sixthiterationlogs | 10 - The Heart of Te Fiti [OPEN]

Entry tags:

10 - The Heart of Te Fiti [OPEN]

WHO: Moana
WHERE: The Forest & The Inn
WHEN: July 5th - 15th
OPEN TO: Closed
WARNINGS: Fighting/Violence most likely...

The Inn - July 5th - 10th

Moana wasn't sure what to make of it. She had found the heart over a week before but hadn't thought to show it to anyone. She kept it in her grandmother's necklace which was now useful as well as a keepsake of the only family member who truly understood her.

She sat on the floor near the fire place. It was to hot to have the fire going but this had been Moana's seat since winter. She saw no reason to change that now. Itiiti, the little piglet, was snuggled against the side of her skirts, enjoying the feel of the grass around his round little body. She looked down at him briefly, smiling before she gently opened her necklace.

The heart dropped lightly into her palm, glowing a familiar green light.

"Why are you here?" She asked the heart as if it might be able to reply back to her. She'd notice that the strength of it's glow had been changing. Right before the earth quake and now she felt that it was dimming. Like a heart beat that was slowly reaching it's end. "Please. Please don't die. I need to return you to where you belong." Moana begged softly, curling her fingers protectively around the stone.

The Forest - July 8th - Bear

She knew that the heart brought trouble, Moana had seen it first hand on two separate occasions, but she hadn't thought that it would happen here. This village, this realm, felt so far removed from the world she knew. Surely no one knew what the heart was or what it could do.

She'd been wrong.

It still brought trouble to it's bearer though it was a little different from before. Moana had been walking through the forest, following behind Itiiti as the little pig sniffed out mushrooms and other eatable roots. She had a small basket with her that was half filled with things that she planned to bring back to the inn. With the crack in the rocks and the damage to the town, food that could travel seemed more important than before.

Her fingers sank into the earth as she dug up a handful of fungi. Itiiti bumped her elbow, sending Moana face first into the dirt. Her necklace popped open as she hit the ground and the glowing green heart rolled out of it's hiding place. Moana pushed herself up and reached for the stone. When she her fingers touched the smooth surface of the Heart she heard a roar echo threw the forest. The ground trembled and she thought it was another aftershock of the quake. It wasn't. The trees parted and a large black bear lumbered into view.

"Itiiti Run!" The piglet didn't need to be told twice. He squealed and took off into the woods. For anyone who ran into Itiiti he'd be too frightened to lead you back to his owner.

Moana scrabbled to her feet, wondering if she'd somehow stumble onto the bears home. Her basket of roots and mushrooms had fallen over and now sat a few feet to her left. Against all logical reason she reached down to try and gather up the food back into the basket. "Please stay away." Moana was used to monsters that could understand her and talk. She's never seen a bear before.

The Inn - July 15th
Place Holder. ooc: Heart looses it's glow. Unsure if Moana will have traveled to 7i by then or not. Pending how the meeting on July 10th goes. She wants to see the ocean as soon as she can. ~~And try to get a boat there so that she can try and sail across the ocean.~~ I might also have another prompt up where Moana is being chased by wolves on the 11th or 12th if anyone is interested in that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ned lets out a good-natured laugh at Itiiti's behavior, obliging rather happily and stroking the piglets head a few times with fondness. He misses, despite himself, the direwolves of home - the ones his children had raised after he and the others had found the pups in the forest. A piglet certainly isn't a substitute for a direwolf, but its companionship isn't all that different. Ned gives Itiiti's ears a good, earnest rub before glancing over to Moana again.

"Silent as the wind," he replies softly. "Oft times, it was not their outright advice I was seeking so much as needing to sort out my own thoughts and needing a place to do it." Ned's faith in the Old Gods was stronger than many who still lived in the North, but he knew there was a clear separation of man and god; he usually felt that the Old Gods simply observed the foolish ways of the mortal world, tsking with their all-knowing gaze. "Yet things from home seem to appear, don't they? If you remember, I received the Weirwood sapling not too long ago. It seems that .. whomever, or whatever, keeps watch of us seems to send us things - though their meanings might not be as clear as we would like." He falls quiet for a moment or two. "What do you think it means? If I were one of your villagers and came to you with this predicament, what would you say to me?"

