𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 | neteyam

008!

Ay'yeiva and Neteyam hoped back onto the Ilus, exiting the cove when eclipse had ended. Upon leaving the area the girl noticed her brother and a few of his friends near the edge of the reef.

She swam over to them, Neteyam following.

As they neared closer to the group of boys, the mischievous looks in their faces became more apparent.

Ay'yeiva called out to her brother, "Aonung!"

The boy stopped and turned to his sister, "Yes, Ay'yeiva?" He rolled his eyes upon seeing her with Neteyam.

"Where were you?" She asked calmly, noticing one of the boys she had seen the group with earlier hadn't been present.

"Just some fishing, what does it matter to you?"

"You've never come home from fishing without a fish, and if you've been out this long you could've caught one by now. What were you really doing?"

Aonung rolled his eyes again, this time directed towards his sister.

Ay'yeiva spoke again, "Where is Lo'ak? I saw him with you before eclipse and aid like to ask him something"

Her brother scoffed, "Why would I know where that freak is? Just because you see him with us once does not mean we are now suddenly friends."

"Aonung, where is Lo'ak?"

His friends started to laugh, stopping when they noticed Aonung hadn't been. They watched as he gave his older sister a stern look, eventually giving in, "We may have took him beyond the reef a-and left him there"

Aonung was not one to stutter, but when it came to his sister being angry; he got scared.

Neteyam made his ilu swim in front of Ay'yeiva's, now being in between the two siblings.

"Where is my brother?" He said sternly.

After not receiving an answer, Neteyam started swimming back towards the shore. Ay'yeiva hit Aonung in the back of his head before telling him to return to the shore. He unwillingly obliged.

Ay'yeiva kept Aonung in her sight, making sure he didn't try to get away from the situation at hand.

･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・

Reaching the shore and walking onto the sand, Neteyam's anger towards Aonung took over as he grabbed the boy out of Ay'yeiva's hold by his arm.

He turned to the girl as he walked over to his families pod in hopes to find his father, saying a small sorry to her if he had accidentally hurt her while taking Aonung out of her grasp.

After earning a bid in return from Ay'yeiva, Neteyam continued dragging the boy by his arm over to where his father had been sitting by the water with Kiri, "Tell him what you told me"

Jake turned to his eldest, growing concerned with what could've happened for Neteyam to be as riled up as he was.

･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・

Ay'yeiva had sent out a search party for Lo'ak, per the approval of her father.

In the time she had been getting to know Neteyam, Kiri, and Tuk, she had also been getting to know Lo'ak as well. The two of them didn't hang out all that often, only really being near each other when all of the two families kids were together, but they understood each other.

Lo'ak had always felt like a disappointment to his parents in comparison to Neteyam, Ay'yeiva feeling the same way ever since she was a little girl.

Ay'yeiva knew that Lo'ak had the common sense to return back to the reef safely, but she had experienced the harsh environment of going beyond the reef on her own once before, and would not recommend it to anyone who wasn't asking for a death wish.

Ay'yeiva had been ordered by her father to stay at the village while the search party went out, as much as she tried convincing her father that she was capable of going out with the older warriors to search for Lo'ak.

Neteyam was stood beside the girl as she tried convincing her father. When Tonowari had given the simplye answer of "No", Neteyam had been there for Ay'yeiva to talk to while she filled the time.

"I mean, I've done the same training — if not more training — than all of those men but I can't go out to look for what reason? Because I'm a girl? Because I'm not old enough?" She turned to face Neteyam as she paced by the shore, the two awaiting the return i the search party with Lo'ak.

"I'm only days away from my Becoming Ceremony and he doesn't even think I'm capable enough to go out there?" Ay'yeiva pointed out to the ocean as Neteyam listened.

In that moment he wanted to shut the girl up, not being able to handle her talk herself down that much.

What he actually did was walk up to her and grab her hands from their pointing position, bringing them in between their two bodies in front of his chest.

With how dark it had already gotten due to it being the end of the day, Neteyam was a bit more comfortable making the actions he was since no one could see them clearly.

"Please stop saying things like that, he probably has some very valid reasons as to why you weren't allowed to go" Neteyam brought their hands down, "I know I wouldn't let you go because I would want you to relax as much as you can before your ceremony"

Neteyam began walking away when one of the warriors yelled out that Lo'ak had been found, "Beauty's such as yourself need their beauty rest!"

Ay'yeiva's initial reaction was one of shock as she heard Neteyam also wouldn't of let her join the search party, her final reaction being one of slight surprise by the last words he had said to her.

In all of the years Ay'yeiva had received romantic gestures and words from boys in the village, none of them made her feel quite the way those few sentences from Neteyam had.

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