a young one, and was glad to find out that she wasn’t…

So Maui decided to visit Kapua and his people during the day. In fact, the very next day. Mahuika was just about to go out on her boat when she invited him to join her.

She was already in her boat, expertly holding it quite steady with ropes, when she yelled at him, “what are you waiting for? Can’t you swim?”

At which he dived into the crashing waves and came up in front of her, grabbed hold of the boat, and pulled himself in. She immediately expertly took the boat out. He did not at first believe what he was seeing. He knew from his short swim that the undercurrents were strong. He’d learned about sailing with his friend Kupe who was a fisherman and was in awe of this female managing to take her boat out on her own. He suspected that he and Kupe would have capsized their boat, in these conditions. He did notice though that she had strong arm and stomach muscles, obviously the outcome of years of fighting against these waters.

But he’d imagined her invitation to be a nice romantic trip on the sea beyond the breaking waves, so he was mystified to find that she was yelling at him – orders and instructions on how to handle the boat, how to fish, which he’d already learned from his fisherman friend Kupe, how to make sure the baskets of fish were tied tightly to the boat for their return trip, so he was under the impression that she was determined to humiliate the Half God which seemed true when she suddenly punched him – so hard that he fell back into the boat – he had had regular warrior training one on one with Tama and then with the warriors since puberty, but he had been concentrating on her orders and hadn’t expected the girl to attack without reason – but as he looked up at her, blinking in disbelief, she was undoing her loin cloth – and his – he laid back and wanted to laugh, but dared not, the crazy female would probably throw him overboard – so he dared not move, and let her have her way with him. Afterwards, she promptly leapt up again - there was no cuddling, no tenderness, no getting their breath back, no romantic words, in fact, after quickly tying her loin cloth back in place, complete with knife sheath, without even looking back at him, without giving him much of a chance to put his own loin cloth back on comfortably, the cold tempestuous woman was shouting more orders, on how to take the boat back into her cold, tempestuous harbour…

And if that wasn’t bad enough, after they’d secured the boat and swam to the ledge where the rope ladder was and he was hurriedly getting away from the crazy woman, she yelled after him, “you need more lessons Maui, come back, same time tomorrow!”

He did go back the next day, but not because he wanted to be with the awful girl, but to do exactly as she’d done to him – before she had a chance to yell any orders at him, he’d remembered everything she had said the day before, and expertly took her boat out, expertly filled the baskets with fish and made sure that they were fastened securely to the boat, suddenly punch her when she least expected it, ripped her loin cloth off, and raped her – after which, also without cuddling, romantic words or even just getting their breath back, leaped from her, quickly replaced his loin cloth and knife sheaf, and before she even had a chance to redress herself, he was expertly taking the boat back into the crazy harbour without her help. And this time, after securing the boat and swimming to the ledge, he yelled at her, “you need more lessons Mahuika, I’ll be back, same time tomorrow!”

He actually hadn’t intended going back, ever, after treating the crazy Mahuika revengefully, the exact same way that she had treated him, but something happened that changed his mind…

The next day, in the village when the tide was out, that’s when some took the opportunity to clean their boats, and Maui was still cleaning his, long after all the others had finished – he loved his boat; a gift, from his friend Kupe and his father, when they realized how much Maui loved sailing – he didn’t have many possessions, a few things his grandmother Kiri had made for him, like loin cloths, blankets and head bands, he had made his own hammock, he hardly slept in his foster father’s tent with him anymore, he hung his hammock near his real father’s abandoned and disintegrating house on the side of the mountain, and that was all, besides his knife and sheath.

As he cleaned his boat, he thought of his life – Tama had taught him many things, like how to read the signs where shellfish and fish would be when he was a young boy, dragging baskets of seafood up the clifftop to Tama for them to prepare and eat, while swiping at seagulls trying to take his catch as he climbed - spying on the village, not feeling confident enough to be among them at first, until his mother Taranga died, and he went to her house to see her one more time before she did, he was approaching puberty at that time, and that’s when he met Kupe – Tama had always taught him how to fight, and they trained together often, until Tama thought that he was old enough to join the regular warrior training, but after Tama’s training, he knew more than the other beginners, so it wasn’t long before the trainers had him training the beginners – that’s when Kupe asked for extra tuition, and Maui agreed if Kupe would give him fishing tuition, and that’s when they became best friends – when discussing this with Tama, and Tama mentioned that Maui already knew how to fish, Maui had answered, “Kupe has a boat,” and they’d laughed – Tama thought Maui wanted to spend some time sailing with a friend, but Maui had decided that when he grew up, he was going to go in search of his real father – a plan that seemed simply just like that, to a young lad, a nice, simple plan – but growing up, normal life, sent other disruptions to his boyhood plan – disruptions, like the lovely Amira…

When they met, one night when everyone had retired, he found her crying – she had wandered around in despair, not realizing how far she had roamed from the village – and he comforted her – apparently, the man she thought loved her and they’d planned to marry, had joined her best friend’s love dance, and out of all her admirers, her friend chose him to be her husband – so within one night, Maui learned that people didn’t just grow up and marry as he’d presumed was natural and normal, people were quite complex – a man could pretend he loved someone when he actually loved someone else, and a woman could steal her best friend’s boyfriend without any regret…

So while comforting Amira, she stirred feelings in him that he had no idea even existed – like churnings in the stomach, legs unable to support him, and yearnings to never let her go – but he had decided to search for his father, he had never considered marriage, or being in charge of the tribe, although he was Muri’s only heir, he didn’t want any commitments, or to be responsible for anyone else, when he had no idea where he’d end up, how far he’d travel, or even if he’d ever return – he could get lost on such an undertaking, even killed – so although he’d fallen in love with Amira, and she asked him to join her love dance, that she would choose him if he did, on the night of the event, from his hammock, he could hear the Conche shell being blown, to alert everyone of the event, and he’d argued with himself – he’d start running down the mountain side, then stop, and hold onto a tree tightly as if the tree might help prevent him from going – when soon after the sounds of the drums and pipes being played, he knew she had begun her dance – at their love dance, the prospective bride would dance seductively, enticing hopeful suitors to sit around her in a circle after which, she would choose one to be her husband – followed by a wedding feast, and finally, the couple would be teasingly escorted to the bride’s house – which had been built before the day of her circle dance in preparation for the newlywed’s life together. He’d never contemplated ever living in the village. At the sounds of the music, Maui placed his hands over his ears, but that didn’t work – he ran back to his hammock and enfolded himself it, but that didn’t work either, in fact, he was clutching his hammock so tightly that it twisted and sent him flying to the ground – where he coiled, in foetus position, until the music stopped – and he knew that he was too late - and he felt wretched – and he could only hope that that feeling would one day disintegrate – surely it would – they were juveniles and knew nothing of true love…or so he would spend the rest of his life telling himself so…

Even Kupe, when next they went out on his boat, noticed the change in his friend. Maui had always been a quiet sort, but never distracted.

Kupe imagined he had some good news that might put a smile on his friend’s face. He cleared his throat. “I got…” he grinned, “I got married…”

Maui had been about to throw the fishing net out. He froze.

Kupe thought his friend hadn’t heard him. He started to repeat himself. “Maui, I…” but stopped when Maui turned to face him, clenching, and unclenching his fists.

“Sorry Maui,” Kupe thought his friend was upset because his best mate had not informed him that he was considering taking a wife, “I hadn’t planned it, it was an impromptu decision. Amira was dancing, she looked so lovely, and I…I joined her circle. I never dreamed she’d…I didn’t think she’d pick me; she’d never even noticed me before…”

Maui slumped down in the boat, no longer in the mood for fishing. Everyone knew that Kupe and Maui were friends. To spite Maui, she had picked Kupe. “I thought…I thought you liked fat girls?!?”

“She’s young, fat will come, when we start having children…”

Maui thought of his own mother. After a few pregnancies, she had never put on any weight. “What if she doesn’t?”

Kupe frowned. “There’s more to relationships than just looks, I love her. I kept the way I felt a secret because she was in love with someone else, everyone thought that they’d get married, but…he married her best friend instead…”

Maui had been avoiding looking at Kupe. He had been looking at the bottom of the boat. When he looked up at his friend, his eyes were cold. “Best friend…”

Kupe had no idea that Maui was angry with him. “Yea…”

Maui closed his eyes. He was trying to calm himself. It was not Kupe’s fault the girl used the poor guy for revenge. He should be feeling sorry for his friend, instead of wanting to punch him to a pulp. The sun felt warm on his face. He took a deep breath, then looked at his friend. Still, he couldn’t smile at him, when he said, “congratulations Kupe, I hope she…” he swallowed but his voice came out like he barely whispered, “I hope she makes you happy…”

But somehow, the mood in the boat was not happy. They sailed back without any fish. Since Maui had joined Kupe’s fishing trips, they’d always returned with a boat full of fish, before.

And as they entered their river, both Kupe’s sister Terita, and his new wife Amira, were waiting on the pier for them. Tama was not waving from the top of his cliff, like he usually did. Still, to avoid the women, Maui quietly said before diving out of the boat, “Tama needs me…”

Up on the clifftop, Maui took his anger out on his foster father. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tama had been relaxing next to his fire, enjoying both the warmth of it, and the cool late afternoon breeze at the same time. “Tell you what?”

“You know everything that goes on around here! Do you deny you knew Amira chose Kupe?”

Tama indicated Maui should join him by the fire. But Maui’s chest was heaving, and his hands were clenching and unclenching again. He stood his ground. “Do you?”

Tama sighed. “You…made your choice Maui, now live with it…”

Maui went in the tent, grabbed his blanket, then made for his hammock.

But he could not sleep. He lay in the hammock watching the sky when one star appeared. And by the time the sky was black and full of stars, Maui was still wide awake. “Where are you father? Are you really up there, like Tama says you are? Are you watching me? Why did you leave me here? Why did you leave me?”

He got out of his hammock and started to run – he did not care where he ran, he just wanted to run, it was a moonless night, and he often slipped and skidded – still, he did not lose his balance – for some of the time he was aware that the white bird that sometimes flew around with him when he ran had joined him, flew above him, behind him, in front of him, beside him, but suddenly stopped, landed in a tree, as if even the bird knew that Maui was in a foul mood, and did not want company.

Maui hadn’t concentrated on where he went, he just knew that he couldn’t sit, or lie down, or sleep, or keep still – he had never felt such a rage burning inside him before – not when Tama told him about his real father, not when his mother died, now, he wanted to lash out at someone, or something, anyone, anything, he wanted to run until there was nowhere left to run and that’s exactly what happened – jumping, and leaping crevices as he ran in a rage, suddenly, he noticed that he was at the edge just in time and stopped within inches of the cliffs that he’d always crept and crawled up to before – the rocky cliffs of the exiled people that had a reason to kill him – and unfortunately, although it was a dark night, and most would be sleeping, one of these people was not, and noticed the person above. Maui hoped that he wouldn’t be recognized in the darkness. For a moment, they just stared at each other. From the soft lights of the shelters, he noticed that it was a female. The most beautiful female face that he had ever seen, with the longest hair he’d ever seen, like a cloak, flowing all around her. But she shifted, in the darkness, all Maui saw was a shadowy movement – she moved and turned her face from him but when she looked back, it wasn’t the same face that looked back at him, it was still a beautiful woman, but a white skinned, white haired one, the difference illuminated in the darkness – Maui gasped, then fainted, and fell over the edge – and met the beguiling Mahuika…

But; he didn’t like her. She was strong and clever, but she was cold, callous, and as tempestuous as her environment…

Maui still lingered while working on his boat; thinking of his past, unlike the others, he did not have many other chores, except for teaching at warrior training, and taking seafood to Tama, which he neglected to do as often as he should, since the time that he angrily strode off soon after Kupe and Amira got married.

