Tsaheylu

A New Home

The first thing I felt when I woke up was Neteyam. Our queues still connected, keeping us together as we cuddled happily. Everything that happened yesterday went by so quick that I barely had time to process it all, but now that it was all over with I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. I open my eyes to be met with Neteyam's, watching me in awe as I slowly awoke. He smiles proudly at me, stroking my cheek with the backs of his fingers.

"Good morning, wife..." He whispers, making my heart flutter. I beam at him, loving the sound of him calling me his wife. "Good morning, husband..." I return, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. We were still naked, our bodies a wrapped up in the warmth of one another. "We should head back before someone comes to find us," Neteyam sighs, squeezing my hip in his hand. I frown but nod my head, rolling out of his embrace and sitting myself up.

I lifted my arms into the air, stretching my limbs out in the sunlight as my queue fell from Neteyam's, seperating us once more. But the feeling of us being connected, bonded together never left me. There was almost an invisible Tsaheylu connecting the two of us together still, and I found comfort in the thought that this would be our life from now on.

My eyes scan around us for our clothes, laughing as I saw how scattered they were. Our tops had been thrown in one direction, our loin cloths in another and as for our wraps and necklaces they were in odd places around us. The tops were close enough for me to grab, seperating them and handing Neteyam's to him. We worked quietly at redressing ourselves, then came back to one another to sort ourselves out a little further. My hair was a mess on my head, curls sticking out in every direction which made Neteyam laugh.

He brings his hands into my hair as he sorts it for me, removing the water lily that had somehow managed to stay in all night. I held it carefully in my hands, letting Neteyam untie my braids while I waited patiently. To my surprise, he pulls the strands of hair back for me, plaiting them once more and tying them together with the pearl Tsireya had given me for my birthday. "Where did you learn how to braid hair?" I ask him, my fingers rubbing each petal in my hand carefully. It was delicate, so delicate, it almost mirrored me in that respect. If you were too rough with it, it would break into something irrepairable. I'm glad Neteyam is mine now, he is the one thing that can stop that from happening.

Neteyam steps round to face me, kissing my forehead, "I had to learn with Tuk. She's always asking me to braid her hair for her when it gets all messy after playing." He explains. I could picture it now, little Tuk sat impatiently in Neteyam's lap as he rebraided her messy hair after a long day, the two of them enjoying a little bit of peace as his fingers worked through her strands. It made me somehow fall even more in love with him.

"Why did I never know this?" I smile, brushing Neteyam's braids off of his shoulder, knowing fully well that they would only end back in his face and shoulders in a matter of seconds. That man could never control his own curls. He shrugs with a chuckle, taking the water lily from my hand and placing it back in my hair. "She isn't going to be happy that she wasn't here you know," He says, laughing at the thought of his little sister in a strop. I let out a breathy laugh and nod my head, "Yeah, I'd be more surprised if she was absolutely fine with it. I wonder if they know already."

We walk towards the water and dip our feet in it, wading though the warming water slowly as we called out to the Ilu that had found itself a spot in the corner of the cave. "If Lo'ak hasn't told them, my parents would have figured it out. After all they did the same thing when my mum was our age." Neteyam chuckles, watching as I stepped forward to the Ilu. I bring my queue up to the creature and connect us, smiling to myself at the thought. "I didn't know she was so young when they mated, like us." I say aloud, throwing my leg over the Ilu.