Itiiti appreciated the attention and curled comfortably next to Ned's side to receive as much affection as possible. The moment that Ned stopped would be the moment that Itiiti returned back to Moana's side to nap.

Moana didn't think the wind was silent at all but she didn't find it important enough to mention. Her thoughts were clouded by the heart.

"I would say..." Moana gently placed her fingers on her lips. "That we should take our blessings, whoever they are from and be thankful for what we have, but I don't know if that advice works for this." She gently ran her finger around the top of her shell necklace popping out the stone from it's hiding place.

"I found this..."

Ned continues a steady pattern of stroking the piglet's head back towards its ears, finding the repetition of the movement soothing for himself as much as for the creature. But he does eventually stop, his palm gone numb from stimulation, his elbow aching from being bent for so long.

He listens quietly, gaze intent upon her face without becoming overly intrusive. His eyes flit down to the stone she's revealed, and though the color is a beautiful sight, he isn't sure what its significance might be beyond its possible worth in terms of gemstone.

"It's a beautiful stone," he starts, lifting his eyes. "Forgive me for my ignorance, but what is it, exactly?"

Moana shook her head. "This is The Heart of Te Fiti. The goddess of the mother island." As she spoke the stone began to glow a bright green light. "It was my job to return it. The ocean had chosen me but... somehow it ended up here." Her voice sounded more fragile than before.

"If it's here then I can't stop the darkness from killing my island." She might not have told him the completely legend of Te Fiti but Moana remembered talking to Ned about her island. The love she had for her land and her people.

"It shouldn't be here."

Ned's eyes flicker to the stone as it glows, half of him surprised, the other half no longer fazed by strange events and glowing stones after having arrived in the village. If anything, a stone that seems to know its name is expected, given all of the other events as of late. He can't claim to understand almost any of what she's saying, but she has his attention nonetheless.

"Your island," he echoes, the corners of his lips falling towards the earth. "I remember you'd said that the crops were dying, that your people were going hungry." He considers the glowing stone for a few pensive moments. "What would you have to do with this heart, as you say, if you were not here but rather still at your home?"

Moana nodded her head, her fingers curling over the stone. "It's a legend that my grandmother had told me when I was young. In the beginning there was Ta Fiti, the mother island. She granted life to the other islands and helped create the world that I know and my home. Man sought her heart and the ability to create life." She paused and exhaled before continuing. "One day the demi-god Maui stole the heart of Ta Fiti. He was confronted by another who sought the heart, Ta Ka who bested him. The heart was lost to the sea... Darkness fell over the islands and seas, slowly spreading until everything would be devoured by death. That darkness reached my island."

Her voice shook and she paused again, trying to keep herself calm. Moana looked down at the glowing heart in her hand as she continued. "It was said that one day someone would find the heart, travel across the sea, find Maui and have him return the heart. That someone was me. I left the island..." Even when her father told her not to. "I wanted to save my people but I couldn't. I ended up here and now... now the heart is here too. I don't know why."

The glowing green light flickered softly in Moana's palm.

It's a wonder, he thinks, how similarities seem to cross globes and the stars above. Origin stories of Westeros, particularly that of the North, were, in essence, nothing like what Moana's retold here in the Inn, and yet, there were still traits and characteristics that bound the tales together, despite their differences. He silently marvels at the thought for a second or two before exhaling a quiet sigh.

"Oft times, the gods - of this world or the next - test us for strength and merit. We cannot always understand their methods or their reasoning, being mortals, but there is often something to be learned or gained from their trials." He raises his eyes and considers her with a soft, steady gaze. "Perhaps this is a test to show how truly strong you are, even when separated from your village. Or perhaps it is to serve as a reminder of who you are and where you come from, so you cannot forget either while you are here."

