A New Mission: Happiness is Simple

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Zem and Ta'li: Day 6 (Continued)

Night had fallen over the ocean islands and Ta'li, picking up tiny shells that were revealed in the glowing blue surf, saw that Zem was returning down the beach from wherever it was he went. She had started to grow a little worried, but with his ilu playing with hers and Ruka snoring on the beach, she knew there were only so many places for him to have gone. Like her Uncle Miles, Zem needed solitude and distance to calm his mind. Little did she know he just laid down and screamed into the sky as loud as he ever had. Such a showing was more of a page taken out of his mother's book than his father's.

Ta'li, despite Neteyla's hurtful words yesterday, had a good day today working with her ilu and exploring the shallow reef. A part of her knew this was pointless as sooner than later they would be returning home and she'd probably never see an ilu again, but such an experience was deeply fulfilling to her.

As Ta'li thought about their situation and examined her shells, trying to place a positive lens atop it all, she realized that Zem wasn't saying anything to her, he just went to their leafy tent under the palm-like trees, not even checking on his Ikran. Saddened, she decided to make him dinner to try and cheer him, certain that he didn't eat anything on his little personal adventure.

While out in the reef today, Ta'li had gathered the same things that Neteyla had shown them how to make their raw seafood meals. It didn't take her long to make a nice, colorful selection under the Naranawm-lit starry sky and when she was finished, she brought the dinner over to Zem, a large, flat, piece of bark used as a platter.

Zem was lying down on his side underneath their shelter.

"Hey, Zem. I made dinner," Ta'li said with a sweetness in her voice.

But Zem wasn't responding.

"Zem?" Ta'li's pink ears turned to face him. Suddenly, she could hear it.

Zem was crying, she could hear his sniffling. He was clearly trying to suppress the sob-revealing jerks of his abdomen. He was so ashamed to be weak when he needed to be strong.

Ta'li's ears fell and she slowly bent down to place the platter of food onto the sand and moved over to her friend on all fours. Then, to Zem's surprise, Ta'li laid down next to him and snuggled into his back, nestling her face into his shoulders. Zem, teary-eyed, couldn't help but calm at her presence and touch, Ta'li reminding him of the many times that Lex had comforted Zem with a simple cuddle.

Zem was crying because couldn't believe that Neteyla actually didn't visit them today. He knew she wouldn't, she said "I cannot see you anymore," after all, but a part of him still held out hope. A dumb, stupid part of him, Zem thought, castigating himself in his mind. When the sun set and Naranawm shifted to its great blue hue above, that was when reality set in for Zem.

The reality that she wasn't coming back. And... the reality that he liked her.

Zem had enough though. Tomorrow, he was going to do something that was probably stupid. He was going to take his ilu to those three rocks he saw in the distance and see if he could find the human ship his dad told stories about. Maybe somehow he could find some help.

Zem then wondered what his family was doing right now. Where Lex and Zeyz were... he knew his parents were out there on the mainland looking for them. Maybe they found them already. But there was no way his parents would know that he and Ta'li were on these islands. They were truly lost and alone. Zem just forced himself to sleep, turning his attention to Ta'li's warming, loving body against his back.

As Zem and Ta'li went to sleep, little did they know that their families were sleeping their first night in the home of the Omatikaya after their trying day of reunification.