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Kotu sat on the boat staring at the odd Demi-god known as Maui who was talking to the human female known as Moana. He didn’t understand what they were saying mostly because he hadn’t learned the language fully, he could make bits and pieces out but not enough to know or to care. He sharpened his knife with a special rock he always kept on him as he stared. He didn’t entirely like the Demi-god, he had caused more problems for his people than not and so had the human female but Moana was…nicer? He enjoyed her company more. He pocketed both the rock and knife when Maui turned, the two made eye contact and he merely kept eye contact before it became apparent that Maui was just going to keep staring and so he turned away.
He got up and walked to a more isolated part of the boat with the bird named Heihei or something. He sat down next to it and placed his hand on the feathers. It seemed content and so he gently leaned against it. He pulled it close gently pressing a hand to its soft feathers. It was cold here and the bird was warm. He tilted his head and it clucked before seeming to lean on him. His gaze turned to the sea, it was…expansive. He wondered briefly if he would ever-something poked him and he was quick to swerve and pull his knife out. Maui let out some words of surprise though not much surprise. A moment and then he was turning away and looking out at the ocean.
Maui for some reason took that as a sign to sit next to him. He refrained from hissing in annoyance and instead stood up, he picked up the bird and moved to walk away only to be grabbed and pulled back. He pointed his knife and Maui gave him a look, he wasn’t certain what the look meant but that didn’t matter. He pulled away and did let out a hiss, that thankfully got the stupid Demi-god off him. He started walking once more, he moved to where the old man was and stared at him, the two stared before he jumped down and walked to the far back wall. He set the bird down and then he too sat down.
It pecked at the ground and then pecked at his face with the coconut. He didn’t mind, it was a stupid bird. He crossed his legs and held the bird close as the old human male, Kele, just stared at him. He turned away and just sat there, it was relatively comfortable. He wasn’t certain how much time had passed considering he had drifted off, it was so warm and it had been so long since he’d gotten to sleep or better yet eat.
When he awoke it wasn’t natural, it was because something poked him. He curled up further, he was tired and it was making his hunger leave. He didn’t want to feel hungry and sleep was a good way to get rid of that hunger. He could hear the bird clucking and then felt himself being poked again. He let out a chittering hiss before slowly getting up, he turned his bleary gaze to the old human male Kele. The old man stared at him and said something along the lines of ‘small child-like’ and ‘hungry’.
The bird got up and shook itself before sitting back down, he patted its feathers and then whipped his knife out when he was poked again. The human did not look impressed, better yet he merely looked annoyed. He muttered something and then…held a fish out. He blinked and stared up at the old man who motioned to the food. He reached out and grabbed the offering before bringing it up to his nose, hunger coursed through him but he needed-alright, it wasn’t poisoned. He pushed his mask up and heard a hum of what sounded like slight disgust but he couldn’t care as he proceeded to devour the fish. His teeth tore the fish apart with ease, it tasted wonderful. He didn’t stop when he made it to the bones, in fact, he tore into those as well.
Kele the old male poked his head out of this little plant growing area and said something about ‘eating’ and ‘young’. He finished his fish and hesitantly moved closer to him. The old man sat down and stared down at him. He shouldn’t be hesitant, he was trained to be an assassin, a killer for ocean’s sake and yet here he was, hesitating with an old man who couldn’t possibly hurt him. He took another cautious step forward before sitting down next to him. Kele merely huffed but continued tending to his plants. This was…nice. Heihei the bird wandered over and he was quick to wrap his arms around it and pull it close, it happily let him do so as well or at least it didn’t protest.
Minutes passed as he sat there holding the bird when slowly, he leaned his head against Kele. The old man looked down for a moment before scoffing and muttering something, he continued planting. He chittered gently and let himself drift, he could sleep for a bit longer, it would be good for him…he was so tired. His eyes closed and finally he slumbered once more.
He jerked awake when the boat lurched and was quick to let go of the bird, the old man let out a yelp as he slid but he did not. He got up and was quick to rush out of the area and onto the boat, the others were…struggling against an odd creature. Swiftly he pulled his blow dart out and inserted a dart inside before shooting it at the creature. Funnily enough, even father did not know how he stored so many blow darts on his person. The creature had been mid jump so it did land on the boat causing him to scramble out of its path. He whipped his knife out and was quick to move, none of the others hesitated necessarily but he was quicker than them.
