Neteyam

Dom Torreto

Please get the joke.

Neteyam moved quickly up to the platform of the ikran. Peyt looked up at him before tilting her head away. He watched as the three ikran landed. He reached up and held onto Kri's crest, the deep red liquid no doubt pressed against his palm. "He's ok." Kiri said before Neteyam even asked. Still he nervously looked at the ikran's condition. He ran a hand down Kiri's neck and felt the creature breathe deeply at his touch. "Where's the blood from?" Neteyam lifted his fingers and showed them the blood on the pads. Merq'ena looked over to Kiri. The two girls exchanged a glance to confirm what to tell Neteyam.

"He was hunting." Merq'ena said as she dismounted. Neteyam narrowed his eyes slightly at the way Merq'ena said "hunting". He tugged around Kri's saddle to make sure it wasn't rubbing his skin wrong before looking at Kiri. "What was he hunting?" Neteyam asked his younger sister. Kiri patted her ikran. "Humans." Lo'ak has just arrived when she answered. "What about humans?" Lo'ak asked before stumbling back from Kri. The boy put two and two together.

"What are humans still doing here? I thought they left." Neteyam stepped away from Kri and the four stood in a sort of circle. "We thought so too, but I think these ones must have been stranded." Kiri crossed her arms. "They were unarmed and weren't moving even as we moved closer." Neteyam glanced at Merq'ena her expression was hiding something. "And you made sure Kri didn't get to them?" Lo'ak asked. Merq'ena's ear twitched in slight irritation and her shoulders strained, the muscles visibly tightening under her skin. "Did something else happen?" Neteyam looked to Merq'ena for an answer.

Kiri and Merq'ena met eyes again. Kiri furrowed her brows as Merq'ena pursed her lips. "They were innocent." Kiri said mostly to Merq'ena, eyes pointedly looking at her. The comment made the taller girl scoff. "Sure." Kiri did not like the tone that was used. "What is up with you and humans?" She took a step towards Merq'ena. Neteyam and Lo'ak glanced at each other with panicked eyes. We're they supposed to be there for this conversation?

Merq'ena leaned back slightly aback. Why was Kiri bringing this topic up in front of other people? Or at all? "Are you serious right now?" Merq'ena narrowed her eyes. "Of course I'm serious." Kiri sounded irritated. "You know Spider had a point with you being weird about him. Come to think of it you're weird about all the scientists too." Merq'ena's ears flattened. Her eyes darted to the boys who were unsure what to do. Should they leave? Stay? They still wanted to plan what they were going to do to save Viryn. "I'm not you, Kiri." Merq'ena looked back to Kiri. Her voice even but stern.

"I'm not a Sully. I didn't get told stories of how humans eventually helped my family during the war." The tattooed girl frowned and narrowed her eyes back at Kiri. "I also don't have a scientist mom to use as an example to excuse every wrong deed that's committed against us." At that Neteyam pulled Lo'ak away from the platform.

"This! This is you being weird!" Kiri gestured to Merq'ena. "You act as if every single human is the same terrible monster." Kiri shouted. "Because all the terrible monsters come here!" Merq'ena raised her voice back. "You don't know that." Merq'ena let out an exasperated laugh. "You're being naïve if you think that those that come here come out of the goodness in their heart."

Kiri balled her hands into fists. "My mother did." There was a tense silence. She had brought up a sensitive topic between the two of them. "And who did she work for?" Merq'ena responded, her jaw clenched. Kiri glared at her. "Grace Augustine may have been this great "friend" of the people but in the end she still was helping the very people that was killing us." "She was helping us! You can't just throw all that she did away because of some stupid thing that happened to your clan!"

Kiri slapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes wide as she looked at Merq'ena's face. The tattooed girl looked as she had been slapped, she had even flinched away from Kiri as if she had. Her words had cleaved the air between them so cleanly that it felt like a chasm had formed between them. Kiri looked at Merq'ena, her eyes darting at her's to gage what reaction it would cause. The silence that continued was chilling and quite uncomfortable. Merq'ena's surprise and hurt was quickly masked with stone. "Merq'ena-." "I'm going to see Viryn."