Te Kakau (Orion's Belt)

Te Kakao (Orion's Belt)

Still, it was awfully late, she reminded herself, and even if they'd been out walking in the woods or sitting down by the beach together, they'd probably have been home by now.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Moana got to her feet and was surprised at how dizzy she felt the moment she stood up. The world swam, and she had to grab on to the side of the bed to steady herself for a few seconds before her head cleared.

"Mom? Dad?" She walked through the house, calling out to her parents, but no one answered. She hesitated in the doorway, t hen stepped outside and around to the back of the house, where the earth-oven stood adn where the match were laid down for mealtimes.

It was pitch-black outside, and Moana's eyes had to adjust to the darkness before she found her father, lying on his back across two of the mats, his eyes wide-open and staring straight up. His breathing was coming in abrupt gasps and starts, jerking his chest up and down as the breaths struggled in and out, and his one hand resting on the bedcover was shaking.

"Dad?!" Moana hurried to him, kneeling down beside him and reaching for his hand, which didn't respond as she touched it. "Dad, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Turning his head to look at her, former Chief Tui of Motunui opened his mouth slowly to speak, and haltingly tried to croak out her name.

"Mo..."

Moana frantically pressed her hand to his head, and his forehead felt like it was on fire.

"I'll get you some water," she told him, doing her best to stay calm. "Just, um, stay right there, okay? I'll be right back."

Scrambling to her feet, she headed for the well, but was stopped halfway there by the sight of her mother and the Tohunga running full-tilt across the village square.

"Mom!" Moana hurried to join her. "Mom, it's Dad. He's-!"

"Oh, Moana, thank heavens you're back," gasped Sina, grabbing her daughter and giving her a quick, fierce hug. "Yes, I know. Your father's been sick since yesterday, but it only just took a turn for the worse...but it's all right. I've brought Maata, now, and she'll know what to do. Go and help her with anything she needs, Moana. I'll get the water. Go, quickly!"

Maata, the Tohunga, gave Moana a tight-lipped little smile of greeting, and then both of them started for Moana's house while Mom stopped to draw water from the well.

Moana and Maata had only taken a few steps, however, before there was an anguished man's scream from somewhere across the village, and then Rangi came racing out of his house with his mother Whetu trailing behind him.

"Chief," he barked, noticing Moana and heading straight for her. "Moana...Anahera's dead." His face was drawn and his eyes looked raw, but he was obviously doing everything in his power to act as though he hadn't just been crying.

The Tohunga sighed, lowered her eyes, and shook her head.

"Poor Anahera," whispered Mom, wrapping a gentle arm around Whetu, who was silent and looked slightly shocked.

"She was in terrible pain," whispered Whetu helplessly. "It's been days since she took ill...at the end, she couldn't eat, couldn't speak, until death was a mercy. At least, now, she has some peace to look forward to."

Whetu gave Moana a pleading look, begging for some kind of confirmation, and Moana nodded.

"Rarohenga is a beautiful place," Moana assured her. "I'm sure she'll be happier there than she was on earth."

Whetu sniffled, and then managed a rueful little laugh.

"It wouldn't be hard," she sighed. "Our Anahera wasn't much of a ray of sunshine on earth, now was she? She could only get happier, I suppose."

"May she be at peace," whispered Moana doing her best to be a good, considerate Chief, even if the face of her own rising panic. She gave Whetu an encouragingly little pat on the shoulder, flashed her a fleeting smile of sympathy, and then grabbed Tohunga Maata by the wrist, pulling her bodily towards her own house where her father lay clinging to life.

Her heart was beating desperately in her chest, and her own lungs were suddenly aching and burning, probably from the exertion of the long voyage, but Moana didn't have time to pay attention to that, or to care.

Motunui was cold and dark, but no longer silent. All over the villages, people were beginning to cry out from inside their homes.

A merciless shiver ran down Moana's spine and shook her to the bone as she and the Tohunga burst through the door of her father's bedroom, where he now lay entirely still, only the faint rise and fall of his chest indicating life.

Author's End Note: I did promise you some angst, didn't I? I'm afraid this one starts out in rather a dark place, but I promise that we'll have some levity, too; it won't be all consistent gloom and doom, don't worry.

I am still on the way to New York, and it's snowing. I may be on the road a while longer...