Flying closer toward the city in which the humans planned on living from now on and dodging trees seemed harder before I actually doing it. When flying on Lu'un the same way which took me a long time on foot was now done in almost a blink of an eye. Speaking of my ikran, he was still zooming closer and closer in the direction of my target, Bridgehead City.
"(Slow down a bit, you don't need to rush!)" I said to the greenish flying animal. He only gave off one of his sounds and did as told. Now mostly just gliding through the jungle. This carried on for a bit until I could see the start of the kill zone. Lu'un landed on a tree by grabbing a hold of the thick liana which spread around the ginormous tree with his claws on his wings and feet.
"(Stay here, okay? I will be back soon.)" He gave me look which said nothing to me. How even should I, I am human and not ikran. Putting that aside I started making my way across the branches, closer to the human settlement. Soon I was practically next to the kill zone, so I started trekking around in search of Louise. Who knew if she was even out and about right now, let alone somewhere around here? Luck seemed to be on my side for once as the last few days had been quite unlucky, since not a single squad or predator walked or ran below me in my short time of searching, except for a single person, not armed or accompanied by others. She only spoke to herself.
"Gosh, this was such a dumb idea. Of course, he is not here, just like yesterday, or the day before that." She put one foot after another in front of her, ever so pacey, moving forward. "Why would he even come back again? He literally killed your squad and left, Louise." Oh my god, she is so cute when mumbling to herself like that. I couldn't do anything else than to start climbing down and scare her like the first time, well, without the killing this time. "I should just turn around and forget about him." As a response, I yelled down from the trunk I was now sitting on.
"Should you?" My sudden voice startled the young woman, who immediately spun around to look in my direction and as a result locking in eye contact. I smiled at her disbelieving face. She was only able to spit out one word.
"Firin?" I grinned and quickly jumped down the last few meters breaking my fall with an overly sized leaf, until I finally hit the ground, gravity pushing me to crouch down, cushioning the fall. I stood up, now next to the girl, whose eyes still followed my every move, and replied to her question.
"In the flesh as you can see." The next thing I saw was Louise dashing the short distance between us and hugging me, maybe a little bit too tight. "Sorry for taking so long, I was busy." I squeezed out before returning the hug, which lasted for a minute or two. After we separated we both looked each other in the eyes again. Her face was full of disbelief, still, such as her next words.
"You really came back!" I giggled in response.
"Well yeah, I promised you that I would come back." She opened her mouth to reply, but I didn't let her and only continued my sentence. "Anyways, this time I flew, so maybe we could take a ride on my ikran." Instead of excitement, like I hoped for she only gave me a confused look.
"Ikran?" I exhaled.
"Yes, you call it mountain banshee I think, still, do you want to?" She nodded.
"As long as you make sure I won't fall off, I would take the offer."
"Of course, I would make sure you wouldn't fall, you are way too cute to die." She giggled.
"Just lead the way, dumb ass." I shrugged and started heading back to where I hoped to still find Lu'un. Whilst walking I said something to her over my shoulder.
"You know how to climb a tree?"
"Nope, I never learned that." I turned around to look at her, now walking backward, and gave her a surprised look.
"Do they not teach you things?!" She gave me a weird look like I said something outlandish.
"Well, yes they do, just not that." Well, they don't live in the jungle like us. We heard the familiar sounds from my Ikran.
"Wait a moment." I said already ascending the thick liana on the tree bark as fast as I could. I heard a 'wow' from now below me and chuckled to myself. "(Lu'un! Come here, I don't want to climb all the way up to you!)" A screech followed by an ever-so-fast descending shadow was all I could pick up before suddenly a creature grabbed the liana next to me with his claw. "(How considerate of you for once.)" I said and climbed on his back, forming the Tsaheylu and gliding the way down again to pick up my friend. Speaking of said friend, you could say that she was enthralled, to say the least.
"Whoa! He is so huge. We never get to see them this close to us!" She went pet Lu'un's snout, who seemed to like what she was doing. I jumped down next to her.
"His name is Lu'un, nearly killed me and my friend when we first met." Louise stayed quiet for a moment.
"I can imagine, he looks very dangerous."
In the end we, or should I say I spent a lot more time explaining the bits and pieces to her about my companion since she was curious before we finally got on his back and he took off. Louise was holding me tight to not fall off but was again in awe when we broke through the treetops. That lasted for a few minutes, which was enough time to reach a new location, the Hallelujah Mountains. She again exclaimed in excitement about the view.