Kotu dug his knife into the creature listening to the hiss it let out as he stabbed it and then dragged his knife along it. Blood and guts spilled from its body as he slit it open with ease. He pulled away and spun his knife, flicking the blood off. He hit his chest listening to the coconuts let those hollow clunks out. He whooped and chirruped moving from foot to foot. He moved forward and kicked the thing, it was dead. He couldn’t-it was dragged and thrown into the ocean. He stared at Maui who blinked a singular eye at him with a smile like he had killed the thing. He walked forward and despite knowing it was a Demi-god he kicked the male.
He hit his chest in a simple rhythm that he knew the Demi-god wouldn’t understand before turning and jumping back into the little area with Kele. He was grabbed and taken out. He stared at Kele who said something along the lines of ‘disgusting’, ‘water’ and needing to ‘be clean’. He squirmed but let himself be held and brought to the water. The old man sat down at the edge and he stared into the waters. He shook his head and tried to wander off but was grabbed and brought back. A hiss escaped him but he didn’t pull his knife out, the old man reminded him too much of the Chief to do so…too much like his father. More words that he mostly could understand, something about ‘not being able to swim’.
He nodded at that, Kakamora were not very capable swimmers. Their masks filled up with water and that brought them further down, their limbs weren’t the most suited either. Thankfully it took a bit for the coconuts that made up their heads to fill so they could float for maybe a minute and hold their breath for a bit longer. Enough to be rescued by other Kakamoras or to slit their own throat and make death much faster. He turned his gaze and then he jumped, he gripped onto the edge and lowered himself down into the water. He let the water wash the blood from his body, thankfully the darts were more congealed than that so it wouldn’t wash that off.
After a minute he pulled himself up and shook himself off. Kele seemed pleased with that so he was allowed back with the plants and more importantly, Heihei though he stayed above. It was sunny and he needed to dry, he could tell the others had used the help of the ocean to clean the blood off of the ship considering it was clean. He was uncertain how they could control the ocean but he didn’t want to really know. He merely moved to a more isolated part of the boat and laid down. Minutes ticked by as Pua, the pig, sat next to him. He enjoyed the animals, they were kind.
His eyes shut as he relaxed, he could hear the others talking but he focused on the sounds of the water. He wasn’t certain where they were going, not entirely anyways. He was pretty sure they were going back to the humans island with the other ships that were following close behind. The humans were wary of him and he enjoyed that, it meant he didn’t have to interact with them.
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Minutes turned into hours and finally it was becoming night. He watched the others relax, watched all the boats around them slow down as they moved and so he did the obvious. He moved to the oar and stood there steering. The human male (similar looking to the Demi-god Maui) had long since retired and the other human female (Lata? Lolo?) had been steering but left for a bit so he took it upon himself to do so. He stared out watching the others talk quietly, when they noticed he was steering they didn’t move to take it from him to which he was thankful for. He turned slightly and bristled as a ship moved close, someone waved and the humans on this boat waved back. They moved closer and spoke words to one another, they were happy. He turned away, keeping his gaze on the stars and the beauty that was the ocean.
He wasn’t very tired but this was calming, making him a little sleepy. Of course it wasn’t difficult to push the want away considering he had gotten his rest already. He turned his eyes to the boats, they sailed next to this one in a lackadaisical fashion because of the wind.
“Kotu!”
His gaze snapped towards the human female (Lola? Lili?) who was gesturing for him to come over. He didn’t move and she let out a sigh. He turned the oar slightly, he also made sure to ignore any attempts at speaking to him…until Kele of course. The older one had provided him food, he enjoyed his company, he wasn’t…scared, just annoyed, much like himself. Kele made a motion for him to come over and he chittered in a way that they couldn’t hear before quickly grabbing some rope. He made sure to tie it down so it wouldn’t move and then he wandered over. The person on the other boat stared at him but he ignored it, he walked up to Kele and clicked his coconuts knowing full well the old man would not understand.
Kele did not understand, however, he did say something about food and then…another fish. He stared at it waiting, Kele huffed and pushed it closer to which he did take it. He picked up the much bigger than him fish with ease and wandered back over to the steering. He sat down and sniffed it, no poison. He proceeded to devour it, he spent a lot of energy most days so it was nice to be able to eat…he didn’t want to ask, his pride was much too high for that. Maybe…he most likely wouldn’t find his people again but this…this was nice. Maybe he could get used to this.
