Seeking Refuge | Neteyam

Chapter Sixteen

I woke up to the sounds of footsteps storming past our tent. My eyes opened, only to be met with the bright light outside. I groaned. How late had I slept in?

I moved to sit up, but something was preventing me from doing so. Rubbing my eyes to force the grogginess away, I looked down to see Neteyam's arm draped over my waist. Had we fallen asleep like this or did it just happen during the night?

I felt my cheeks flush as the thought of the rest of the Sully family seeing us like this crossed my mind. Surely they didn't. They would've woken us up to make fun of us. Right?

More footsteps passing our home brought my mind back to the situation at hand. I tried getting up, but Neteyam's arm tightened around my waist as his face snuggled into my shoulder.

"Neteyam." I lightly nudged him, only to get a groan in return. "Neteyam, wake up!" I placed my hand on his cheek and lightly shook his head.

"It is too early," he mumbled, his eyes remaining shut.

A frustrated sigh left my mouth as I hit his arm. "Neteyam, it is midday! Get up!"

His eyes shot open at this as he immediately sat up. "What? Why- how are we still in bed? Why did nobody wake us up?"

Shouts erupted in the distance as more people ran by our tent. Our heads shot towards the direction. Shaking my head, I stood up and tugged on his arms. "I do not care, but we have to go. Something is happening."

He pulled his arms away and slapped both of his hands to his face, dragging them down before letting out a loud sigh. "Fine."

He stood up as we both worked around the room, gathering our belongings—putting our knives in its pouches and ensuring we were geared up. Just as we were about to leave, Rotxo ran past our tent.

 I reached out and grabbed his arm, turning him to face us. "Rotxo, what is happening?"

His frantic face looked towards the gathering hall before turning back to us. "Our Tulkun were attacked."

"What?" I blurted, letting go of his arm as I turned to Neteyam.

"The Tsahik's Tulkun and her calf are dead," the boy explained, his voice low.

For a moment, it felt like everything froze as a realization crossed my mind. I felt sick. 

"Sky people," Neteyam muttered.

My mind started spinning. We came here for safety but they found us. They're attacking us. They're attacking these people. I felt my body start swaying as Rotxo and Neteyam's conversation drowned out. We were supposed to be safe here.

"Ayn'at!" Neteyam's hands gripped my shoulders and steadied me.

I looked up between the two—both shared concerned expressions. I shook my head and grabbed Neteyam's hand, "We have to go."

When we arrived at the gathering hall, it was pure chaos. Tonowari and Ronal stood in the middle, declaring war against the Sky people, riling up the crowd. Rotxo left to go stand with Aonung while Neteyam and I found ourselves beside Neytiri and Kiri. When Tuk saw me, she scurried to my side and held my free hand. Neytiri handed Neteyam a device. It was all too familiar. It looked like the devices they'd use to put down our Ikran, but this one was different.

"I don't want to go to war again," Tuk cried.

I reached my hand to wrap around her, "Shh. I know, Tuk. I know."

Jake stood in front of Tonowari and Ronal, begging them to listen. "You gotta understand how the Sky People think! They don't care about the great balance!"