"Never That Simple"

Before Kossia and Skarloc became lovemates, they were quite the competitive couple. Everything from hunting to jewelry crafting was a contest between the two. This story starts a few turns of the tide before the two decide to become lovemates.

"Oh yeah?! Well I can catch five times as many fish as you can!" A rather riled up Skarloc shouted back at Kossia.

"Sure you can," she replied sarcastically. "I’ll wager my brand new trident against your best hunting knife that I can catch more than you."

"Why would I want your trident? You’re gonna give me that nice shiny harpoon of yours. Or no deal." Skarloc tacked on, almost as an afterthought.

"You’re on!" Kossia said and ran a hand through her hair. "So, when are we going to do this?"

"Tomorrow - just after low tide. Remember - no outside help. That includes dolphins."

"Why would I need it? I’m the better hunter, remember?"

"See you," he said as he turned to dive into the chamber’s exit pool.

Kossia rolled her eyes at his evasion of her. Always the easiest way out - that was Skarloc.

Huin was almost dying of laughter.

"You mean to tell me that that scrap of seaweed actually challenged you to a hunting competition? Oh, that is too funny!"

**Really, Huin. Must you be so critical of the boy? He does his best,** Gentle Wave, Kossia’s mother chimed in from the next room.

"Oh, he tries! Let’s give him a hunting trophy right now! He TRIES! Once he takes down a shark he can come talk to me."

**He’d get killed.**

"Maybe it’d be an improvement," Kossia muttered under her breath.

"He’s not that good and he knows it. Kossia why do you even bother having hunting competitions with him. Isn’t it a waste of your time?"

"Nah. It’s never a waste of my time to humiliate him."

**Who taught you these morals?**

"My daddy," Kossia said, smiling at her mother.

**All that time with the sharks it’s little wonder he picked up their mannerisms and passed them on.**

Kossia started laughing and left her parents' dwelling to go sharpen her daggers and trident. She had never lost a hunting competition to Skarloc and she wasn’t about to start now.

As Skarloc swam off toward his caves he chuckled to himself. There was no way he was going to lose this competition. Not only did he know where (in his opinion) the biggest school of fish was currently inhabiting, but he also knew the location of a young shark. Those two factors combined had to give him this one competition.

He mentally went over his plan; best nets, sharpest knives, Crest to weaken the shark up a bit, and BAM! Game over. Match to Skarloc. For once. Her father had expertly trained her in the ways of hunting, and as a result, she never failed to best him in their hunting games. Skarloc had had enough. He was determined to win - if only once.

Skarloc kept grinning and planning all the way to his chambers. This was going to be his competition.

Kossia was waiting for Skarloc outside the palace with her arms crossed. He was late. Skarloc never failed to display his best qualities. Just as Kossia was contemplating leaving to go check his caves, he came swimming up in a big rush carrying a few nets in his arms.

**Sorry I’m late. I had a few things to take care of before I left my caves.**

**What happened to ‘just after low tide?’ I’ve been waiting forever for you. Thought you were gonna back out on me,** she sent, recoiling one of her nets. **Same rules as always. One turn of the tides. No outside help, as you so charmingly had to point out as you do for every contest. All fish are game. Breaking the rules constitutes a loss. We on?**

**Let’s go.**

With that, the two swam rapidly away from each other, sending barbed comments back and forth at each other until they were out of each other’s range. Kossia headed straight for a warm current where there was always a multitude of fish. She slowly opened her net and watched the large school carefully. She scanned the group, looking for the highest concentration. After a few minutes, she located it - a small area with a slightly higher population. She flung her net out into its midst and rushed out after it, immediately grasping two of the corners. Doing a somersault, she flipped over and deftly snagged another corner of her net and began dragging it to scoop up more fish. Once she felt it was full enough, she used her trident and caught up the fourth corner and brought it to her. She quickly tied up the full net and stashed it in amongst some seaweed.

While she let the fish resettle themselves, she opened up another net. After a few more minutes of waiting, she repeated the same process. She had not been trained by her father for nothing. There was a definite reason that she had yet to lose to Skarloc.

