"Why did I think this was a good idea?"
Truly, Kopaka was at a lost. He was tired, his leg hurt, and he really shouldn't have acted so hasty right after a battle that'd left him… well, unconscious. But his discussion with Pohatu had been brought back to the forefront of his mind, and if Tahu truly had begun to take an interest in Gali… surely he hadn't though. Appreciating someone and being attracted to them were completely different things. Tahu wouldn't want someone like Gali, would he? Not in that kind of way. Surely Kopaka had overreacted to it. That had to be it. It was simply an overreaction and he had nothing to worry about. He could just simply go back to the others and-
No. No he couldn't. Pohatu would hound and harass him about it the moment he heard anything from Onua, and then there would be no such thing as peace. Like it or not, Kopaka had to face the music and make good on his initial motive for finding Gali, for better or for worse. "Mata Nui, I really put my foot into it this time…"
The tricky bit would be tracking Gali down. Sure, he could technically just use his Akaku to find her, but did he actually want to do that right away? It wouldn't give him much time to figure out exactly how to bring up the very fragile topic. This was something that needed planning and careful thought, not clumsy words and rash decisions.
Rash decisions such as the one that got him out here and searching for Gali instead of resting like a smart and reasonable person.
He really did know better than this. He wasn't sure where the spontaneous reaction came from, nor did he want to have another one, but if he had a guess he surmised that somehow Lewa or Pohatu were to blame. Who else could inspire such absurd actions from an otherwise sane and calculative individual? Yes, that had to be it. The spontaneity of his Brothers had rubbed off on him just enough that being tired set off uncouth behavior. It couldn't be some underlying insecurity about losing Gali to someone else. Tahu would never stand a chance at courting her… could he?
Kopaka shook his head at the notion. It was a ridiculous theory at best, nothing to actually worry about. For now he had more pressing matters to concern himself with; how to address his feelings and bring them up with Gali. How did one talk about something like this? Pohatu had always made it sound like it would be easy, but at this point the anxious Toa felt as though trying to fight Teridax by himself was a far easier accomplishment. At least he knew what he could expect from that. Heaving a sigh and shaking his head at it all, Kopaka simply chose to sit down at the edge of the waterway he'd been pacing along, his leg throbbing by this point. Really, what was he thinking? He wasn't cut out for relationships like this. If he didn't get turned down immediately than it would no doubt be a matter of mere days before he did or said something that ended it. Perhaps Gali really would be better off with Tahu; he was passionate and fierce, ready for anything the moment it started happening. He was a hot-headed adventure waiting to happen, dynamic and easily able to adapt to new situations.
Kopaka leaned forward to stare at his own reflection, about to try and weigh Tahu's qualities against his own… and instead finding himself staring down at Gali, her eyes glowing with her kanohi's power and her expression one of clear curiosity as she regarded him. Something akin to a startled squeak escaped the twenty-eight year old – he would later refuse to tell a soul that he'd uttered such a sound – as he stared at her, blue eyes wide with no small measure of surprise. "G-Gali!" He stammered in alarm as he watched her sit up and push her head above the water. "Wh-what are you doing down there?" He realized how stupid his question may have sounded after he said it, but the Water Toa before him didn't seem to mind.
"Wondering what you're doing up there." She replied, her voice showing curiosity and holding an almost mother-gukko-like tone. "You'll hurt your leg worse if you keep pacing around on it."
"I… uh…" Kopaka stammered, struggling to remember what words were for as he watched Gali climb up out of the waterway to sit beside him. "Walking. I was walking." Right, because that wasn't obvious already. "Thinking. There's been something weighing on me for a while now."
Gali regarded him with further curiosity even as she willed the water off her frame and lazily flicked it into the channel she'd been soaking in. "Is it something you're inclined to talk about?"
"No. Yes…. Yes." Kopaka managed to say, wringing his hands in an attempt to not fidget and seem like he was floundering more than he already had. "It's complicated."
His teammate couldn't help but giggle faintly despite her concern. "Everything about you is complicated." She pointed out. "If it wasn't, you wouldn't be you."
"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult."
"The Water Toa shook her head in amusement, lightly resting a hand on his shoulder as she smiled. "It means you have a lot of layers. You can express yourself as a no-nonsense loner one day, and the next you are having a one-on-one kohlii match against Pohatu and having actual legitimate fun. You're like those puzzle boxes Onua is always asking Lewa about when he thinks no-one is paying attention." She smiled a bit more. "Complicated, in an interesting way."
Kopaka couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Gali's example. He'd seen Onua's puzzle collection several times, even examined a couple of them once or twice in the past. He'd wondered how Onua kept getting more of them out of seemingly thin air. It made sense now that Lewa was the source; Le-Koro craftsmanship was always impressive when they applied it, and there was no argument that they were absolute masters of woodworking. The added fact that Onua had a rather strong unease about high places only added to it, and while it wasn't really discussed openly it was common enough knowledge that the Earth Toa generally avoided going up into Le-Koro proper unless he absolutely had to. "So that's how his collection kept growing…" It was sad to consider that the boxes were now likely little more than heaps of ash. Perhaps Kopaka would force himself to go to Le-Koro someday to invest in rebuilding Onua's little hoard…
"So are you going to tell me what's on your mind or are you going to silently brood for a while?"