"How is this planet this beautiful?!" I looked over my shoulder, but only for a short glance since I didn't want to risk anything whilst flying. I once almost flew straight into one of the mountains, Lu'un didn't find it funny, so ever since I am more careful when flying around here.
"You get used to it after living in it for 17 years. But I can understand you completely." She just nodded, only hugging my midriff loosely now and mostly just looking around. I also looked around. It had been a few days since flying through the levitating rock giants, making me lose attention on the path ahead and I nearly flew into a mountain, which Louise found funny. Not long after that did we land one of the grassy plains. My voice echoed before Louise and I could get off.
"Okay, we will stay here for a bit. (Lu'un, you can go and explore or something.)" I unmade the Tsaheylu, jumped down, and gave the older girl a hand for getting down as well. She asked me a question.
"So, what now?" I walked toward the edge we landed near, where you could see Lu'un taking off again to do what Ikrans do. I took in the view before walking back to sit down on the grassy plateau and answering the question I was asked.
"We relax, take our minds off of the problems in our lives." Louise sat down next to me. We looked at each other, which only lasted a few moments as she started giggling and let herself fall back onto the grass which was swaying in the light wind. "What's so funny now?" I now asked, looking at her.
"I have a feeling you brought me here for a reason. Am I right?" I rubbed the back of my head.
"Well... I just wanted to show you the landscape, that's all..." She squinted at me and sat back up, propping herself on her elbows.
"You are a bad liar." I shrugged before letting myself fall back, just like the girl next to me had done moments before. I stayed quiet for a bit, before turning my head from the sky toward Louise, who mirrored me and was again laying in the grass, next to me.
"You know that the Na'vi don't lie. The sky people taught us the word." She looked at me with a smug expression.
"Us? Are you one of the now?" I wanted to say something, but she was quicker. "Do I have to arrest and interrogate you now, since we are now officially sworn enemies?" We laughed before I got the opportunity to say something.
"Oh, shut up, you would never get me to walk into that thing you call home." She laughed. I only now realized that her laugh sounded so genuine and happy. I could listen to her laughing for hours on end. We for the millionth time locked our eyes, this time no one wanted to break it. Eventually, she got up and sat on top of me and spoke smugly, as if she was trying to tempt me.
"Is that so, flyboy?" I raised an eyebrow. "You think I couldn't just put you in handcuffs and take you back? Since you are so strong?" I tried pushing myself up to be on the same eye level, but she quickly pushed me down by pressing her soft palm on my chest, making me tense and fall back into the grass. I snorted.
"You want to find out? A firsthand experience in losing a fight?" She smirked.
"Try me."
"Oh, it's on!" We stayed still for a moment. I grabbed her hips and swung us around, she only squeaked in response, not expecting my sudden movement.
"Hey not fair!" She started trying to get on top again but was outclassed by me. I guess I finally found another good reason to train, not that I had a problem with it before. Our playfight only lasted a short while, with me being significantly stronger, holding her hands down above her head and pinning the rest of her body down with my other hand holding up her leg and sitting on the other. Only a few moments too late did I realize that this situation could be understood wrong when seen without context and started blushing. Louise only smirked at me.
"Oh my!" She giggled. "What a courageous move, trying to do it in the open." She turned her head to one side, showing me her cheek and exposing her neck. "Whatever shall I do now..." I really think she was teasing me... because it worked wonders with me panicky pulling my hands back in a defensive manner.
"U-Uhm..." Louise giggled whilst taking her opportunity to now pin me down by jumping at me from her compromised position, making us both fall back, with her now laying on me. She sat up with her hands on my chest.
"Looks like I won, how sad, for you at least." She smiled sweetly before pushing herself into me, with her breasts squished between us, which only made me blush more and unable to respond.
I think she slowly realized what she was doing as I could see a red tint slowly climbing up its way across her face. "I really didn't think this through..." Neither of us dared to move a muscle so we stayed in the same position, letting the light breeze that flew through the tall grass we laid in pass over us. After only a few moments did I finally gather the courage to speak up.
"Can I kiss you?" Louise didn't seem to catch on to my words. Her mouth opened and closed again with nothing coming out. She could only stutter the next few words.
"A-Ah... I-I mean if you want-" I didn't let her finish her sentence as I took off the mask of my exopack, doing the same with the girl still sitting on top of me, pulling her close to me and pressing my lips on hers. The kiss was short but beautiful in my opinion. She tasted sweet for some reason. I put Louise's mask back on her face, doing the same with mine before either of us had even the slightest chance of suffocation. This was necessary as we were both breathing so fast like our lives were on the line. Neither of us said anything whilst catching our breaths and again staring into each other's eyes as we did so often before today. My brain only now seemed to realize what I had done and started throwing a panic attack.