Meanwhile...

Skarloc was rapidly opening one of his nets. His 'stash' of fish was not far ahead, and if he was going to win this, he would have to move fast. Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if Kossia had already snagged herself a netfull. On the other hand - she wasn’t going to be bringing in a shark, so let her have her heaping netfulls. He was going to come out the victor, not Kossia.

Quickly glancing around, he sent for Crest. He quickly instructed the dolphin to round up as many of the fish as she could. After a few minutes, Skarloc, holding three of the net’s corners, began to drag it through Crest’s collection. The net was barely half full. Sighing in disappointment, he tied the net shut and told Crest to follow him. At least the shark was going to make up for this tragic underestimation.

He and Crest swam off in the direction of the shark’s cove, already tense with anticipation. Skarloc was attempting to mentally prepare himself for battle. The shark was not going to win. It was only a youth. It couldn’t possibly put up too much of a fight.

The nearer they got to the shark, the more restless Crest got. Skarloc half-mindedly tried to calm her down. As they swam onward, Crest became more and more restless. All of a sudden, she shot forward, nearly knocking Skarloc in a complete head over feet circle. He recovered himself and took off after her, excited by the thought of impending victory.

He arrived just in time to see Crest ram her nose straight into the young shark’s gills. He silently cheered as he unsheathed his knife. He swam straight toward the shark’s dorsal fin, grabbed on, and plunged hid knife downward. The blood blossomed outward from the resulting gash. He was struggling to keep a grip on the shark’s dorsal fin while the creature thrashed wildly about, trying to bite Skarloc. Crest was doing her best to provide ample distraction, but she suddenly streaked upward to the surface to breathe. The shark started thrashing even more violently. Skarloc lost his tenuous hold on the fin and went tumbling head over feet. The shark bolted off, leaving a trail of blood behind it.

Skarloc quickly tried to regain his balance and followed after the blood trail. The trail led into a dark cave, which Skarloc rather tentatively entered. Not trusting his instincts and better judgement, he cautiously moved father into the cave. With a sudden flash of pain, Skarloc realized that he had fallen into a trap. He had been counting on an enraged young shark. What he was not counting on was its enraged mother.

Skarloc frantically tried to free his leg while hurriedly sending to Crest to get help. Thrashing around trying to escape the shark and attempting to stab it at the same time was getting him nowhere. He dropped his knife and instinctively went for the powerful set of jaws. He was very unsuccessful at loosening them, and the shark was starting to move to a higher location on his leg.

Meanwhile, Kossia placed her third full net next to the other two. She glanced up towards the surface. It was almost hightide, and she was wondering how Skarloc was faring. She sat for a few minutes until Whisper started nudging her up and away from her catches. Understanding Whisper’s urgency, she grabbed his fin and they sped off.

Skarloc was ready to give up; his immature pride had cost him his life. Just as Skarloc’s hands dropped from the shark’s jaws for the final time, a dagger streaked through the water and buried itself up to the hilt in the shark’s side and was swiftly followed by the flash of a gold trident. The wounds were not enough to kill the creature, but they caused more than ample reason for the shark to give up its prey.

Kossia picked up Skarloc’s limp form from off the cave floor and started swimming as fast as she could toward the colony. She was sending madly for help even though she knew that she was out of range. It didn’t matter to her. She was alternating between projecting a send to the colony for help and lock sending to Skarloc.

***Don’t you die on me! You will not join the High Ones today! Just hold on!***

**Healer! I need a healer immediately! Summon Seaspice! Skarloc was attacked by a shark! I need a healer!**

***You’re stronger than this!***

When she finally got within range of the colony, the blood emerging from Skarloc’s badly mangled leg was so slow she wasn’t even sure if it was still bleeding. When the first minds picked up on her send, they snapped into action - some coming to meet her and give immediate aid and others summoning Seaspice or the relatives of the young pair.

