𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐟 || ʟᴏ'ᴀᴋ

025

Se'aeylwa

He snapped out of his daze almost instantly as our eyes connected. He quickly looked away, and so did I. Tuk ran next to Neteyam and was tucking herself into her sleeping area while I slowly dragged myself towards her. The wood scraped against my skin ever so slightly as I shifted to be next to the young girl.

"Sing!" She excitedly whispered. I chuckled at her energy as I started to hum the starting melody of the song, trying to get her to calm down from her day's adventure. I opened my mouth, about to sing the same lullaby, but a hand stopped me from doing so.

"Can you wait a little while Tuk? Instead you can be a mighty warrior and protect Neteyam until we come back" Lo'ak said. The way he said it must have enticed the little girl as she immediately sprung from the ground and sat directly next to her eldest brother, squinting as if to look for any possible threats. 

I'm still confused as Lo'ak easily picks me up and places me on my wheelchair. I'm about to start wheeling myself to follow him, but soon he's behind me, gripping the handles as he steers me out of the marui. 

"Where are we going?" I ask, trying to lean my head back to gauge his facial expressions. In the distance I can see the communal bonfire about to begin as my eyes drift back to Lo'ak's.

"I thought that maybe you didn't want your mother to see you in a wheelchair so I had an idea that we could have our own little gathering, or something like that" He shrugs it off like it was a spur of the moment thing, but as we get closer to where he's pushing me I see a small fire already burning. 

I look around, expecting other people, but no one else is there.

"Where is everyone?" I ask, stupidly looking around the clearing. He clears his throat as he scratches the back of his head, toying with the baby-hairs that had yet to grow out completely. 

"They're either asleep or at the other gathering, Tsireya and Aonung have to be there because of their parents, so it's just us, and Tuk is allergic to the type of fish near here so I don't want to risk it" He says. His reasoning seems well practiced, but I don't mind. He stops the chair near the fire, just enough so I could be surrounded by it's warmth without being overbearingly hot. 

What surprised me was a  messily crafted chair that Lo'ak sat in across from me, I guess he thought it was unfair that I was always in a chair and he wasn't. 

The music of the communal bonfire started to play, and my arms tapped the side of the chair to the rhythm. Lo'ak's eyes honed into the small habit as he looked back up at me.

"Do you like to dance?" He asked. 

"I used to" I shrug. He ponders for a moment before he gets out of his chair and lightly moves it to the side. He strides towards me as he holds out an open palm. I'm confused on what to do as I place my hand in his, hoping it's the right answer. The corner of his lips tug upwards slightly as he does a small bow. 

"Would you like to dance?"

"I can't dance Lo'ak" I sigh, watching as he didn't give up persisting.  He smiled brightly as I eventually agreed and he ran around my wheelchair like a maniac, letting out war cries, he moved my arms wildly with his as he jumped around. I giggled at his antics before he stopped in front of me and panted for a short moment. 

"Sit down you skxqwng!" I playfully yell, he lets out a short burst of laughter as he tumbles to the sand, accidentally tripping on a dry piece of seaweed that had made it's way onto the beach. I laugh loudly, tipping my head back as I allow the fit of giggles to consume me. 

"C'mon, up you get" I chuckle, reaching out my arms as he grips them tightly. I pull him up as I swat a few granules of sand out of his dark hair. My laughter dies down as I see Lo'ak, just smiling at me as he now sits patiently. 

I can once again hear the music from the other bonfire as some of my body start to subtly move to the rhythm, my hand reverts back to tapping on the side of one of the wheels and my head nods slightly. Lo'ak gets on his knees in front of me, so we're both at the same height as he plunges forward and tickles my sides. I feel the pads of his fingers dance along my stomach as he continues ruthlessly. I'm sure he wanted another way to distract me from the music as he tickled me until all I saw was blue. He suddenly stopped his assault as his face turned deathly serious. 

"Se'aeylwa, look down" He says. I fear that I had cut something open and not realised it, but as my head cranes downwards I'm not sure if I can speak.

"You're seeing what I'm seeing, right?" He asked, making sure he wasn't delusional. 

"My foot...it's moving...it's moving...It's moving!" I yell out, I'm now looking down at my foot that's twitching to the beat of the music as I notice something I had never noticed before. I was blinded by my emotions that I hadn't realised that I could feel with this part of my leg. I was beyond excited as this meant recovery was possible, it would be a long journey, but knowing it was possible was all I needed, knowing I could have my legs back made pure happiness wash over me.

 In a moment of joy I reach outwards to Lo'ak, placing both off my hands onto his cheeks as I hastily press my lips to his. Only I hadn't realised what I'd done until he tensed up.