Surface| Neteyam

11.

The sun was still high above the sky but I could tell it was getting later in the day by how the water temperature had cooled down. Everyone had settled down more and the training session turned more into a hang out.

Rotxo had left some time ago so I could finally talk to Kiri again. I tried not to question too much about why she was smiling so much around him.

"Miss me?" Aonung loudly called out as he and Neteyam returned,

"Hardly" I whispered where just Kiri could hear me,

I watched as Neteyam slumped off his Ilu, clearly exhausted; him and Lo'ak did some strange hand slap as they caught up with one another.

"We'll come back tomorrow at that spot" Tsireya pointed to our meeting tree, the large overhanging branches made a nice shaded area at this time of the day.

"You learned a lot about the ocean but you still need to learn about our home"

Everyone nodded in agreement and started to head off in their respectable ways, Lo'ak saluted a goodbye to us which left us all baffled but it was the least abnormal thing he had done these past few days.

"He's strange"

"Yeah" Tsireya cooed dreamily, we both slowly turned our heads to look at her but she had already skipped off.

Now it was just me and Aonung,

"So, you and Neteyam made up?" I asked, grabbing a fish from a nearby rack and tossing it to Feui,
"It's better for both of us to just stay civil right now" He shrugged, lending me a hand as we climbed up a steep hill of sand.

"I don't think he likes me very much" I thought out of everyone Aonung would understand where I was coming from, I felt so conflicted every time I thought it would be a good idea to befriend them then this aching voice in the back of my head reminded me of all the storied my father would tell me.

"Why do you care about what he thinks?" Aonung replied nonchalantly, his comment made me pause, it was true, I really did try to hate them but I just couldn't let it go like this.

"You're right, I'll see you later then" I waved goodbye as we parted ways.

I liked them, well I didn't like the idea of them but behind their differences they were not anything like I thought they would be. Tuk was curious and excitable, Kiri loved the ocean and was interested in everything we had to offer her. I talked the least with Lo'ak but he was genuine and strong hearted, many lacked that. And then Neteyam, where do I start? 

Why did I have to act like a fish brained loony, any chance of a friendship between us was long gone.

Maybe I could apologize, I was so focused on trying to make him notice me with the little things.
I guess I was just avoiding confrontation, I was never really good at it, either getting too hot headed or emotional at any hints of criticism.

I tugged down on my hair as my tight curls straightened out to almost double the original length.

All these feelings made me wanna run to the edge of the sea and sink for an eternity.

Did I mention how much I hated being ignored?

I splashed my legs in the cool water, I had been out in the middle of the ocean on top of my Ilu since eclipse. After the fight with Riuwe I doubted she would still be doing my shift so that meant no more training with the Sully kids which also meant no apologies.
By now my dad would have had my head on a stake for how long I was absent for but I didn't feel like talking to anyone let alone him.

My father noticed my dull behavior as we returned home from harvesting; I knew he suspected something but I guess he wasn't feeling extra annoying today. I didn't like opening up, especially to him since he would make a big fuss about it so I just left.