Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 6: The Note

                          .  •  .°  • *. •. .

(POV: Narrator)

If there was ever an award for worst ilu rider, Lo'ak would win it without anyone coming close to beating him. On the way over to the Three Brothers, he'd changed directions countless times, forgetting which way he was supposed to be going, claiming he was just 'rusty' and that he did indeed know where he was going. — In short, he took a while; Be that due to his horrible sense of direction, or because of the girl that was clinging to him with her arms wrapped around his stomach, her head laying on his back, clouding his all-round ability to stay focused.

Luckily for the two of them however, Tonowari's advance team wouldn't be showing up for at least a few more hours, meaning they could get in and out without running into any trouble. Their second round of luck appeared when the Three Brothers were spotted by a rather sleepy Ni'teya, telling Lo'ak to halt immediately in case the individuals who'd killed the tulkun were still around; Which they weren't.

The coast was clear, so the two of them proceeded ahead, instantly spotting the harrowing sight. Floating on the ocean's surface was the poor tulkun, who very clearly put up a fight to survive. It had scratches right the way down it's body, a particularly nasty one dashed across it's eye, supposedly inflicted to blind the creature to make it easier to kill.

Ni'teya didn't wait for Lo'ak to stop, instead she let go of him and dove into the ocean, swimming up to the creature and checking for any other wounds they hadn't spotted. Lo'ak however, continued on to the left side of the animal before he dismounted his ilu, checking for a severed fin. When Ni'teya emerged from beneath the tulkun, Lo'ak let out a sigh of relief as he shook his head, letting the girl know that it wasn't Payakan. She smiled, climbing onto the creature's back, spotting a floating device that looked different from the others.

The rest of them were simply red inflated balloons used to keep the tulkun afloat, however this one had something on it.

"Poor thing..." Ni'teya heard Lo'ak sigh once again as he followed her to where she was.

The girl approached the object she'd spotted, discovering it to be a small box tied to the balloon with a rope.

"What the...?" She whispered, finding a way to untie the box and hold it in her hands, trying to undo the small knot it had on it to keep it shut. Her neckpiece-making skills proved to come in handy here on out, as she succeeded in opening the box and pulling out a scroll of paper.

"What is it Teya?" Lo'ak piped up, noticing that Ni'teya was paying close attention to something, not knowing what exactly.

But she didn't answer him.

She'd already opened the scroll, reading its content in silence.

It read as follows...
"You know who it is. Miss me? — I'm normally not one to give up so easily, and I know you've received the short end of the stick because of it, Sully. — But I'm feeling a little lazy. — And, as it so happens, I have something you want."

The paper ended with a small arrow drawn in on the bottom of it, making Ni'teya turn it over. The words she read next made her physically tremble.

"I have your son's blood on my hands. And you, as would any father, want revenge. — So come and get it."

The silence became heavier. Ni'teya stood stationary with her back to Lo'ak, holding the small piece of slightly ripped paper in her shivering hands. She wasn't cold in the slightest; In fact, she felt a scolding fire spark within her, making her unable to move. She stared at the words, reading them over and over, checking she hadn't made them up or read them wrong. She hadn't. — "I have your son's blood on my hands." became "I have". The girl flipped the paper back over; "You know who it is" repeated in her mind.