High Tides ||Neteyam Sully||

5|| Denial

Tsireya and the others sat with us, Neteyam sat next to me, and Kiri next to Rotxo, and we made a circle. 

Tsireya began speaking, "Breath in." We followed suit, taking deep breaths, and encouraging the others to follow.

"And breath out." I closed my eyes as I allowed my sister to guide the exercise. 

"Imagine a flickering flame, You must slow down your heartbeat."

"Breath in, from down here."

I felt Rotxo gently tap my arm and my eyes snapped open, looking up at him, he gestured towards the two. Tsireya held her hands against Lo'ak's chest and stomach. 

I heard the two boys next to me snicker as they shared knowing looks. I couldn't help the smile creeping onto my face. 

It became clear her feelings weren't one-sided as I watched his reaction to her touch. 

I snickered at the way his breath hitched and looked away. 

I looked at Neteyam and he looked at me, a smile across his face as well. 

As I looked at him my smile went from amusement to something different. But as I caught it, I stood up, "Let's test out the breathing." 

I walked away, ignoring the concerned look shared between Rotxo and Tsireya. 

I dove into the water and kicked, shooting deeper than I needed to. The others followed me, being met with their Ilu as they dove into the water. 

I watched as above me they were relaxed, letting themselves remain under the water for as long as they could, even playing and chasing each other on the backs of their Ilu's.

I let bubbles pass my lips as I kicked off the reef under me, shooting up to meet my sister. 

She looked down at me with her eyebrow frowned, "Are you okay?" 

I nodded and lowered half of my face under the water, watching the rest of the group dive and swim together. 

"What does it feel like?"

"What?" 

"Your feelings for lo'ak." 

As she looked at me stunned. Blotch came to me and lifted me from the water, my Kuru connecting to hers. 

"It feels..." she was at a loss for words as she looked at the boy in the distance, "I can't explain it; ask mother!" She dove into the water after the group, her face flushed. 

At her dismissal I turned around, moving towards our Marui, as quickly as I could.

I pulled myself onto the walkway before walking in and sitting with mother. 

"How has the training been going?" she didn't look up from the food she prepared. 

"Good, they learn quickly."

"Something is bothering you." she looked at me as I looked into the flame in front of us. 

"What does it feel like to love someone?" I blurted out without thinking. 

She stopped what she was doing and looked at me, "Where has that come from?" 

"I hope to understand Tsireya more." I looked up at my mother, my eyes betraying the lie that slipped from my lips, but thankfully my mother didn't pry, I would come to her in time. 

"It is different for everyone, it's often safety and warmth. It can comes out of nowhere. Your father should have allowed you to be a young girl, you would have experienced it first-hand much earlier if he had given you time away from your training."

I simply nodded at her explanation and smiled at her. 

"You will experience it, in one way or another my dear. Love finds a way."

Her hand cupped my cheek and I pushed into her affectionate touch for the first time since I was young. I smiled largely and looked at her, "Thank you so much for the explanation mother."

She released my face and then started shooing me, "Go have fun dear, worry about training the Sullys' tomorrow."

At that I nodded and got up, taking the long and thin shell from my hair, my braids cascading down around my shoulders. 

My mother took it from my hand and waved her hand at me as an extra push. 

I smiled and dove back into the reef. my tail flicking against the water, propelling me forward as my hair flowed freely within the water. I rose out of the water, pushing my braids out of my face and shifting to float within the water. 

I opened my eyes as a shadow covered the shining light over my face. An Ilu squeaked at me and I looked at the rider. 

Neteyam smiled at me. "You okay down there?" 

"Where are the others?" I ignored his question as I looked around.

"Lo'ak is with Tsireya practising breathing, and Kiri and Tuk are exploring."

I nodded and let myself sink into the water, before lifting myself and looking at him, "And what are you doing here?"

He smiled again, "I was going to ask if you could teach me that hand talk." He moved his hands around in the air. 

I squinted at him, blinking before shaking my head. 

"Ao'nung won't teach me and Tsireya is busy being Lo'aks teacher. I want to be able to hear you."

I sighed and nodded, I climbed onto his Ilu's back, grabbing onto his waist tightly. I felt his body stiffen as I tucked my knee behind his.

"Go." I pointed towards the shallow rock pools that encircled the village. 

At that, he dove his Ilu under the water and we moved towards the rock pools. I tried to ignore the warmth of his body near mine, instead, I focused on the cool water around my body and the soft skin of the ilu underneath me. 

As he slowed and lifted to the surface. I got off his Ilu and pushed myself towards the rock pools.  I lifted myself onto the edge of the small pools. 

Neteyam followed behind me, lifting himself, but shifting to face me. I shifted, crossing my legs, facing him. 

He did the same and looked into my eyes. 

I began teaching him the basics, hand signals to show danger, how to spell out things and how to ask simple questions. 

"You're getting the hang of this." A proud smile pressed onto my face. 

A smile spread across his own face, as he began signing at me, You look nice with your hair out.

At that comment, my smile spread more and I covered my mouth shyly. 

"I... I didn't teach you that." 

Neteyam grinned, lifting his chin and smiling big. 

I shook my head and looked down, wiping the smile off my face, "I think that's enough teaching for today."

As I went to stand up he grabbed my wrist, his hand stilling me. 

I looked at him and settled back down next to him. 

We sat in silence together, simply watching the village as my people shuffled around. 

"Why do you only protect your family? You don't seem to have fun." 

I looked down at my hands, "It is not my thing."

"Come on, fun is everyone's thing." He placed his hand atop my fiddling ones. 

"I'm the eldest child, there are expectations of me. Protect my sister, help train my brother." 

"But that's not the only thing you need to do."

I stood, "You have no idea what I need to do for my clan." I spat, a sudden anger overcoming me as I dove from the tide pool into the reef and took off before he could stop me.