Sullys Stick Together

Chapter 9

"Lo'ak, wait," I called out for him again and he finally stopped, turning to face me. "What, Neylia?" He sounded annoyed, rightfully so. "Don't listen to them. Okay? Payakan may be a killer to them, but we know he isn't. So that's all that matters right?" I was trying to think of the right thing to say, but nothing felt right here. He shook his head as he looked down at the sand. "It's not just that. We don't belong here. We're supposed to be one of them, but they don't see us. They see aliens. Outcasts." I paused for a minute, letting what he said sink in. I was trying to think of something to say, "Lo'ak... I see you." He looked up at me and smiled softly before shaking his head. "You're my baby sister. You have to," With that, he walked away, leaving me behind. 

Eventually, Tsireya came to look for Lo'ak and I, but only found me. "We are going to the Cove of the Ancestors. Would you like to join us?" She asked, and I considered telling her to go without me for a moment. But I decided that going to their spirit tree might be able to help me cope with being in this new clan. Tsireya led the way, and I followed Kiri with Tuk on my tsurak. We went under a rock that looked like a built-in entryway and saw a beautiful area with waterfalls and mountains. Once we reached the middle of this area, we all dove down into the water to the tree. Rotxo led me down to the tree and helped me find a place to connect to it. I grabbed my braid, placed it on the tree, and closed my eyes. 

I was back in the forest, at the old home tree. In my hand, was the bow that mom gave me when I was young. "Nelyia, come." I looked over hearing mom's voice and saw that she had her bow as well. She led me to an opening where we always went when she wanted me to practice my archery. I never minded, I admired the skills my mother had and wanted to be just as good as her if not better one day. She stopped once she reached a good vantage point and drew back her bow, taking in a breath as she did, before losing the arrow and watching it hit the target right in the middle. Without saying anything, she lowered her bow and looked at me. Knowing exactly what she was waiting for, I adjusted my stance, drew back my bow, and loosed my arrow. However, mine didn't hit the target at all. I lowered the bow and let out a frustrated sigh, "I don't understand. I did exactly what you did and I still missed." 

"Again," she said quickly. I got back into my stance and drew back the bow. Mom walked over to stand in front of me and tapped my arm which was pulling the string up a bit, and put her hand on my stomach, telling me to make it tighter. I did what she wanted and looked over at her, waiting for her next instruction. "Shoot," she said finally when she was done inspecting my stance. I looked back at the target and shot the arrow. To my surprise, it actually hit the target in the middle! "I did it!" I cheered looking at her and seeing that she was smiling widely. "My little warrior," she smiled at me and grabbed the bow, "Go get the arrow." I took off towards the target to grab the arrow, but when I turned around she was nowhere to be seen. "Mom?" I asked looking around. "Mom?" I asked again, louder this time. Still no response. 

Suddenly everything went black. 

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A.N.

Hey everyone! Once again, I'm sorry this is short. But I am writing these chapters day by day and I figured since I probably won't be able to upload anything tomorrow, I would just go ahead and give you this snippet today. I will have another long shift at work tomorrow, so if I do upload, it will be late at night like this one. Sorry for the weird times, I'm doing my best!