Moonchild | Neteyam

44

The girl turned her hand over in his grasp, intertwining her fingers with his and holding onto him tight. Her lips were pressed together as she looked around.

She could see Tsireya within the people. She was crying as Níawi, Riik'o and Aluva stood beside her. Níawi had a hand on her shoulder in hopes of providing the girl with some comfort as the others looked horrified by what the sky people had done.

It was Tsireya's mothers spirit sister who had died - her sorrow was to be expected.

There was no doubt that Tsireya had grown up close with the tulkun.

Over the chaos, Jake spoke up and tried to make himself heard, "You've gotta to understand how the sky people think," he said, stepping forward, "They don't care about the great balance."

His words were only met with more cries and snarls from the people.

"Listen - listen to him," Neteyam spoke over the people.

"The sky people are not gonna stop. This is only the beginning," Jake warned the Olo'eyktan's and Tsahik, "You've gotta tell your Tulkun to leave," he said, "You've gotta tell them to go far away!" He said to the people.

"Leave?" Ronal repeated, stepping down from the pedestal. "You live among us, and you learn nothing!"

"We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" A warrior said and was met by cries of approval from the others.

"No, no, no," Jake said desperately, "If you attack - if you fight - Then they will destroy you!" He yelled over everyone, "They will destroy everything that you love!" he held a hand out toward Ronal, who instinctively took a step back and placed a hand over her stomach. An uproar started when Jake finished his sentence.

Erìhe let out a shaky breath as she looked over to Neteyam at Jake's words. When she met his eyes, she was surprised to see him already looking down at her.

Tears pooled in Erìhe's eyes as everything that the sky people had done to them came rushing back into her mind. For the past months she had happily put all that behind, ignoring and forgetting the past. The first hit from reality had come when they'd overhead the Olo'eyktan speaking to Neteyam's parents, but at the time she'd been distracted by other things happening in her life.

Erìhe and been dumb to believe that she could live in blissful ignorance - that the sky people would not find them.

"Hear my words!" Jake yelled over the people, "Hear my words!"

Neteyam broke eye contact with Erìhe. "Stay calm," Neteyam desperately said to the villagers, "Stay calm! Listen to my father - he speaks the truth!"

"Damn it!" Jake seethed before stepping back to grab the device from Neteyam. With the harpoon in hand, he raced over to the pedestal and stepped up, holding the metal high above his head for everybody to see.

As if by magic - everyone fell silent.

The drop of a needle could have been heard as everyone took in the device held by Jake. "You tell the tulkun - that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death," Jake said as he turned to look at the people behind him as his ears angled down. "Call for me, I'll silence it," he spoke this last sentence in a defeated tone.

Erìhe looked down as she could not bear to look over at her friends who were greatly saddened by everything that's going on.

"Saving their lives, that's all that matters, right?" Jake asked, looking over to Tonowari and Ronal, "Saving your family."

There was a moment of silence before Tonowari stepped back up to the pedestal. "Tell the tulkun," he told his warriors.

"Go," Ronal added, "Go!" she urged the warriors to hurry.

Erìhe squeezed Neteyam's hand before withdrawing hers from his grasp. She offered him a sad smile before walking through the disappearing crowd over to Tsireya and the other three girls.

Neteyam looked down at his hands as Erìhe passed by him. He wanted to be there - beside her - but he understood her need to check up on her friends.

"Tsireya.." Erìhe said hesitantly as she stepped in front of the girl. Tsireya only sniffled as she looked up at her friend. When Erìhe held her arms out to offer her a hug, she did not waste any time before throwing herself into her embrace.

Riik'o sighed sadly before leaning against Tsireya, wrapping her arms around the two girls. Níawi and Aluva shared sad looks before they too moved in to join the hug and provide Tsireya with the comfort and assurance that she needed in that moment.

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A/n:
Can someone tell me why the fuck my fyp is full of sportacus edits

And y'all - next chapter will be Sunday or Monday I'm so sorry 😔🤞