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The island of Motunui or whatever was nice. He had explored (even gotten to hunt) but now it was time to be back on the water. He didn’t know exactly where they were going but he had gotten better at helping, currently he was cutting up some fabric on Loto’s request (he finally learned her name) because she wanted to upgrade the ship. He dragged the fabric over and handed them to her, she smiled and he could understand her saying ‘thanks’ so he replied in kind with a sort of chitter. He turned and wandered to the bow of the ship. Moana had said that they were looking for a very specific island or something along those lines. He didn’t really know…or care. Considering he wasn’t being asked for held he was quick to move to the bow of the ship and look to the horizon.
There weren’t very many islands to be honest. He could faintly make one out in the distance but that was about it. He hit his chest catching the others attention and pointed to the island. Moana smiled and turned to Maui saying something to which he nodded. He turned away and stared at the island. It was unassuming, nothing looked special about it other than the three…three…he put his hands up like a telescope and looked through, it didn’t make anything closer but it made it easier to focus and…those weren’t three mountains…those were three boats. He rushed away and started climbing up the mast, he moved up and up before looking out. It was…it…his people.
Kotu let out a chirrup and then whoops, he continued this as they got closer and he could tell they could hear. He jumped off the mast and hit his chest listening to the whoops and cheers that came from the beach. They were loud, much louder than him but still. He turned to the others who nodded, he rushed over to Kele who chuckled and then let out an ‘oof’ as he hugged him. He chirped and chittered happily as he rushed back to the bow of the ship. They were close and he could see his people parting like a wave for…his chirps and cheers stopped. It was the Chief, it was his dad.
What if…what if he was disappointed? Angry and upset and kicked him out? What if he didn’t want anything to do with him? Would…would he be accepted again? Would they let him come back? Would dad still…love him?
The boat hit the shore and slowly he jumped off. His feet hit the sand and he took a hesitant step forward, the Chief only stood there. He looked…shocked but he was also shaking. With anger? With-his father ran forward and before he could react he was being scooped up into a hug. He was being held tightly like he was going to run off which that was a good fear. He was gripped much too tightly but he didn’t care, it was his dad, the Chief…he was never big on public affection. He was set down and stared at before being pulled into a hug once more, gentler this time.
Slowly, he wrapped his own arms around him and the two held one another. He chittered anxiously as if he was a child which he wasn’t, he was a teenager, he shouldn’t be making these noises. He tried to stifle it back but his dad started making the same exact noises. Louder and deeper but still prevalent all the same. He was pulled closer as though they could really move any closer to one another.
“Kotu-! What-what were you thinking!? We thought you died! We-”
The Chief pulled away and stared at him, he could hear anxious clicking escaping him. He should have said something, should have done something to try and stop whatever punishment was going to be put on him but he didn’t, he instead let out a loud click and then was grabbing him. Was trying to hug him. The Chief didn’t hesitate to hug him once more and the two hit their heads together. A moment and then he was being picked up, dad let out a whoop. Cheering, he let out a choked sob and then did his best cheer. He was finally back home.
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Kotu watched the others sail off, he was sad to see them go but they promised to visit and he would see them on the sea anyways. A hand pressed against his back, swiftly did he pull his knife and turn it towards-he was quicker to back away. It was just dad. The Chief stared at him and he stared back, there was tension in his shoulders that he couldn’t quite make leave. He forced himself to stand straight only to be gently grabbed, his arm was taken and he was being led further…he pulled away. He could see the Chief bristle and grow fearful but he just stood there, his people had moved away and were preparing a celebration.
“Kotu? What’s wrong?”
He stared as his dad moved closer, he shook his head.
“…nothing…”
“You pull away…you tense and flinch, what happened?”
“Many things…we fought…we connected the oceans father…and we fought creatures that most would not even dream of fighting…”
“You fear.”
“Is it wrong of me to fear? I just-”
Kotu crossed his arms, hugging himself.
“It hurts…it was terrifying…what it happens again!? What if we are separated and this time we don’t see one another again!? I don’t-!”
A hand pressed against his arm. He flinched but didn’t move away, his gaze moved to his fathers.
“Kotu, we cannot control everything…I’m only glad that you are home. If we were to be separated again not even the gods would be able to keep us apart. You are my son Kotu, you are the most important thing to me. I’m so happy you’re back…I’m so happy that you’re alive.”
Dad gently pulled him close and then was picking him up. He let out a chitter and then he was forced to laugh as he was spun around. He was pulled close and their heads clicked together. He cooed and nuzzled his face into his father’s neck.
“I’m angry that you did that…but I’m so proud of you…you saved us all.”
“…I love you dad.”
“And I you Kotu.”