𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐟 || ʟᴏ'ᴀᴋ

002

Se'aeylwa

"What are you doing out here anyway?" He said with a small tilt of his head.

"Is asking questions all that you do?" I counter him, climbing atop Payakan's back and lazily balancing on one foot. He tries to copy my actions but fails miserably, falling backwards and splashing into the water below us.

Payakan makes the tulkun equivalent of a chuckle as I join him, laughing at the boy. His displeased face rises from the surface as he flicks the hair from his face, obviously annoyed. I run up and down Payakan, using his tail as a springboard to join the boy in the water. I flip a few times before I splash next to him.

Even if he was irritating, it was nice to talk to someone, it had been Payakan and I for years, helping one another, while we stayed away from Metkayina clans. They would never accept us, we tried long ago, but it only resulted in threats and banishment.

I flicked the side of his head playfully before I swam away, his slow movement's where no match for mine as he frustratedly tried his best to catch me and give me the same treatment. I found it amusing, he was like a child, getting riled up about the little things.

I smiled at the thought, purposely slowing down so he could catch me. He smiled triumphantly, flicking my head as he called out in victory.

I playfully shoved him aside and into Payakan as I notice the sky turn a brilliant shade of purple.

"You must go home, eclipse is falling" I tell him. The tulkun below him began to drift in the direction of where I presume he came from. He grips my arm and pulls me with him, perching me on the fin.

"What are you doing?" I ask, obviously confused.

"Taking you home, you live in Awa'atlu don't you?" He questions, expecting a blatant yes.

"Definitely not, I live in a small village west" I lie, making a call for an ilu. Before he can ask yet another question I dive off of the tulkun, meeting an Ilu half way as I quickly form tsaheylu. My body flows along with the animal as we twirl in the direction of my home. I technically wasn't fully lying, I did live west, but not with a small village.

I slipped into a small crevice with the mount beneath me as we surfaced, dark, rugged walls surrounded us as torches where littered throughout the cave. I stroked the head of the ilu, showing her my appreciation as I easily slipped off and pulled myself to the edge of the water. My hands pressed against the rock as my hips lifted above the surface, I swung my legs underneath me as my body fully left the pool of water behind.

I scrambled upward, making sure to light the remaining torches. I grasped a lit one in my hand and watched the flame burn into another, illuminating the cave with a yellow warmth.

I emptied my satchel as I sat cross legged on the floor, many shells and stones left the bag as they piled onto one another in front of me. I took this time to fully inspect them, some stones where too thin and brittle to be a blade hilt, but good enough to skin the scales of certain fish.

I picked up another stone and thumped it against the floor a few times, watching as the sturdy material didn't have any pieces fly off. I reached across from me and tugged a chisel and a mallet as I got to work. I held the soon to be hilt in my hand, using a dried piece of coral to mark the areas where it needed to be shaped and refined.

I slowly began to scrape the edges off with another blade, moulding the shape to fit my hand. As torches soon blew out the room became dimmer, the spots on my skin began to glow vividly, along with the biolunescent qualities of the stone I pressed against my leg.

I carved in circular motions at the bottom of the stone, making the edges rounded and devoid of any roughness. I balanced the hilt on my two fingers, watching carefully as the weight balanced out and laid flat.

I placed the hilt down as I looked around, searching for a blade to attach it to. I stood and leaned over baskets, looking for the blade I sharpened last week, only for my search to result in nothing. I turned over every possible material in my home, searching for what I knew was there.

I eventually slumped on the floor, giving up on my search entirely as I wiped the tiredness out of my eyes.

My mind wandered to the boy I met, a small smile graced my face, remembering the child-like personality he possessed. I thought about what his life may be like, siblings? Parents?

A soft smile of reminiscence made its way to my face, the corners of my lips tugging slightly remembering what my family once was.

I was the eldest of my sisters, the permanent babysitter for their antics, they would run around freely, not caring of their actions when they stumbled upon mischief.

They always found a way to enrage our parents and I would always take the blame, saying that I accidentally tripped and that's why the ilus where covered in paint.

I chuckled at the memory, my sisters giggling behind our angered parents.

I don't know what has become of them since I was banished, our father had laid among eywa when the sky people attacked, and I knew my mother would find it troublesome to raise three daughters without me.

I sighed, nor happily or sadly. My hand flipped over a piece of fabric as I found a bracelet my youngest sister had made me before the attack.

The seaweed and shells where messily intertwined, the shells a whirlwind of different colours that didnt even remotely go together. Back then I was embarrassed to wear the band along my wrist, scared that people would tease me for such a thing. But now I was fearful that if I wore it it it would break into a thousand little pieces.

I gently scooped up the accessory, cradling it to my chest as I thought of all the memories that could've been made if I hadn't let my curiosity win and follow my father into what was a trap.