oeyä tìyawn ~ neteyam sully

chapter nineteen

"Come on, bro. We dont speak this.. finger talk, guys. We do not know what you are saying." Neteyam spoke, Lo'ak nodding feverishly beside him. Beatrice slapped Neteyam on the shoulder gently, huffing at him.

"Its called sign language, skawng." Beatrice quipped to him, Neteyam tsking at her before nudging her gently.

"I will teach you." Tsireya responded kindly, giving Beatrice a smile as she stood up for one of their languages.

"Where is Kiri?" Roxto asked loudly, causing Beatrices eyes to snap to Roxto as everyone elses heads started spinning, searching for the young girl. She raised an eyebrow, mostly to herself, slightly shocked that the Metkayina boy who was best friends with someone who clearly hated the Sullys was concerned about one of them.

Once they found Kiri, Beatrice calling correctly when saying she was just playing with the fish, they all swam to a sea bank where they could stand in the water comfortably. Beatrice stood between Neteyam and Lo'ak, nudging her hip against Neteyam as they giggled to each other before Tuk ran up to her eldest brother, him immediately picking her up and placing her on his hip, causing a wide smile to grow on Beatrices face as she watched them. Her attention was pulled away as Aonung started making loud clicks and calls, his arms spread wide as the beautiful sea creatures Beatrice admired when they first arrived started to swim around all of them.

"These are ilu. If you want to live here, you have to ride." Aonung spoke firmly, meeting Beatrices eyes towards the end. She sighed and looked down at one of the ilu, petting its head gently as it nudged her thigh. The girl didnt like how Aonung kept staring at her, also feeling Neteyam tense up next to her as he finally noticed it too.

"Here, why dont we split into groups? Roxto, you teach Tuk and Kiri. Aonung, you teach the eldest, Neteyam and Beatrice. And Lo'ak, you can come with me." Tsireya spoke gently, smiling at Lo'ak shyly before splitting from the group, Lo'ak walking after her like a puppy. Beatrice giggled as she watched the younger brother go, looking up at Neteyam with a wide grin.

"Walks him like a dog." She spoke to Neteyam quietly, her thoughts going back to when she was still human and new to the family, Lo'ak using that term to compare Neteyam. Neteyam laughed loudly, shaking his head at the girl before letting Tuk go with Kiri.

The two walked over to where Aonung was standing, feeding a small fish to an ilu. He looked up at them as they got closer, eyeing Neteyam up and down before turning to Beatrice. The girl sighed and attempted to give Aonung a friendly smile, his eyes darting down back to the ilu. Neteyam stepped in front of Beatrice slightly, crossing his arms as he waited for Aonung to begin, his tail wrapping around Beatrices thigh slyly.

"This is Tena. She is one of our training ilu. She should do well with you two." Aonung spoke, Beatrice looking down at the ilu and smiling to herself as she admired the creature.

"Do ilu not bond with one rider?" She asked softly, looking up at Aonung. Her voice caused him to look back up at her, shaking his head at her question.

"No, skimwings do though. The beast that your father is learning to ride today." He answered, looking over at Neteyam. Neteyam only nodded in response, never looking away from Aonung with a sour expression on his face. "Who will be trying first?"

Beatrice stepped forward from behind Neteyam, his tail dropping from her thigh. Neteyam looked at Beatrice, her shrugging back at him before petting the ilu as she got closer to her. She gently climbed onto the saddle, her hand finding the handle immediately before grabbing her queue, Aonung grabbing the ilus and holding it up for her. She ignored Aonungs eyes as she made tsuhaylu, a shiver rolling down her back as her eyes closed, immediately closing in on the ilus deep breaths. Her hand let go of her queue, leaning down and rubbing Tenus neck gently before adjusting her feet, looking up at Aonung.

"My feet go here, yes?" She asked, simply wanting to make sure she didnt fly off. Their heads turned as they heard Lo'ak take off, watching until they saw his head bob through the surface, his ilu meters away from him chirping loudly. Beatrice frowned as the Metkayina boys laughed at him, snapping her head and glaring at Aonung with fire in her eyes. He slowly stopped laughing, clearing his throat before looking back down at her feet, nodding his head.

"Yes, but your knees need to be down or you will hurt your hips." Aonung finally critiqued, his hand moving to her knee and gently moving it down. Her other knee followed after it, seeing Neteyam noticeably pissed off in the corner of her eye. She glanced at him, shaking her head subtly, causing him to roll his eyes and continue to be pissed off. She scrunched her eyebrows together, looking at him sadly before looking back down at the saddle, taking a deep breath.

Beatrice silently urged the ilu forward, the two moving slow at first as Beatrice gained the confidence to go faster. As they sped up, Beatrice took a deep breath in, urging her ilu to dive, the two speeding under the water. The girl couldnt help but smile to herself as the moved through the current, feeling accomplished with herself. She urged the ilu up, the two breaking through the surface and flying through the air for a moment as Beatrice let out her first call in excitement, the Sullys calling back to her matching her enthusiasm. Once they landed back in the water, Beatrice and Tenu made their way over to Neteyam, a goofy grin across Beatrices face as she climbed off of Tenu happily, jumping up and down in front of Neteyam.

"Nete! I did it! I cant believe i did it!" She hollered excitedly, Neteyam unable to stop the smile growing on his face as he watched her.

"I knew you would, my love. How am i supposed to top that?" He asked teasingly, causing an excited giggle to leave Beatrices lips.

"You wont!" She teased back, nudging her hip as she rushed away from him, running over to Kiri and Tuk to chat with them. Neteyam watched her walk away with a smile on his face, turning back to the ilu before noticing Aonung watching Beatrice carefully, a smirk on his lips. The smile immediately dropped from Neteyams face, climbing onto the ilu angrily and beginning his turn.

"Tomorrow, we will work on breathing!" Tsireya hollered out, still working with Lo'ak. The Sullys all chimed their okays as they continued working, Beatrice running around excitedly to chat with Lo'ak and Tsireya next.

As to be expected, Neteyam did do excellent with his turn on the ilu, but unfortunately couldnt top Beatrices skill, despite them both having the same level of experience on an ilu. The rest of the day, Neteyam kept a close eye on Aonung, quietly seething as he witnessed Aonung continuously trying to somehow touch Beatrice.

This may or may not be a stressful time with the Metkayina.