Coin Flip - Lo'ak

9:

I broke our eye contact when I heard some food sizzling on the fire.

I took that as a sign to start preparing my food too.

Taking my satchel off from around my waist, I opened it on my lap. Cursing myself for not bringing some sort of board so that sand wouldn't stick to the fish, now I had to hold it.

It wasn't the end of the world, but it was still a hassle nevertheless.

"Wow, what did you bring for dinner?" Neteyam voiced his question upon seeing the different-looking sea creature.

"I caught a baby Nalutsa," I replied proudly.

"Was it difficult to catch?" He continued questioning. I liked the effort he put into continuing our simple conversation.

"Not really, I liked that I didn't have to wait a while to catch something like I would have with normal fish. It took a bit of calculating on my end on how to hunt it but in the end, I caught it." I took out my homemade spices from my other woven bag.

"That's really impressive! I haven't seen it from the selection of fish the hunters catch." He looked curiously at the pieces of the Nalutsa, most likely wondering what it would taste like.

"I guess our hunter's had a preference for what was in demand. If many people don't reach for a certain sea creature to eat, they stop wasting their time catching them," I replied in thought.

"Plus, I think they're starting to become endangered, so it's a privilege to find one and hunt it to eat." I dipped my fingers in the spice blend I've created, spreading it on both sides of each piece of my food.

Neteyam unconsciously leaned in slightly to get a better scent of my spices, his nose even wiggled a fraction as a result of his inspection.

I hope his reaction to the taste will be as good as it was for its mere smell.

"I brought extra pieces for you to try," I blushed a little. Food was quite sacred in all Na'vi cultures.

"For me?" His ears perked up.

"Well yeah, it's as a 'thank you' for inviting me to dinner. I had extra anyways so if you don't have some, it'll just go to waste before I can eat it all, and well it is a rare find so I figured why not share it." I couldn't help but ramble.

While I did bring extra for all of these reasons, I just couldn't shake the thought of us sharing food. On top of that, I was the one preparing and cooking it.

"I brought some extra for everyone actually, I'd be honoured to prepare it for you all," I quickly noted to the others sitting around us.

The others perked up at my mention, glad that they'll also get to try some and not just their lucky older brother.

While I did bring it for the intention of Neteyam eating it, I wanted to ensure the rest of his family - minus his parents - had some to try as well.

No one knew how long they'd stay on our island for, so I wanted to make sure that they were able to experience trying a Nalutsa before they decide to depart - if they decide.

This will also take some of the intensity off from the situation if I'd have brought some just for him.

For all Na'vi, it is typical to bring food and offer it to a group of people (like family and friends), or in the case of a ginormous catch - like that of hunters - it would be offered to the whole clan. However, if food is shared by only two Na'vi, that act becomes more sacred and intimate.

Especially if one cooks with the intention of feeding it to the other.

This is seen typically in mated couples, or from parents to their children.