Blood and Water | Neteyam

In the Depths of The Waters ∼ 10

"Right, okay," Neteyam responded, then, without giving Tcelia time to react, grabbed her arm, forcing her backwards and took off sprinting down the pathway, Kiri right behind him.

Tcelia stumbled back in a daze. Those skxanwgs, they had tricked her! She took off after them, shaking her head and restraining herself from laughing too loudly. Ever since they had been small, Neteyam, Tcelia and Lo'ak had a habit of making everything into a competition and sometimes Neteyam even pulled Kiri into the mix.

Up ahead, Tcelia could see Neteyam and Kiri slowing down as they neared the spot. Tcelia knew that it wasn't all that important for Kiri to win, the girl had no doubt only gone along with it because Neteyam had asked her to – Kiri was way too mellow to ever start competitions. So as the two siblings slowed down and turned to look at Tcelia, grins of triumph spreading across their faces, she barrelled straight into Neteyam, sending them both flying over the edge.

"You--" Neteyam muttered in disbelief, but the rest of the sentence was cut off as they hit the water. The shock of the water pulled the air out of Tcelia's lungs. It wasn't especially cold but the way the water hugged her, clambering around every curve of her body, felt strange and nothing like the rivers and lakes back in the forest. She liked the feeling a lot.

Realizing Neteyam's arms were still around her she kicked away from him and broke the surface of the water, returning to catch her breath. Kiri was still standing on the pathway looking down at her, laughing into her hand. Neteyam emerged out of the water straight after her, shaking his braids from side to side.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, splashing water at Tcelia. Tcelia laughed and stuck out her tongue at him.

"Oh, you are going to regret that," Neteyam said, diving towards her in an attempt at tickling her. Tcelia squealed and dove under his arm, emerging on his other side, where she caught onto his shoulders and pressed him under the water. But Tcelia hadn't thought that move through, because Neteyam swam further down and grabbed Tcelia's legs, forcing her under the sea's surface as well.

They quickly surfaced laughing and Tcelia almost made to clamber onto Neteyam's back to once again, force him under, but was interrupted by Tsireya who had appeared beside Kiri.

"Oh amazing, you are already up," She clapped her hands in delight, "We should get started on your lessons then. Where is Lo'ak and Tuk?"

When the whole team was gathered – Lo'ak and Tuk still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes – they had gone for a real swim.

The ocean was just as wonderful as Tcelia had expected. The water was clear and pleasant and powerful. She enjoyed the strange feeling that consumed her when she was in the water.

The sea was packed with multiple different species of ocean life, many of which Tcelia hadn't even known existed. She looked around in wonder as she passed corals that glowed and fish-like creatures that glided against her leg.

She looked up at Lo'ak and Neteyam who were swimming slightly above her. They were too, looking around in awe. She caught Lo'ak's eye, then swam on her back, facing him. She formed her mouth into an o shape and blew out her breath. The air bubbles formed a ring that moved upwards and collided with Lo'ak's face, who immediately stuck his face out of the water. A friend back in the forest had taken her to a lake once and shown her how to make bubble rings (A very sneaky and not at all obvious attempt at getting her alone). She had spent a lot of time practicing it and had been immensely proud when she had nailed it. She had found it incredibly entertaining ever since.

She spotted Neteyam chuckling beside Lo'ak, and she made her way towards the surface.

"Ha, Ha, very funny, Tcelia," Lo'ak said when she resurfaced, flicking water at her, "How did you learn how to do that anyway?" he questioned.

"'Ukxo taught me," Tcelia snickered at Lo'ak. Besides her, Neteyam seemed to freeze.

Lo'ak had apparently noticed it too and raised his eyebrows at him, "What's up, bro?"

"Nothing," Neteyam answered curtly and dove back into the water. Tcelia and Lo'ak shot each other puzzled looks, then made their way after him. Although Tcelia should have known better than to bring up 'Ukxo, she knew that. His name had just slipped out accidentally.

Tcelia spotted Tuk ahead of her, swimming along clumsily and she wondered if that was how she looked as well.

Tsireya, Ao'nung and Rotxo were moving through the water below them in a graceful and quick manner, whereas the Omatikaya were struggling to keep up. Tcelia and the Sully kids stayed mostly on the surface, hesitant to dive too far from their source of life: Air. Something that the Metkayina apparently didn't seem to need. They were far below surface level, maneuvering amongst the many colorful corals and marine life swimming about. For what felt like the millionth time, Tcelia and the other kids gasped for air and looked at each other, unsure of the whole situation. They stuck their heads back into the water.

Tsireya formed some sort of sentence with her hands and Tcelia glanced at the Sully family, but they looked just as confused as she felt. The Metkayina looked at each other quickly and then swam up towards the Omatikaya kids.

When Tsireya and Rotxo broke the surface, Tcelia's mouth almost fell open – they weren't even out of breath. "Are you alright?" Tsireya asked.

"You're too fast! Wait for us!" Tuk complained, wiping water out of her eyes.

"Just breathe," Tsireya told them.

Just then, Ao'nung broke the surface, "You are not good divers," he said, "You may be good at swinging through trees but-" Tcelia snorted as Tsireya interrupted him by smacking him over his head. Ao'nung turned to look at her accusingly, but Tsireya paid him no mind.

"Come on, bro," Lo'ak complained.

"We don't speak this finger talk," Neteyam explained, lifting his hands to mimic whatever it was Tsireya had said under the water, "We don't know what you're saying."

"I will teach you," Tsireya assured them.

Tcelia sighed inwardly. She did not like being bad at things. This was going to be a long day.