Seaspice finally arrived and took Skarloc from Kossia’s arms. She quickly took him within the palace and began to listen for signs of life. After a few minutes of searching, she found one, and began to heal Skarloc, concentrating very deeply on her patient. Kossia, Gentle Wave, Huin, Tollan, Benti, Tyree, and High Gloss all stood around in silent hope that he would survive. Tyree had her arms wrapped around a crying Kossia while High Gloss sent to her, trying to find out what happened. But Kossia would not say a word.

The minutes dragged on like hours, and Kossia’s eyes never left Skarloc’s face. She was still lock sending to him with all her might as if she could will him to survive. She glanced down at his leg only once and was surprised to find it completely repaired. Seaspice sat back on her heels and sighed in exhaustion.

"He’ll live. I think he should learn to avoid sharks in the future though," she added in jest.

Kossia nodded her thanks to Seaspice, dropped to her knees, and wrapped her arms around Skarloc, hugging him fiercely.

"What’s all this then?" he asked quietly.

"You almost died on me."

"You should know that I’m not that easy to get rid of," he replied, hugging her back. "You’re crying," he stated almost in shock.

"Can’t put anything past you," she laughed, finally releasing him from her embrace.

"I’m the observant sort."

"You cheated, you know," she said with a smile.

"What? You said ‘all fish are game.’ A shark is a fish."

"Yes, but Crest helped you. You think I didn’t notice all of those ramming marks on the shark?"

"Oh," he said, pulling Kossia back to him. "I think I’m ready to admit defeat," he whispered in her ear.

"Oh really? And what does that admittance entail?" she whispered back.

"Well," he started, sweeping her bangs out of her eyes. "I’ll leave that up to you."

Kossia smirked and kissed him. "Come on, Cheater. I’ll race you to my caves," she challenged.

He laughed and they jumped into the exit pool and swam as fast as they could to Kossia’s caves.

"You’re what?" Huin growled.

"Skarloc and I have lovemated. Is that a problem for you?"

"When he takes down a shark-"

"He was almost killed by one! He’s proven that his skills aren’t great enough for that yet! I’m leaving," Kossia stated. "You can come talk to me when you get over your pride," she said as she turned to leave. "Until then, you can go catch all the sharks you want," and with that she dove into the exit pool and sped off with Whisper.

**I told you that she had just as hot a temper as you,** Gentle Wave sent.

"She can’t be lovemated to him."

**Why?**

"Because he hasn’t earned the right to. He’s barely proven himself to be more than playing hunter. What has he done to earn her affections?"

**Look at how they look at each other. It may matter to you that his hunting skills are ‘sub-par’, but Kossia could care less. She loves him for who he is - not what he does. See the boy for who is; for what he strives for. Think of how much you could teach him if you really wanted to. If nothing else, think of our daughter and how much value she puts into what you think and say. It is not our decision to make if she loves him or not. But we can decide to support her or not. I choose to. I cannot and will not force you to, however. You need to come to grips with the fact that despite your rantings, Kossia is going to do what she wants. She can be just as stubborn as you. I wouldn’t be surprised if she lifemated to him just to spite you in all your arrogance. What we do holds little consequence to her decisions, but if you continue to fight her choice of a lovemate, she will stay with him just to aggravate you. You’ve spent so long nurturing her, and look how little you truly know.**

"Your words are true, but I cannot condone this relationship. He’s never serious about anything - why should I think it would be any different when it comes to my daughter’s heart?"

**Because - he may be foolish, but his heart is wise. Don’t underestimate him based on previous grievances. Time will tell, my Love.**

"I won’t back this union, but I will at least trust Kossia’s judgement. But if he shatters her heart, I’ll shatter his skull."

Gentle Wave just laughed. **If that is how you can come to grips with it, then so be it. Now give me a hand with this necklace,** she instructed as she went to go sit by him next to the exit pool. Huin took the necklace from her hands and kissed his lifemate deeply.

"Always the peace keeper," he said.

"Would you have it any other way?" she said, and wrapped her arms around him in a loving embrace.