Shooting Stars | Lo'ak¹

Chapter 21: Celebrations

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language 

"Payakan!" Ja'lia yelled as she approached Three Brother's Rocks. The girl waited for a moment for the animal to resurface, however, when the tulkun didn't, she shouted his name again.

"Payakan!" She yelled again, and this time the tulkun came barreling out of the water. Ja'lia slid down her ilus back and sent the animal away so that she could spend some time with Payakan. The girl felt bad for the animal as today signified a time of new beginnings for the Metkayina people. It was a time of celebration. It was a time of growth and new opportunities, and Ja'lia couldn't allow Payakan to start this new life cycle alone.

As she approached Payakan, the animal squeaked when he saw her. Although, Ja'lia did notice how the tulkun was looking around for Lo'ak, and she felt a tug at her heart. "He didn't come with this time. It's just me," She gave him a sad smile.

Payakan made another noise, once again, but he decided that he was going to hide his disappointment that Lo'ak didn't come to see him as well. He was sure Lo'ak would come to see him soon, but until then, he decided to make the most of his time with Ja'lia as he had grown fond of the young girl.

Ja'lia hopped onto Payakan's back and sat down, "So, how are you?" She asked, knowing she wouldn't understand the animal even if she tried.

The two sat in a comfortable silence as both were just happy to not be alone, Payakan especially as he had spent many years alone without anyone to talk to or be around. It was nice to finally have a couple of friends after all those years. To have someone give a damn about what happened to him made him feel like he was on cloud nine.

However, he could tell that Ja'lia needed a friend more than he did at the moment, and Payakan wished that she could understand what he was saying as it was hard to communicate with the girl since she hadn't gotten that far in her training. Ja'lia had started to learn how to communicate what she wanted to say to the tulkun's, but when it came to understanding how the animals would respond is where she got stuck.

As she laid back on Payakan's body, she took in the warmness of the sun and instantly felt herself relax. It wasn't extremely hot in the Metkayina clan, but it wasn't cold either. In fact, it was just the right temperature.

The sound of the water, the sun on her skin, and the coolness of the breeze soon lulled Ja'lia to sleep, and Payakan allowed her to do so without protest.

~~~~

When Lo'ak heard the news that the tulkun had returned, he ran as quickly as he could, dropping Ja'lia's food to see tulkun bursting out of the water. Of course, he would get her more food or hunt for it himself so that she didn't skip any meals, but seeing the tulkun return was something he had been waiting for.

So, when Tsireya asked him to ride on the ilu with her, he did, and they both were off to greet Tsireya's spirit sister.

"Look!" That's my spirit sister!" Tsireya pointed out, and Lo'ak smiled in amazement when he saw the animal leap into the air, however, Payakan soon appeared in his mind, and the boy made a mental note to see his newfound friend later that day to give him some company.

Before Lo'ak could process what was happening, Tsireya was diving into the water, leaving him in the dust to greet her sister. Lo'ak soon followed her lead as he hopped into the water and watched the Metkayina girl interact with the animal from above as he stuck his head into the ocean.

He watched as Tsireya told her spirit sister about everything that had happened since the end of their last return. Tsireya told the tulkun about her training to become the next Tsahik and how she had made new friends because of the Sully family's arrival. Then, when Tsireya was finished talking, she danced with the tulkun, and that's when Lo'ak brought his head above the water.