Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 35: Betrayal

"And Marali's my best friend. Plus, she's nicer than you, and she plays with me when I ask her to," Tuk said as she looked at Marali, who had a teasing smile on her face.

"I play with you," Neteyam scoffed, and Kiri nodded her head in agreement.

"I don't," Lo'ak said.

"And this is why you're my least favorite," Tuk teased with a smile, and Lo'ak playfully glared at his little sister. "And besides, Neteyam, you never play with I want to play," She said, crossing her arms over her chest as she pulled away from Marali.

"Tuk, I'm too old to play dress up." Neteyam said, and Marali looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "And we can't even fit into the outfits you pick out," Kiri said.

"That's why you two are tied," Tuk shrugged.

"So, let me get this straight," Neteyam started, "Marali is your favorite, Neteyam and I are tied," Kiri continued, "And I'm in last place," Lo'ak finished, waiting for Tuk to confirm what they had just said.

"Yep," She popped, and the three siblings glanced at each other before they stalked toward the youngest child.

Marali slowly backed away as she knew what they were about to do to Tuk, and she wanted no part in it as she feared that she may end up injured in the process. Before Tuk could even realize what was happening, Neteyam snatched her right up and allowed his other two siblings to tickle her.

Tuk squealed and thrashed around, trying to get away, but it was of no use. Neteyam was ten times stronger than her, and the only thing that she was doing was wasting her energy. Her giggles echoed throughout the pod, and Jake and Neytiri watched in amusement as the three oldest siblings continued to mercilessly tickle their youngest sibling.

Eventually, the tickling came to an end, and Neytiri told all of them that it was time for bed. So, all of the children pulled out their mattresses and did their best to fall asleep with the excitement and adrenaline still coursing through their veins.

It took a little longer to fall asleep that night than it usually did, but soon everyone in the Mauri pod welcomed sleep with open arms.

~~~~

It was a couple of days before they left to go back home, and Neteyam and Marali sat on the beach as they soaked in the sunlight. Marali had been aching to go for a swim, but her shoulder still wasn't fully healed. She was lucky that Norm was allowing her to occasionally take off the sling so that she could move her stiff arm.

Eclipse was going to happen soon, and Marali decided that she wanted to take advantage of the cool evening they were experiencing in the Metkayina clan. Marali laid her head on Neteyam's shoulder as she let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" He whispered as he placed his head on top of hers.

"I don't know." Marali said as she watched the waves come crashing onto the sand and as they retreated to where they belonged, "I mean, I'm excited to go back home. But there's a part of me that's going to miss it here, you know?" She said.

"Me too," Neteyam agreed.

Silence fell over the two teens before Marali thought of something that caused a laugh to escape her lips. Neteyam lifted his head to look at her confused. "How do you think Ao'nung is going to do?" Marali laughed, and Neteyam shook his head as a small smile fell onto his lips.

"I don't think he's going to do very well at 'swinging through trees'," Neteyam said, causing Marali to laugh even harder as she remembered Ao'nung's words from when they first met.