Deep Water | Neteyam

19.

Khalo

"This is the boy you guys talked about?" Khalo shared his thoughts. He was confused about why Lo'ak talked so much about that guy if he looked like .. that.

"Yes." Lo'ak responded shortly before he shot his eyes back to the ocean. Khalo felt how tense Lo'ak was, and it scared him a bit, duo to the fact that Lo'ak was always the guy to make jokes.

The time they were cuffed wasn't long, but for Khalo it felt like forever, as the only thing he could do was think. There were good thinking types and bad thinking types for him. Good thinking times and types were these, in which he would have everything around him be quiet, and he could just let everything be. Good thinking times were those where he wouldn't necessarily have to think.
Bad thinking times and types were those in which he had to think. Meaning to be trapped with thoughts that aren't wanted. Meaning, he couldn't stop the thoughts from going in directions he definitely didn't want.

"They're here!" Lo'ak shouted as he spotted the Metkaina and his parents, bringing Khalo back out of his thoughts. "They're here to save us!"

"Dad!" Tuk's mood lit up as she saw him, she knew he would figure this situation out somehow. Khalo didn't. He looked over at Tsireya to make sure she was still there.

Tsireya looked back at him with despair in her eyes. Khalo slid a little over to her, as far as it was possible, to try to comfort her. He felt like he needed to. As a big brother.
He still made sure to not turn his back on Tuk, to not give her the feeling of being alone in this situation. He feels like he shouldn't turn his back on her. As the boyfriend of her protector. Her big brother.

Because she couldn't have her protector with her, her big brother.

He, of course, knew Lo'ak was with her, but he also knew that Lo'ak was not the best at letting people feel better or not alone.

He also knew that Neteyam was a kind of father figure to Tuk, or at least her biggest supporter in bad times. If that even made sense.

He watched the man who forced them out of the water, rip something off of Lo'ak's neck and out of his ear just to plug it in his own ear.

"Jake, tell your friends to stand down. You want your kids back, you come out alone." The man announced.

Khalo felt uneasy. Especially as he pulled out one of the many things that Khalo had never seen before. He figured it must be a gun. Neteyam once explained it to him.

"You know better than to test my resolve."

But he just assumed that it meant no good, as Tuk began to panic as he held it to Lo'ak's head.

He figured it must be a gun. Neteyam once explained it to him.

Tuk backed away, closer to Khalo, while Khalo and Tsireya tried to stop that man from whatever this thing could do to Lo'ak's head.

Khalo slowly realized that this man must be Quarritch. Neteyam told him about him. It was a short-lived conversation, and the only thing Khalo knew was that he was dangerous. Very dangerous.

Quarritch went on with his monologue, as it seemed to be for Tsireya and Khalo.

"You betrayed me. You killed your own. Good men. Good woman. I will not hesitate to kill your kid."

Khalo felt like everything around him was silent. Even though it wasn't, and he knew that. He noticed that Quarritch and this other man talked without fully noticing. He was too focused on Jake, who slowly came closer, and all the possibilities of how this day could end started to rush once again through his mind. He liked none of them.