A young mother stood on the shore of her island, the ocean waves brushing against her feet. She held her newborn son in her arms and looked down on him in disgust and anger. He was not supposed to exist. her husband was a Wayfinder and, in her loneliness, she turned to her chief. Nine months later, she held her firstborn son in her arms. He was the proof that she'd betrayed her husband, and she wouldn't allow it.

"You cannot be here when he returns. Your father will not take you, so the ocean can have you now." she left her baby in the water and walked away, never looking back. The ocean lifted itself to look at the now screaming child. It pulled a large enough piece of driftwood and floated him on top of it before pulling him out into open ocean. Moving quickly to its destination.

On a nearby island, a young Goddess was watching the waves crash against the shore wondering about the prayer she'd heard only moments before. A young mother had prayed for the ocean to take her child, but Hina, Goddess of the Moon and Sea, knew she must have misheard. There was no way a new mother would pray for her child's death, would she? Humans were still fairly new to these islands so she, and her fellow Gods and Goddesses, were still learning about them. It wasn't long after Te Fiti had shared her gift of life with the islands and Hina had learned quickly to hide her island from Wayfinders. Another thing on her mind was the oceans urgency. The ocean was normally calm, neither helping nor hindering the humans as they sailed, but this was different. Hina sighed before abandoning her private island and venturing out into the ocean. One benefit of being her was that she could travel far distances without the use of a boat. When she got to the what the ocean was drawing her too she was shocked to see a baby. She rose high enough to pick up the child and look down at him. Being on the ocean had calmed him enough to make him sleep. Hina smiled down at him before taking him to another island. She knocked on the door to a couple who'd been trying to have children of their own.

"Hina! What can we do for you this evening?" the young man asked Hina confused. Hina had helped them earlier in the year and while Hina would never normally ask a favor of the Humans she helped, this was a different case. She couldn't stay on the islands for a full Human childhood.

"I found this child out on the ocean and remembered you and your wife were trying for children." she said showing him the bundle in her arms as his wife joined them. "I know this will not be the same as having a child of your own, but I ask that you raise him well. I will be coming to check on him in the coming years until he is ready."

"Ready?" he asked me as his wife took the child from me.

"There is no need to worry about it for now. Will you look after him?" I asked them.

"Of course." the woman said smiling down at the child. "What is his name?"

"Maui."

Throughout the years, Hina did as she promised and stopped to check in on Maui. He was always excited to see her and, as a child, he'd talked animatedly about everything he'd learned from his 'father'. She listened with a smile and laughing when appropriate, but deep down she dreaded the day she'd have to tell him about his true parentage. As he grew older, Maui would see Hina more and more and he didn't know why. There would be times when he'd glance her on the shore from the hut he shared with his parents and he'd go to meet her and they'd stare at the ocean in silence. She'd thank him for the company before he told her what had happened between her visits. She was his best friend and he her comfort. The other Gods and Goddesses had given her a hard time when she revealed her plan to make him a Demi-God, especially Tetuna, God of Eels. Through his teenage years, he felt his feelings towards the Goddess grow beyond what was proper, but he'd never say a thing to her as she laughed and smiled at his stories. She'd even tell a few of her own making him ask question and laugh with her.

When he turned 20, she came to him with a large hook in her possession.

"Hina, what's with the hook?" he asked her confused and she took a deep breath.

"It's time you learned the whole truth and made a decision." Hina told him before telling her tale. When she was done the hurt that filled his eyes tore through her more than it should have. Most believe the Gods and Goddesses can't feel as much as the Humans do, but they were wrong. They felt more than the Humans.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked her angrily.

"I felt you weren't ready until this moment." she told him. "I was never a child, Maui. I didn't grow as you did. I was born as I appear before you now. I will not age as you do. And I offer you something that has never been offered a human before. The chance to become a Demi-God."

"Demi-God?"

"Half God. Half Human. Your first tattoos will be of your beginning. Of this moment and of the moment that led me to find you upon the ocean." she told him. "I will give you time to think it over, if that's what you wish."

"No." he said standing taller than she was. "I've made my decision." She stood silent and waited. "I accept your offer." Hina gave him the hook in her hands.

"Then you are now Maui, Demi-God of the Wind and Sea."