For a while Kupe and he weren’t as close since that happened, Kupe was mystified, and Maui was sullen, then seemingly indifferent. Kupe had even asked if Maui was feeling alright, Maui had simply nodded back – Kupe had further asked what was wrong, Maui had sighed and replied, “nothing…”

While tenderly taking care of his new boat, Maui thought back to that time.

“You’ve never been much of a talker,” Kupe had insisted, “but…we’ve had some fun times, haven’t we?”

Maui had just nodded again.

“Have I offended you in any way?” Kupe had persisted, “if I have, I didn’t mean to, what have I done Maui?”

“No, you have not offended me,” Maui whispered softly, as if he had been speaking to himself.

But Kupe had heard every word, and whispered back, almost as if too embarrassed to speak, “is it because I got married? You and I…did you think…that we?!?”

Realization hit Maui. Theirs was a sensual race. Homosexuals had an important role in the community. Whenever the men were away at war or fishing and hunting birds, if the women and children were attacked in their absence, the men who preferred women’s crafts and work, were still stronger than the women and the warriors/providers worried less and could concentrate on their duties, when not at home. He couldn’t stop a grin from twitching around his mouth. Kupe noticed and within seconds, the two were laughing hysterically…

“Good morning Maui,” Amira interrupted his thoughts, she ran her hand over a part of his boat, “you look after your boat so tenderly…”

Maui inwardly groaned. He’d hardly ever visited the village, and since she and Kupe had married, never…he thought of Mahuika’s words while giving him lessons on her boat on the other side of the island, ‘the more you love your boat, the better she’ll respond to you…’ but bluntly replied to Amira, “what do you want?”

She moved closer to him, long eyelashes blinking up into his eyes, the hand that had stroked his boat now softly caressed his chest. “Why didn’t you join my circle, I know you liked me, that night we spent together on your mountain…”

He grabbed her hand and removed it from him. “You’re married Amira, to my friend…and not because you like him, but to spite me!” He turned from her, made sure his boat was fastened securely. He’d thought she’d return to the village. But she hadn’t. She was looking at him, breast heaving angrily. He softened. He went to take her into his arms. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It’s not your fault. I should have turned up. I…I thought I was like Tama, not the marrying kind…I got mad at Tama too,” his voice softened, “but it wasn’t his fault either…I made that stupid, stupid decision…”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. With his thumbs, he wiped them away. He placed his forehead on hers. His insides felt as though they were churning like the sea in Kapua’s rocky home area. He felt like tumbling her into his boat. It was difficult, the most difficult thing that he’d ever had to do, but he managed to pull away from her and with a heaving heart, managed to gasp, “I’m so sorry…” and fled from her before he did.

Both hadn’t noticed Kupe, who had been looking for his wife, saw her in Maui’s embrace, and had stopped approaching, in shock…

Now it was Kupe’s turn to be upset with his friend. But unlike Maui, he wasn’t going to sulk in silence, he chased after Maui, calling as he went. Maui had started ascending the mountain when he finally stopped, turned, and faced Kupe in silence.

Kupe stopped too. For a moment, they just glared at each other. Kupe had planned to – he wasn’t sure what he had planned to do, he’d just angrily run after him when realization hit, but what could Kupe actually do? Maui was slightly smaller than he was, but looking at the golden hair gently blowing in the breeze, the strange blue ‘sky eyes’ looking back at him without fear? Could he actually punch a half God? Could he even accuse him of anything? He stopped in his tracks and despairingly looked at the man that he had thought was his best friend.

Maui’s first impulse was to continue walking. Turned away and took a couple of steps. But Kupe was his friend and deserved to know the truth. He sighed and looked back. “Before you two got married, one night, I found her crying and comforted her. That’s all, I promise you.”

“And I suppose again today, you found her crying, and you comforted her?!?”

Maui was going to nod, that should put an end to the problem, but he couldn’t lie to his friend. “OK,” he hesitated, “she was the first girl that I ever had any feelings for.” He moved closer to Kupe. “So punch me. Get it over with. I won’t fight back…”

Kupe did. To the surprise of them both, Maui went flying to the ground. He shook his head and looked disbelievingly up at his friend. “Damn! That hurt…”

Kupe ran to Maui. He put a handout to help him up again, Maui took it, and pulled him down to the ground where they continued wrestling. A few moments later, they both pulled apart from each other, laughing their heads off.

Kupe looked around. No-one was in the vicinity; no-one had witnessed them fight. “Damn! No-one will ever believe I knocked the half God to the ground.” They laughed again.

For some time, they just laid back, looking at the bright blue sky between the trees above – it was the kind of day that made one happy just to do nothing.

Then Kupe looked over at his friend. “Do you love her?”

Maui thought of the way she made him feel quite dizzy, how his legs lost their strength, and the churning of his stomach – he thought of the way he had wanted to tumble her into his boat earlier. “Yes,” he whispered.

There was no immediate answer.

“Sorry, Kupe…” Maui whispered again.

“Thanks for being honest with me…”

“Do you love her?”

“I have always loved her,” Kupe sighed, “since we were children. But she loved someone else, the whole tribe believed that they’d grow up and marry. I thought so too…it was a surprise to everyone when he married her best friend…”

Maui sighed. “Well, you’re a lucky man, Kupe…”

Kupe sighed. “Am I? If you’d joined her circle, she would have picked you…”

Maui leaned up on an elbow, facing his friend. “Well I didn’t. I regret it, but I didn’t. Now we all have to live with that…”

Kupe leaned up on an elbow, facing his friend. “You mean that?”

Maui thought of Tama, and how he hadn’t turned up at Taranga, his mother’s wedding circle, and just like his foster father, who had learned to live without the great love of his life, he realized, he must also, and swallowed. “I’m glad…she has a man who really loves her, Kupe…”

“Hang on! Did you say earlier; ‘first girl you’ve ever had feelings for’?”

Maui sighed. He wasn’t sure what he felt for Mahuika. She was beautiful, so much so that most males would be attracted to her, but she was cold, callous, and tempestuous, just like the environment that she grew up in. He thought back to when he revisited Kapua and his people and had said in front of her that he was interested in learning how to ‘tame the sea in their remarkable boats’, knowing that the over-confident female would offer to do so. But what he’d imagined could have been an adventurous amorous encounter on the sea, she actually constantly snapped at him, instead of patiently teaching him, as if determined to make the half God feel inferior and stupid.

He thought of the way she had yelled at him, “you need more lessons, see you same time tomorrow!”

And he thought of the way he had yelled at her, “you need more lessons, see you same time tomorrow!”

Which was today. But he had not liked the insolent girl, and after revengefully treating her the way she had him, he had planned not to turn up, ever again…now though, after speaking about love and marriage with his friend, he wondered if perhaps the unfeeling girl was in fact the best sort, for the independent Maui.

And thinking back to the unusual encounter with an unusual girl in an unusual place, he grinned. He stood, looked down at his friend and happily said, “I have a date, and I’m late, see you later,” and took off as fast as he could run with a perplexed Kupe calling after him, “who? Maui, wait! Who?” He was so curious he considered running after Maui, but he knew that he would never catch up to him, after running around his mountain his whole life, no one ran as fast as Maui did…

Mahuika was mad. She went into the cavern to be with her sister. Awhia was her aunt really, but her own mother threw herself into the mountain crater when their wild domain started rumbling too much, and the mountain instantly calmed – her father was so depressed that he went out into the ocean and never returned – so Kapua ended up having to look after his wife and her pale daughter himself, taking the latest Mahuika, his granddaughter, who was only a toddler at the time, with him – Awhia was a little younger, but the girls grew up knowing only Kapua and his wife as their family so they considered the wife their mother, Kapua their father, and they were very close sisters…albeit…to the rest of the world, there had ever only been one Mahuika anyway - well; most of the world - for Kapua found out the secret, and in their little domain, his people realized that his wife had had a daughter she called Mahuika, and that daughter had also had a daughter that she had called Mahuika, so it was no longer a secret, obviously, even the village knew that Kapua and his wife had had a daughter, so from then on, for generations later, nowadays, most of us know about the secret of the seemingly ageless Mahuika of the mountain also…

“He stood me up!” Mahuika shook with anger, “that arrogant, conceited…” she stopped in time…

“Half God?”

Mahuika bit her lip. “Sorry…”

Awhia sighed. “You are a very beautiful woman Mahuika, yet men don’t like you. You must learn to be a little more…”

“Feminine?”

Awhia had planned to say ‘nicer’, but she shrugged. “Yes. For starters…”

Mahuika had been standing with feet apart and hands on hips. She placed one foot daintily in front of the other, put one hand prettily across her breast, leaned her head to one side and fluttered her eyelashes and spoke softly and sweetly. “Oh; Maui, how very handsome you are…”

The girls burst out laughing, when suddenly, a shadow appeared in the entranceway and Awhia ducked behind a stalagmite.

“Why thank you Mahuika,” Maui walked through the cave opening, eyes blinking, adjusting to the darkness, “and you are very pretty…”

For a moment, the shocked and stunned Mahuika turned to face him in surprise. Then she remembered that she was angry with him, and took a step towards him, clenching a fist – But this time Maui knew that a punch was coming his way, deftly avoided it, and took her in her arms.

“It’s a bit late,” Mahuika growled up at him, “for fishing…”

He held her up against the wall of the cave. “Then we’ll have to think of something else, to do…”

So; for a while, the unemotional, latest Mahuika had a smile on her face. In fact, everyone, in the village and the rocky cavernous area, were happily singing, and dancing, and laughing. Even the weather was perfect. Idyllic. For a nice, little while…

“Look!” That was one of the young lads of Kapua’s people, pointing to smoke – lots of dark, rising smoke, billowing upwards - from across the land – from the village…

Kapua came running out of the cave, his people were all pointing to the sky – he looked – gasped – and turned pale. “Men! Grab your weapons! The village is being attacked!

Their island hadn’t been attacked for so long, that with some surprise, weapons were no longer being made as often, and for everyone, like they used to be.

Kapua continued, “cooking and filleting knives! Fishing lines and spears. Paddles! Ropes! Anything!”

After all the men grabbed something, they started climbing the rope to the top of the cliff.

Kapua groaned. His men were jostling each other, trying to fit on the small ledge with their only rope ladder up to the island. It would take forever, for all his men to go one at a time. “No! Everyone to the boats!”

Mahuika rushed past him, clutching a spear and a bow, and had a knife and arrows belted around her hips. Kapua groaned again. Of course, the organised girl would have an armament. He grabbed her. “Not you…”

She looked at his unprepared men clutching cooking utensils, then raised an eyebrow, and looked at him. “Really?”

“You are my only heir. The last of my bloodline…”

“Then pray we win!” She pulled herself from his grasp and made for her boat.

He groaned again, went for his own spear, then made for his boat…

As it turned out, going by boat turned out to be the best decision, for what was left of the pirates, Muri and his men had obviously put up a good fight, were already leaving in their own boats. Kapua thought that he had a small bunch of men. But they were twice the size of the remaining marauders, most of which were injured, so could not row very fast, and were easily overtaken by Kapua, his granddaughter and unprepared men brandishing mostly kitchen utensils…

Afterwards, as they made their way into Muri’s harbour to see if there were any survivors, and to help if there were, the girl arriving first, astride her boat, hair flowing out behind her, looking every bit the strong warrior, it must have been presumed that all Kapua’s warriors were like her and had the same weapons down in their individual boats, and they were welcomed and treated like very brave warriors of Muri’s brother, Kapua…

Even more surprising to the villagers, Kapua’s granddaughter excitedly ran to Maui exclaiming that they had made sure that the remaining pirates were now at the bottom of the sea, and it was obvious to everyone, that they were an item…to Kupe’s delight, and Amira’s dismay…

Although there were deaths, Polynesians believe that death is a step to the next realm, so although the loved departed would be missed, the usual victory banquet was prepared in honour of those both gone and victorious and that night, the twins Muri and Kapua, finally became reconciled.

