Play the Lua Tag: Chapter 1

While the adult aqrions celebrated Lua's Love Day, the youngsters had to be left somewhere. Vorona and Nassia often didn't agree on things, despite being sisters, but they both did despise being left behind when the adults were out to do fun stuff. They couldn't wait to grow up and be able to go with their parents, their pod, and see what the whole Lua day was about, but they were only allowed to attend the celebrations that were deemed appropriate for young eyes, and it was boring.

Originally it was Rona's idea to sneak off, away from the other younglings of their pod and from the watchful eyes of the caretaker who was appointed to watch over them. Nassia was never too far behind her sister, though, so the two young flukes swam away from their peers, looking for adventure. There was so much to see! Everything was in bloom this time of the year, the colors vibrant, the fish and the other sea creatures full of life and vitality, something that Vorona always felt a really close connection to.

"Look, that aqrion is so pretty!" Nassia said to her sister, pointing at a skimmer with double heads who had beautiful, vibrant colors, like everything else around them. Rona agreed, and the two of them swam closer to the other aqrion in curiousity.

"Hey! Are you with the travelling flukes?" the skimmer asked as she noticed them. One head had blue eyes, the other yellow ones, and despite the fact that the fluke sisters never saw a double-headed aqrion, they were more curious than fearful.

"Yeah. Our family is out attending the Lua festivities, but we were left behind because we're too young," Vorona told the skimmer, visibly rolling her eye at the last part to show how stupid it all was. The skimmer giggled.

"It's ridiculous, really. They dress up in all kinds of funny stuff, and make love-y eyes at each other and my mom said that a lot of babies are born after Lua. It sounds so stupid, being so emotional over another being, and then you get babies you have to take care of, ugh," she said.

"Our mom never said anything about this!" Nassia exlaimed with big eyes.

"The adults think it's so cool and secret, but it's not that big of a deal," the skimmer said, flicking her tail.

"What's your name? I'm Vorona, and this is my sister, Nassia. We could be friends. Do you want to come with us and see some more of the Lua festivities?" Rona introduced themselves and immediately got to the point. It was still that sweet phase of childhood where friends were easy and quick to make, and serious emotions didn't complicate their lives. The beautiful blue skimmer smiled.

"I'm Arcana, and I'm so glad you asked! It would be great to watch the festivities together!" she said as she twirled in the water, the rays of the sun shining through her membranes and emphasizing the beautiful vibrant colors there.

"You're so beautiful!" Nassia burst out, and instead of being surprised like an adult, Arcana only smiled and thanked her for the compliment.

"Do you know what else the adults do during their Lua thing? They not only dress up, but also play tag. I saw some aqrions from my tribe chasing each other and playing tag, though they seem confused about the rules because they play it all wrong," Arcana explained to the other two thoughtfully. "Do you want to play tag?"

"Yes!" the two young flukes exclaimed. Arcana darted faster than they could've expected and touched Nassia, exclaiming that now Nassia was "it". Vorona and Arcana then swam away quickly, even splitting up to make the chase harder. Nassia caught up on the game fast, swimming after her own sister to try and catch her. The game went on like that for a while, just tag, but then they decided it was boring like that and they should imitate the adults, so now catching the other also included some loud, elaborate exclamation of love.

"Oh Arcana, please take my eternal devotion and love, and help us bear children together so we may suffer of them together!" Vorona screamed as she swam faster to catch up to the blue skimmer. The satirical admission made Arcana giggle as she did a slow corkscrew in the water to look back at Rona.

"You're so silly! Do you think anyone would decide to be your mate based on that speech?" she laughed.

"Yes! If I swim fast enough." With a few strong flicks of her tail, Rona caught up to Arcana and touched her. "You're it!"

The youngsters played on for a little while longer in this manner before tiredness caught up to all three of them, and they floated around trying to regain some strength after their play session.

"I don't know how the adults can do this, and then feel even more in love," Nassia wondered out loud, receiving agreements from the others.

"If love is so much effort and for nothing, then I think I can do without it just fine," Vorona added.

"But maybe it will be different when we're grown. Maybe we will understand it more," Arcana tried to reason, just to make a bit more sense of it all. Vorona snorted.

"That's what the adults always say, that oh 'you will understand it when you're grown'. I think it's just some really messed up adult speech they give us to shut us up. There's no secret to Lua, they just want to spend some time away from us to play, and don't want us to know that they still play just like kids," she concluded. The three young aqrions could agree with that statement, and after regaining some strength, they decided that soon they might be missed at their respective pods. The flukes said their goodbyes to Arcana who went back to her tribe, and then the sisters headed back to their caretaker. Funny enough, the poor female they were all entrusted to had no idea that two of her charges sneaked off, and if anyone from the other youngsters suspected anything, they knew better than to rat them out.