~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

Firstborn son.

I hopped off the ikran that I now called Dr. Grace Augustine and walked to my family without a word. When I got to Lo'ak, he grinned and slapped my back. "Where did you go off to, huh? Shall I call you Toruk Makto now?" 

"No." I deadpanned, shoving him away. Deciding that he was just fine, I went off in search of a nice, tall tree to sleep in. I didn't want to talk to anyone in a long time. 

However, Dad grabbed my arm as I passed him. 

"What?" 

"Thank you." He speaks. "You should be proud of yourself."

"Go find Norm and tell him to fix your shoulder, Dad." I smiled at him, but I really just wanted to be alone. 

"What about that thing you tamed?" 

I looked back at Grace. She was simply watching me, a gleam in her eye. I really had tamed that thing. I'd done it willingly, and it was successful. "She'll be fine. Just don't bother her." 

                                                                                        ~~~  

I shoved overhanging plants and branches out of my path as I trekked through the dense, wet forest. It had begun to rain again, and my feet were sticky with mud. I'd seen Neteyam go this way a while ago after he made his grand entrance with that beast. I really didn't know what to think of him now. A friend? He seemed more like a superior now. 

After I eventually found him in the tallest, thickest tree branch in this forest, I sighed irritably. No way was I going to climb that just to see the skxawng. "Neteyam!" I shouted, raising my hand in the air to catch his attention. 

His eyes found mine. "Sephora--I mean, Fe'ya. What are you doing?" 

"I came to find you." My actual name seemed wrong when it came out of his mouth. "Were you sleeping?" 

He blinked the exhaustion from his heavy eyes and yawned. "No." 

He was lying, but I wasn't going to press him. "Will you come down here, please? I need to speak with you." 

"Then do it." 

I scowled. It was unlike him to speak like that with anyone, much less me (baddie moment), I'd never heard him snap at anyone. On any normal day, he'd scramble down the tree to speak at my level. 

"What's wrong with you? Do you have a stick up your butt?" 

His eyes widened for a split-second. "What? No--no, I don't." 

"Then what's up with you?" 

He looked down at me. "Nothing is wrong with me." 

"Neteyam." 

"Stop it." 

"I'm going to say your name until you tell me." 

"Mmm-hmm." 

"Neteyam, Neteyam, Neteyam, NeteyanNeteyamNeteyamNeteyamNeteyamNeteyamNeteyamNeteyam--"   

"Okay, okay. Jeez." 

I stood and watched him take his sweet time to scale down the tree and hop into the leaves on the ground. Once he was balanced, he sat down at the root of the tree, and I copied his movements. He didn't speak for a long moment, and then he sighed. "I may or may not have...yelled at Dad, like, a lot." 

"Oh. Yeah, that's not good." 

"I basically said that he needed to be there for his kids and stuff. I was angry."