Kapua and his people were welcomed to return to the village, but after all this time, Kapua had grown fond of the home that his wife had so desperately tried to escape from, and his people also, chose to continue to live the life that they were now used to, stating that they actually loved their swaying hanging boat shelters, but they would be happy to visit each other and Muri hoped that one day, now that they were welcome to be on the island instead of just a small rocky harbour water-world, they will eventually get used to being on the land again. One thing that both Muri and Kapua agreed on, was that Maui was their only male heir…

The villagers though, apart from Tama, were surprised to see that Maui and Mahuika, although not the most affectionate of mates, were obviously a couple, never-the-less.

Kupe grinned good heartedly at his friend. Amira did not even try to hide her contempt for Maui and Mahuika. Maui ignored them both. Tama, Muri and Kapua, seemed pleased that the independent half God and strong warrior woman were partners.

Later, when Kupe got a chance to speak with Maui, playfully elbowing his friend, he said, “she’s beautiful Maui, now I know why we don’t see much of you anymore…”

Maui shrugged wistfully, “yea…”

Kupe noticed. “You don’t seem too…passionate, though…”

“She suits me just fine, that’s just how we are…”

“I noticed that you also lacked enthusiasm for being the heir, our next Chief?!?”

“You know me better than anyone Kupe,” Maui swallowed, “I’m not much of a ‘people person’, am I?!?”

“But there’s no-one better than you for the job Maui, you’re the half God!”

Maui just groaned. “Yea…”

Right then, Mahuika, who had been approached by some of the admiring girls who wanted to be friends with the warrior woman and had been asking her questions about her and her life, joined them. Maui took her hand and said to Kupe. “Alright then, as your future boss; Kupe, go and make sure our guests are comfortable. Mahuika and I are retiring for the night…”

Kupe grinned, bowed over-dramatically, and left, whistling as he went.

Maui just shook his head, then took Mahuika up to his hammock…

Nearing his hammock, Mahuika stopped.

Maui looked back at her. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re right…”

“What do you mean?”

“Tama, Muri and my grandfather, all agree that you should be the next Chief…”

He couldn’t remember telling her that he wasn’t interested in being the next Chief. “What will be, will be,” he answered, non-committedly.

She moved closer to him, looked into his eyes. “I can tell, you’re not exactly overjoyed at the prospect…”

He thought of the girl who rode into their harbor, leading her people, with weapons strapped to her. “Mahuika, you, will make a better leader, than I ever will…”

She frowned. “I’m a woman! I will be the perfect partner, to our leader, which is you…”

He put his arms around her. “Yes, you are my perfect partner. Muri and Kapua are old, but they’re still strong and healthy…we won’t have to concern ourselves about leadership for a while…now come on; right now, we have our own celebrating to do…”

Maui hadn’t visited for a few days, which was not like him, and Mahuika was worried.

She went to her sister again. “He…” she shook her head, “he’s so secretive Awhia, and aloof…like he’s too afraid to get too close to anyone…”

Awhia knew the feeling. She sighed. “As if…he’s afraid that everyone might leave him? Like his father did?”

Mahuika groaned. She wrapped her arms around her sister. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Awhia…”

“Hardly a day goes by when I wonder why. Was I really that despicable to my own father? And mum…” they both turned their heads in the direction of the now frail old woman in the shadows at the far end of the cavern, “…and mum won’t tell me anything about my father, except, ‘that’s why we Mahuikas don’t like men’…”

“She’s senile…incoherent…Kapua loved her so much that he left the village to live here with her, and although she had an affair with your father, he still looks after her, sits with her for hours, holding her hand…he still loves her…he’d never admit it, but actions speak so much louder than words…”

Awhia tried to smile. “He doesn’t like me, though…”

Mahuika came to his defence. “He’s always looked after you, too!”

“Yes, he has…he’s a wonderful person. But he never looks me in the eye, never smiles at me, like he does Ma…inactions also, speaks louder than words…”

Mahuika stepped back and studied her sister. She was pale. She had what the people referred to as Maui’s blue ‘sky eyes’. And she had golden blond curls. Ma touched the soft, silky hair. To her eyes, her pale sister was the most beautiful woman on the island. And although their harbour people were aware of her, Awhia never joined them at their community dinners. She had never ventured outside to play with the other children when she was young. Like Maui, she knew she was different, and was afraid that the others would not like her. Would not accept her. May even taunt and tease her. May even be afraid of her.

As if she had read her mind, Mahuika said, “Maui used to feel the same way, he recently confessed to me, but bit by bit, over the years, starting with his mother’s funeral, and then regular warrior training and fishing with Kupe, he still doesn’t think that everyone likes him, but they have accepted him as a part of their community…”

“But that’s because he’s the foster son of Tama the Tohunga and Chief Muri’s grandson.” Awhia sniffed back some tears, “who…who am I?!?”

Mahuika was going to say that she was Kapua’s foster daughter, but even she had noticed, Kapua was never loving towards her.

As if Awhia had read Mahuika’s mind, she groaned. “Everything about me,” she pulled at her golden curls, “reminds Kapua of the pale sky eyed golden-haired God that seduced his wife!”

Mahuika sighed and held the girl closer. “You’ve forgotten one thing. We, are sisters…”

“I’m your aunt…”

“And I’m an orphan. We grew up together. We’ve only ever known Kapua and Ma as our parents. We are sisters!”

Awhia smiled.

Mahuika smiled. “Who are we?”

And they both said together, “we are sisters!”

And in the darkness behind them, unaware to them, it was the first time, since Kapua had banned her from the community, and had accepted her fate because even she knew that she had deserved it, had wronged, and deeply hurt the only man who had ever really loved her, old Ma smiled…

Mahuika went up to Maui’s hammock. He usually visited her, but she hadn’t seen him for days. He was not there.

She looked around the place. Even called his name in the now doorless abandoned abode that had been his father’s house, nearby. No answer. She looked around the vicinity, but he was not there. While doing so, she gasped at the view. They had always been concentrating on each other before, for her to notice just how high up they were. No wonder Maui chose that place to hang his hammock. From there, she could see Tama’s tent on his clifftop. She could even see Tama sitting beside his fire. To the right of that, she could see the river going out to the sea, and to the right of that, she could see the harbour, and to the right of that, she could see the village – but something was going on in the harbour and she returned her sight to it – most of the villagers were there – it had been easy to know that the only figure at Tama’s tent must have been Tama. But from here, she could not identify all the people at the harbour, but something was going on, and Maui was not here, and her instincts told her that they were there because of him, and she ran down the mountain as fast as she could. She had to go through the village to get to the harbour – she saw one of the girls who had introduced herself to her at the dinner after the recent attack on the village and asked her what was happening at the harbour, and the girl had answered, “Maui is leaving, going in search of his father,” and Mahuika ran off, as the girl continued, “with his younger brothers and Kupe…”

Mahuika stopped and turned back to the girl. “Younger brothers?!?”

The girl nodded. “Yes. He has two younger half-brothers. His mother married again, after the Gods left…”

Mahuika groaned. Maui had never told her about having younger brothers. But she couldn’t feel mad about that, for she, had never told him about an aunt who she considered to be her younger sister…still, it wasn’t a happy Mahuika who ran to the harbour, rudely pushing her way between the people, and hit out at Maui with a clenched fist – but he was used to her punches, and grabbed her hand before she managed to make contact – her breast was heaving, they glared at each other.

“You! You think you can just leave me? Leave me waiting up in your hammock without even saying good-by?”

He hadn’t known that she went there to be with him this evening. After a while, she obviously decided to go find him, and found out what was happening from one of the villagers. “Goodbye, Mahuika…” was Maui’s simple, sullen reply…

Her face contorted. She was trying to fight back tears.

Maui softened and took the usually unemotional girl into his arms.

Sniffing, she helplessly blinked up at the determined man. “You…” she swallowed, “you better come back Maui, you better come back!”

He nodded. But he couldn’t verbally promise he’d return; he had no idea what sort of future he, his friend Kupe and his two younger half-brothers, were facing.

Except for Maui, they were all in his boat, they all had oars, and were eager to go. Inia, the half-brother’s father, and Amira were making sure that they had gourds of water, food, and blankets. Maui was about to decline the blankets, explain the folly of blankets in the splashing waves, then changed his mind. Everyone knew that. But everyone also knew that family needed to be caring, no matter how odd their concerns were.

For a moment, he hesitated, and studied the sky in silence…it was a balmy evening, with a gentle, slight breeze…after all this time, now that the time had arrived, Maui did not seem to be in a hurry to go…was he meditating? Praying? They presumed that the half God knew what he was doing, and watching him, waited patiently…

And just as the setting sun hit the horizon on the ocean, Maui swung his legs over and into the canoe. “OK, let’s go…”

As they were leaving the pier and making for the outlet to the ocean, Kupe, who was ready to let out the sail and take the steering rod asked, “which way?”

And Maui surprised them all with an answer. They’d all presumed he was just going to sail around willy nilly until he’d get tired of searching and return home. For surely, if his father was nearby, he would have kept in touch. But in an excited voice of anticipation, he thought of the last thing his mother had whispered to him, for his ears alone, before dying. ‘Your father, Makea, left in a very fast craft,’ and repeated her last words to his crew. “Southwest of the setting sun…”

Mahuika watched until she could no longer see them. Apart from Amira, all the other villagers had returned to their homes. The women looked at each other. It was quite dark now, and pretty flares lit up the village.

“You’re Kupe’s wife,” Mahuika was the first to speak.

“Yes…” Amira was not sure how much Mahuika knew about the three of them. “My husband and Maui are best friends…”

“You’re a strong woman,” Mahuika tilted her head as she scrutinized the pretty, feminine female before her, “to let your husband go on such…” she was tempted to say ‘a ridiculous journey’, but didn’t want to alarm Kupe’s wife any further than she must already be feeling, “…an extraordinary quest…”

Amira tilted her head, as she scrutinized the pretty, muscular female before her. “I believe in…” she had been about to say ‘Maui’, but didn’t want to alarm Mahuika any further than she must be feeling, “…Kupe, he comes from a long line of fishermen, and knows what he’s doing…”

Mahuika knew that she was good at fishing also but doubted that she could just go out into the vast ocean hoping to find the Gods. She didn’t think that Awhia would either. “Well, we can only hope that they…return safely…”

Amira sighed. “You…have doubts about this venture. Yet…you will wait for him?”

Mahuika sighed. “That might be the last time I…we’ll ever see him, them…” she looked out to the empty horizon, “but yes, I will wait…”

Amira also returned her gaze to the horizon. The amazon woman next to her was prepared to wait for Maui. Kupe adored his wife, spoiled her, and she was getting used to that. “Me too…” but she wasn’t sure if she meant for Kupe, or Maui…

Muri had noticed Mahuika pacing their little beach, every day, rain or shine, searching the sea for Maui’s boat. She reminded him of the other breathtaking Mahuika who had entered their village one day and married Kapua. He remembered feeling envious of his brother at first, then sorry for him when she had manipulated Kapua into challenging him for the right to be Chief of the village – how he had hated them back then, and hoped he’d never see them again – he hoped that this Mahuika was not as ambitiously unscrupulous, but he had a feeling that Maui would make his own decisions; like now, sailing off into the unknown, when he should be preparing to be the next Chief…

One day, he approached her. “You are welcome to join our village Mahuika, in fact, Amira, Kupe’s wife, lives alone while he and Maui are away; until then, perhaps you can move in with her, keep each other company?”

