Deep Water | Neteyam

16.

I was, for sure, still a little taken back. I knew Neteyam still missed the forest, and I still felt like he would rather be there than here. Which I understood—the forest was his home after all.

"Go hide somewhere." Lo'ak dived without paying attention to whether we would follow his instructions. Of course, we did.

Tsireya was the first to dive, the rest of us following her. She led us to a hideout from which we could watch without being spotted right away.

Payakan.

A lot of stories were told about Payakan. None of us ever saw him.

He was beautiful. He looked a lot like Fa'ye, besides his missing fin. His missing fin, he lost while his clan died. Because of him. Because he is a killer, even though he looked more like a lonely soul with only one friend. Lo'ak.

We were taught that lonely Tulkuns move differently, and it was true. Payakan swam like he always had a clear destination, and our Tulkun swam more supply. A lot of the things we were taught without explanation. This was also a fact without explanation.

The Tulkun swam directly to Lo'ak, greeting him like a spirit brother would. In an instant, my head turned to Tsireya, and she also looked at me.

Have they formed Tsaheylu ? I signed.

We didn't really talk about Payakan. I don't think so, though, she signed back before looking back at Lo'ak and Payakan.
They did everything like spirit brothers. Touched, talked, and moved. It was the moment Payakan opened his mouth that I realized they hadn't. Lo'ak looked too surprised as Payakan opened his mouth.

He still decided to swim inside.

Mother and father are going to kill us, I thought to myself.

Payakan's mouth closed. Neteyam's instinct was to swim forward. Tsireya and I held him back.
It was too late anyway, if we had interacted right now, Payakan would probably panic, and Eywa knows what would happen to Lo'ak.

It's okay, I signed him. I tried to smile. It wasn't really okay, Payakan could be a killer after all.

Neteyam seemed to see right through me.

Neteyam pov

I don't know how they found out, but they did. And now we were sitting around Tonowari and Ronal. Tsireya was near tears, Lo'ak felt guilty, and Khalo looked like he wasn't actually here.

Mother and Father were directly behind us. Behind Lo'ak.
He looked down, and I knew he would dig himself deeper into the shit he was already in. I wish I could help him, but I can't. I could only watch how Lo'ak disagreed with Tonowari and how Mother tried to influence Lo'ak into not being that stupid.

It was too late. Ronal hissed, and father reacted.

We were allowed to leave a few minutes after Lo'ak was dragged away. Khalo followed me as I stood up.

"Neteyam." I turned around. "Yes?" I asked. I wanted to follow Tsireya, I felt like she could use a talk with someone who wasn't her family.

"I'm sorry, I should have stopped him." He looked at the ground. I sighed. I hated it when Khalo felt like he was responsible.

"Khalo." I stepped closer and placed one hand on his cheek, with the other, I grabbed his hand. "It's not your fault. Lo'ak's old enough for his own decisions." It was my fault, not his. After all, I was his older brother , and it was my task to protect Lo'ak and not let him do anything dumb. Once again, I failed.

Khalo's face cringed a little, I know he didn't believe me.

"It's okay, it really is." I assured him once again. I placed a little kiss on his cheek before I begged a little away.

"Not your fault, understood?" He nodded.

"Should we tell our parents?" he suddenly asked. I stared at him.

He stared at me.

"What?" I asked, overwhelmed by the suddenness of the question.

"What? You haven't told them yet?"

I sighed.

"Kiri."

She grinned.

"Yes, it's me. Your favorite sister. You should really tell them soon, it's going to be hard after you mated."

Khalo stared at her.

I stared at her.

"What? You don't remember what happened to Dad? Mom told us that when her clan found out, they weren't that happy. It should be easier to tell them you plan on mating." She turned away. "I have to watch Tuk. She said she wanted to build something with Khalo, so I think you should come along." She continued. And like that, she stole my boyfriend.

"Let's talk later about it." Khalo gave me a short kiss before he went to follow Tsireya.

Whatever, I thought to myself, following the direction in which Tsireya went.

--

Since I totally forgot about this part, it's pretty bad written. I'm very sorry.

Also this is shorter than the other chapters, since I couldn't add more to fill the last hundred words. (A normal chapter by me is about 1500 words, this is 1400).

After thsi story is finished, I will edit everything and make it longer.

Next chapet probably next sunday.