"I'm so sorry, I just and well you and then..." Even if I had said a coherent and logical sentence Louise would have been the last to notice, she still looked at me with a slightly opened mouth and raised eyebrows. I really hope I didn't ruin the mood. "I didn't-" I was interrupted.
"Can we do that again?" The gears in my head which previously spun at neck-breaking speeds came to a sudden halt, which confused me as a result.
"Excuse me?" I asked her.
"Can we do that again?" Louise repeated herself. I only nodded, my mind still not catching up with the rest of my body. This time she took off our exopacks not before each of us took a deep breath and again closed the distance between the two of us. This time the kiss ended with Louise slowly pulling away. My eyes wandered from her lips to her nose and cheeks and eventually to her eyes, she seemed to have done the same and smiled lightly whilst putting the exopack back over her face. Right, I almost forgot about that. I did the same as the older girl in front of me and put the mask back on. We stayed quiet, enjoying the afterthought, maybe even the aftertaste of the kiss. I went through my messy hair to get it out of my face.
"So..." I paused, having no words on my mind that had urgency. "Umm... there went my first kiss." Louise who previously had relaxed her body by laying down on me again straightened up and looked at me weirdly.
"That was your first kiss?!" I cleared my throat and scratched my elbow.
"Was it that bad?" I had lost all my momentum and happy thoughts, but Louise unexpectedly proved them otherwise.
"No!" she exclaimed and relaxed her muscles again, getting a bit quieter. "...you surprised me." I turned my head in an asking way, clearly confused. "You were good, really. I just thought you had done it before, since, you know...you were good." She looked at me with hope in her eyes that I understood. I slowly started chuckling, Louise doing the same after a few seconds. I only stopped doing so to say something.
"You think so?" She nodded, still smiling to herself.
"Of course. Did you ever practice with one of your friends?" I gasped.
"What?!" I repelled myself like it was the idea of kissing someone from my family, I mean who else could be my friend in the clan? "That is... disgusting..." My mind was weirdly filled with Kiri before I had finished my sentence, making me stop. Louise raised an eyebrow.
"You don't seem that sure." She put her index finger on my chest "Is there someone beside me, hmm?" Wait... she doesn't need to know, right? She had waited for a few seconds for my answer but sighed before I could speak, as I was again monologuing in my head. "Oh well, so much to have you on my own." I looked at her confused.
"I didn't even say anything." Her lips thinned, and she gave me a glance that spoke volumes.
"You should know by now that the women in your life can read you pretty easily." Why is she correct again? She is way too much like Kiri right now. "And stop thinking, Idiot." There it is again, I need to change the topic.
"I think you should get up from me, you have been laying on me for way too long."
"So, you don't like me doing that?" She put her head to the side and put her hands on her waist after sitting up, still on my naval region. "Well, that's a shame. I liked it." I snorted at her teasing, put my hands on her sides as well, lifted her up, and dropped her next to me. Standing up and looking to my side I saw Louise now sitting on her shins and looking back up at me.
"Well, not that I didn't like it, but I think I need to bring you home." She gasped and jumped up. I still had to look down, since I was taller than her.
"Why? Can't I spend as much time as I want with you?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you have a job to do?" She scoffed after smiling and playfully punching my shoulder.
"I hate you sometimes." I laughed and started walking back from where Lu'un flew off.
"Sure, you did when you kissed me." She jogged after me to catch up.
"Don't say it like you didn't enjoy it as much as me!" She finally caught up as I turned to her.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, skxawng." She went to punch me again. I ducked, grabbed her waist from below, and put her over my shoulder. She now aimlessly flailed around.
"Hey! Let me down!" I giggled and did as told, crouching down, and allowing her to slide off. "You prick!" She crossed her arms and turned her head away from me. She looked like Tuk when doing that.
"Stop acting like my little sister and help me find Lu'un." We didn't get to continue our childish arguing since a familiar screech came from above us. "Speaking off the devil." He landed next to us mere seconds later. I think I heard Louise mumble something under her breath.
"Well, so much for our date." I turned to her.
"Did you say something?" Like a child getting caught doing something that it shouldn't she jumped and snapped her head in my direction.
"Me? N-No, I didn't say anything." I shook my head and helped her get on Lu'un.
It's been a week. School and shit.
I hope you liked the 400 extra words, love ya, 'preciate ya, vote, comment, bye.