“Oh yes,” Mahuika smiled, “I met her when they left, she seems lovely…”

“Come on then,” Muri started back for the village, “I’m sure she’ll be happy to have a friend stay with her, you two can wait for your men together…”

Amira looked at the woman she hated – she was standing in her doorway with Muri, who thought that the two lonely women should live together for companionship while they waited for their men to return. Inwardly, she groaned – but Muri was the Chief, everyone was expected to do as he advised.

“But…” Amira swallowed, “don’t you have family on the top end of the island Mahuika? Wouldn’t you prefer to be with them at this time? Who knows when our men will return, or even if…they do…?!?””

“All the more reason for you two to be together,” Muri continued, “comfort each other…Mahuika agrees with me…”

Amira looked at Mahuika. “You do?” She was losing this battle. “I don’t have much room in here…”

But Mahuika brushed past her, looked around, then turned back and smiled at Amira and Muri. “I don’t have many things; this will do me just fine…”

Amira tried one more objection. She looked at Muri. “But…I’m pregnant, I’ll need the space for my baby…”

Muri hugged her, saying, “that’s wonderful…Mahuika could help you with your child, until Kupe returns…”

Amira sighed helplessly and hopelessly.

Mahuika happily bounced out of the door saying as she left, “I’ll go and get my things…

Muri beamed at them both. “Wonderful, wonderful…” he nodded happily, and left.

Amira slammed the door behind them.

As it turned out, Mahuika had more things than Amira did. Amira felt as though Mahuika had taken over her love, her life, and home.

“This is a great idea,” Mahuika was placing her weapons everywhere, “waiting for our men together…”

“So…how did you and Maui meet?”

“He…” she knew that Maui was a private individual, did not want to get too close to anyone, did not want anyone to know too much about him, and she did not know how much she should say without him getting mad at her. “I was bringing my boat in one day after fishing, and he and Kapua were speaking together. I invited him to stay for dinner, and…we’ve been seeing each other ever since…”

“How much do you know about him?”

“Not much, as much as anyone knows I suppose, he’s the son of the Storm God Makea and the Princess Taranga, Tama bought him up, he’s the village heir to be Chief one day, however ironically, Maui probably won’t settle down until he’s found his father…”

Amira knew that was why he had not sat in her wedding circle. “Yea…”

“Which…could take forever…”

“Which…could be never…”

“And we would end up a couple of old crones together…”

Amira couldn’t hide her smile at the thought…

Mahuika couldn’t hide hers…

So, on their first day together, although Mahuika had no idea she was Amira’s rival, the two women laughed together – so loudly that Muri heard them, and smiled – their men were together out at sea, and they were together at home waiting for them…

Because Mahuika had more possessions than Amira had, Amira showed some interest in her guest’s weapons, and Mahuika promptly decided that she would teach Amira how to use them. Hence, to both the villagers and wild harbour people, it appeared as though the women were friends and waiting together for their men to return.

And when Amira’s child was born, Mahuika assisted her and helped her look after the babe as well.

And soon after Amira’s baby was born, Tama started to run down to the pier, calling to the villagers as he ran, “they’re back! They’re back!”

And by the time the tired sailors were securing their boat, their people were cheerfully running towards them and for the first time in his life, Maui did not feel overwhelmed by the crowd. Quite a few full moons away from his home, and his people, he felt glad to be back. A new emotion, and he let Tama hug him. They both knew that it was a new emotion for the independent Tama also.

“I’ll have to go away more often,” Maui teased him, and they laughed, and hugged again.

He was about to introduce him to a stranger that was with them, when Amira appeared – she was one of the first on the pier - Maui immediately noticed her breasts were large with milk, her waist small, she had had her baby, and his heart skipped a beat. ‘Damn!’ He thought to himself, she still affected him, he had to force himself to look away, as she ran into Kupe’s arms.

Terita was close behind her; she paused and smiled at Maui, he smiled back, but a rather rude Mahuika pushed Kupe’s sister out of the way and ran to Maui. He braced himself for her usual punch, but this time, she jumped into his arms instead, and he was forced to hold her.

Someone must have asked the inevitable question, because the next thing Maui knew, Kupe was excitedly shouting, “Yes, we found the land of the storm God Makea, the biggest land that you can imagine, with the biggest birds, the biggest trees, lots of mountains, rivers, lakes, and…a huge white sand place with the most heavenly slopes and shapes that captured and reflected the most amazing colours, with snowcapped mountains that took turns at silently smoking…”

“Birds,” interrupted one of Maui’s brothers, “twice the height of men…”

“And trees,” interrupted the other, “so huge that a war canoe can be built out of just one of them that would easily fit one hundred warriors or more…”

The brother’s father Inia ran to embrace them.

Maui smiled at the man. “They were the perfect sailors Inia,” Maui put Mahuika down, “you can be very proud of your sons…”

They beamed up at their older brother.

“But!” Maui turned back to Tama but made sure that everyone else heard, “we did not find Makea…”

A polite ‘aaawww’ went around the crowd.

“But!” Kupe addressed Maui but also made sure everyone else heard, “Makea travels, he stayed here with us; on our island, for many full moons…but his place, is the biggest place, so huge, you can fit our whole island, in one of its lakes…”

“That’s a slight exaggeration,” still Maui looked proud as he added, “but yes, almost…”

But Kupe would not be silenced. “And; it’s at the end of the Southwest of the setting sun course that Maui’s mother, who knew Makea better than anyone, told Maui about…”

“Alright everyone,” Muri interrupted, “let’s all go to the square and continue talking about the wonderful trip to Makea’s amazing land, there…”

“The trip there was not all wonderful,” Kupe continued while indicating their extra boatman, but Maui interrupted. “Oh yea,” and taking Paehia to their Chief added, “we found Paehia,” he looked at Kupe and his brothers, “stranded on an island, on our way…and he’s been very helpful to us, a competent sailor and explorer…”

Kupe and his brothers grinned; they knew that Maui did not want to say in front of the tribal children, that they had rescued their latest crew member from being barbequed by cannibals…

As they made their way towards the village square, Muri gave further orders for a banquet to be prepared.

At the square, hoping that after his trip, Maui might finally accept his fate as the next Chief, Muri indicated for someone to bring a highchair for Maui, but Maui noticed, and crossing one foot over another, and quickly and silently sank to the ground before the chair got to him. He no longer minded crowds, but he still didn’t like any extra attention drawn to him. Nor was he ready to consider being the next Chief. So Tama also sank to the ground beside his foster son, and Muri then indicated the chair be taken away. Mahuika sat on Maui’s other side.

Maui looked around at his people. The people he had mostly avoided before.

Musical instruments were being played.

His brothers were boasting about their adventures to their father and friends.

Kupe and Amira were cuddling their newborn child between them.

Paehia and Terita were getting to know each other.

Kiri was laughing happily and dancing with some of her lady friends.

Others were singing, and some were playing musical instruments.

Muri and Manaia, their head warrior, were discussing important tribal matters together. Maui had a strange feeling that it might be about his trip, when someone placed delicious food in front of him, and he promptly forgot about the thought.

The sun was setting, flares were being lit, children were playing, a soft sea-breeze gently swayed the palms – everyone, including the elements, it seemed, was content and for the first time in his life, so was Maui…

Tama smiled at his foster son. They had never attended village gatherings together before, he had, but hadn’t wanted to force the younger Maui, but this, they both knew, was yet a new chapter in their history. The half God and his men had sailed further than anyone else in their tribe before. A long time ago, people had travelled here, from Bora Bora, it was believed, and before that, from a large land to the east, but nothing else as grand, until now…and apparently, they’d found the gigantic land of the storm God. “I am so very proud of you, Maui…just sad that you did not find your father…”

“But I did,” Maui took Tama’s hand in his, “sitting in a tiny boat surrounded by the large sea made me realize, I never lost you, my father…”

Later, with the sounds of partying behind them, as Maui and Mahuika were going up the mountain, nearing his hammock, Mahuika suddenly stopped. He looked back at her. “Something wrong?”

“You seem different, Maui…nicer, gentler…”

Maui nodded. “Although following the course my mother told me to do, and using the skills I learned from Kupe and you, when surrounded by just water for days on end, with brothers and friends to worry about, I was plagued with uncertainties anyway; so yes, I am more appreciative, than I was…”

She didn’t respond. In the moonlight, he could see her quite plainly. She looked uncertain. As if wondering if she liked this version of the half God.

“Well,” he swallowed, “following my mother’s instructions, I found my father’s home…an amazing gigantic place like that, could only be the home of a God…plenty of food and water, but…it lacked warmth. Here, we get cool periods, occasionally even a little snow on our highest peaks, but Makea’s place, despite the continual volcanic activity, gave me the impression that it always lacked real heat…a place where an unfeeling God would live…that’s when I realized, unlike my father, I do have feelings…” his voice broke, “and I don’t need…a father like Makea…”

She remained silent.

He felt uncertain. “Don’t you like the new me?”

“I’m not sure.” She moved closer to him, peered up at his face in the moonlight. “I’m still trying to decide…”

But she had obviously kept living in the village, instead of returning to her own place and people, had waited for him - he really appreciated that. He swooped her up into his arms. “Doesn’t mean I’ve lost my stamina and strength, if that’s what you’re concerned about,” and carried her to his hammock.

The journey must have mentally exhausted Maui because he’d always been a light sleeper, who also, seemed to be ‘tuned-in’ to everything that happened around him regardless – so imagine his surprise when he woke the next morning, to be surrounded by some of his people. Muri, Maui briefly wondered how the old man managed to waddle up the old path, his brothers, their father Inia, Tama, Manaia, Kupe, Paehia, and a few other noble men of their community…

“What…” Maui blinked as he rolled out of his hammock, even Mahuika stirred, she usually slept until well after he’d risen. “What…” he fumbled with his loin cloth as he tried to dress, “is..is…everything alright?”

Even Mahuika pulled their blanket over herself Maui noticed; the usually immodest girl felt embarrassed waking up to find that they were surrounded by their leading men…

Muri smiled and approached his grandson. “We,” he indicated the others, mostly Manaia, “had a lengthy discussion after you retired last night, and…we’ve decided that we’d like to migrate to Makea’s large land…”

Maui was putting his head band in place, and hesitated a moment as if wondering if he’d heard correctly, “Eh?”

Tama went to Muri’s side. “You heard him, Maui…”

Maui gulped. “It’s just…this is just…so unexpected!?!”

“Your brothers say the place is so large and lush, it would feed us forever, halve the amount of time we spend hunting…they say one bird would feed the whole tribe, just one bird…”

Maui looked at the boys he’d worried about bringing back safely home.

They beamed. “And no-one else knows about that place,” one added excitedly, “we’ll never be attacked again…”

“And your father,” added the other, “lived with us for a while, so now we’ll live with him…he travels, we know that, but when home, would surely protect us, even if other people do eventually…find us…and his place…”

Maui shook his head, even though it was making sense to him also. He groaned. “We were lucky that we had good weather all the way and back, this time. But it’s a long way from here, on the other side of the ocean. We’d have to stock up on food for a lot of people, and the waves…” he was about to say waves get in their boats while fishing nearby, bigger deep sea waves could flood and capsize them, when Mahuika, as if having read his mind interrupted, “we’d have to build larger boats, in the style of mine, with smaller canoes attached on either side, to help prevent capsizing, balance,” she smiled at Maui, “against the larger, deep sea waves…”

Her enthusiasm was contagious. Tama added, “And like your hanging boat homes Mahuika, with shelters…”

“And other shelters for storage,” she replied, “and at least two sails, instead of just one...”

Muri looked at Mahuika. “Think Kapua would agree?”

“Kapua lives where he lives in respect for you, Muri,” was Mahuika’s reply, “he would love to move to a better place, with his brother…”

Muri and Tama looked at each other and smiled.

