The following day, the Sully children were required to wake up with the sun to prepare for and begin their lessons. Lo'ak was surprisingly chirpy considering the hour, but Neteyam simply attributed this as excitement to see the daughter of the Olo'etkyan. After his exhibition of a wavery 'hey' yesterday, Neteyam was amused to think about how being taught by the girl might affect Lo'ak's learning ability. Not being able to remember the names of either the daughter or her brother that they were to learn from, Neteyam couldn't bring his own mood to match his brothers. Kiri and Tuk were sitting at the edge of their mats, playing some kind of game that involved flicking each others hands in turn, trying to anticipate the others movement.
Leaving their marui, the four Sully kids trooped over to the beach, quiet words being exchanged between Kiri and Tuk accompanied with laughs and grunts from Lo'ak and Neteyam as they jokingly punched each other and attempted to dodge retaliation. Spotting three figures a short ways to the shore, recognizing two of them as the two children of the chief, and the other vaguely familiar as the sons companion, the one who attempted to grab Neteyams tail. Neteyam's face darkened at the thought of more teasing and judgement from the Metkayina boy. Arriving at the shore alongside the trio, the Sully kids stopped and waited to be addressed, trying to adhere to rules of respect they did not yet know.
"Oh, you're up early, brilliant!" The girl Lo'ak had been so excited to see had noticed their arrival, seeming to be genuinely happy to see them "We can start right away!" She beamed at them, and then elbowed her brother less subtly than Neteyam guessed she meant to. "I'm sure you have been very overwhelmed and probably don't remember us, but this is Ao'nung," she motioned to her brother, still gingerly rubbing the spot that met his sisters elbow, "and Rotxo." she pointed to the other boy, who glanced at them with a blank look on his face, "and I am Tsireya, I'm sure you noticed our father and mother yesterday, when they asked us to teach you, please, follow us for a dive. We can show you the reef!" she finished excitedly, turning to walk over a flat bed of rocks. Moving after her, Neteyam grabbed Lo'ak after realising he hadn't moved, apparently enthralled in the back of Tsireya's head.
Walking to the edge of the flat rocks, Tsireya and the two boys waited for the Sully's, instructing the four Omatikaya to get in, to help them get used to the water. Kiri led Tuk into the water and held her as they moved off the rock ledge into the more open reef. Neteyam grabbed Lo'ak by the arm and jumped in. When they came up for a breath, Neteyam noticed that the three Metkayina had apparently jumped in too, as they were nowhere to be seen, until a minute later when they came up as well.
"Are you coming?" Ao'nung smirked at the two boys, as he dipped back down. Rotxo had begun swimming towards Kiri and Tuk, seemingly more interested in the two girls. Tsireya motioned as she too returned below the surface, causing Neteyam and Lo'ak to follow suit, the latter with much enthusiasm. Breathing deep, they began swimming down.
Neteyam almost lost all the air in his lungs as, after the bubbles cleared, he was able to take in the reef properly. The fish swimming about were of countless colours, some that he had never seen before. The rocks, coral, and plants, all positively glowed with the fast-approaching early-morning light. The sun danced with the movement of the water, reflecting off the glossy plants and the scales of the animals moving across the reef. Not realising how long he had been stopped staring, Neteyam felt a shove on his shoulder. Whipping around as fast as the water allowed, he saw Ao'nung motioning to follow, and then swimming away. As he moved to follow, Neteyam realised his lungs were burning from lack of air, and he swam back up. Lo'ak must have experienced a similar problem, as he left Tsireya among a bed of deep red coral in favour of new breath. Kirir and Tuk were already above the water, having moved back closer to the other four along with Rotxo. As Neteyam, Lo'ak, and their two sisters were gulping for fresh air, the three Metkayina surfaced soon after, seemingly not struggling with a lack of air, judging by the calm way they resurfaced, and the puzzled looks on their faces. Ao'nung had a slightly grumpy expression directed at Neteyam.
"You're too fast, wait for us!" whined Tuk.
"Yeah we don't speak this.. finger talk?" Neteyam told them, imitating the weird motions he had seen Tsireya using.
Now the only one of the three not looking confused was Ao'nung, now laughing vindictively as he said
"You are not good divers." Not a mean statement, as Neteyam knew it was true. But it was contradicted by his smirk "You may be good at swinging through trees but-" and was cut off by the sharp hit and look from Tsireya.
"You must learn how to breathe," Tsireya told them "I will show you." She led them back out of the water to the flat rock bed again. Once they were all sitting in a circle, she began telling them 'how to breathe'. Lo'ak was once again hanging on her every word, Neteyam less so, since he was pretty sure he knew how to breathe. Turning to Lo'ak, she placed her hands on his stomach and chest. "Breathe from down here," she instructed, touching around his stomach. Lo'ak, who Neteyam was sure had just seized up and probably forgotten what breathing was, stared blankly at Tsireya. Pausing, and feeling his chest, she continued "You're heartbeat is fast, try to relax and focus on calm, deep breathing." Neteyam guessed she was somehow unaware of her effect on his brother, as he thought everyone but her knew why his heartbeat would be racing.
