𝙪𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙. 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢

𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚

"I never wished to be dragged into this." Ny'reiya crossed her arms, she paced back and forth. "You need to calm down, sister." Tsireya sighed.

"Father had the nerve to tell me to help those forest people or else I would bring shame to the village!" Ny'reiya scoffed. "I have done nothing but meet their expectations and become the daughter they've always wanted me to be, I have duties to attend to. I do not have time to babysit children, let alone Toruk Makto's children."

Tsireya shook her head once more. "You are sounding like mother again, Ny'reiya. Everything will be fine, just show father that you can do this by staying strong and show them our ways. That is all father has asked of us."

"The reason you're excited to do this is because you simply want to spend time with one of the forest people." Ny'reiya rolled her eyes. "This is the second time father has told me those exact words, 'or else I will bring shame to the village.'" 

"He has a name, it's Lo'ak." Tsireya elbowed her sister. Ny'reiya gave her sister a cold look, raising her eyebrow at her sisters defense. "You two are on a first name basis now? I wonder how father would think of the sudden entanglement with his precious baby and a boy who she just met."

"It is rude to not know our guest's names." Tsireya pointed out. "It wouldn't kill you to show some manners, do you want father finding out that you are giving the newcomers the cold shoulder?"

Ny'reiya only sighed, accepting her defeat. "Fine, what are their names. I wish to get this over with."

Tsireya covered her mouth to hide her laugh. "The brother of Lo'ak is called Neteyam. He is the one that was looking at you. The oldest girl is named Kiri, and the youngest of the family is called Tuktirey."

Ny'reiya stood silent, simply nodding at the information given to her. "Come, we must begin to show them our village." Tsireya took her sisters hand, leading her to the siblings.

"I hope we didn't keep you waiting long." Tsireya smiled at the siblings.

Toruk Makto's children simply smiled at Tsireya before looking down at the sand. Ny'reiya stood behind her sister, looking at the children one by one, before keeping her eyes on the oldest.

Neteyam was already looking at her. Ny'reiya pursed her lips and looked away. "Come." Tsireya gestured towards the Sully children and led them towards the water. Ao'nung and Roxto followed behind Tsireya while Ny'reiya kept her distance behind the group. "Great mother, help us and give me strength." She whispered.

"Why are you so behind?" The youngest of the Sully children grabbed Ny'reiya's arm. She flinched at the sudden contact, whipping her head down to look at the child.

She remained silent before remembering her sister's words. She mentally scoffed and attempted to seem welcoming."Tuktirey, right?" Ny'reiya asked. "How did you know?" Tuk stopped in her tracks.

"My sister told me." Ny'reiya replied. "It would be rude to not know our guests names."

Tuk's eyes widened at her response, but looked up and flashed a smile at Ny'reiya. "You're really pretty and so is your sister."

Ny'reiya couldn't help but smile at her compliment. She didn't know Tuk yet she found her adorable, given that she was full of life even after such an exhausting journey. Ny'reiya took a deep breath and told herself that everything would be fine after all.

"You are beautiful Tuktirey." Ny'reiya smiled. "Are you ready to swim?"

"Yes! Only if you stay close to me." Tuktirey giggled. "I will stay by your side." Ny'reiya nodded.

"Tuk!" Neteyam panicked and picked his sister up. "You shouldn't be bothering...um-"

"My name is Ny'reiya." She nodded. "And Tuk was not bothering me."

Neteyam nodded as a way of saying sorry. Ny'reiya quickly looked down, hiding the light blush that dusted her cheeks. "We must hurry if we want to catch up to them." She broke the silence. "Come."

The three of them jumped into the sea and began swimming further out to catch up to Tsireya and the rest. "You're too fast, wait for us!" Tuk exclaimed.

Ny'reiya stopped and swam back to Neteyam and Tuk. "Just breathe, don't panic while swimming, it will only slow you down." Reí instructed. "Take deep breaths, I will wait for you and be by your side as promised."

She held out her arms towards Tuk. She let go of Neteyam's body and swam towards Reí. From a distance, it looked like Neteyam and Reí were teaching their child to swim.

Tsireya caught their interaction, planning on bringing it up later when the two sisters were alone.

"Let's go." Reí smiled at Tuk. Catching up to Tsireya and the others.

"So you finally catch up." Aonung teased. Reí rolled her eyes, ignoring his comment and submerged herself underwater.

"Let's go." Tsireya smiled and submerged herself as well as Ao'nung and Roxto.

Neteyam and Lo'ak exchanged a look towards each other and submerged themselves underwater, trailing behind the four Metkayina teens who were already deeper into the water.

Reí grabbed her sisters arm and pointed towards the three Omatikaya children who had already gone back up to the surface. "Wasn't there another one?" Reí signed to her sister. Tsireya looked around and began to panic. "I will look for her." Reí signed and swam off to find Kiri.

She looked back up at the Sully children, before turning back to search for Kiri. Ny'reiya quickly spotted her with the creatures of the ocean circling her. She seemed to be better at holding her breath compared to her brothers and sister.

Reí placed a hand over her heart and smiled softly. She admired how fascinated Kiri was with the ocean and the creatures around her. She didn't want to disrupt Kiri's peace so she swam back to Tsireya and the others who were on the surface with Jake Sully's children. Kiri didn't seem to be in danger after all and she seemed to know what she was doing.

Ny'reiya popped up from the water to see why they were on the surface. "You are not good divers." Ao'nung said with a taunting smile. "Maybe good at swimming through trees-" He was about to add but was cut off by Tsireya, who slapped the back of his head. Reí looked away to hide her smile with her hand.

"Come on, bro, we don't speak this..." Neteyam flailed his hand above the water. "Finger talk, we do not know what you are saying."

"My sister and I will teach you." Tsireya quickly said. Reí turned her head slowly, giving her little sister a glare. She knew the only reason Tsireya spoke so quickly was because she wanted to spend more time with Lo'ak.

"Where is Kiri?" Tuk pointed out, which caused the teenagers to look around frantically. "She is safe, I already went to go check on her, do not worry." Reí said. "She is just exploring the reef."