The other men cheered, Maui’s younger brothers, most of all…

And even Maui, who was enjoying having his feet on land after so long at sea, also found himself smiling at the thought…

So it came to pass; because of the enthusiasm of finding a God’s larger, and lush land with plenty of fresh water rivers and lakes, the twin brothers Muri and Kapua, although no longer enemies, were truly reunited and together, they organized their people on a grand project - to build a fleet of larger, catamaran styled boats with shelters – everyone was happy at the thought of living in a large land of plenty – a land of a God, whose half mortal son, knew how to take them there…

Although Kapua and his people had managed to build boats on their tempestuous harbor, it was agreed it would be easier and quicker to build them in Muri’s larger, sheltered cove inlet and beach, so temporary shelters were added to the main village to accommodate Kapua and his people. The enthusiasm for the prospect, especially after having been brutally attacked recently, had both peoples excitingly making friends with each other, so instant and lifelong friendships were made, while preparing for their great migration.

One day, while looking for Kupe, Maui knocked on his door – there was no answer, but the door moved inward to his touch, so he opened it wider, calling Kupe’s name. The house seemed empty. Maui was about to leave again when he heard a baby cry. He must have woken the child. Looking back into the house, he noticed a cradle hanging from the ceiling. He decided to check on the child, to make sure it was alright. The baby, upon noticing the strange man peering down at it, stopped crying, and looked up at him, as if it was studying the man. The younger Maui would have backed out of the house, once realizing that the babe was alright, but the older Maui hesitated, looked closer, and smiled down at the child. Even mumbled a few ‘goo-goos’ and ‘gaa-gaas’, and the child squealed with delight.

“She should have been our child, Maui,” Amira entered the door and moved towards him, voice louder, “she should have been yours!”

“Shhhh Amira,” Maui backed from her, “your neighbours will hear…”

“I don’t care if the whole village hears,” Amira picked her child up out of the cradle, “because of you, we’re all living lies! You, me, Kupe, and Mahuika, we’re all living lies!”

“No. Kupe loves you!” He tried backing up towards the door. “He always has…”

“And who do you love Maui?” She moved closer to him, blinked up into his eyes, and whispered, “who do you love…?”

Her long eyelashes, fanning her cheeks, just inches from his face, his legs seemed to lose their strength beneath him. He groaned. Why can’t he forget this woman? They were juveniles when they’d first met, inexperienced, did not even know what love was, or so he’d kept telling himself. He had been strong and had stayed away from her. He has a woman he likes and has fun with. Mahuika was exciting, and they have a lot in common. Why can’t he stop loving the sweet, captivating, and beguiling Amira?

“You…” he whispered back.

She shook as her legs felt as though they were going to give way beneath her.

He had to catch her in his arms, her baby between them, to stop her from falling. “You Amira,” he put his face in her hair, breathed deeply of her intoxicating scent, “I love you…”

And that was the scene Kupe saw when he’d returned home and opened his door.

The bigger man was fuming. He had loved his lifelong, unusual friend. And he had always loved his wife, could not believe his luck when she chose him to be her husband.

Amira, frightened, managed to pull herself from Maui’s embrace and ran to the far end of their home, clutching her child to her breast.

Kupe lunged at his friend. Maui deftly stepped aside, avoiding contact. Kupe was so mad; he took another shot. But after almost two full seasons of the wild Mahuika’s punches, with a hand, Maui swiftly caught Kupe’s fist in his, and the smaller man managed to hold it. Kupe blinked in surprise, his face twisting from intense anger to acute heartache. He slumped to the floor.

“I’m sorry Kupe,” Maui started, “I’m so sorry…”

“Just get out of my house Maui,” Kupe snarled without looking up, “stay away from my wife and child…you are not welcome here!”

“Kupe…?!?”

“I should have known, I’ve seen the way my own sister acts around you…all the women are fascinated by the half God, and I was so proud to be known as your best friend…we are no longer friends Maui, now get out of my house, and don’t come back…ever!”

So it was, that Maui kept away from the villagers again, like he used to – they had heard what happened, news went around about the best friend’s dispute before he’d even taken a few steps from Kupe’s door. Mahuika too, felt betrayed, not only because Maui was in love with another woman, but that other woman, she had believed, was her best friend – they had lived together and helped each other while their men were overseas – Amira hadn’t even tried to explain what had happened, nor did she apologize to Mahuika, and the proud girl of the mountain avoided them both.

As the villagers concentrated on building their migration boats, Maui worked on his quietly, at the very end of their little beach near the outlet to the ocean – he had returned to being the serious and sullen person he was before the attack on their place.

Paehia, feeling ever indebted to the man who had saved him, was now Maui’s best friend. He also, was quiet – he had a new life, with a new tribe, he and Terita were seriously considering marriage, and he didn’t want his new people to find out about his background, that he was once an enemy of theirs. The only survivor of those who had attacked the village. Who had upturned his boat when Mahuika and her warriors overtook them when they were fleeing the scene and hid under it until there was silence and he knew that he was the only survivor – on his way homeward bound though, he had been caught by some cannibals and would have been eaten, if Maui, his brothers and Kupe, hadn’t saved him, while looking for fresh water on their journey, and rescued him from being barbecued. He was so thankful to still be alive because of Maui and his men, that he gave up his life as a pillaging pirate – Maui was the only one who knew Paehia had been one of the attackers of the village, but Maui trusted Paehia, who owed his life to Maui, and Maui and he became good friends…they had something in common…they were both a bit different…they were both restless wanderers…but they had been accepted by the tribe, albeit, Maui was the Chief’s grandson, and Paehia was Maui’s friend…

One day while most of the others were having a break, and Maui was still lovingly working on his boat, Terita, Kupe’s sister, approached him.

“I’m sorry to hear about you and Kupe, you two were so close…”

Maui smiled at her. She had a calming way about herself, not intently passionate like Amira, not wildly exciting like Mahuika, just pleasantly tranquil. ”I…” Maui started, “Kupe has every right to be angry…another man would have killed me, and I…would have deserved it…”

Terita knew that Mahuika had also been hurt and had stopped seeing Maui. “Perhaps you should marry, my brother might be more inclined to forgive you, if he thought that you were no longer a threat to his own marriage…”

Realization dawned on Maui. She was interested. He had to admit; he’d always thought she was pretty, and nice, but then he’d met the sensual, mesmerizing Amira and any possible romantic thoughts towards Terita had evaporated. Now, he actually considered the possibility.

And she helped him. “You missed out on your first opportunity,” she whispered.

He nodded. He had destroyed true love with Amira. He had lost a torrid affair with Mahuika. Perhaps the sweet Terita was just what he needed. “I doubt Kupe would approve…besides, I…I thought you and Paehia were…?” He hesitated, he had no idea if they really were an item, or not…

There was no seductive fluttering of the eyelashes or caressing of his chest, and there were no expletives or punching. Simply and sedately, she answered, “I will marry who I want to, without my brother’s consent…and yes, Paehia is definitely interested. I just want you to know that if you join my wedding circle, it is you, Maui, that I will choose…”

Maui groaned. He had lost his best friend because he didn’t turn up at Amira’s wedding dance. Now, he will lose the only other real friend he has ever had, if he did turn up at Terita’s wedding dance. But he also argued with himself, surely having a lifelong female partner is better than having a lifelong male friend. But he was unsure. Life seemed so simple and straightforward as a child. Why was the life of an adult always so full of ironies and complexities…trying to achieve one’s lifelong goals while hormones were arguing that humans must mate and sire instead…

Wedding circles were usually conducted on full moon nights. The next full moon was in a couple of days’ time. “When is your…?”

She knew he was having trouble deciding. She nodded. “Two days’ time…”

He gulped. She noticed. She looked pained but managed to turn from him and started for the village. “I hope you make it, Maui…”

A couple of nights later, he was rocking in his hammock, watching the sun set. He refused to think of Terita. He thought of his journey with Kupe and his brothers, sailing off southwest of the setting sun. He still refused to think of Terita and her imminent wedding dance. The moon started rising. He thought of the day he rescued Paehia from being cooked, he still refused to think of Terita. He thought of a rising rock from out of the ocean, causing the sky to turn red soon before they literally sailed straight into Makea’s huge land, he still refused to think of Terita and her wedding dance. The white bird friend he’d had since an adolescent, flew into his tree above him and looked down at him. Seriously. As if reproaching him for not going to Terita. Then someone blew the Conche shell, which was the commencement of the event. ”OK!” he cried up to the bird above him, leapt from his hammock and ran all the way down his mountain, the bird flying above him for some of the way, and he slid into place, in her circle, just in time...

At first, Kupe had looked angry when he’d turned up. But during the wedding dinner, Kupe made his way towards the couple and congratulated them, kissed his sister on her forehead, and nodded his approval to Maui. Albeit unsmilingly, but both knew that this was hopefully a first step to their reconciliation.

And later, as the couple were being escorted to the newly made bride’s house as was the custom, Paehia also, wished them well, with a smile on his face. Later, Paehia told him that Terita had informed all who had sat in her circle that if Maui turned up, she would choose him. Which was a nice thing to do, added Paehia, giving them a chance to change their minds about joining her circle, and Maui agreed with him, but inwardly thought to himself that once again, he had underestimated someone – he grinned to himself. He wouldn’t have turned up, unless she reminded him of how he had missed out and messed up once before. Even the sweetest of females were not to be taken for granted. But he was happy that she had put the thought in his mind, and he had responded. She was just what he needed, and he treated her better than he had ever treated Amira, Mahuika, or anyone, ever before. And once again, the tribe was happy that their half God was happy, and they all looked forward to the next adventure in their lives, that would become known as, the great migration to the gigantic land of the Storm God.

But one more occurrence was to happen, before their departure…

All the boats were almost completed and ready. The people were now packing their most prized possessions, they couldn’t take everything on the boats, and gathering food and filling water gourds. Terita and Maui were working on their boat, both unhurried, both tenderly, making sure every inch was waterproofed and perfect. Sneaking glances at each other from time to time, grins getting bigger, until he grabbed her hand, and they slipped away into some undergrowth – there was no time to get to their home, besides, they’d have to pass all the other workers, to do so. The others would have just laughed, and good naturedly tease the newlyweds, but both, did not like drawing attention to themselves – they had that in common – he’d find out that they had a lot in common - they’d both prefer to avoid crowds, when able, and not causing anyone offense, they both enjoyed solitude, wandering around on their own, even at night, and she loved the white bird that sometimes followed them just as much as he did, and Maui could not stop telling himself how lucky he was…for he had found a female version of himself…

But one day as they were wandering around, nearing the top of the mountain, Maui, who knew every inch and every normality, noticed that the usual steaming at the crater was more intense than usual, while the normally noisy birdlife was silent, too silent - in fact, the place was completely devoid of birds. Telling Terita to wait where she was, he cautiously, not knowing what to expect, walked, crawled, and pulled himself closer to the top like he used to as a child – did the ground shake? He peered over the side of the crater, and gasped. The crater was bubbling and started throwing red fiery spurts and rocks into the air, similarly to what he’d witnessed at his father’s land – which meant, if similar to his father’s land, could be the beginnings of an eruption, the likes of which they’d never seen, in this land, to date...sometimes little shakes, and sometimes a little smoking, but not an actual eruption…

He ran, slipped, and slid, back to Terita. “Come on, we must warn the people…”

It took most of the rest of the day to get back to the village.

Tama, pointing to the now rumbling volcano above them, was already running around the village, alerting the people. Maui was glad, Tama was always the first to notice something, and he was yelling at them to get to their boats and start sailing.

Telling Terita to put the things they’d decided they’d need on their journey in their boat, Maui went to help his grandparents – they were to sail with Maui’s brothers and their father Inia, in the very next boat to Maui’s, and as he was helping Muri into Inia’s boat, Kiri had already deftly pulled herself in, he noticed that the organized Terita had already put their things in their own boat and was waiting for him. He was about to go to her, when a crazed Mahuika suddenly appeared, pulled at Maui, yelling, she had a sister and a mother at their old rocky place, who did not want to live in the village, which they had to save – Terita shook her head at Maui, but Maui told his brothers to help their grandparents get comfortable in their boat, turned, and ran, Mahuika close behind him.

