Surface| Neteyam

5.

I hadn't realized how long we had been gone for only till I saw the sky in hues of pinks and purple as the sun sank below the ocean and the moon returned.

Just as I expected no one was still at the meeting spot so we decided to look for them elsewhere.

"How are you feeling?" Neteyam asked.

In all honesty I felt like a pit had reopened in my stomach and was turning and twisting all my emotions. I was disobeying the one rule my dad made me swear by, stay far away from the foreigners; but this pit was dragging me to only stay closer to him, this new sensation I never felt before only showed up around Neteyam and it was killing me. I wasn't breaking any rules if I just talked to him right?

"fine" I smiled weakly, he returned it but I could still feel his eyes on me once I turned away.

As we approached the village I stopped in my tracks, my father and his hunting friends gathered around a fire, they were so loud I could swear they were keeping everyone awake.

I quickly took Neteyam's hand without thinking and darted past them,

"Sira, come here!" I paused and glanced over at Neteyam who kept a confused expression,

"Just go" I whisper, pushing him in the opposite direction as I walk over to the small party.

"Hi guys" I grinned as real as I could, my dad scooted over and made some space for me to sit. This was going to be a long night.

"You know, this is great but I'm really really tired I should get going-" I yawned.

My father didn't believe it for a second as he handed me a large plate of food, I couldn't lie it looked really good.

"Riuwe here found a whole garden of panopyra! Isn't that right," one of the adults announced, squeezing her shoulders and Riuwe just sat there loving it.

"That's so great" I said with hints of sarcasm, not looking up from my plate once. I was tired of everyone boasting about how great and perfect she was.

Riuwe watched me as I quietly sat and bit into a Yovo, clearly unamused by her latest accomplishment.

"So, Seytira, who was that boy you were just with?"

Her question made me freeze as I felt everyone look in my direction waiting for a reply. I chewed the last bite of my food slowly enough to come up with an excuse.

"Aonung," I muttered while picking at the roots on my plate.

She knew damn well about me not being allowed anywhere new the newcomers but she was ready to stoop low, well so was I.

"Really, I didn't know he liked to keep his hair down?" She just didn't know when to stop.

"You know, there's a lot of things you don't know about him because you're too busy entangling your tsaheylu with every stranger you can get your hands on."

At that moment I had completely forgotten there was an audience, I looked up slowly with my eyes and scanned everyone, they all had the same 'oh crap' expression on their faces.

"Thanks for dinner, and congrats" I got up and kissed my father on his forehead then hurried off.

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh as I scampered away. I bounced up and down on the elasticity floors in celebration that I finally got back at her.

As I twirled in the air I felt another force against the floor which made me halt.

"I didn't know you were a dancer" I turned and saw Aonung leaning against a wooden beam,