First Born

Safe Place.

I wet a rag before gently removing war paint from Lo'ak's face. I've already patched up mine and his wounds.

There are no words shared between us for a while. Only tense silence.

"Please don't be mad at me. I just wanted to do be on the ground team like you"

I stayed silent and finished cleaning his face. I wasn't mad at him, I was angry. But I understand why he disobeyed Jake.

I dried his face and looked at him. "Lo'ak you are not me. You cannot do what I do. You are yourself and that is way better than being me."

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for putting you and Neteyam in danger."

I hugged him, indicating that all was forgiven. One of these days his recklessness tendencies will get himself or someone else hurt.

I tapped his back and he let me go. "Go to grandma's hut with the others, I'm gonna try to find Tarsem." I helped him up

"You're ditching me for your boyfriend AGAIN?!?" He exclaimed while throwing his hands in the air and pouting.

"He is not my boyfriend but yes I am ditching you." I responded while walking away

I wandered around the village for a while looking for Tarsem until I ran into his mother. Thank eywa.

"Hi sweetie, are you looking for Tarsem?"

"Yes have you seen him?"

"He is tending to his ikran." She informed with a warm smile.

His mother has always loved me. She even jokes about me being her future daughter in law.

I thanked her for her help and walked towards where Tarsem usually tends for his ikran.

I spotted him but he didn't see me. I crouched down and began sneaking closer to him, waiting for the perfect moment to jump out.

"BOO!"

He let out a high pitched scream that sent me into a fit of laughter. I hunched over trying to stop my laughing but I failed miserably.

"It's not funny Zuleika." He said with a straight face. I continued to laugh, grabbing his arm trying to stabilize myself.

"Whew, you should have seen your face." I chucked. He rolled his eyes and turned around to care for his ikran.

"Don't you have someone else to terrorize." He asked, peering over his shoulder.

"I do but you're my favorite. You have the best reactions." I nudged his shoulder. He laughed and pushed me harder.

"One day I'm going to accidentally hit you if you keep scaring me like that." We both know that's far from the truth.

I looked at him with a smirk plastered across my face "You love me too much to hurt me. Plus your mother would have a fit." I watched him cringe when he imagined what his mothers reaction would be.

"Mmmmm I don't think I love you THAT much."

I laughed at his terrible lie "Well you surly love me enough to name your ikran after me." He had nothing to say after that. Just shook his head.

"Speaking of ikrans we should go on a ride" I poked his sides trying to convince him.

"No no, you know it's not safe to do that right after a raid" He said pointing a finger at me.

"oh come onnnn Tarsem, we never go on rides together anymore. Maybe we can ride Anisa instead of ikran." I suggested. He was not very fond of either idea but eventually gave in.