Kapua, whose boat was next to Muri’s called out “Noooo!” to them, “aboard our boat now Mahuika!” Maui glanced back at him, but Mahuika ignored him and continued, so Maui felt as though he had no choice but to run after the panicking girl.

They took off overland, the way Maui used when spying on them, it was shorter and quicker than sailing around the land that stretched out to the west before coming back to the northern rocky cliffs.

“You never mentioned a sister and mother,” Maui managed to say as they ran.

“They preferred to remain there…and I…dad and I were prepared to let them, but Maui, I’m not going to let them possibly be killed by a volcano, we have to save them…”

When they reached what the rock people had all referred to as Maui’s clifftop, because the boy Maui had peered down at them from there regularly, it was starting to get dark. Maui looked around. The old hanging dwellings were all in darkness. “Where?”

Mahuika pointed. “In the cave below…”

Maui didn’t even try to find the rope vine. When a wave came crashing in, he dove into it. By the time Mahuika had found the rope and climbed down, Maui was already searching the cave. It was silent. It went in for quite a while further than he’d noticed before, below what had been his spying place above.

Mahuika pushed passed him, into a larger cavern, calling as she went, “mother, Awhia, where are you?”

When someone seemingly appeared out of nowhere, among the stalagmites – in the dark cave, an old skull seemed to shine brightly white in contrast - with tufts of messy dark hair seemingly clinging to the skull by a few stubborn dreadlock strands.

“Maui!” Mahuika was shouting at him, “help my mother!” She put the old crone’s hand into his. “I’ll look for my sister…” after which, she disappeared further into the cave.

“Angaur…” the old crone touched his face; he tried not to wince as he kept an eye on her bony fingers.

He was not used to anybody touching him. People were not sure if they were even allowed to touch the half God. And he was also not used to anyone on this island not knowing about him. “I’m…Maui…”

She put her arms around him, her cheek on his chest. “I knew you’d come back for me Angaur, I knew it…”

But Maui was in for a worse shock. The girl that Mahuika was bringing back with her, had fair skin, fair hair, and…blue ‘sky’ eyes…

His legs lost their strength beneath him. He felt himself fall towards the ground as unconsciousness overwhelmed him.

“Maui…” someone was calling him – was it his mother? His mother was smiling at him, kissing him – but when he reached out to her, she turned from him, and walked away, disappearing into the trees, towards the village, without looking back - leaving him behind to be bought up and studied by Tama…

“Maui!” This woman was shouting. Angry. Not his mother. “Maui! We don’t have time for this nonsense! Now get up!”

He blinked at the fair girl as Mahuika helped him up. “Is she…is she, my sister?”

“No! I told you! She’s my sister! Now let’s get out of here!”

There was water in the larger cavern. It was steaming. Not cool mist, warm steam. Very warm steam. With bubbles starting to arise from the bottom. That bought Maui back to his senses. He nodded and started guiding the women towards the entrance.

But they didn’t get far. The conversation between Mahuika and Maui had also brought the crone back to her senses. Sort of. “Not Angaur, you’re his boss, Makea…” she said, then stepped backwards into the now boiling water.

“Noooo!” Mahuika reached out, Maui grabbed her and held her back. Mahuika was shuddering in shock. Maui held her, tightly, for a moment - but he knew they were running out of time. “We have to go, Mahuika,” he could still see the old woman in the water, her eyes staring blindly up at them, “we have to leave…now!”

She shook her head. Awhia grabbed one of Mahuika’s hands. “Come on Mahuika,” the sister coaxed. “Mama hasn’t been well for a long time…she’s out of her misery, at last...”

“A very long time,” Mahuika explained to Maui as they made for the entrance, “ever since Angaur…” she looked at Maui, “and your father left…soon after, Awhia was born. My father never forgave her…he looked after her, but he never forgave her…she was older than him, but very beautiful and at first felt so proud to have a young Prince attracted to her. But after the discrepancy between Kapua and Muri, and father had been exiled, she hated this place and roamed the land this side of your mountain to keep from being seen by your people, but she bumped into Angaur anyway…she was never the same again after he left…hardly went out of the cave, hardly ate…I even had to find a wetnurse for Awhia…if a mother doesn’t eat enough, she produces no milk. And later, no matter what Awhia and I said, or did to try to help, she wasn’t interested in living…and dad didn’t mind them being mostly in the cave, they were like an embarrassment to him…Awhia always reminded him of his wife’s lover…he forbade them to appear whenever you visited…we all obeyed our father, including me, until now,” she looked at her sister, “I know you’re good at fishing and chose to remain here, look after mother, but when the mountain started erupting, I panicked…and realized, I couldn’t leave you behind…”

Awhia just smiled, then hugged her sister.

Maui was very clever. He screwed his face up as if having difficulty calculating the timeframes.

“What’s left of our family, we call ourselves father, mother and sisters,” Mahuika explained to Maui, “but Kapua is actually my grandmother and Awhia is my aunt…”

“Oh…” Maui was helping them up the rope, Mahuika first. “Except…” Maui continued, “before meeting you, I did see your sister once, with you…”

Silence for a moment, as they concentrated on climbing the wet rope on a wet cliff…

“I know…” Mahuika was pulling herself onto the clifftop ledge, “we were getting some exercise and fresh air – Mama had already retired…”

“And all this time, I thought I’d had a weird…hallucination…the result of all the running I’d done, that night…”

“Yea, sorry…Kapua didn’t even like his own people knowing about Awhia, but of course they did know, let alone you, or anyone else…”

That’s when they noticed, Awhia was not following. They looked back down over the ledge.

Awhia waved up at them. “I’m sorry, thank you for loving me, Mahuika, but…I know nothing of the outside world…I was treated like a freak here, but I found comfort in our cave…I will be treated even more like some kind of a monster, out there…” then she disappeared back into the cave.

Mahuika tried to get to the rope to go down after her sister, but Maui grabbed her, pushed her away. “I’ll go!”

The water wasn’t high enough for him to dive into, this time. He didn’t wait for a high returning wave, and half climbed half slid down the rope.

“Awhia!” Maui called as he entered the cave, “your sister could have saved herself. She’s risking her own life, to save you too…”

She peered around a crevice in the cave wall, but did not approach him, or reply.

“I look different too, Awhia, which can be depressing. But they also respect me as a God, Awhia, and they will you too…we are children of the Gods, you and I…”

She held her hand out to him, and with a sigh of relief, he took it. “Good girl. We have to help our mortal people, flee to safety…” But this time, he made sure he went up the rope behind her.

But they didn’t get to the village. They were almost there, when suddenly, dark shapes were in front of them, blocking their way.

“We want Mahuika!” That was Manaia’s voice. Maui was startled. Manaia was their chief warrior, and as such had earned the right to be one of their leaders; it was he who had first discussed the migration with Muri. Still, Maui was their main chief’s grandson, and known as the half God; that alone, usually made others wary of him, even fearful. He’d just told Awhia that. But Manaia and his men were so intent on their purpose, that they hadn’t noticed that the sister was pale. Maui presumed it was because they were concentrating on their purpose, purposely peering at just Mahuika.

“She’s here, now we can all leave…” was Maui’s rather confused reply.

Two others were behind Manaia, they moved on either side of him as he continued, “Mahuika is the beautiful woman of the mountain. She must be sacrificed to appease her angry mountain, to save the rest of the tribe. Then we won’t have to flee our home, until we’re completely ready to…!”

Maui made as if to move around Manaia and his men. “We’re ready enough! Reluctant people will always find an excuse not to leave the home they love and know. Not to leave their ancestors in their graves. We have depleted a lot of this island of its resources, to feed us. This volcano,” Maui used his head to indicate the burning inferno above them, “is our ancestors telling us it’s time to go, to get out now!”

But Manaia placed himself in front of Maui. Maui moved so fast, that no-one was sure what he had done until he had done it. He’d kicked the man on Manaia’s right where it hurt most, and as he bent forward in pain, shoved him into Manaia with such force that Manaia went into the man on his left and before they all realized what had happened, they were all on the ground. Maui made as if to continue, then noticed Mahuika was not following him and Awhia.

He looked back at her. “Come on!”

The man that had been on Manaia’s left was already rising. Mahuika punched him, and he fell back down to the ground.

She looked at Maui and shook her head. “They’re right, Maui…I come from a long line of Mahuikas of the mountain…who,” she thought of her own mother, “have dived into the volcano to appease it, to stop it, and…it worked…our mountain has threatened to erupt several times, but…we have always managed to prevent it from doing so…mother Mahuikas have been telling their daughter Mahuikas that…that’s what we women of the bowels of the mountain do…” she looked at Manaia, “and obviously, some people know about that too…”

Maui groaned. First her mother, then her sister, now Mahuika was reluctant to leave, and not making any sense. “We’ve wasted enough time already because…” he couldn’t finish, ‘because of her family’. From where they were, they could see that some of the boats, including her father’s, had not waited. “Even your father was not hanging around to save them, is not waiting. He knew they wouldn’t leave. But you Mahuika, you have lived with us for some time. You are one of us, now. You helped teach us how to make bigger, better boats. Because of you, we can go to a bigger, better place. So big that if one of its many volcanos did erupt, we wouldn’t have to flee the land. The vicinity, but not the land. That’s how huge it is. Now come on!”

Manaia was still on the ground. He had been about to jump up and keep fighting. But the woman agreed with him. He looked at Maui. “We’ve heard of the legendary Mahika of the mountain sacrifices. Even she knows that’s what she must do, Maui…”

“I really loved you, Maui…” Mahuika started running, but not towards Maui, up the mountain. Maui ran after her. Running around the mountain his whole life, he was fast. He caught her. She tried to fight him off. They had fought before. Theirs had never been a tender affair. Growing up on her wild terrain, had made her strong. Summoning all his strength, he punched her as hard as he could. She fainted. He caught her in his arms and started running back to the village, Awhia also, managing to keep up. Maui glanced at the girl who had also been fathered by a God. She came from a rocky domain and like her sister Mahuika, she also, was fast and strong. Manaia and his men chased them, and although Maui was carrying Mahuika, who was not a small, light woman, they could not catch them.

When they got to the boats, most had left. Kupe knew which way to go, he knew the course to take, and when to leave. And thankfully, most followed him. They were more afraid of the erupting place that had been their home, than any uncertainties of what lay before them in the vast ocean. It was not completely dark yet, and their sails could be seen in the distance. They would all follow the boats that had already set sail. Inia’s boat still waited, of course, Muri, Kiri and Inia’s sons were Maui’s relatives, and they insisted that they weren’t leaving until they knew that Maui had returned safely. Paehia still waited as well, he also, was not going to leave without the man who had saved him. The people on these boats cheered with relief when they saw Maui returning with two women. The only other boats still waiting were his own, and Manaia’s. Terita and Tama on Maui’s boat still waited, calmly, Maui noticed, not impatiently, but that was her, and his way, and he loved that about them. But right now, he couldn’t think about them. He had Manaia and two of his men not far behind him, and others coming down off his boat in front of him. Paehia saw what was happening, and clutching a vine sail rope, jumped overboard, and slid onto the ground, reaching Maui before Manaia and his men did. Maui shoved Mahuika into Paehia’s arms, ordering him to get back in his boat, and launch immediately, with the sisters. Under the circumstances, there was no time to wonder about the pale sister. Others on Paehia’s boat commenced shoving off with their long paddles, while some thew ropes at him, moved onto the side where he went to climb, making that side of the boat go down further than the other side and reaching down, pulled Paehia and Mahuika up into their boat just in time, out of Manaia’s men’s grasp. Awhia was reaching up, but they could no longer reach her. Nor, were they going to risk Manaia’s men climb aboard - they were on their way out of the cove.

