•Stone Hearted•

xvi

I wake up to Tuk shaking me violently.

"Wake up Rya!! Wake up!!" She yelled in my ear.

I finally had enough of it and opened my eyes, looking at her.

"What is it Tuk?" I asked rubbing my eyes to make my vision clear.

"Me Kiri and Tsireya are going shell hunting for the ceremony tonight!" She said.

"What ceremony?"

"The ceremony of accepting Aonung as the future Olo'eyktan!!"

That statement made my eyes widen.. Olo'eyktan? I was messing with the future chief and had no clue? Oh great. Bet he would make me bow to him in front of everyone.

Just then Neytiri walked in.

"Tuk, leave her alone." She said

"Okayyyy mom, see you soon Rya" Tuk said running out of the marui pod.

"I am so sorry for Tuk, she gets excited about these things." Neytiri said laying fruits out in front of me.

"No no it's okay" I say.

"Well if you want I can make you a new top for the ceremony, Kiri already asked for one so while I'm at it I could make yours?"

"Oh yes please. Thank you for the fruit too"

"No problem, your family here." She held a hand on my thigh and walked out. I was so going to beat up Aonung.

I grab my shell bag and go to the beach to meet up with the girls.

"Hey.. sorry Neytiri was talking to me." I say trying to catch my breath.

"It's fine... future Tsahik~" Tiger said in a tone.

I looked down at her confused on what she meant. She only grinned at me, Tsireya also grinning as Kiri and Tuk had no clue what was going on.

"What? You think we couldn't see you kissing my brother yesterday? Yall got something going on.. and I wanna know." Tsireya said.

Kiri and Tuk looked at me shocked as I only glared at the two other girls and started picking up shells for my hair. It was metkayina tradition to have shells in your hair for a ceremony so that's exactly what we did.

All of us girls had fun splashing eachother, showing eachother shells and gossiping about our latest boy problems.

They all now know everything going on between me and Aonung and they want to keep a look out.

Whatever

Shit happens but I'm scared for it to happen when I know they're watching me, even Tuk.

I rolled my eyes and continued picking up this beautiful sapphire blue shell, glowing in the sunlight.

This looks perfect for my center piece on my forehead.

I picked it up and put it in my pouch as I went to meet the other girls.

"Are yall ready?" Tsireya asked.

"Yeah!" Tuk yelled clapping her hands as she laughed.

We walked into the sully marui pod as Neytiri was finishing the details on my top.

"Hey girls! Yall getting ready?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am we've gotten all of our shells now we're just going to do our hair!" Tsireya explained. Neytiri nodded and continued on the beautiful top.

We all sat in a line, Tiger behind me, Tsireya in front of me, Kiri in front of Tsireya and Tuk in front of Kiri as we all did eachothers hair. Neteyam and Loak walked in only to get pushed out by Neytiri.