"Right, sorry." Lo'ak whispered as he looked at her. Rotxo and Kiri were smirking at each other, and Neteyam found himself doing the same towards Ao'nung, who had recovered from his slight drop in mood. Several minutes later of deep breathing, and trying to focus his heartbeat to slow down, Tsireya suggested they try swimming again. Eager for something involving more movement, Neteyam jumped up and began running to the edge of the rock flats. Not used to the smooth, flat, surface of the rocks, Neteyam got ahead of himself and slipped. Legs flying up, he began falling back. Caught about a foot from the ground, Neteyam opened his scrunched eyes to see the smirking face of Ao'nung looking down at him. He did not have eyes like the Omatikaya, more pointed in the corners, less rounded. The blue reminded him of the water in the early morning light. With an ease that surprised Neteyam, Ao'nung had pushed him back onto his feet, and was following behind him, slightly closer than would have been warranted had Neteyam not just slipped like an over-eager child. Turning to thank him, Neteyam once again saw a darkened expression on Ao'nung's face.
Actually making it to the water this time, Neteyam leaped in after calming his breathing and steadying his heartbeat. Once underwater, he got distracted between Ao'nung again motioning for him to follow, the beauty of the reef, and trying to keep his heartbeat slow. Moving over to Ao'nung, Neteyam went slowly, trying not to cause too much muscle use requiring faster blood pumping. Arriving at Ao'nung, he saw a large flat bed of coral, with what seemed like a hollow underside. Ao'nung made a show of acting to take a deep breath, and swimming under it. Just when Neteyam was about to move to peer under the bed, expecting to see a struggling Ao'nung, the boy propelled out of the other side and, for nothing but performance reasons, did a flip and swam back to Neteyam, with a rather smug expression on his face. Having been underwater already for a significantly longer time than before, Neteyam decided to go up and catch a breather before attempting to do the same, as that was surely what Ao'nung was going to ask. Noticing Lo'ak was already back at the surface holding Tuk, Neteyam smiled, realising he had beat his brother at lasting underwater, undoubtedly due to a certain Metkayina girl who was rising back up near him.
Reaching the surface, Neteyam heard his name. As he turned towards the origin of the call, he also heard his siblings names following his own. He spotted his father on the shore, waving him over. Swimming quickly, wondering if he or his siblings had messed up somehow already, preparing to defend them and claiming the blame for himself. When he was within range for his father's voice to return to a conversational volume, he opened his mouth to ask what had happened.
"What are you doing out here this early? With Tuk too! You have never set foot in the ocean before and you come out here unsupervised? I can't-" His father began, not angrily, but definitely firm. Knowing the danger of letting his father get into stride telling him off, Neteyam quickly and calmly cut in.
"We have the Olo'etkyan's children with us, the two he asked to teach us. Tuk has been with Kiri, and they are staying near with Ao'nungs friend Rotxo." He gave as much information as possible without sounding like he was trying to prove his father wrong. When he finished, his father sighed, looking like he was about to apologise, but decided against it.
"OK, but make sure you tell your mother or I before venturing out so unnecessarily early. We need you back in ten minutes for breakfast. The Olo'etkyan invited us and I don't need you messing up our chance at a good impression." His father finished, turning away before Neteyam could say that they awoke so early to begin learning as soon as possible. He didn't bother saying 'yes sir' before turning back to inform his siblings. As he swam back over, he wondered how he had earned his father's concern he would mess up anything.
Arriving back with the group, Neteyam realised Lo'ak was still holding Tuk on his hip. Kiri was always the one looking after Tuk in such a way when they were out, and Neteyam realised she had still not surfaced. Turning to ask Lo'ak, who looked increasingly annoyed about holding Tuk, seeming to want to get back to staring at the reef bed with Tsireya. Kiri then surfaced, halting the question about to fall off Neteyam's tongue.
"How did you stay down for so long?" Neteyam asked her incredulously, meanwhile the Ao'nung, Rotxo, and Tsireya all surfaced too.
"Maybe I'm just... better?" Kiri said, in a mockful questioning tone. Lo'ak rolled his eyes and pushed Tuk towards her.
"Keep telling yourself that, because no one else is going to do it," Neteyam grinned at her, receiving an eyeful of saltwater, and added, slightly less smugly "kidding. Father wants us in ten minutes for breakfast, with the Olo'etkyan and Tsahik." Thinking he should probably alert Tsireya and Ao'nung, he ducked underwater and saw the two siblings motioning to each other in that sign language. Seeing Neteyam, Ao'nung suddenly stopped, and after darting a warning look at Tsireya, pushed off the rock they were floating above, rising back up.
"Yes?" He asked, when he had broken the surface again, grinning once more at Neteyam. Tsireya following soon after.
"Your father has invited our family to breakfast, we need to be there in about 10 minutes." Neteyam relayed the message for the second time.
"You are coming to eat with us?" Ao'nung asked, blinking several times, again causing Neteyam to notice the sparkling blue of his eyes.
"Well, yeah, and the rest of my family." Neteyam repeated, unsure what was causing any confusion.
"Right, well we better get moving, as you were gone for 5 minutes alone," Ao'nung told him, surprising Neteyam with how long it took him to reach the shore and return. "not as fast as running is it forest boy?" He smiled, clearly trying to create a friendly air between them. Confused by the difference between this attitude and the repeated dirty looks from him, Neteyam chose to lean into it.
"Guess not, unlucky I don't have an excuse to let you catch me again then isn't it." Neteyam smiled back at him. They group had already begun swimming back towards the gathered marui's, so Neteyam pushed off of Ao'nungs chest and swam quicky back as well. Originally thinking he missed and hit a more solid platform than flesh, Neteyam saw Ao'nung recoiling briefly, and then laughing and immediately swimming after him. This ended in a race of sorts where Ao'nung easily beat Neteyam, maybe even slowing down to let him catch up a few times.