Ma Meuia (NETEYAM)

8

" Riti wake up."

" AHHH" I punched whoever was waking me up in the stomach

" Ow!"

It was Lo'ak, and he was holding his stomach in pain.I gave him a sheepish smile.

" Sorry"

He glared at me, " That hurt!"

" Oh don't be a big baby."

I got u stretching and looked around, Neteyam wasn't with me. Why didn't he wake me up?

" Wheres Neteyam?"

" He's in the tent. You were the only one that didn't sleep in there last night."

"Oh." Disappointment hit me like a slap to the face. What was I expecting? Did I really think Neteyam was going to stay with me all night? He probably didn't want to be caught sleeping with me. It made sense but I didn't know why it hurt so bad.

We walked back into the tent and I avoided Neteyams eyes.

" Starting today Tonowari's kids are going to teach you guys everything on how to adapt to the sea. Remember what I said yesterday?" He looked at all of us and we all nodded, " good, now scram. You don't want to be late for your first day."

We walked down the path seeing Tsireya, Ao'nung, and Roxto.

" Took you guys long enough." Ao'nung complained, he dived right into the water.

"Come." Tsireya smiled at us and dove in after her brother. We looked at each other, shrugged and jumped in. Admittedly not as graceful as they did.

Woah. We all took a moment to admire the beauty around us. So this is what was under the water all this time?

Fishes of all kinds, vibrant colors, and creatures i've never seen before appeared before my eyes. It was amazing, Neteyam tapped my arm to go after him. They were far ahead of us. Not wanting to be dead weight we tried to catch up to them but it was useless.

Swimming was difficult, it didn't come naturally for us. When black spots came into my vision from holding my breath too long, I used Lo'aks shoulder to help push me up to the surface.

Lo'ak and Neteyam followed me, I looked around to see where Tuk was at and she was a small distance away. I grabbed her hand to pull her forward.

" We gotta go back under."

I groaned and nodded to Tuk, we got about a few feet before we had to go back up for air.

Lo'ak shook his head at Tsireya, who was signing something to us. Roxto and Ao'nung seemed annoyed.

I'd like to see them in the forest.They popped up out of the water.

Tsireya asked, confused, " Are you okay?"

Tuk complained, " You're too fast! Wait for us!"

I held back a laugh.

" Just breathe."

I looked at her, that's what we were doing though? It was kind of hard to breathe underwater.

Ao'nung spoke snarkily, " You are not good divers. You may be good at swinging through trees." He was slapped on the head by Tsireya.

I liked her.

" Common bro." Lo'ak gave him a look

" We do not speak this finger talk." Neteyam twiddled his fingers and I nodded with him

" We have no idea what the hell you're saying." I admitted

" I will teach you." Tsireya calmed us.

I looked to the side feeling like I was missing something and saw Ao'nung staring at me, like he just noticed I was there. I gave him a blank look, what the hell are you staring at ? He looked away fast. That was weird.