The Ice Toa blinked out of his musing and refocused on Gali, watching as she toyed with a large orb of softly glowing water. "I… I will tell you if you tell me what you plan to do with that."
His Sister gave him a highly amused look. "What do you think I'm going to do? Your leg won't heal itself."
"It will if I let it." Kopaka pointed out with a frown. "Besides, you just used that technique to purify Tahu; you can't tell me you aren't tired from that."
Gali rolled her eyes. "I've enough energy to do this much, especially after having a good soak." As if to add further emphasis to her argument, the Water Toa outright swatted his hand when he reached out to try and stop her. "Leg, Kopaka. Now."
The pale one let out a long sigh, though he made no further attempts to fight her demands. Shifting his position and doing his best not to grit his teeth, he stretched the damage limb out a bit so Gali could reach it more easily, though nothing could hide the shiver that rippled through him as the healing water was manipulated to fully enrobe it. As soothing as the sensation could be, Kopaka really couldn't help but fidget; his wounded leg was tingling from toe-tip straight up to his hip, and no amount of telling himself to ignore it could blot the feeling out. "How much water did it take to cleanse Tahu?" He asked quietly.
"… I had to fully submerge him in it." Gali replied after a moment, her voice soft and weary. "There were a few times where I feared he might drown." A small tremor shook her as she thought it through, shaking her head as her mind roamed over the memory. "I didn't know if I would be strong enough to save him. The poison had taken root so deeply…"
"And yet you succeeded." Kopaka pointed out. "Thoroughly so, according to Onua."
Gali shook her head a little and offered a rather feeble laugh. "I nearly drown him too." She muttered. "I didn't remember I could extend my Kaukau's power to them until I had finished. Not exactly my finest moment; what kind of Toa forgets about their kanohi when it's needed most?"
"One who cares about more than their own abilities." The Ice Toa remarked calmly, his fidgeting having ceased by this point. "If anything, the fact you did not need to use it is a testament to your considerable skill." He reached over and rested a hand on hers, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Nobody can heal the way you can, whether through your power or simply by being close by."
Gali blinked, her gaze darting from what she was doing and staring at his face in surprise. A pink tint flushed through her cheeks. "Who are you and why did you choose to mimic Kopaka while saying such things? If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to flirt with me."
Now it was Kopaka's turn to blush. He hadn't meant for it to sound flirtatious, not by any measure. If he ruined this now… "I-it's a good thing you know me then." He managed to say without a severe stammering of his words. "The day I start flirting is the day I need to retire." Blue eyes strayed to the water that encapsulated his leg, watching as the glow faded and the liquid trickled back into the channel.
"Kopaka," Gali observed quietly, a note of amusement in her voice. "you're still holding my hand."
The twenty-eight year old blinked and hastily withdrew the aforementioned appendage, now determinedly looking anywhere but at Gali, his face flushing even darker. Now what did he do? What even could he do? This whole encounter was going in directions he didn't want it to! How was he going to salvage it now? What if he couldn't? What if she-
"Hey. Look at me."
Kopaka hesitantly complied, his face still red and his eyes showing his unease. This was it. It was over. Done. Ruined. She was about to tell him that it would never- wait, why was she smiling?
"Is the complicated matter something to do with me?" She asked, her expression amused and sunset eyes gleaming with curiosity.
The Toa of Ice swallowed quietly. "… Yes." He fidgeted as she moved a little closer. What was she doing?
"Does it have to do with the fact you're blushing?"
Kopaka went further red. "Y-yes."
Gali giggled softly as she watched him. "Is this, by chance, you trying to tell me something important?"
She knew. She had it all figured out and now she was just waiting for him to confess. Was he really that obvious? How many of his teammates knew? Did they all know? "Gali I… I…"
She smiled a little more. "I know." She reached over and took hold of his hand, not at all bothered by the faint layer of frost that had reflexively formed over it. "Tell you what; we finish up with this whole Seventh Toa business, and after that you and I will go out somewhere nice and start it off right, with no Makuta or death threats or anything else to get in the way. And we won't tell anyone what we're up to, because the last thing we need is for people to blow it all out of proportion."
"Pohatu will know whether we want him to or not." Kopaka pointed out, blinking afterward and staring at her in shock. "W-wait, did you just…?"
The Water Toa laughed, albeit quietly. "Ask you out while you tried to do the same? Yes." A playful look briefly danced across her features. "It looked like you needed a little help."
The paler of the two couldn't help but offer a weak laugh as his gaze strayed back to the water. "I'm surprised you didn't find someone else by now…"
"Like who?" She asked, an eyebrow raised. "You're the only one who can keep me guessing." She thought a moment about it before giggling and shaking her head. "You're my favorite puzzle box, after all." Leaving him to sputter for a few seconds, Gali got to her feet and stretched. "We'd best check on the others now; I imagine we have a lot to discuss and even more to do after that is finished."
Kopaka nodded a little as he too got to his feet, face flushed but heart soaring. Sure they weren't technically 'official' yet, but that hardly mattered. Gali had not only said yes, she was the one who asked. She outright said she enjoyed his complexities and trying to figure them out; so few people seemed to see it as such, and yet the one person he had worried about stated that she liked him that way. And now, as the pair made their way back to the others, he realized something else. "Gali?"
"Yes?"
"You're still holding my hand."
She smiled at him. "And?"
Kopaka smiled back as he gave her fingers a light squeeze. "I-I wouldn't have it any other way."
