A New Mission: Happiness is Simple

Date Night, Pondering

Mansk and Teza held hands as they took their leisurely island walk to their date night destination. They were strolling along the ridge of a grassy savannah-like space where herds of Ti'pik ran across the open plain and small flocks of wild cliff Ikran flew above. In the distance, they could see huge, sailed Ranzang and hear their bellows—such magnificent creatures really brought new life to their island home and they were grateful for their return. The tall grass rolled in the wind so beautifully and it was quite windy on account of the nearing storm. But it was so beautiful and peaceful and when looking in certain directions, you couldn't even see the darkening clouds.

Mansk was holding the woven picnic basket, his small guitar slung over his back. Teza held the blanket under her arm and both kept squeezing the other's hand. Mansk was suppressing his smiling, but even through his sunglasses, his mate could see the joy in the face of her stoic husband. Teza was of course happy that they were content with such a date night spot that did not require flying. Her husband had tried to ease her into it over the years, but it wasn't for her.

Finally, after about forty minutes of walking, they made it to their spot with sunset fast approaching. It was a scenic and idyllic tree in the middle of a high, vast open plain. This tree looked like the giant trees of the mainland forests, though a fraction of the size, but was still massive. It was almost out of place. There were some indications of adaptations indicating it was in fact a native species though. It had leaves with smaller surface areas so as not to blow away in the high elevation, open-plained winds, and fairly smooth tree bark for the same reason. The trunk was additionally angled toward the direction of the primary breezes that swept over the plain.

Mansk and Teza went to a soft patch of grassy soil in front of the tree's massive roots, their usual picnic spot. Mansk gently set the basket down on the grass and leaned his guitar against the roots. Teza set out the colorful blanket on the flattened area of soil, a smile on her face. She was excited and didn't even know what her De'vin had prepared for them for dinner.

She then went to the basket, grabbed the jar of insect-repelling oil she kindly added last minute, and lightly dabbed some of it with her fingers on the edges of the blanket. As she did this, she was sweetly glancing at her husband, making sure he saw that she was assuaging his little anxieties. Of course, Mansk had grown much more relaxed and tolerant of Pandora's smallest and crawliest wildlife over the years, but the oil would ensure a perfect evening. After doing this, Teza cutely sat cross-legged on the blanket and batted her amber eyes up at him, her tail held high behind her, the long tuft flowing in the breeze.

Mansk smiled at her adorable eagerness, slowly kneeling to be seated beside her while taking his sunglasses off and carefully placing them aside. However, the gentle way in which he lowered himself hid his sudden compulsion to kiss his beautiful mate. To Teza's surprise, he nearly threw himself at her, Mansk catching her body by her smooth gray-blue back as he put his lips on hers. He then tenderly lowered her body down into the blanket, laying partially over her, and continued to kiss her in a little make-out session.

Finally. Time to be intimate with his wife without anyone around. Not their daughter, though they cherished her. Not their neighbors, though they were fond of them. And not goddamn Lyle exclaiming "get some" at the couple whenever Mansk showed the slightest bit of public affection toward Teza.

Teza felt the same freedom and relief that her husband did, though she personally was always amused by Lyle's quips, and Na'vi as a whole were a lot more shameless about intimacy than humans were. Well, more than Mansk was at least, he was still quite a reserved and private guy.

Teza, embraced by her strong husband, smiled through her kissing with him, both just making out under the tree for an incredible few moments, Teza caressing his smooth blue back. The two eventually let go of one another, eager to eat dinner and enjoy the remainder of the sunset. There would be plenty of time for much more tonight.