Neteyam

Who You Are

"Merq'ena." The girl flinched away from the hand on her arm. "It's me." Neteyam lifted his hands up to try and calm her down. "It's just me." He licked his lips nervously. Neteyam looked tired. The eldest son who always looked ready for anything and could do it with a smile was so down beaten.

There was blood on his lower covering and in his hair. The braids didn't seem to sway as they used to, no exaggeration in his movements. Maybe because He wasn't moving like he usually did. He was a Sully, they moved with each word as if their whole body was doing to talking. "Sorry." Merq'ena sighed and rubbed her face. "I can't seem to." The girl sniffled. "I just." Neteyam placed hand on her shoulder.

A solemn nod. That's all that he needed to do to pull her away from her rage to feel her pain. The shrivelling of her heart that hurt her with each breath. Merq'ena scrubbed her tears off of her face. Trying to still her breathing. They felt alone, the both of them. Viryn's presence took much more space in their lives than they realized. At least for Merq'ena, the sisters had never spent a night part since they first met. How was she going to go on with her life without her.

Neteyam had lost Viryn once. They had parted for around a week while he was left to protect his siblings and learn a whole new way of life. But this loss was more permanent. Viryn made sure to lift his burdens, even for a moment. They were both grieving. "You would have been a good brother." She looked at him gingerly.

Neteyam lowered his head. As if guilt pressed against his skull like a painful crown. "She loved you." Merq'ena smiled as she wiped her tears. "So much." The girl leaned her head back against the container. The hours Viryn spoke to Merq'ena about the boy in front of her. The smile on her face that lasted hours after the suggestion of a betrothal was made. "You made her so happy." With Neteyam's head down she couldn't see the look on his face but she saw the teardrops and the sniffling.

"I should have." Neteyam tried to hide his eyes and turn away but he kept tripping over his words to catch his breath. "I should have stopped it. I'm supposed to watch her back." Merq'ena lowered her ears at him. "And I couldn't." His voice cracked. 

"Let's get Kiri and Tuk." Merq'ena licked her lips. The salt of her tears linger on her tongue. "Like she wanted."

They both began to look around. Their knives still out but  their thirst for blood had been temporarily quenched. Now they had their eyes sent on saving their sisters. The dog tags jingled as Merq'ena moved. But they were quiet enough for it to be written off as just a sound from the water or the fires. Neteyam stopped at the sight of a body. He moved over to it and pulled the arrow out of the shadows. Yellow, the fletching looked more like plant matter than feathers and it trailed down the end of the shaft as if it was over grown. "Viryn's." Merq'ena clenched her hand but turned away. "Don't take them too, great mother." Merq'ena whispered as they moved silently through the area.

"Look." Neteyam pointed past some crates towards the large opening in the middle of the ship. The water had rose above some of the railings. Merq'ena narrowed her eyes under the deep shadows. Before moving the pair checked around the area, a majority of the ship had long since they had arrived. It wasn't calming quiet, it just meant that the true obstacles were hiding from them. "Tuk." The two jumped over the containers and other obstacles to rush over to the little girl. "Neteyam!" Tuk whined for her older brother as he cut her free.

The little girl ran into Neteyam's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's ok, it's ok." Neteyam soothed as he patted her head. "We've got you." Merq'ena perked up at the sound of feet and lifted her knife. When she saw blue and muted green she swung.

"Hey!" Jake grabbed her arm and looked at her. "It's me. It's just me." Merq'ena looked unwell, her body swayed almost unnaturally and her eyes were blood shot. Not to mention that there were splatters of blood everywhere. "You ok?" Jake put his free hand on her shoulder while looking for wounds. He couldn't risk losing anymore lives. Merq'ena pulled away as politely as one could and looked back to Tuk.