Sky Full of Stars

Chapter 16: Tracker

Y/n and Neteyam walked back to the center of the village hand in hand, the boy's tail wrapped around her waist.

Y/n heard shouting, dragging Neteyam along while running into the crowd. The two stopped, seeing Ronal sobbing.

"My spirit sister and her calf have been murdered by the sky people!" Ronal sobbed, sending glares to the Sully family. The crowd gasped, softly conversing with each other.

"This war has been brought onto us!" Tonowari growled. "We knew about the hunting of the tulkun, people. We thought it was far in the horizon but now it is here!" He shouted.

Tonowari stuck his tongue out, moving his head around and making a battle call. Y/n looked around as other Metkayina's joined in, giving everyone a 'the fuck?' look.

"You got... you have to understand the way the sky people think! They don't give a shut about the balance." Jake shouted, trying to call everyone down.

"We don't listen to the sky people!" A person in the crowd shouted, others joining in.

"Listen, listen to him!" Neteyam shouted as he made his way to the front of the crowd, one hand holding Y/n's and the other holding onto the tracker.

Jake grabbed the tracker from his oldest sons hand, lifting it up into the air. "You tell the tulkun that if they're hit with this, they're marked for death. If you care about what you love, you'll listen to me." Jake sighed, standing up on a rock.

Tonowari thought for a moment, looking around at the crowd. "Go tell the tulkun." He spoke, dismissing everyone.

The crowd dispersed, the Metkayina rushing to their spirit brothers and sisters. Lo'ak walked to the end of the dock, about to jump in when Neteyam stopped him.

"Lo'ak!" Y/n called out to the boy, trying to get him to stop. It was no use. Just before Lo'ak was about to jump into the water, Neteyam grabbed his arm.

"There's no way you're running away." Neteyam spoke. Lo'ak huffed and rolled his eyes.

"I have to warn Payakan about the trackers!" Lo'ak reasoned.

"No, you have to keep your skxwang ass here!" Neteyam said as he raised his voice a little. Lo'ak's eyebrows closed together, his eyes getting smaller.

"He's an outcast! If I don't warn him, no one else will!" Lo'ak said urgently. Neteyam groaned, running his hands down the side of his face.

"Why do you have to make everything so hard, bro?" Neteyam questioned. By the look of Lo'ak's face, she could already tell that this argument was not over yet.

"No...you mean why can't I be the perfect son like you?!" Lo'ak shouted at Neteyam as he shoved him back a little. Y/n steadied the boy, putting her hand on his arm. He looked at her quickly and gave her a look of reassurance. "The perfect little soldier." Lo'ak added.

"Guys come on, Neteyam just let him go." Y/n spoke quietly. Lo'ak gave her a look of thanks, but Neteyam just side eyed her.

"I'm not you! He's my brother, so I'm going." Lo'ak spoke confidently. Neteyam walked up to his brother angrily, stopping in front of him.

"Oh? He's your brother?" Neteyam questioned, his face turning angry. "No, I'm your brother!" He shouted. Lo'ak scoffed and dove into the water, calling an ilu leaving the two teens standing on the dock together.

"We should go after him." Y/n spoke as she came up from behind Neteyam and hugged him. He nodded, pulling her to the water.

Neteyam got on the ilu first, Y/n following suit. She sat behind him, her chest pressed up against his back, her arms around his stomach. "Alright, let's go." He said as he moved his hand back to Y/n's thigh and held it as he urged his ilu to move.

"Lo'ak!" Tuk called as they passed her and Kiri who were also on a ilu.

"He's going to find Payakan!" Y/n called to them. Tsireya, Ao'nung and Roxto all joined them, following Lo'ak to where his spirit brother was. They eventually stopped, seeing Lo'ak next to Payakan.

Bro come on, help me!" Lo'ak shouted at Neteyam as he pointed to the tracker stuck in Payakan's skin. This was bad. Neteyam helped Y/n on, offering her his hand and pulling her up. The three of them tried to pull the tracker out as the rest of the kids arrived.

"Call it in. Lo'ak, call Jake." Y/n said as her and Neteyam tugged against the tracker. He nodded, starting to talk to Jake. Now everyone was pulling at the tracker, but it wouldn't budge. Second by second, the sky people ship was getting closer.

"We need a rope of some sort." Kiri shouted. Ao'nung jumped into the water, pulling something from his ilu.

"Attach this to the tracker." He commanded. Lo'ak did what he said, tying the seaweed rope around the device. Ao'nung hopped onto his ilu, urging it to swim forward. As the ilu swam forward, everyone pushed or pulled at the tracker, making it pop out of Payakan's skin.

Y/n tumbled into the water, gulping down some sea water as she did so. Everyone would have laughed at her, but it clearly wasn't the right time to do so.

"Go that way, I'll throw them off!" Neteyam told everyone as he held the tracker in his hand. He was urged to the ilu to swim away, but a hand grabbed his arm before he could do so.

"Take me with you." Y/n pleaded, looking at him with big eyes. Neteyam sighed, shaking his head.

"I can't. It's too dangerous. I can't risk having you get hurt." He reasoned. Y/n growled lightly.

"And I can't have you getting hurt. Take me with you god damnit!" Y/n shouted at the boy. His eyes widened, but shook his head as Ao'nung wrapped his hand around Y/n's waist and pulled her away from Neteyam.

"I'm sorry." He spoke as he swam away, leading the ship away from the kids. His ilu dove under the water, the boy disappearing from Y/n's view.

"Neteyam!" She shouted out as Ao'nung pulled her onto his ilu. He rubbed her arm affectionately in a friendly way.

As Ao'nung's ilu swam under the water, Y/n thought back to what Jake had said earlier.

You tell the tulkun that if they're hit with this, they're marked for death. If you care about what you love, you'll listen to me.

1099 words, proofread. Maybe some foreshadowing...?