Show Me & Teach Me | Neteyam/Reader

Part II - I Like Your Stars Better

She would be his and he would be hers for eternity.

***

Her eyes were wandering naughtily, Seyla knew, and she smirked defiantly to herself. Perhaps it was the cover of darkness after eclipse that made her bolder, but she continued to trace the muscular silhouette of the man above her with her gaze as they climbed.

She watched unapologetically as Neteyam climbed nimbly ahead of her, his lithe limbs scaling the massive tree trunk with an athletic ease she was envious of as he led them towards their intended destination. The tensing and flexing of his muscles as he moved was a stimulating sight, but she firmly maintained that she was not at all sorry for ogling. Not when he was her betrothed now and especially not when they had spent the last few weeks getting very lost in the new scent, sound and feel of each other's bodies.

Reaching the platform, Seyla watched in anticipation as Neteyam adroitly pulled himself up onto the level plane of it. He turned immediately with a cheerful grin and an outstretched hand, which she took without hesitation, marvelling at the way he proceeded to haul her effortlessly up to join him as if she weighed nothing more than a leaf.

"What do you think?" Neteyam asked, his pride evident in the broad set of his chest and shoulders as he beamed at her.

Seyla glanced inquisitively around her, making a quick assessment of her surroundings.

The platform was an impressive textile. It had been skilfully interwoven with the perfect balance of softer cloth fibres, sinewy vines and dried palm strands to form a large, flat hammock that retained the breadth of its spread without sinking too much in the middle when weight was impressed upon it. It currently hung suspended from the boughs and branches of the surrounding woodland trees and a matching weave of tsawlapx (unidelta tree) leaves spanned overhead, providing shelter from falling shrubbery and rain.

However, the most breathtaking part of where they were situated was the view and Seyla gasped in delight, "Neteyam this is beautiful."

This part of the lush woodlands overlooked a steep drop off a cliff on one side before bottoming out and expanding towards more of the verdant treetops of the bioluminescent forest below. The platform had been suspended between the trees closest to the cliff's edge and out beyond the platform lay the vast expanse of the night sky, adorned with clusters of stars that glimmered bright against their darker milieu.

"Well, I figured we needed somewhere more secluded. More privacy. Away from prying eyes." Neteyam murmured, his voice dropping both in pitch as well as volume as he watched his little student pace the platform. Seyla still appeared rapt by her surroundings and he was unsure if she had even heard him. No matter, there was no rush. They had all the time in the world up here to explore each other further without the worry of being seen.

Another endearing intake of breath left Seyla as she spotted the clear vessels that had been placed at various points on the platform, illuminating the space with a gentle glow due to their contents. She knelt to pick one up, giggling as the fluttering glowmoths inside them flitted to land where her fingers were wrapped around the confines of their clear prison.

A small pang of woe pricked at Seyla then and she looked over her shoulder toward Neteyam, "We can let them go after, right? They're not trapped in here?"

Never failing to be touched by her endless compassion, Neteyam nodded, "Of course. The tops of the vessels come off and we'll let the moths go later. My father calls these vessels jars. The avatar camp has plenty of them and they use them for food storage."

Seyla could see that small holes had been punctured into the metal tops of the jars allowing for air circulation within them. Satisfied now that her winged friends would come to no harm, she pushed gracefully to her feet again and slipped into Neteyam's arms where they were waiting to receive her.