Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 10 - Injured

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(POV: Lo'ak)

It had been a while since Ni'teya had returned from the rock, so much so that my whole family was already inside their own huts and falling asleep. Everyone except for me. I had been wide awake the whole time, lying on my hammock with my hands behind my head, waiting to hear Ni'teya's footsteps entering her hut safely. She was probably just distracted, or something.

It was so late now that all the torches were being put out in the village, letting everyone take their rest and still, no sign of Ni'teya. I got up from my hammock, stepping out from my hut and taking a better look around, looking in the direction the rock was in. Nothing.

I thought back to when we were all over there, remembering that one minute Ni'teya was wearing her shell-covered neckpiece and the next, she wasn't. I tried harder, in the end remembering even more. I could see Aonung holding Ni'teya's neckpiece clearly inside my head, wondering if he'd ever given it back to her. Did that idiot steal it?

I then headed over to Tsireya and Aonung's huts, locating his hammock and shaking him violently after discovering that he was the only one in the room.

"Wha- What the hell?! Lo'ak?!" Aonung cried, making me have to cover his loud mouth with my hand.

"Listen! Where is Ni'teya's neckpiece?" I whisper, still clutching his hand which I eventually had to move when I was sure he wouldn't scream again.

"I gave it back to her, what the hell?" he sounded irritated, laying his head back down upon discovering that my question was so meaningless to him.

"Did you give it to her before or after we left the rock?" I continued, hindering another groan coming from the idiot next to me.

He thought for a while, "Uh... After. Definitely after." He whispered in a tired tone, yawning as he finished his sentence and answering my question.

Lying brat!

Ni'teya hadn't left her necklace on the rocks, so where the hell was she? I jogged back past the huts, checking if she'd returned while I was gone before going to look on the beach myself. Once I got there, I scanned the sea-line, squinting my eyes and trying to see as far as I could out to the rocks. However it was no use, it was too dark to see that far out, so I prepared myself to begin swimming.

I had just touched the water with my feet as I found something. A spec, it seemed. No, a liquid, red liquid. A trail of blood made it's way out of the water, past where I was stood and all the way back into the trees behind me.

Oh, crap.

I immediately followed it without a second thought, tracking it deeper into the jungle to hopefully lead me to it's bleed-ee.

That's when I discovered her, laying lifeless against a tree, her head dropping downward. Her eyes were opening and closing on their own. Ni'teya could barely stay awake, one second she'd raise her head and peek open her eyes and the next, her head would fall violently and her eyes would roll back into her skull.

I panicked, searching for the wound I knew she had suffered, locating it on her hip, immediately pressing my own hand on it to apply even more pressure. The makeshift bandage she'd crafted was coming loose anyway, meaning her blood was flowing out of her for Eywa knows how long before I arrived. That was definitely the reason she was losing consciousness, the blood loss.

Too panicked and immersed in what I was doing, I hadn't picked up on her small taps to my arm, making me shift my focus and watch as her eyes stayed open for a bit longer this time, before inevitably closing again. I lifted her head with my free hand, trying to get her to open her eyes again, checking her temperature and feeling her pulse on her freezing neck. As I did that, she regained consciousness and looked for me again, trying to say something but failing to.
I didn't say anything yet in case I interrupted her, watching her lips closely to try and figure out what she was saying.