Pointing at Terita, Maui yelled for Awhia to run to his own boat. Unfortunately for himself, he knew he did not have enough time to get to his boat. He turned to face Manaia and his men. There were at least twelve of them. They were all some of the best tribal warriors. Maui couldn’t believe he had knocked Manaia and two of his men to the ground earlier. Now he had a larger group approaching him. Terita, Awhia and Tama were watching uncertainly. Uncertainly being the optimal word. But he would defend them with his life, for as long as he could.

Perhaps after finding himself with two of his best warriors on the ground earlier had unnerved Manaia. Perhaps after seeing Mahuika being whisked away just in time by Paehia made him stop. No-one knew anything about Paehia, except that he was Maui’s friend and after seeing how both men had rescued the girl who didn’t want to be rescued, made him suspect that the half God and his friend may truly, be superior beings. Or perhaps because Muri demanded he leave his grandson alone, perhaps it was because Tama stood up in Maui’s canoe. He was not young, but he was still a powerful looking man. He was once the head warrior. He was the head doctor and teacher. Manaia surprised Muri, Kiri, Inia, the brothers, Tama, Maui, Terita, Awhia, and his own men, by saying, “OK men, she’s gone,” and reluctantly turning to his own boat added, “let’s go…”

Thinking that the problem was over, Inia’s boat took off. They did not want to lose sight of the other boats already far away, before them.

Maui sighed with relief and ran to his own boat, and introduced Awhia to Tama and Terita adding, “thanks for waiting…”

“I’ve waited for you my whole life,” Terita pushed their boat off with a long paddle, “I’m not going to stop now…”

Maui smiled back at her. “I’m glad…”

She smiled back at him. “Me too…”

Without a word, Tama sat back down again.

Awhia sat beside him and put her head on his shoulder. “Good to see you, Tama…”

Tama smiled and put his arm around her. Maui groaned. But he should have known that Tama knew everything that happened on their island, and everyone...

They hardly got out of the cove though, when seemingly fountains of grey rolling smoke started racing down the mountainside. They paddled as fast as they could and hoisted the sale.

They heard a screech above them, Maui’s white bird seemed agitated. They presumed it was because of the volcano. Maui tried to coax it into their boat.

“Manaia…” Terita started, “Manaia’s still back there, in the cove…”

“Good!” Was Maui’s unforgiving reaction.

“Something’s wrong Maui, we’ve got to go back to help them…”

“They wanted to kill Mahuika, Terita, so much so that they were willing to fight me for her! We’re not going to help people like that…”

Terita looked back, then gasped. Manaia’s larger boat of several rowers and four sails were making straight for them. The bird above them was flapping wildly.

Maui’s was the smallest in the fleet. Before marrying Terita, he had made it for just Tama and him, whereas the seven other larger boats, had families, and Paehia’s had the few people who like him, had no one. Still relatives of the tribe of course, but those who were sole survivors, of their immediate families. He swore. Even if they zig zagged, they would be easily mowed down by the swiftly on-coming larger boat. And Paehia’s and Muri’s boats were already far away in front, believing that the problem was over, ignorant of what was happening behind them.

“Do something Maui,” was Tama’s quiet but demanding command.

“What?” Was Maui’s confused answer.

“You heard me,” Tama looked at his foster son, “you are the son of a God! It’s time you started acting like one…”

“I…I…” Maui started, but Tama turned to, and was intently looking at the mountain top.

Maui looked at it too. Manaia’s boat was coming at them fast. They were now so close that Maui could clearly see their faces looking at him with hateful eyes. “Oh Makea, if you are looking down at your son, please help me now…”

The white bird squawked alarmingly.

Maui pointed at the mountain top, hoping to take Manaia’s and his people’s attention from them. They did look behind, to see what Maui was pointing at, just as the mountain top burst, sending fire high into the sky and parts of the mountain blew apart in all directions. At the same time, the island seemed to shake - so did the water – Manaia’s people were mesmerized by the phenomenon, and their attention was taken from Maui – Maui immediately guided his boat out of the path of Manaia’s momentarily unguided larger one – just in time, as a wave lifted Manaia’s boat and as it crashed down again, Manaia’s boat was forced to flow past Maui’s boat – the wave pushed Maui’s boat also, but as it was no longer in front of Manaia’s boat, there was no crashing contact – and the larger boat was now in front of Maui’s – and because they had witnessed, when Maui pointed and the top of the mountain exploded, they thought that he had caused it, and immediately lost interest in trying to crash and sink the smaller boat of the seemingly magical half God.

Tama smiled as if he had never doubted Maui’s power. The normally composed Terita cheered and threw her arms around her husband. Maui gulped. Did he indeed have such power? He had simply pointed; to temporarily take Manaia’s people’s attention from them so he could get his boat out of the way of the larger one. Had he indeed caused the mountain to explode, the island and water to shake? He doubted it, thought it just coincidence that the mountain exploded when he pointed at it. It was probably going to do that anyway. Or was Makea actually watching his son? He hugged his wife close, as he searched the sky. Apart from the fiery mountain, it was very dark now, and the stars seemed brighter than usual. The white bird was still up there. Maui watched it. It watched back, circled a few times as if to make sure there were no further dangers to be concerned about, then flew down and gently alighted on the side of his boat. After their ordeal, the others were tired and dozing. Maui looked at his feathered friend and it looked back just as intently, and Maui imagined, gratefully? Maui had always doubted that he was immortal, that just like the white bird he befriended, they were just lighter in contrast to the rest of their species. Now, finally, he suspected that there just might be some powers he had but knew nothing about. He looked at the pale girl now sleeping in Tama’s arms. He looked at his feathered friend, who was also lighter than its kind. He looked at Tama, and as if Tama knew what Maui was thinking, beamed proudly, and nodded.

He avoided Manaia’s boat, and Manaia also, kept away from the fleet, just keeping close enough to not lose sight of the voyaging boats. He knew that he was no longer welcome. But he did not admit that he was at fault. Mahuika, had offered to be sacrificed – she believed that it was a great honour to save her people – the people did not believe that death was the end, they believed that this mortal existence was just a temporary step to a better place, and Manaia refused to repent. He hoped that they’d remember and forgive before they reached their destiny. If not, Manaia knew that he and his people will have to live as far away of the rest as possible and hoped that the new land really was as huge as they’d been told that it was.

When Mahuika came to, she found herself in the arms of Paehia. She blinked around uncertainly. “What…wha…”

“Maui saved you from Manaia and his men,” Paehia thought she’d be pleased, and grateful.

“No!” she jumped out of his arms, ran to the back of his boat, and looked behind them. But it was very dark. Still, by the light of the moon, she could make out the horizon – all around them – there was no land in sight, they were far away from their home, and she slumped as if she was having difficulty breathing.

A confused Paehia approached her. His people were just as astounded by her reaction. “They wanted to kill you Mahuika, Maui,” he looked around proudly at his people, “and we, saved you from them…”

“But…” she looked around at the people who had been feeling proud at saving her, and stopped…they had no idea that that was what Mahuikas did, and she sighed. Ever since Kapua’s Mahuika walked into the village, the legend of the seemingly beautiful immortal Mahuika of the mountain ended – now, everyone knew that they had had daughters, like her.

Awhia approached her. In her haste to see where they were, if she could still get to the mountain, Mahuika hadn’t realized that Awhia was also on Paehia’s boat.

“Maui saved us, Mahuika, I was in his boat, when we fled the erupting island, but he pulled up alongside Paehia’s boat so you and I can be together, when you regained consciousness…we are all safe, we all escaped, you don’t have to sacrifice yourself to save us…”

“But…our home…”

“We’re going to a new home…”

Mahuika pulled Awhia into her arms. “Thank the Gods…”

Awhia sighed. “Literally!”

While at sea, the white bird was often seen on Maui’s shoulder, as he sailed around the fleet to make sure that everyone was alright. This was even more convincing to the people, that he actually was a half God…

On one of those occasions, Mahuika watched him.

Maui came close to Paehia’s boat. “Everyone alright Paehia?”

Paehia called back. “We’re all fine, Maui…”

After which, Maui with his expert Tama, and Terita who was a fast learner, took off to check on the other boats.

Paehia stood next to Mahuka. “He’s quite amazing…”

Mahuika sighed. “Yea…”

“I know he broke your heart…”

Mahuika shrugged. “As Awhia once told me, I…could have been…nicer…”

Paehia shrugged. “I think you’re perfect, just the way you are…”

Mahuika blinked up at Paehia. She had never thought of him, or anyone else for that matter, as a romantic possibility. And for the first time, she noticed his high cheek bones, his ruggedly handsome face, a scar that seemed to accentuate his rugged good looks instead of decreasing them - wide shoulders, and muscular body. There was something about him that made one imagine he was an instinctive and experienced warrior.

“Tell me about yourself, Paehia…”

He hesitated. “You won’t like me, if I did…”

“Maui is very instinctive. If he likes you, you can’t be that bad…”

“I have changed,” Paehia sighed, “Maui saved my life, so I have dedicated my life to helping him and his people…”

“Awhia told me how you swung down from your boat on a rope, just in time, to save me from…” she stopped.

“Manaia…”

“Myself, actually…”

“Awhia told me how you wanted to sacrifice yourself…”

“Yea…”

“Well,” Paehia put an arm around her, “we’re going to be a long time at sea, let’s sit together, we…” he indicated others on the boat, “have turns at sailing. In the meantime, tell me why you would do such a thing?!?”

She let him guide her, and they sat. “First, tell me how Maui saved you…”

Paehia groaned. But he knew that if he wanted a relationship with Mahuika, he had to be honest with her. “I’m not proud of myself and I will understand if you decide you’d rather sail on one of the other boats after what I have to say – I was one of the attackers of…your island, your village; we were surprised at how well the villagers defended themselves and the few of us who survived were forced to retreat – but – you; I remember seeing you, so impressive, a beautiful warrior woman in a boat leading your men in their boats, come after us, from north of your island – we were unaware that there was another community on that island – most of my comrades were already seriously injured from the villager’s defence and were being easily slaughtered by you and your men – I upturned my boat and hid under it until you left…” watching for any reaction, he paused…

She just blinked. “Continue…”

“Soon after that,” he cleared his throat, “I was passing an island that I was familiar with, I live not far from there, but it is mostly barren rock; so imagine my surprise when I saw a woman waving…” ‘seductively,’ he thought, “and thought she needed help…I climbed the rock and as I neared her, I was knocked out, I would find out when I regained consciousness, by a boy, her son, and…” he actually gagged at the memory, “long story short, they…they had me tied up – I struggled, but I could not free myself…they had me hanging from the roof of a cavern; there were lots of old vines and protruding roots, and they had lit a fire below me…and…I noticed…there were skeletons in that cavern Mahuika, they were cannibals – I screamed – at the thought of being eaten, thinking back, rather than the pain, when suddenly a man’s head appeared at the edge of the cavern, above me…”

“Maui…” Mahuika whispered.

