Where's My Love? - Lo'ak

Chapter 42: Fearful Together

When Esmyrie awakes, the first thing she sees is Lo'ak.

He is sitting down beside her, his hand still holding hers, the food besides him untouched as he didn't want to let go of her hand, even for a moment.

"Esmy..." Lo'ak whispers, moving a hand to check her body temperature, sighing in relief when he feels no fever.

"Hi." Esmyrie groans out, trying to move to stand up but Lo'ak forces her to sit back down.

"Dad said the medicine will make you drowsy... It's best to stay sitting. Does your head hurt?" The boy asks, grabbing his bowl of untouched soup and moving it over to Esmyrie. "Eat... You're probably hungry, plus food in your system will make it less likely for you to feel sick because of the medicine." Lo'ak urges.

Esmyrie takes the food gratefully, and Lo'ak moves to sit behind her, allowing her to use his body to lean on to stay sitting up.

"Where is everyone?" Esmyrie asks, seeing that the hut is empty.

"Tonowari came by earlier, told dad and mom that skypeople are close by. They are burning down villages." Lo'ak explains.

When he sees that she isn't eating he forces the bowl closer to her body. "Eat." Lo'ak urges

Esmyrie sighs, closing her eyes to take a deep breath, trying to get the slight ache out of her brain, before opening her eyes and beginning to eat.

"Dad and Mom are with Tonowari and Ronal, trying to figure out what to do... Tuk is with Tsireya making bracelets. Kiri is with Roxto... not sure what they are doing. And Neteyam is with Ao'nung, something about sharpening knifes or something." Lo'ak answers, his hands moving to her waist, holding her protectively. "How did you know? About the villages?" Lo'ak asks.

He remembers when his father was about to insert the medicine that Esmyrie was trying to warn Jake about the villages.

"Uh... it's hard to explain." Esmyrie says, taking another bite of soup, deciding she is done with the meal, putting it down beside her so she can rest her head on Lo'aks chest, his front to her back.

"Mmm. How is your head?" Lo'ak asks, his hand moving her hair and queue out of the way.

"It's okay. Just a dull ache." Esmyrie whispers, letting the warmth of the boy warm her up.

"You scared me.... dad explained briefly what your 'day nightmares' are but it still scared me to see you just say you are in pain and then zone out." Lo'ak explains, his hold on her tightening just a little, fears of her leaving him entering his mind.

Esmyrie just nods, because she can't really apologize. It isn't like she meant to scare him. It wasn't like she had control over her trances or the pain she was in.

"Can you explain to me what happened? At the tree?" Lo'ak asks, trying to soothe the tension in her body by laying kisses along her neck.

Esmyrie sighs in contentment, moving her head to allow the boy more access to her neck, finding his kisses to be calming to her.

"You wouldn't understand." Esmyrie whispers.

"I could." Lo'ak tries, moving his head from her neck, moving their bodies so they now face one another. "I want to know..."

"I can't explain it." Esmyrie voices.

"Try... for me?" Lo'ak asks, interlocking their hands together.

Esmyrie shakes her head, and Lo'ak sighs in defeat but doesn't push any further. If she doesn't want to talk about it, he won't force her. Even though he desperately wants to know what caused her to scratch at her arms, and have these 'nightmares'.