Burn for Me

Chapter 6: The Nalutsa ritual

3rd pov:

"AYAYAYAYAYAAAAYYYYYYAH!" The Metakayina teenagers ululated as they came soaring through the water on their Illu.

The large group raced past the Sully siblings and Tonowari's children, splashing them slightly from the speed.

The small group of friends had just been conversing on a rock, sharing stories from their childhood and laughing with each other.

The group had gotten rather close the last few weeks and even Aonung had warmed up to the newcomers.

"What the hell is that?" Lo'ak growled, wiping the water off his face.

Tsireya shot up, "Oh my gosh, I completely forgot it is tonight, we have been spending so long preparing for it as well, these lessons have made me forget."

"Forget what?" Neteyam looked to Tsamera who's eyes beamed with excitement, this is the first time he had seen her with such a look in her eyes, a look of pure adrenaline and desire, whatever it was she was really fucking hyped for it.

"The Nalutsa ritual, I have been preparing it with mother for some time, Neteyam has unknowingly been helping all this time." She laughed lightly at the boy's completely oblivious face, he had no idea what he had been doing these past couple of weeks apart from chasing after this hot girl he met.

"What's the Nalutsa ritual?" Kiri asked, her own eyes beaming with intrigue.

"It is a celebration filled with singing and dancing, it is when our young boys and girls become men and women, it happens every year, they battle a Nalutsa and ride it, if they succeed, they are a part of the clan for good, if not, they remain a useless child until the next year. It is a ritual that bursts with our culture, I tried to make it extra special this year because we have you guys as guests." Tsamera smiled, as she stood up, calling her Illu.

"So it's like the Iknimaya ritual I was telling you about." Neteyam confirmed.

"Yes, except..."

"Except what?"

"My dear adopted sister has excluded the best part of the ritual, the time of the night where Eywa plays match maker." Aonung wiggled his eyebrows, jumping into the water.

"Match maker?" Tuk peered over to him, the words also caught Neteyam's attention as he looked at Tsamera, the eye contact making her blush and turn away, she knew damn well what Aonung was talking about.

"Well little Tuk, I think it is a bit too mature for you to hear about it-" Aonung began with a smirk.

"I'm old enough!" Tuk pouted, her sudden outburst taking Aonung aback.

"Well jeez ok then. Don't say I didn't warn you." Aonung put his hands up in warning.

"Come on bro, just tell us." Lo'ak rolled his eyes.

"Yeah hurry up." Neteyam said, climbing onto his Illu, getting closer to the Metakayina boy in curiosity, the group huddled together on their Illus around the over dramatic boy.

"Alright, well Tsamera was probably too shy to say it but personally this is the best part of the Nalutsa ritual, and to be honest it's the best part for all of the teenagers here, Tsamera is just a loner so-"

"Get on with it." His older sister growled, silencing him.

"Every year after the ritual of adulthood is complete, all the teenagers who have now claimed their place in the clan have their close friends, parents, siblings whatever throw a sea shell somewhere in the reef so that at night, when all you have is the sexy bioluminescence of the sea, you know, mood lighting, you go find it. Undoubtedly, every time, the ocean brings the shells together in pairs, so two people will meet when collecting their little prize. But the real prize is that this is a love ritual. It is said, that whoever you meet this night will be your mate, it has never failed and the pairs always fall in love, some of them even mating on that night." Aonung said like it was a mythical legend, Tsamera rolled his eyes at his attempt of romance.