Courting

Chapter 17

Breathing heavy, Neteyam and Lo'ak collected the few things they could bring for the anticipated fight. They would take their Ilu's, so they only needed light weapons they could hold. When they 'moved', few weapons were brought with them in order to not come off as immediately hostile. Grabbing a knife each and Neteyam a bow with a quiver of arrows. As he turned back to the door, Lo'ak felt a hand on his shoulder. Lo'ak was looking at him, worry in his eyes. 

"Bro, you sure?" This wasn't a new question, but usually the opposite dynamic was in play. Deeply appreciating the sentiment from Lo'ak, Neteyam nodded.

"We brought the war here." Neteyam said, holding the hand resting above his collarbone. "We cannot stand down."

"You have done nothing, Kiri, Tuk, me. We are the victims here, not the Metkayina." Lo'ak said, as if trying to convince Neteyam.

"There is never one victim." Lo'ak rolled his eyes as Neteyam recited something their father had told them since they first scraped their knees. "Only the one who acts to prevent repetition, and the one who doesn't." 

Lo'ak argued "You don't need to be the hero every time Neteyam." His brother flinched, dropping his hand, looking away. Lo'ak tried to correct himself "No, that's not what I meant. I only... you put so much weight on yourself to be perfect all the time, and it kills you because that's not possible. Father won't appreciate you dying trying to impress him, and live up to the standards you set." 

Neteyam seemed to take this into consideration, but didn't back down. "The sky people have been terrorising my life, your life, all of our lives, for too long. We didn't do anything to them until they attacked us, and I refuse to let them continue. If I die," Lo'ak shook his head sharply, not wanting to entertain such a possibility, but Neteyam continued "I will make sure to put an end to this terrorism in the process." With that, Neteyam left the marui. 

Lo'ak had run off to find Tsireya and assure her he would be back, but he didn't give a goodbye, not even giving an opportunity for that possibility to take hold of his mind. Neteyam was strapping his knife to his waist and saddling his ilu when he felt a hand on his shoulder again. 

"Lo'ak finally, you done with your girlfriend yet-" As Neteyam turned  around, he found his eyes level with the turquoise collarbone of Ao'nung. Jumping back, Neteyam cursed as he almost fell backwards over his ilu, feeling his face warm with embarrassment. Despite this reaction, Ao'nung did not laugh. For that matter, his expression didn't even change in the slightest. Stepping back stably this time, Neteyam lifted his head to look into Ao'nung's eyes. This may have been a mistake, because they still sparkled like the morning ocean, even when the rest of his face was screwed up with anger and... was that worry?

"I'm going." Neteyam said defiantly. He wasn't in the mood for Ao'nung to make any more slights against his family. 

"WHY?" Ao'nung grabbed his own hair and scrunched his fingers in frustration. He was yelling, but anger was not the source. Neteyam didn't move his gaze. 

"Because I have to." Neteyam answered, prepping his Ilu. 

"No, you don't." Ao'nung said, about to pull out his bun in disbelief. Neteyam began to try and explain, but Ao'nung needed Neteyam to listen, he had to. "Your parents have not told you to fight, and I'm betting they would actually rather you don't. Here, you aren't a warrior," those words triggered a sharp snap of Neteyam's neck to look at Ao'nung who continued "you don't need to prove yourself, there's no rank for you to uphold." 

"Exactly, and how the fuck am I supposed to get one without proving myself first. I am a warrior, no matter where I find myself." Neteyam told him, now mounting Tyra and preparing to leave. Ao'nung didn't know what to say, he couldn't let Neteyam and Lo'ak go alone. The latter had now arrived and quickly saddled his own ilu, and was pointedly ignoring Ao'nung. This was surprising to both Neteyam and Ao'nung, because as far as they knew, Lo'ak didn't know about what had happened between them.