Sea of Stars | neteyam sully

chapter 28: shit

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

It was pure chaos. Everybody was speaking, yelling over each other. Jake tried to talk but the people wouldn't listen. Neteyam yelled at them, trying to get them to hear his dad out. But nothing worked. Until he stuck up a weird red metal thing. It looked like an arrow but bigger and unnatural.

It was about the tulkun. Ronal's spirit sister had just been murdered by the Sky People. They were worried for their family. Tulkun hold great sentimental value to the Metkayina. It was like they murdered one of their family members, which they technically did.

After a bit of screaming on Ronal's part, Jake was explaining that they should tell the tulkun to be careful and look out for the red thing. They would be marked for death.

The people ran off, jumping into the water to tell the tulkun. Ikariya was a bit lost, disoriented if you will. She didn't really realize what had happened just yet.

She was new here, she knew that. But she kind of liked the people, the culture and the ocean. She'd grown to not exactly hate it like she did before. So this was a bit of a punch in the gut.

And she didn't even know that everything was about to change.

Ikariya noticed Lo'ak running off, disappearing into the crowd. She looked around her, watching to see if anyone saw. But they didn't. They were too focussed on getting the word out. She ran after him, finding him at the dock. He was feeding an ilu, patting it before putting a saddle on. 'What are you doing?' She asked, watching as his eyes suddenly met with hers.

'No way you're getting out of here, baby brother.' Neteyam appeared behind them, making Ikariya jump.

'I have to warn Payakan.' Lo'ak said while walking up to him, his eyes switching between Ikariya and Neteyam.

'No, you've got to keep your skxawng ass here.' Neteyam said, walking towards him as well.

Payakan was still a sensitive topic, Lo'ak bonding with him causing quite a fuss around here.

Lo'ak scoffed. 'You can't tell me what to do.'

'I can and I will.' Neteyam raised his eyebrows.

'He's outcast. There's nobody to warn him but me!'

'Bro,' Neteyam put his hand on top of Lo'ak's head. 'Why do you always have to make things so hard?'

Lo'ak swatted his hand away. 'No, you mean why can't I be the perfect son like you?' Neteyam nodded, stepping back as Lo'ak continued. 'The perfect little soldier. Well I'm not you! Okay.' Neteyam stepped closer again, making Lo'ak back away a bit. 'I'm not you! He's my brother. I'm going.' Lo'ak yelled at him.

'Oh, he's your brother?' Neteyam pointed to the water. 'No I'm your brother.'

'Stop that, both of you.' Ikariya hissed from behind them. She finally felt comfortable to step in. Lo'ak had no idea what Neteyam was going through. She understood that he wanted to save his friend. But he was being ridiculous. She sighed, looking at Neteyam with a pleading look in her eyes. 'You're not going without me.' Her eyes shifted over to Lo'ak having a surprised look on his face.

She couldn't let him down, not after lying to him for days on end. If they go down, they go down together.

Neteyam tried to protest as Tsireya called Lo'ak's name, jumping on top of the dock.

'Lo'ak, let's go!' Ikariya yelled, calling an ilu and jumping on its back as Lo'ak dove into the water as well.

'Ikariya!' Neteyam called before he walked over to Aonung. 'Come on,' He slapped Aonung's chest as he walked past Tsireya. 'They're going to Payakan.' He called an ilu as Tsireya did the same, diving into the water.

They yelled at Lo'ak and Ikariya to come back, Neteyam calling her name multiple times. Ikariya looked at Lo'ak. 'Where do you think he is?'

'Follow me.' He said, diving back into the water.

They made it to three bothers rocks, the others still chasing them. Ikariya could hear Payakan, he emerged from the water as Lo'ak called his name. 'What is it?' He asked as the large tulkun turned around and showed him his fin. It had the red object inside of it. He was marked for death. 'Shit!' Lo'ak exclaimed, jumping off his ilu and jumping on Payakan's back as Ikariya followed him. 'Stay calm, stay calm. I got this.' He ran up to the red object, trying to pull it out. Ikariya tried to help him, pulling as hard as she could. They couldn't do it. It was jammed in there.

Ikariya was still trying to get the object out as Lo'ak stopped and looked at the horizon. 'Shit!' He yelled again, a little harder this time.

Ikariya followed his gaze as the large ship came into view. 'Fuck.' She said, looking at the huge metal object. It looked exactly like the aircraft she saw in the woods with Lo'ak, only a hundred times bigger.

The others appeared behind them after they started pulling again. Neteyam jumped on top of Payakan as Lo'ak pulled his arm to get him steady. 'Bro, come on.' Lo'ak yelled at his brother who was now pulling Aonung on Payakan's back.

The ship was getting closer and closer as everybody started to pull on the metal. 'Bro you have to call this in right now!' Neteyam yelled as he continued to pull.

'But—' Lo'ak tried to protest, pulling as hard as he could before Neteyam pushed him off.

'Go!' He yelled before Lo'ak let go. Ikariya watched him and the ship closely as Neteyam jumped on his ilu, tying a piece of rope to the saddle and handing the other side to Aonung. Aonung tied it to the red thing, telling Neteyam he could swim away. He did, pulling hard enough to get it off.

Lo'ak stepped back in, seeing the red object out of Payakan's fin. He was relieved.

Ikariya snatched it out of Neteyam's hand, making him look down at her. 'I'll distract them. Go, go!' She yelled before everyone jumped into the water.

Neteyam looked at her for a bit, her eyes softening showing him it was okay. She was trained for this.

He slightly nodded, not really wanting to leave her alone. But he trusted her completely and he needed to save his family. So he dove off as well.

Ikariya sighed, looking back at the ship and then at the red object in her hands. 'If you want it, come and get it.'

She jumped off Payakan, telling him to swim away. She jumped on her ilu, patting its back to show it could leave.

She swam as far as she could with the red tracker until nobody was behind her anymore, dropping it to sink down to the bottom of the ocean where it could rot away.