Luna: Spirit of the Whale

Mike Maquinna:
As our people count time, we have lived here since the beginning, between the mountains and the sea. To us, two animals are sacred, the whale protects the ocean and the wolf protects the land. When a chief dies his spirit can choose to join with either one.

Mike Maquinna:
You know you got enough on your plate ma.

Gloria Maquinna:
They'll put him in foster care. Another lost Indian kid in the system. They'll bounce him around 'til he breaks. [speaking about Adam]

Gloria Maquinna:
There's always been a Maquinna chief Mike. That's who you are.

Mike Maquinna:
I'm a recovering alcoholic, that's who I am.

Mike Maquinna:
You know I betcha she has a glass somewhere. [to Adam drinking from a carton]

Young Mike - Age 9:
You keep on bringing me here, how come?

Ambrose:
It's where you're from. We used to hunt from those canoes back there, we knew how then because we knew who we were. A chief always has to remember who we are.

Adam:
Ambrose told me that when a chief dies, his spirit can come back as a whale. Do you think it's true?

Mike Maquinna:
He's gone Adam. My father's dead.

Gloria Maquinna:
He needs your Tsuu-qiit. Touch his spirit. [praying to Luna for Mike]

Mike Maquinna:
How you been?

Lucy:
Hey, a whale in the bay keeps the tax-man away, right?

Bill Louis:
Must be nice to come home and be hero-for-the-week, huh? [to Mike]

Ernie Ivers:
I was just trying to scare him. If I wanted to kill him, you think I would have missed?

Jill Mackay:
Your license is suspended for a month. If I see your boat on the water, Ernie, I'll impound it.

Ernie Ivers:
I got a right to make a living. That's my right, and you people are supposed to protect it. Why don't you just do your job? [after shooting at Luna]

Jill Mackay:
Canoes, please move clear. You are in violation of fisheries regulations.

Bill Louis:
These are Mowachaht waters. You can't stop us from being here.

Bill Louis:
You're kidnapping our chief, and you want our support on that.

Ted Jeffries:
We're just trying to protect him.

Jill Mackay:
I mean, you guys have seen what's been happening. Yesterday, I found a guy on the dock, he was pouring beer down his blowhole. [meeting about what to do with Luna]

Mike Maquinna:
You're two for two, buddy. Just so we understand each other. [to Ted learning about Luna being taken away]

Bill Louis:
This is our territory, Mike, and that is our orca.

Mike Maquinna:
Right, so let's occupy the inlet with two canoes and a rattle.

Young Mike - Age 9:
How come you had to be chief?

Ambrose:
It's always been that way.

Young Mike - Age 9:
What if you wanted to be something else?

Ambrose:
You want to be something else?

Young Mike - Age 9:
Maybe.

Ambrose:
Learn the paddle song anyway, just in case you change your mind.

Jill Mackay:
I still think he should be with his family, Mike.

Mike Maquinna:
Maybe he already is. [about Luna]

Mike Maquinna:
Look, my mom makes a home for you, and you're running out on her?

Adam:
So? What do you think you're doing?

Mike Maquinna:
Hey, you think you're the only kid who's got a raw deal, huh? Stuff happens. Get over it!

Adam:
Yeah, right, that's deep.

Mike Maquinna:
It's the best I got.

Adam:
Jeez, no wonder why you're scared to be chief.

Adam:
I just didn't want everybody to leave. [after calling authorities about Mike's rescue plan for Luna]

Mike Maquinna:
We all know why we're here. We have to honor Tsuu-qiit and remember my father's spirit. He chose to come back to us. He chose to stay. Some people won't accept that choice because it interferes with business, with politics, and whatever happens, whatever they try to do out there, we have to honor my father's spirit with respect, without violence and remember Tsuu-qiit came to connect us back to the water. It's who we are and it's how we honor him.

Mike Maquinna:
Sometimes it takes someone else to help us see inside our hearts, to help us understand what we're capable of. That summer, Luna taught me that I could be chief. Just like my father before me. And he touched our people in a way we will never forget.