୨ৎ | Learn to accept, i accept you. || Neteyam

3

- III.

The sun dipped lower, casting golden light across the sea, turning it into a canvas of shimmering gold and blue. Maelie sat with her knees drawn up, resting her chin atop them, eyes fixed on the horizon. She hadn't spoken to Neteyam since the awkward tension from earlier. It wasn't a fight—there hadn't been any raised voices—but something had shifted.

She hated that it lingered.

A soft crunch of sand behind her made her flinch, though she didn't turn. "You're mad at me," Neteyam's voice was careful, almost uncertain. "No," she replied, too quickly. Then, after a pause, "I'm just tired again. "Neteyam exhaled, stepping closer until he lowered himself beside her, close but not quite touching. "You meant what you said earlier, huh?" he asked, his voice low.

"About us being friends?" she asked, finally turning to face him. He nodded. Maelie looked down at her hands. "I just... I don't want people assuming things that aren't true." Neteyam was quiet for a moment. "What if it is true?" His voice barely rose above the sea breeze, but it was enough to still her heart. She looked up sharply, but he was already gazing ahead again, expression unreadable.

"You think too much," she murmured, though it came out softer than intended.

"And you feel too little," he countered gently, not unkindly.

That made her laugh, dry and quick. "Maybe that's how I keep from getting hurt." "Or maybe it's how you keep from seeing what's right in front of you," he said.

Maelie stared at him. His face was half in shadow, half lit by the dying sun, and for a second, she wondered if he'd always been this complicated—or if she was just now noticing. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by distant laughter. Tsireya's voice floated from the marui pods, calling for her. Maelie stood, brushing the sand from her legs. "I should go," she said, avoiding his gaze.

"Right," Neteyam said, standing as well, though his voice was quieter now. As she turned to leave, she hesitated. "I'm not mad," she said without looking back.

"I know," he replied. "But you're scared." She didn't answer. Just walked away, the waves lapping gently at her feet as dusk embraced the ocean once more.

Neteyam and Maelie didn't talk for a mere while after that conversation. It was either they were too caught up on the festivities the Metkayina's were holding this coming week or they didn't have anything to talk about. They weren't mad, at least not at each other. Maelie felt confused and annoyed at her own actions, she disliked neteyam, she's always seen him as a friend and company but saying that he was that to her was so wrong for some reasons she couldn't explain. Neteyam was stumbling over his own feet every now and then, he always gave a polite smile whenever Maelie was nearby but never really made the effort to talk to her. He knew he should, maybe just a casual "What's up?" but he knew her; she'd probably reply with "The sky" Before giving him a chance to make the conversation longer.

3 days later.

The village was woken up from their own doings as Tsireya yelled from the water while riding her ilu. "The Tulkuns have returned! Everyone, our brothers and sisters have returned!" She called out to the people as they made their way to their own tulkun's. Lo'ak spent no time dropping the basket he was holding to go to payakan, the old outcast, now accepted. The clan saw his story during the last war with the RDA and now he's been accepted with the tulkun's ever since. Tsireya dove deep with her ilu as she made her way to her spirit sister. Maelie sat next to the high  rocks in the middle of the sea close to home, her legs dangling in the water as her spirit sister arrived. Her feet were swept up by the back of the tulkun as she chuckled. "It's nice to see you too Kaerih."