*Sigh* We been attacked by the evil rating monster and our five star rating has fallen. I'm just going to have to make sure that the next chapters are even better than before and bring that rating right back up!

Here's the next chapter for all of you!


Chapter 20
The Fish are Found

Two years later, the tribe was thriving. 14 strong now and happy. Piku had taken to chopping and the thorny bushes with the knives Mua had created. He wasn't sure why, he just felt that he needed to do this. Only Noa and Obi were worried. They knew that the crops would sustain them much longer. The tribe was growing too fast. Noa had to figure out how to save their fish. Mua and Piku had named their daughter Aika. Jem and Coen loved their daughter, Hawa, and when left the decision again on their child's name, Obi made the perfect choice of Aiko, after Noa's father.

One day, Obi and Noa were sitting on the edge of the lagoon, thinking about their options while Obi waited for the crops to rise. Noa suddenly jumped in the pool and disappeared. Obi jumped up, unsure what to do. He couldn't see Noa. He jumped in the lagoon after her and swam down to find her struggling with a fish. She looked distressed, like she was running out of air. Obi reacted quickly. He grabbed the small knife that Mua had made for each of the men and stabbed hard at the fish, catching it in it's tail. As it wrestled with knife, Obi reached for his wife and put his lips to hers, putting more air into her lungs, and then pulled her and the fish to the surface.

Climbing out of the lagoon together, Noa gasped "Don't kill it! Don't kill the fish!" Obi, confused, removed the knife and examined the fish. He had never seen a fish like this before. "It's okay." He breathed, "just a surface cut, it will heal".

"Ocean!" she gasped, but Obi had turned his attention back to her, checking her for injuries. "No!" she cried, "take it to the ocean! Quick!" Startled, Obi obeyed. He rushed the fish to the ocean as Noa stumbled behind him, still out of breath. He let the fish go and was amazed to instantly see the fish start to eat the algae.

"We need more" breathed Noa. "They'll eat the algae. I was watching them in the lagoon, they were eating anything foreign in the lagoon water. But we need much more." Obi looked at her for a moment than pulled her close.

"Okay" he said, relief in his voice. "But leave it up to me and the proper tools. You're too brilliant for us to loose and I just about lost you today. I love you too much and just couldn’t live without you, Noa" and he kissed her hard. When he pulled back he added, "Don't ever do that to me again." She laughed and said, "What, no punches?" He laughed and pulled her close remembering the day 2 years ago that he did the exact same thing to her. "I deserved that" he said.

Over the next few days, while Piku progressed on the bushes, Obi kept catching fish and bringing them to the ocean. Slowly, the algae started to disappear. Finally, the ocean cleared again. Obi knew, that with Noa's brilliant mind, their tribe would never again have to worry about food.