"I don't know."

Her grandmothers voice spoke softly in her head. 'There is no where you can go that I won't follow.' Moana's eyes dropped towards the stone and for a few moments she was lost within the confusing twists and turns of her own head. 'You will take him by the hear and say, I am Moana of Motunui. You will board my boat, sail across the sea and return the heart.' She closed her eyes and inhaled. 'Go.'

Moana's eyes rose to met Ned's gaze. She felt a little bit stronger now. "My grandmother once said she was always with me. Would it be silly, to think that she brought this to me now?" Her voice was even but quiet. "I watched her join the sea. If she were to find me, it'd be through the water."

Moana wanted to believe.

Ned lets them sit in quiet contemplation, gaze floating somewhere around the softly glowing stone in Moana's hand, while also scanning the room periodically for other patrons who continue to enter and leave. He finds his own mind begins to wander to thoughts of home, the Weirwood (which he remembers now he must water upon his return home), the Godswood of Winterfell. There is a deep, gnawing ache in his chest to pass through the gates of his stead, to hear the clanging of hammer upon steel and anvil, to smell burning oil and firewood, to feel the hardened, frozen earth beneath his feet.

He supposes the Weirwood is his version of this green stone. He's a Northman. He carries Winterfell with him, wherever he goes.

"Do you think it'd be silly to believe such a thing?" he asks, no judgment in his tone. "I can certainly tell you what I believe and what I think, but the arrival of this stone affects you."

Moana looked down at the stone in her hand. "I believe in a lot of things." She replied in a quiet voice. What she believed in didn't help. It didn't change anything or tell her anything new. There were a mountain of questions that she didn't have answers too and she didn't know where to start or if she could even answer them while she was here.

She pulled the stone to her chest before hiding it back in her necklace. It felt unsafe keeping it out for to long.

"Will you tell me what you believe?"

"I follow and believe in the Old Gods," Ned begins quietly, as though their ears might have extended to the village somehow. "It's an ancient religion, brought to the North by the Children of the Forest and passed down through the First Men, from which my family line is descended. It is a very personal religion, with no ornate ceremonies, altars, or rituals. Mostly, one spends time under or near a Weirwood, through which the Old Gods can view the world of man.

We believe the Old Gods are innumerable spirits of nature, found in trees, rocks, and streams. We cannot know how many there truly are. But we pray to the Old Gods in front of the Weirwoods, in the hopes that they can hear us and witness our plights. I grew with a very strong faith in the Old Gods, in the power of the Godswood. I spent many, many hours throughout my life under its spread canopy, its blood-red leaves, contemplating and seeking guidance.

I do not think it foolish, or silly, or unreasonable, then, to imagine that your grandmother's spirit, her energy, might have brought such a gift to you," he says, gesturing to her necklace where she's now resealed the stone. "If anything, it seems the most likely of explanations. It sounds as though she was a wise woman who showed great leadership and guidance to you."

"Your gods sound like mine. We believe that the ocean and the earth have souls. They treat people as they are treated and then can love and hate like any person. You are to treat the world around you with respect, living together. Everything has a soul and when the body dies, the soul is released. Some are reborn often times as animals. My grandmother..." Her voice softened but this time Moana didn't look down at her hands. She tilted her chin up, meeting Ned's gaze with an unflinching resolve.

"When I left the island I saw her soul leave her body. I followed it out to sea. She had been the one to tell me to go, to find Maui and to return the heart. She said she'd always be with me but she isn't here. I know she's out there and she might have brought me the heart again but she isn't here." Moana's eyes closed as she breathed.

"The ocean is a friend of mine. Someone I love but it's not here. Maui isn't here. How can I return the heart? and even if the ocean is out there. Even if I find it again. I don't even know how to sail..." It hadn't stopped her from leaving home before but she'd had helped. She would have never made it pass the reef alone. "I won't stop believing in my gods or the world but that doesn't mean I'm the one who's supposed to save me island."

