Blood and Water | Neteyam

The Butterfly Effect ∼ 32

As he led them down to the beach, Ao'nung turned so that he was walking backwards, smirking at them, "So," he whistled, "I am sure you are wondering what I want to show you."

Neteyam and Tcelia shared a look once again before Neteyam turned to look at Ao'nung, "Not really," he shrugged indifferently. Tcelia smothered a laugh as Ao'nung's superior mask dropped for a second, confusion shining through.

He recovered quickly though, raising a finger and shaking it at Neteyam, "Wasn't talking to you, forest boy."

Tcelia rolled her eyes, and before Neteyam could respond with a crude remark that she could see was brewing in his mind by the look in his eyes, she spoke up, speaking in a dry, monotonous rhythm. "Ao'nung, I have been tossing and turning all night, wondering where you would take us. Please do tell us, I don't think I can wait another minute."

Beside her, Neteyam snorted, but it seemed like Ao'nung chose to ignore her sarcastic tone. Ao'nung's smirk grew wide, "Now that's more like it," he rubbed his hands together, "We, my friends," he splayed out his arms, "Are going to see a Daisy Anemone blooming."

Tcelia and Neteyam stopped in their tracks, forcing Ao'nung to halt as well. "No way," Neteyam said, "There are only Daisy Anemones outside the reef. We're not allowed to leave." Tcelia nodded beside him when Ao'nung looked at her skeptically, confirming that what Neteyam had said was true.

Ao'nung's smirk went from one of self-satisfaction, to one of curiosity, "Why are you not allowed to leave the reef?"

Tcelia and Neteyam looked at each other, communicating silently, pondering if they should tell Ao'nung the truth. They settled on it probably not being the smartest idea pretty quickly.

"We just aren't, alright?" Tcelia sighed, slightly disappointed. She had heard from Tsireya that a blooming Daisy Anemone was a beautiful thing to witness.

"Come on, we'll only be gone for a couple of hours," Ao'nung's eyes flashed with mischief, "Toruk Makto won't even have time to notice that you've been gone."

"Well..." Tcelia thought this over. If they were only going to be gone a few hours that meant that they wouldn't be going too far, which meant that the possibility of danger couldn't be that high. And Jake had technically only forbidden them from leaving the reef during nighttime, he had never specifically mentioned what the rules were during the day, only that they shouldn't go too far inland.

Tcelia was operating in a very small grey area right now, she knew that, but what were the chances of anything bad happening really? Ao'nung had lived here his entire life, he knew the ocean like the back of his hand; they would be safe with him.

Neteyam grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him. "You're not seriously considering this, are you, Tcelia?"

She shrugged apologetically, looking up at Neteyam, "Tsireya told me that the Anemone only blooms once every year. It would be pretty cool to see it." She had already made up her mind. She needed something to draw away the thoughts of Spider and maybe this Anemone thing would do the trick. She just had to convince Neteyam to come along as well. "We would be back before Jake even realized we were missing, Neteyam."

He looked down at her, searching her face, but Tcelia could see that Neteyam already knew that she was going. His eyes flickered, undoubtedly searching for a way to get her to stay, to change her mind.

Tcelia knew it was unfair even as she did it, but that didn't stop her from slowly placing her hand on top of his that was holding her arm and looking up at him through her lashes, "Please?" She pleaded. She was well aware of Ao'nung observing them with an amused look, but she chose to ignore it.