Chapter 17
Coen Goes Deaf

A week later Coen, Noa, Ahi and Tarita emerged from the hut. They were healed, but the bites had caused some scars on each of them. Mua and Bibi were quick to help them that day, but not being as experienced as Noa in healing, they couldn't prevent scarring. Coen looked at these as battle scars but still felt guilty for causing harm to the others. During their rest, Noa kept assuring him that it wasn't his fault but Coen was worried about the little ones, and so was Noa. She knew deep down, that Obi would love her, scars and all, but she worried about her children growing up with the scars. Obi kept telling her not to worry, that they would be fine and being young, would probably grow out of them. This helped Noa's worries but not completely.

As Noa looked around, drinking in the sun she hadn't seen for a week, she noticed that Piku had started building a new hut. "Why are you doing that?" she asked him.

"Oh, I just have a feeling we might need a new hut soon" he grinned. "Our family just keeps growing!"

"And you're building it by yourself?"

"We need Bibi researching. Besides, she's already mastered carpentry, let her master science for a while".

Noa went to check on the other children. Everyone was growing so fast it seemed. Ahi was already nine, Tarita was now 5 and Jem had just had her 18th birthday. With Coen 23 now, Noa was almost starting to feel old at 29. She had been on this island for almost half her life. Obi suddenly came up behind her and spun her around, kissing her. "I'm glad to be back too" she chuckled to him when he pulled away. It felt good to be back at the research table. While she had been in bed, she had been trying to think of more ways to clean the ocean. She knew they couldn't live off of crops forever, they needed meat. And she missed fishing with Obi. It was while fishing that she fell in love with him and longed to return. Focused on her work, she suddenly heard a blood curdling scream coming from the lagoon. Panicked, she whirled around to see what had happened and found Jem bounding towards her and Mua and Bibi and Coen following slowly shaking his head and rubbing his ears. He stopped by Obi and Piku but Jem continued and nearly knocked the three women over with her hugs and screamed again.

"What is the matter?" said Bibi exasperated.

"He did it! He proposed!" screamed Jem and stuck out her wrist to reveal a bracelet. It looked similar to the necklaces that Noa and Mua wore everyday. It was obvious who was teaching the men to make these pieces of jewelry, but to Noa, hers would always be the prettiest.

"Okay, we're happy for you but can you keep in down a bit. You don't want us deaf for the wedding do you?" laughed Bibi hugging Jem.

"Are you sure about this?" Piku teased, nudging Coen.

"Okay, so I'll probably be deaf by the age of 30 with her, but I can't help, I love her. I want to do this." Coen grinned.

"I figured, that's why I started the new hut."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" asked Coen, turning to Piku, still rubbing his ears. Piku and Obi laughed and hugged the young man. "Nevermind, Coen, nevermind."