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They met at their secret glade again, Kiri turning her head from where she was knelt on the floor, her queue glowing as she disconnected from the anemones in the rock pool.
"You're standing," she noted, quickly coming to Rotxo's side as she urged him to sit on the rock that was slightly warm and less damp than its surrounds, where she'd been sitting.
He remained silent for a moment longer. They hadn't even talked since the battle, the mass funeral where he'd stood near Tsireya as the now tsahik took her position, even at only 14 as she wept.
Then he linked hands with her, holding onto her pinky, her fourth finger as he laid his head on her shoulder, his tight curls providing a soft sort of pillow for his head.
"...I miss everything." he lamely started, his waterlines moist as he cried. "Aonung and Tsireya are so sad especially. I can't...can't do anything."
Kiri tightened her arms around him, breathing in his scent. He was seasalt and spray, where Tsireya was the lilies she wore and tucked so elaborately into her hair, and Aonung was fresh pipis he and his father gathered every morning.
Rotxo was different.
"And I..I've been thinking...I, um.." Rotxo floundered.
Kiri leaned forward to recieve the conspiratorial secret she thought she was getting.
"I...I like you, Kiri. I really, really like you." He stammered, and she felt a flush of heat burning her cheeks.
Her? Really?
"Will you let me court you?" He asked softly, his green-blue eyes searching.
Oh.
Oh.
It was happening. It was actually happening.
She hesitated, knowing how rough everything was.
"Are you sure? I mean-"
"Kiri, I know it. I know in my heart that I'll never find anyone else. Nobody even comes close. And I know you're...in a thing with Spider, but I just--"
Kiri stopped short. Was that what the Clan thought her and Spider to be?
"Rotxo, wait, no, no." She blustered. "Spider's--he's like my brother. I realised it after I...after I kissed him. He's not-we're not. A thing."
Rotxo's eyes fluttered closed as his theories were confirmed.
"...It's okay. I can back off if you want.." He mumbled.
She fidgeted. "No, it's...I like you too. I just don't know how to feel. Around boys." She winced, before perking up. "But I like you too, Rotxo." She smiled, before adding teasingly. "You only teased me and my brother one time, so you are forgiven." she joked.
Feeling incredibly awkward. She'd navigated murderous Na'vi Clans, kidnappings, many medical emergencies as stand in tskarem of the Omatikaya- but she couldn't handle being around a boy? A boy that made her heartbeat increase nervously and her stomach feel like jittery creatures were inhabiting it?
He cleared his throat, his tail shaking a little as she noticed it too.
"Would you let me be your...boyfriend?" He asked shyly, his blush deep.
He'd been studying up on Earth terms, she thought, and the warmth in her chest blossomed again.
"Yes, Rotxo. I thought you'd never ask." She grinned, looping an arm around his shoulder.