"𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒"// Neteyam

𝟎𝟎𝟐 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

After the eclipse the whole village went to sleep, the lights went out and the silence reigned in every corner of the island. All slept except Ney'ite who silently managed to get out of their family's marui and was walking along the shore. Since she was ten years old she loved to walk at night or before the eclipse on the shore, she liked to feel the rough sand that crept between her fingers and even the faint cold waves that brushed her feet. She usually walked until she reached a small cave where she loved to sing the melodies her mother had taught her. Singing was one of her greatest passions, she thought that without her voice she was not just a simple 15-year-old girl like the others. As she was passing her hand in the water, amused by the fact that the fish were circling around her, she heard a sound coming from the water, it was time to come back. When she came out of the cave he saw the sky of a rosy color, this meant only one thing, it was dawn. Ney'ite immediately ran to get to her marui in time, when she arrived in front of it she found no one, they were all awake.

"I'm screwed" She told herself. She decided to go in to get changed, immediately after breakfast she would have to help Tsireya and Aonung to teach the forest boys the way of water. As she was leaving, she met her worried mother who ran towards her.

"Ney'ite where have you been all night?Tell me now!" Ronal got closer to her daughter and started checking if she had any cuts and that she was okay. "Thanks Eywa! You're ok, I didn't sleep all night because I was worried about you!" After that Ney'ite should listen to her mother who kept telling her all the things that could happen to her, then Ronal she gave her some food she had brought from breakfast and told her to join her brothers.

Ney'ite among her brothers was the most severe, who demanded from others always the best and even more. She had been so used to it so she couldn't do much about it, but it had made some students dislike her. That's why her mother asked her to let Tsireya teach, who was much quieter. And for Ney'ite, that was a relief. Too bad she was forced to, so she couldn't back down, she looked like a coward.

Ney'ite found her brothers swimming with the Sully guys, the Sully were slow so she decided to overcome them. When she passed by them she turned to see their faces, they looked at her as if to say, "where did she come from". So she smiled, she turned to Neteyam, the older brother, and winked at him. Then she swam over them and joined her sister. While Ney'ite was swimming, she noticed a girl in the water swimming surrounded by fish, but she didn't pay much attention and continued swimming.

"hi sister" she told her in their sign language.

"hi ney" she replied with a smile.

They both looked at each other when they saw the forest boys coming up to the surface to catch their breath, immediately Reya told them to come down in their sign language but they did not understand it. So Ney'ite waved at them with her hand telling them to come down. After not even a minute they had to go up to the surface again so Ney'ite and her brother and Rotxo followed them.

"Is everything ok?" Tsireya asked calmly.

"You're too fast! Wait for us." The youngest girl, Tuk told them.

"Well let me get this straight if you always come up and swim that slowly you'll never learn!" Ney'ite added. No one said a word until Aonung spoke, his twin noticed a little smile, he was about to say something stupid she thought and she was right.

"You are not good divers. Maybe good at swimming through trees but-" he was cut off by Tsireya that had slapped his head. Ney'ite couldn't help herself anymore so she started to laugh in front of everyone. Everyone's eyes were on her.

"Hey Ney don't laugh! You're worse that Aonung!"

"My dear sister you have to remember that me and Aonung are twins." She took her brother under her arm to show everyone how different they were despite they were twins.
After a while the smile on Ney'ite's face disappeared and she came back severe as usual.

"So now tell me what's the problem?" She asked the forest boys.

"We can't speak this.." Neteyam began to gesture with his hands "Finger talk, we don't know what you're saying."

"That's not my pr-"

"Ney and I can teach you." Tsireya cut off Ney'ite eyes widened as she heard those words, she even tried to persuade her but tsierya had already decided for both. But she also knew why she offered to teach them the language, and it was called Lo'ak.

"'itan fmawn tzìng!" (they will never learn!)
Said Ney'ite almost angry, slamming her hands on herblegs. She didn't want to know how to teach those foreigners, not because she hated them, even if she didn't have a feeling of love and friendship with them, but because she didn't trust them. It had always been from her grandmother that if ever one day foreigners would arrive it would not be a good sign.

So quickly she thought of an excuse that was plausible. The first thing that came to her mind was her mother; her sister would certainly have believed her because it was now her habit from nothing to leave her alone to go to their mother.

"I'm sorry to leave but I have to go and check if my mother is fine. I'll see you later I guess."
With these words, Ney'ite swam away from the others to the shore. While swimming, she noticed Kiri, the eldest daughter of Toruk Makto, quietly swimming towards her brothers.
Ney loved being in the water because since she was little she had a special bond with her. She could hear the beat of even the smallest mollusk under the sand. She and the water were one, her mother Ronal repeated it to her every night since she first swam.

When she arrived in her marui she saw her mother lying down so she bowed out of respect and sat next to her.

"My daughter I see you different these days" she got up and sat next to her daughter "When you were with Tsireya and the Sullys I saw you laughing finally after years."

They looked at each for a few minutes, neither of them spoke until Ronal did.

"I saw how that forest boy, the eldest one, looks at you but I think you haven't noticed."
Ney'ite never expected her mother to talk about him. Most of all, she never expected her to see them, to see her laugh.

"No I didn't notice." Ney scratched the back of her neck for the embarrassment of the speech she was having with her mom, wait, she thought, why am I embarrassed about this? I shouldn't be. "Now, if you don't mind, can I go?"

Her mother nodded her head, she knew that her daughter was hiding something from her, probably about her dreams.

a/n
hii I promise y'all that in the next chapter there'll be more interactions between neteyam and Ney'ite. anyway remember to comment and vote! byeee
I also wrote this in a hurry 'cause my lovely science teacher decided that we're going to have a test tomorrow so I had to study YAY.