Ned listens with acute interest, humbled to witness the growing strength reflected in her words, the upwards tilt of her chin. But then the corners of his lips turn downward as her messages grows darker and bleaker, until he reaches out to place his hand on hers. He keeps it there, gentle and warm and steady, reflecting on her words for a few silent moments.

"I am afraid my wisdom has nowhere further to go," he admits softly. "I am unfamiliar with your island and with their particular situation. But what I can offer you is my belief in you, in your spirit, in your strength - to do whatever it is you can to bring peace to your people and your village. Perhaps your time here is meant for you to discover the traits you'll need in order to return this heart to wherever it is supposed to be, or to show you how truly strong you are."

Moana looked down at his hand before rising her chin to meet his gaze. There were things that she couldn't do, she knew that, but she wanted to be able to do this. She'd been chosen for a reason. The ocean had chosen her.

For a second she felt a sudden pain tighten around her heart before nodding her head softly. She had the stone now, even if she couldn't get away from this village she had what she needed to save her island. Maybe, she could save the people here too. Part of it was wishful thinking but Moana believed, she needed to believe.

"Thank you." Her voice was soft but her expression open and warm.

She hadn't had someone outside of her grandmother put so much faith and trust in her. She considered herself lucky, even if their paths would one-day part, even if Moana forgot. Ned would always have a place in her heart. "I don't know what will happen but I won't give up." She gently released the Heart from it's hiding place, waiting the green stone glow brilliantly in her palm.

'As long as it's glowing' Moana would know that it was alive.

"There is nothing for which you need to thank me, Moana," Ned replies, voice continually soft and soothing. He lets a small smile creeps its way along his lips as he adds, "Though hearing it is appreciated all the same. I don't mean to sound ungrateful."

For as different as their worlds might be, there are certain similarities that he cannot ignore that seem to stretch across universes, across planets and lands, in the hearts of man and woman alike: confusion at one's purpose in life, the need for guidance from others, the constant search for and reliance upon something like hope to keep one going. So while Ned cannot fully understand all of what Moana struggles with, he can understand the utter humanity of her plight, and in that, she can never be alone. Not truly. Not with Ned and all of the other villagers around her.

"There," he coos, "That's the sort of thing I like to hear."

Edited 2017-08-01 04:38 (UTC)

Moana shook her head. "You don't sound ungrateful." He sounded realistic which at times was the same thing but Moana didn't see it that way. She choose to see the world, not just how it was, but how it could be. As long as she didn't give up.

"Thanks."

She pulled the Heart close to her chest. "I should probably get Itiiti to bed." The little piglet was snoring against Moana's leg.

"If you wait... I'll be back. I can make something for us to eat."

"Yes, the poor thing seems as though standing would be a burden in itself," he muses, glancing down at the creature. He raises his eyes at her offer, weighing it in his mind. He makes it a habit to sup with his family, not wanting to take such moments for granted, but he thinks that perhaps it would be acceptable to dine here instead.

"That is very generous of you, and I would be a fool to turn down such an offer. If it brings no offense, I would like to return home to check on my family. Then, I can return to assist you if need be," he says, standing and extending a hand to help her to her feet.

Moana took his hand, not because she needed help getting up but because it felt like the right thing to do at the time. She flashed him a smile when she spoke. "Sure. Meet me in the kitchen when you're back." She paused before quickly speaking again. "And if any of them want some, we can make enough for you to take some home."

With the offer spoken she turned towards Itiiti, carefully hoisting the pig in her arms. He was getting big though he was still at a reasonable size to carry. There was a snort of discontent from the pig but it looked like he was staying asleep.

"See you soon." With that she stepped towards her room to put Itiiti to bed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

10 - The Heart of Te Fiti [OPEN]

The Inn - July 5th - 10th

The Forest - July 8th - Bear

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/lays down/ this is fine

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject