Where's My Love? - Lo'ak

Chapter 21: His Name is a Prayer

Esmyrie doesn't know how long she has been walking. She just needed to get away from Neteyam, she was pretty sure if she stayed there a minute longer she would of done something she would regret.

Getting away from Neteyam meant walking though, and technically, Esmyrie still has four days left of bed rest. She will have to ignore that for now and hope that her wound doesn't reopen. And she needs to prepare herself for the talking she is going to get from Jake and Lo'ak when they find out she has been walking.

Lo'ak. It seems as if her mind always goes to the boy.

She is always wondering what he is doing. Hoping he is being safe. Praying to Eywa that she protects him.

Lo'ak.

Lo'ak.

Lo'ak.

His name is like a musical symphony in her mind, having the perfect chords and stringing the perfect melodies.

He is constantly in her mind. She thinks of what his hair is like today. Wonders if he has found a flower for his hair. Thinks about his contagious laugh that always makes her blush. How his eyes always light up when he talks about something he is passionate about, like the stars -specifically the one Jake is from-, or his Ikran. Just everything about him is imperfectly perfect. He can make any mistake and she still thinks he is perfect, that he was sent down from Eywa herself to give happiness to the world.

Her thoughts on the boy help ease the pain from her side but can't ease the pain in her heart.

The more she thinks about her argument with Neteyam the more it hurts.

They have only fought three times before, and none were as intense as the last.

The first was when they were six.

"Stop being mean Netty!" Esmyrie yells out, her hands at her side, clenched in fists in anger.

"I'm not being mean! You're being mean!"

"Nuh uh.. You're the one that said purple is an ugly color!" Esmyrie sniffles.

"Because it is! Haven't you ever wondered why we are blue and not purple? Because blue is superior to purple!"

"No! That's rude! You're rude!"

The second argument was more heated, months after the sky people returned.

"I'm just saying it's a bad idea." Esmyrie shrugs out, grabbing Neteyams shoulder, her hand easily slipping off of his shoulder as he shakes it off.

"It's not stupid."

"Okay, maybe not stupid, but dangerous." Esmyrie corrects herself.

"So what if its dangerous. My dad has trained me to be a warrior like him. I won't just wuss out now that the sky people are back." Neteyam says, continuing to walk away but Esmyrie keeps following him.

"The hornets nest has already done three attacks. There are no survivors. I can easily get on my Ikran, keep the hornets calm until I decide for them to attack. Then, with my command call them off. The sky people should be injured enough that they decide to head back to home base, and I'll follow from above. It would help us get all the information we need to take them down!" Neteyam repeats his plan, hoping maybe if he repeats it Esmyrie will understand.

"But what if something goes wrong, Netty!? What if you can't calm the hornets nest and you get in the middle of it. It could take you down with the aircraft. I can't have that. I can't have my brother going out trying to prove himself when it could end up with you getting killed!" Esmyrie yells out, her voice raising in concern and anger.