Paehia nodded. “Yes, Maui – I silently mouthed to him, ‘help me’ – he disappeared, I’d presumed he didn’t want to get involved, when suddenly, he appeared again, standing upright, grasping a vine in one hand, unsheathing a bone knife that he had belted around his hips in the other hand, when he swung himself over the edge into the cave, and into me, slicing the closest rope that held me, his added sudden crashing weight caused the other rope to break from the ceiling, and the momentum had us flying over the fire, he let go of the vine just as we were above a waterhole, and we fell into it – the woman jumping up and screaming at us as we went down, the boy not moving, not startled by the sudden rescue of their meal, just silently starring – through the water - at us – we starred back, as we sank from the scene…”

“Amazing…”

“His men were so surprised to have Maui suddenly appear out of the water at their boat’s edge, with me in his arms – they had been watching the island for him…they helped pull me in, while Maui climbed in, yelling at them to ‘row as fast as they could’, as he did so – he hadn’t noticed any other people, or boats, but after what he’d just witnessed, and done, he wasn’t going to wait around for any further abominable surprises…

When he believed that they might be far enough away to be safe and slow their pace, he said to his men, ‘there must be fresh water there somewhere, but we’re not going to look for it…’

He examined me, and tried to joke, ‘got you just in time, no serious burns, nothing worse than what a few hours in the hot sun would have done, the salt water would have cleansed the damage, you’ll feel uncomfortable for a few days, but…you’ll be fine…’

Kupe placed a blanket over me, and introduced Maui’s younger brothers to me, then handed me a drink saying, ‘we still have some water, we stopped, hoping to find more before we run out completely…’

I was too shocked at having just escaped being barbecued to say much, at the time, but…that’s why I owe him my life…”

“WOW!”

“And when I asked Maui how he knew that the pool had an outlet to the ocean, he’d simply replied that the cavern was dark, and the water was light, obviously, from the sun…”

Mahuika smiled. “He knows that because there is a pool in a cavern on our island that has an outlet to the ocean, and it often reflects light when the sun is shining…”

“Maui had also said, ‘there is only one reason a woman would be living on her own and that would be because she committed murder, was deemed unsafe to her family, and banished from her tribe. She may have been placed there, so she could never leave and return with revenge in mind. So, she hated people and decided to eat them rather than be rescued, and her rescuer possibly finding out that she was an outcast killer…’ and sometimes her victims regained consciousness,” Paehia added, “like me, and I screamed…Maui said it was just as well, as he was about to leave again…some must have put up a bit of a fight, for Maui and I did notice the scars she had, and even on that poor kid…”

Silence for a moment.

“Well,” Paehia concluded, “now you know I’m…your worst enemy…think you can ever forgive me?”

“And,” Mahuika cuddled into him, “my best savior…I think you have earned forgiveness…”

For a moment, Paehia just enjoyed her embrace. Then he bent to kiss the top of her head which was resting on his chest. “Your turn…”

She smiled up at him. It was getting dark. “Aren’t you tired?”

He shook his head.

“Oh, I come from a long line of Mahuikas…for a long time, until recently, everyone thought that there was just one – Mahuika of the mountain – young men would be sent to her to learn things about the mountain, like how to use lava flint, in exchange for sex – everyone believed she did not want commitment, marriage, a male partner, the independent woman just understandably, wanted to be sexually satisfied…they did not know that that was how the seemingly ageless Mahuika actually wanted to make sure that the legendary Mahuika of the Mountain continued to exist…until one day, when the Prince Kapua was infatuated with her, one Mahuika decided that she wanted to break that tradition, she wanted to escape the mountain caverns, and live in the village – and she did – but soon after, not satisfied with that, she decided that she wanted to be Queen of the village – talked Kapua into challenging Muri for leadership – the brothers fought – Muri won, and Kapua ended up living in Mahuika’s place instead…”

“And the mountain sacrifices?”

Mahuika sighed. “Oh, yea…because they had become experts of their domain, somewhere along the line the Mahuikas believed that they were in control of the mountain…” she thought of her own mother who had sacrificed herself to save them, “and when it appeared as though the mountain was going to erupt, they were willing to sacrifice themselves to stop it, for the next daughter Mahuika to survive and continue the long line of Mahuikas, and to their surprise, to date, it worked…I don’t have a daughter, so at first, I didn’t think of that tradition, until Manaia spoke of it, and I was reminded of what we Mahuikas do, and I was willing to sacrifice myself…yes, to save the people, but more importantly,” she sighed, “to save our beloved mountain…”

Paehia hugged her closer…

For a while, they were content to sit there, wrapped in each other’s arms, listening to the sea as it lapped against the sides of their boat, enjoying the rocking ride on the waves, as they watched the sun setting. It was such a mesmerizing evening that neither wanted to speak, in case they broke the magical moment.

A star appeared above them, and one of the children on their boat pointed. Awhia turned to the child, and said, “The first star is the most important, little one, do you know why?”

The child shook its head.

“The first star has an important job to do…it shines brightly, proudly, its job is to remind us, that although the sun has retired for the night, and is resting, as it gets darker, we will have more stars appear, to light our way…”

For a while, the youngsters on Paehia’s boat were pointing excitedly, as each star appeared.

Then the moon commenced rising.

“And what’s the moon’s job?” the original child also asked Awhia, “does the moon have a job to do?”

“Of course,” was Awhia’s reply, “the very first Mahuika,” she looked over at the present Mahuika, hid in the mountain from her family’s grief and turmoil at the separation of her parents Ranginui their father world, and Papatuanuku their mother world…her siblings were so unhappy and sad, that they blamed their oldest brother Tanemahuta, who had used them, tricked them, ‘let’s race,’ he’d said, ‘run as fast as we can up and down’ their mother world, which caused her to dip and sway and while doing so, Tanemahuta jumped and pushed their father world away – so far Ranginui could no longer hold onto Papatuanuku, could no longer hold onto his family, causing windswept storms between them which were so frightening that they had to hold on to each other to keep from being swept out into the nothingness of infinite space - they pleaded Tanemahuta to bring their parents back together again, but he did not know how – he was just as grief stricken, he had no idea that separating their parents would have changed their lovely peaceful lives and environment so much - but eventually, their new world did slowly commence calming, and one night, when her siblings were finally silent, had settled down, Mahuika ventured out in the quiet stillness – even in the darkness, she noticed plants were already growing, she heard night birds cooing in their branches – but she also noticed Tanemahuta, who had loved her more than any of the others, now embraced someone else – Mahuika fell to the ground and wanted to cry…the moon looked down at the sad girl and whispered in the darkness, “look up, Mahuika, look up…yes, your world has changed greatly…but never forget your very first home called Matariki, where your parents Ranginui and Papatuanuku came from, and when all the other stars twinkle brightly, I will show you where Matariki is, still looking down on you, whispering in the darkness, don’t forget Ranginui, don’t forget Papatuanuku, and don’t forget your origins, Matariki, my daughter, don’t forget us of the skies…”

EPILOGUE

The adventurers Paehia and Mahuika spent the rest of their lives sailing between the new land and their old group of islands, bringing more people and their favourite crops to Aotearoa, now known as New Zealand.

Awhia settled in the desert, hoping to meet her father someday. It was believed that that precarious white area with the white smoking mountains was the home of the Gods who had resided with them for a while on the old land. Her descendants became known as the Awhian people of the desert. I was taught this as a child by the ‘old people’ whose job it was to ensure that our ancestors were never forgotten; however, speaking with relatives before writing these stories of our family ancestors recently, I was informed by one that they were not real, that they were created to keep the children from wandering too far into the desert without adult supervision; however, I was also informed by another, that they were a sub tribe of the Manaian people of the Taranaki mountain.

Maui also, watched and waited in the desert for some time for the same reason, but eventually set out in his boat again, searching the great ocean for his father. He returned to Aoteroa once, to inform the people of an even larger land south which he believed to actually be the land of the Gods, that they had made a mistake when they presumed Aoteroa to be the land of the Gods, but also said that it was a white cold ice land, not a place where mere mortals could survive. On the second and last time he attempted returning, it is believed that he did not get back to Aoteroa, that he got to the island that is now known as Raratonga, which became the ‘stop-over rest and restock’ island for travellers between the old and new land. When he reached there however, it was noticed that he was fatally wounded, and his last words were that he had seen a large, fast boat, larger than any of theirs, which had several sails, and pale people, just like him – no-one knows the names of the people who saw him one more time before his death and who he had admitted to that he had finally seen his father and his father’s people, but that his father’s ship was going so fast, they did not see him in his smaller boat and sailed right passed him. No-one knows how he had received his fatal wounds, either.

Kupe, Amira and Terita returned to live at that island now known as Raratonga, and for a while, that island was known as Kupe’s return place. Because, in his own words, “Aoteroa was too cold for him to live…”

Because that first fleet hit the mid-north east coast, most settled there at first, except Manaia – he had wanted to sacrifice Mahuika to the mountain, and tried to kill the Chief Muri’s grandson by attempting to mow Maui’s smaller boat over by his larger one - Manaia knew that he was no longer welcome as members of the tribe – knowing the people were wary of the desert, he, a fearless warrior, took his people across it and settled in what is known as Taranaki today; however, because of the conflict just before leaving the old land, wars happened between the people of the west and the people of the east for some time until eventually, a Manaian Princess known as Hinewai married Kahu, a Te Arawa (the name of Kupe’s boat) Prince of the area now known as Rotorua…

Muri, Kapua and Tama died soon after the migration, and because Maui continued searching for his father, the people’s head warrior Toi became the next Chief.

It is not known how many cannibals attempted to cook Kapua. So, I made up the part about the cannibal woman and her son, in my version of the story. It couldn’t have been too many cannibals, as there were only four; Maui, Kupe and Maui’s brothers, who saved and bought Paehia back to live with their people.

I also made up the white bird in my version of the story. I felt sorry for the lonely young Maui and decided to add a feathered friend to his story. Once when living alone in Australia, a Cockatiel used to sit with me on my balcony. It even used to sleep in a tree on the branch closest to my bedroom window.

The other part of the story, which is a figment of my own imagination, is Maui falling into Kapua’s area. Tama actually sent Maui to Mahuika to learn about lava flint, and how best to use it.

The great migration of seven boats including the Half God’s smaller boat is mainly believed to have left Hawaii. But because the Maori language is Tahitian, I (along with many others) believe it was more likely from Rapanui – the old people whose job it was, was to ensure that their ancestors were never forgotten, spoke of Rapanui, and before that Bora Bora, and before that, a large land to the East. None mentioned Hawaii. However, there is a place on the east coast called Hawai, possibly after the old land, so I could be wrong.

Captain Cook noted that he saw some pale blue eyed Maori which the natives explained were descendants of the Gods Makea and Angaur. I googled Makea and apart from the Polynesian God that I just wrote about, it is a Finnish name. I googled Angaur, and apart from the name of a Micronesian island, it is a German name. Cook suspected that the Pacific may have been visited by Europeans earlier than recorded, and I agree because when living in Germany, I heard a song that the Maori sing when rowing their boats, and I was told that it was an ancient song that their ancestors used to sing when rowing their boats. While living in Europe, my best friends names were Renata and Amira, which I informed them, were also Maori names. The Maori also built food storage houses on poles, so did the Vikings. The Vikings were living with the native Americans before Columbus discovered America, they may have ventured into the Pacific as well…

And lastly, the Maori love to tell stories simply and yet dramatically. Such as, when the three mountains in the desert moved, they said that the mountains walked and when they stopped, they said that the mountains are now sleeping. Their purpose is also so that ancestors, how they lived, and what they are famous for, are never forgotten. Most of their stories also mention the night sky, and stars. So I like to look for what actually, basically happened behind the seemingly magical drama and suspect that there could be a lot more behind the legends of the night sky, stars and outer space, that they knew about…for example, Ranginui and Papatuanuku were flying through space and when separated (because of something Tanemahuta did, or tricked his crew into doing), were subjected to turbulent storms…and also for example, some Maori claim that they are children of the Gods…they also say that it was the Gods who made the gigantic rock heads on Rapanui, not them, like the rest of the world believes…the natives were accused of cutting the trees down to roll the rock figures to their destination. The natives claim that the figures flew themselves to their destination…there is still so much that we mere mortals, know nothing about…

Thank you for reading my stories. You might also enjoy…

Southwest Of The Setting Sun

and

On The Wings Of Birds