"𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒"// Neteyam

𝟎𝟎𝟔 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

From that evening, Ney'ite was forced by her mother not to leave their marui, and if she left she was accompanied by her.

The days passed slowly, the hours and the minutes endless. Every second seemed to last hours. Ney'ite spent her days lying on the floor staring at the ceiling, thinking about all the things her sister and brother were doing in the meantime. She thought she missed the best moments of her life, but one thing she didn't mind was seeing Lo'ak flirting with her sister. But she knew that if they didn't hurry up to get together, she would take Lo'ak by the ears and force him. One particular thought that always came to her mind was how Neteyam was doing, if in the meantime he met some other girl from the tribe and fell in love with her.
Come on, what is this nonsense! a voice in her brain kept saying.
Ney'ite was afraid, she was afraid of losing Neteyam because she had fallen in love with him. A lot of guys over the years had tried to get together with her, but she didn't want to get engaged because she was weak. But now he was inlove a foreign boy who may one day disappear to return to his tribe.

One thing she loved to do to drive away boredom was to sing. She would put herself on the edge of the marui with her feet swimming in the sea and sing. She sang the songs her mother had taught her, songs to remember the ancestors who had created their tribe, to remember those who fell in the war. She only stopped when her mother came. She didn't want her to hear her singing.

"Two days."

"Two goddamn days."

"TWO GODDAMN DAYS AND I CAN GO OUT AGAIN."

Ney'ite screamed with joy, thinking that the week of punishment was falmost over and that she could go back out again. She would have been free again, but more could have seen Neteyam again. In those days they had never seen each other, he had happened to pass by their marui but he had never greeted her.

"Reya, something must have happened." She took a break sighing and looked at her sister. " He never behaved like that." Her voice became sad.

"He's never been this far from me."

Tsireya approached her sister who was lying on her stomach and sat next to her. When Ney'ite was agitated, she started playing with her curly hair by twisting her fingers inside them.

"I'm afraid I did something wrong."

"No, you didn't screw up, Ney, how can you think that?"

Oddly enough, Ney'ite started to get scared, which she hated doing. She grew up with the thought of never being afraid, because the fearful are weak and the weak are none. And she didn't want to be nobody. She had always lived with the fear that people might get tired of her, that they would abandon her.

"I don't know, but I feel him distant. And I don't like that at all." She said looking away from the ceiling to look at her sister.

"You really don't have to worry."

"No Reya." She took a deep breath to avoid pointing out the sadness in her voice. " It's not easy for me, there are so many beautiful girls who are interested in him."

Tsireya took her sister's hands in hers, they hadn't talked about such a delicate subject in years. It had always been difficult for Ney'ite to find someone who truly loved her. Once, years before, she had a crush on a boy from a neighboring tribe. That was not a simple boy but he was the heir who would one day command that tribe, his name was Atan'Eko. According to Ney'ite's parents he was the perfect person for her, he was perfect both aesthetically and characteristically; Atan'Eko was tall with darker skin caused by the slight layer of tan that covered his skin, the chest muscles were more accentuated because he was a as you can say "hunter". For the rest he had blue eyes and pitch black curly hair gathered in one large braid. Ney'ite and he had met when she was thirteen years old and he fifteen, from the beginning had bonded thanks to the extroverted character of him. They had become practically inseparable, in fact their parents had already thought that in a few years they would mate. But it was not so. On a dark rainy evening the two were in their marui talking quietlynand out of nowhere began to argue.

flashback

"Stop it!" Ney'ite yelled. " What happened to you!"

"Nothing happened to me, Nyny!" Atan'Eko rubbed his face with his hands in frustration.

The situation was getting out of hand for both of them. They were too young to be together or at least she was too young. He was already fifteen years old and with his beauty he could make every girl in their tribe fall in love with him. Atan'Eko demanded too much from her, demanded that she acted as if she were his age, but Ney'ite was not ready both physically and psychologically. She was very scared for her safety at the time. In all the months they'd spent together, he'd never seen him so angry, his eyes were full of anger. She knew anything could happen any minute. She would have done anything for him but he wouldn't have lifted a finger for her, and Ney'ite had noticed it too late.

"Ah love, love makes us do things that we would never do of our own free will, love rules us and makes us do things even stupid" her grandmother used to say.

"ENOUGH," he shouted, breaking the silence that had formed in the marui.

"I'm leaving," he took a break, turned to the little girl, lifted his finger and added. " Don't try to follow me or say anything to anyone, got it?"

Ney'ite only nodded, she was too afraid to talk. As soon as she saw that Atan'Eko had left, she ran with tears in her eyes towards her grandmother's marui to tell her everything.

end of flashback

"The thing that scared me the most is to love too much." Ney'ite swallowed loudly. She had just admitted her weakness to her sister, but she knew she could trust her.

"I'm afraid it'll happen like it did with Atan'Eko."

"Hey, don't worry, you have to trust your institution. You think he's the right one for you?" Tsireya quietly said.

"Yes"

"Then don't think about it, life is one, enjoy it."

Tsireya was absolutely right, Ney'ite had to stop thinking too much and act instinctively. There were less than two days left and she knew that she would immediately run to find Neteyam to talk to him, to clarify their situation.

"Thank you Reya, really." The two hugged and then said goodbye.

Two days passed strangely quickly for Ney'ite, she had taken the opportunity to reflect on what to say to Neteyam and to think about possible scenarios of what would happen. The first one had a happy ending, the second one didn't.

As Ney'ite was sleeping blissfully, a slight ray of sunshine landed on her cheek and warmed her up. Upon hearing this she awoke suddenly, she was free. She changed quickly and picked up her rebellious curly hair in a half-tail and as quickly as possible ran out of the marui. In a short time she came close to the shore and called Aki; she just needed to take a swim alone to think. As soon as Aki's head came out of the water, Ney'ite climbed up and left. At first she didn't know where to go but then she had an idea, the tree of souls. She hadn't been there for weeks and needed to confront her grandmother about everything that was happening to her. In fact, the tree of souls was the only way she could get in touch with her.

In the distance she could see the bright pink glow of the tree, so she broke away from Aki and went swimming.

Meanwhile in the village everyone was starting to wake up to start the day, including Ronal.

"WHERE IS NEY'ITE!"

A scream came out of the marui of Ney'ite's parents and spread in silence reaching even the most hidden parts of the island.

Ney'ite had managed to get the answers to the thousand questions that had been turning in her head, she knew that her grandmother, the wise Marali, could always give her the right answer at the right time.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

a/n
hiii so in this chapter u get to know a part of Ney'ite's past and what she's afraid of. Don't worry Neteyam's going to be in the next chapter :).
remember to comment and vote if u like it.
byeeee <33