Khalo POV
It was fascinating. How the Ikrans appeared over the tops of the tree. How their wings spread with every movement they made. The way their entire bodies swung to the side as they started to sink. To us.
"Meet Karai." Neteyam introduced as one of the Ikrans landed directly next to him. I stared.
Neteyam was right, Rahil did look a lot like Karai. Its wings were turquoise with dark details. His whole body was like that.
"He's beautiful." I whispered.
Neteyam had a little laugh.
"He sure is." Neteyam grabbed my hand and pushed me a little closer. With the other hand, he padded Karai's head, making Karai lean in. "You can pat him too, he doesn't bite." Neteyam laughed again as he looked me in the face.
"Didn't he, like, try to kill you?" I pushed the words out, not sure what to expect from an Ikran.
As a Metkayina, I've never met such a big kind of 'friend' of our kind.
Or not such a 'friend' that can actually fly, not just be a few meters above the water surface.
Neteyam smiled again. I don't think I've ever seen him smile that much.
"Don't worry, no Ikran that's with us will ever try to kill you."
"Well, at least that's something, I guess." I half smiled, I didn't trust these Ikrans.
"Only when you either make them to or someone of us will guide them to." He smiled. I didn't.
Kiri laughed. "Don't scare him, Neteyam." She said this, patting the head of her Ikran. Like Neteyam did.
"Don't worry, Khalo. All of our Ikrans are super sweet. Lo'aks is a little special, though."-"Hey! He has a strong personality." Lo'ak fought off
Kiri giggled. "Sure does." She leaned closer, pretending that Lo'ak couldn't hear us if she did. "He tells himself that."
"These things are huge." Ao'nung interrupted. I almost forgot he was here.
He stood a few meters away, Roxto directly beside him.
"Do they bite?" Roxto asked, begging a little more as Karai directly looked at him.
"Don't be scared. They'll know if you're scared." Lo'ak now said. I looked at him. He tried very poorly to hide his grin.
It took a while, but Roxto and Ao'nung finally stepped closer, even touching Kiri's Ikran. They surely believed Kiri's would be the nicest one, since she was the only one who hadn't beat Ao'nung. At least that's how Ao'nung's way of thinking normally went, which ended up in the way he acted. And Roxto was most likely to follow Ao'nung in these situations.
We talked a lot; Tsireya even sat on Lo'ak's Ikran one time, not for long though; Kiri showed Roxto a few things on her Ikran; and Ao'nung came over to Neteyam and me.
It was late—too late—as we went back home.
As we glided off of our Ilus and started towards our pods, Ao'nung raised his voice.
"Thank you guys. For bringing us with you, even though we—I was such a skxawng in the beginning." He apologized.
I stared at him.
He stared at the ground.
I don't think I've ever truly heard him apologize. It was always forced.
"It's okay." Kiri smiled at him. "We all make mistakes."
I also smiled.
"Let's go, Ao'nung, Tsireya. Our parents are waiting."
The next day, Lo'ak told us to follow him. He wanted to show us something. I had a feeling what it was going to be, but I stayed quiet.
Well, only in that aspect. I chatted a lot with Neteyam. Now that he had met Fa'ye and I had met Karai, I felt like we truly connected, even though we haven't mated (yet).
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.