Lessons for the Sully's are continuing today and i'm actually quite excited for once. A bit of normality after a crazy few months.
I open my eyes and readjust to the brightness or the sun shining into the family hut. I give Tsireya a shake to wake her up and she lifts up too. "Good morning y/n, how are you feeling today?" she asks me groggily.
"Im good sister, today Is a new day and i'm thankful to be alive" I beam at her.
She smiles at me widely in response to my cheerful mood and we both get ready for our full day ahead. Once ready we leave the hut and make our way to the centre of the beach to meet the Sully's. We get to the meeting spot and they are not here yet so me and Tsireya sit down and I begin to fill her in on yesterdays conversations with the sully boys.
"Well at least it is out of the way now and you don't need to avoid them anymore" she says. I nod in agreement.
We hear laughing behind us and turn to see an excited Tuk running towards us followed by the rest of the Sully teens. She runs to me and wraps her small arms round my neck in a huge hug. I stand up with her and turn us round to make her laugh. Everyone else is saying morning to each other but as I place Tuk down I notice Neteyam's golden yellow eyes staring with a subtle smile on his face. We exchange hellos and make our way to the water. We all called our ilu's and connect.
"We are going to learn to ride our ilus again today" Tsireya starts.
"So we know the basics on how to connect and get them to go. Now we will learn how to keep that ride consistent and not.... fall off" she looks at Lo'ak and Neteyam.
They both look down to the water. I nudge Neteyam shoulder and make him smile.
We get in the water further and start to make our way to the reefs below. They are all doing well today, lasting much longer. We decide to make todays lesson more fun by initiating a few underwater games. First we do hide and seek. We are put into pairs and Tsireya counts first. Kiri and Tuk are together. Aonung and Lo'ak together. Then me and neteyam. Me and neteyam immediately start to swim away from Tsireya, I point to the reef flowers a little further away from us and he nods. We swim to the flowers and both hide in the same one. We keep quiet listening out for changes in the water and signs for anyone nearby. After a few minutes Neteyam looks under the flower edge below us to see if he can see anyone and he immediately glides back up to me at the surface. He holds onto the centre of the flower with his left hand and with the other arm he wraps it round my waist and holds me up against him, he yanks us up so our feet aren't in the water anymore.
I look at him puzzled as I wrap my legs round his waist to stop myself from falling and he nods his head below at a passing Tsireya. I look at him with wide eyes and then back to Tsireya until she passes and the coast is clear. Its been a few minutes and i'm still wrapped round Neteyam...
"I think she's gone monkey boy" I laugh and he turns pink.
"Right" he replies before letting go of the flowers centre, sending us both into the water. We laugh as we submerge in the flowers airpocket again.
"I think we must have won by now! Let's head back" I suggested to him. He nods.
We make our way back to the meeting spot in the water and I was right. We had won. Tsireya signs to me asking me where we were and I told her where we had hidden. She laughs and we continue the game for several more rounds. Me and Netayam winning almost every time.
"What about 'stuck in the seaweed' next?" I suggest to the group as we surface to the top of the water.
Everyone nods in agreement.
"Ermm what is this game...?" Tuk asks shyly.
"Yeah we have never heard of this seaweed stuck game" Neteyam adds causing me, Tsireya and Aonung to fall into fits of giggles.
"Stuck in the seaweed Neteyam" I laugh. "So there is a seeker and when they get you you've got to stop where you are stay still. You can be set free by your teammates if they swim under you" I continue.
They all look intrigued by the game and nod in agreement.
After a few round and taking it in turn to be seeker its Neteyam's turn. We have a few seconds to swim away before he is allowed to come and try to catch us. He goes for Aonung first but he is too fast and then he notices Tuk nearby and gets her. She pouts as she stays still until someone can help her. I wait for Neteyam to go seek other people and I begin to swim towards Tuk. Neteyam appears from nowhere and heads towards me before I can get to Tuk. I swim away and into open water above the reef, he follows and I may have cheated and Called my ilu. So he does the same.
We circle round in the water in a spiral shape up towards the surface. We get to the surface and I stop before he can stop his ilu and he crashes into me sending me flying into the water. He jumps in straight after me and pulls me back to the surface, he picks me up by the waist and lifts me onto my ilu. 'Wow he is quite strong' I thought to myself as I feel a weird sensation in my stomach.
"Are you okay y/n? i'm so sorry" he says worried breaking me from my thoughts, I laugh which confirms to him i'm fine. He joins in and laughs along with me. "Well you're stuck now" he smirks at me as he swims away to find the others. 'I hate losing' I think to myself while pouting.
After a few more hours of teaching and games we all head back to the beach. Today has been so fun and everyone else seems to agree by the smiles plastered on their faces.
We all make our way back to the huts but I go for a stroll along the beach, the night is too beautiful to not admire it for a while.
I head home and while I walk towards our family hut I hear arguing.
"We should tell her it's been too long" my father says.
"But what if she isn't ready Tonowari!" my mother exclaims.
"Tell who what?" I ask walking into the hut to be met by my mother, father, Tsireya and Aonung.