˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ blue blood ⋆ - neteyam sully.

˗ˏˋ 3. 'ˎ˗ An innocent Ilu ride.

I was with Aunty as she watched over the new teens as they all chose an Ilu from the pack. She was showing me how to oversee the bonding process, to notice what signs to look for, what to do if something went wrong. It was an easy job compared to others. The Ilu were not vicious, they just sometimes were not ready for a bond, either were some of the teenagers.

   I yawned, tired from my mostly sleepless night. Aunty noticed. She turned to me, an eyebrow raised. "Why are you sleepy?"

I blinked, straightening up my shoulders. "I'm not, I'm fine."

    "Don't be silly, girl, I can see you are tired. Why?"

I sighed. There was no point ever trying to lie to Aunty. She always knew.

    "I had a bad sleep," I told her, moving the sand around with my feet.

  She tutted. "Why? Dreaming of that forest boy?"

   "What?" I gawped.

   "I saw the way he looked at you when you said goodbye last night," she stated, staring straight ahead at the group in front of us, all of them busy with their Ilu.

   He had looked at me differently? I hadn't looked at him when my siblings and I dropped them home. I was ashamed of the way Tuk had cried, taking on the blame, even though I knew deep down it wasn't my fault. I guess a part of me was worried he had lied to me, and that he was secretly angry at me for making his sister cry. I suppose I was wrong.

    "No, Aunty. I was just..." I trailed off, realising I had been thinking of Neteyam last night. Not just him though, his brother and his fish-girl remark too. "The younger one called me fish-girl."

   Aunty turned to face me, staring at me in that way she always did before she lectured me. "Do not take offence to the stranger's and their comments, Āmāna. They are angry at feeling useless, as would you if you suddenly had to swing through trees. They don't know what they are talking about. You are a strong girl, ignore them."

   I nodded, swallowing hard. Aunty was right, why had I been offended so deeply? These people did not truly matter to me the way my own people did. What they thought of me did not matter. The next time we were to teach them anything, I would be confident, the way I was when I taught my own people, when I taught my siblings. I was no meyptu.

୨♡୧

     As I walked with my siblings, well Aonung was walking, Reya was skipping, (clearly happy to be seeing Lo'ak again), I was lost again in my thoughts. It was a weakness, yet I was in too deep to fight it this time. I was even too preoccupied to get mad at Reya for still being so cutesy with the forest boy. I kept thinking about what Aunty had said.

    I was almost scared to see Neteyam again, nervous, a little. It was silly, and it annoyed me greatly, but it was true. He couldn't have looked at me in any special 'way.' Aunty must've just been being suspicious again, as she usually was. She was just worried I would ruin her perfect mating pairing of me and Häàtawai.

   The Sully's were waiting by the rock pools. As we approached, Neteyam said something to Tuk I couldn't hear and she raced over to me. To everyone's surprise, she wrapped her arms around my legs and gave me a big hug.           

   Shocked, I reacted slowly, putting a cautious hand on her shoulder as affectionately as I could manage.

    "Hi Tuk, everything okay?" I asked through a smile.

   She looked up at me, big eyes blinking, reminding me once again of younger Tsireya. "Yeah! I wanted to give you a big hug because Neteyam said I had upset you by crying, I am very sorry, Āmāna."