The Breath of Water | Neteyam

3 • New Lessons

A/N: for signing, the words will be italicized with these "[insert text]' around them

•-•-•

After night had passed, Tsireya headed over to the Sullys' Marui pod in order to collect the children to start the lessons. Tuk was tired, so Neteyam picked her up and brought her since she was still half asleep. Kiri shook Lo'ak awake, making him grunt out of frustration which made Tsireya laugh at the sight. Then when Lo'ak noticed she was there, he immediately shot up and tried to play it off, but he ended up getting up way too fast and stumbled over his feet. Neteyam ended up laughing while Kiri just shook her head.

Tsireya had met up with Aonung and Rotxo at a diving point, bringing the kids over to the water. But she noticed that she did not see her sister there.

"Aonung, where is Liya? She should be here." She whispered to her brother.

"I do not know," he said. "You know how she is. She is never really where she is supposed to be, and she shows up whenever she wants and wherever she wants. But she doesn't get any slack for it since—"

Tsireya hissed, cutting her brother off. He realized he almost slipped up in front of a bunch of strangers about the secret of his sister. "It does not matter, she is not here, so we will make do." Tsireya said.

She told the group that they were to be swimming today in order to get an experience of the underwater. Her, Aonung, and Rotxo all jumped into the water at the same time, the Sullys following after. They gazed at their surroundings, amazed by how beautiful it was.

Kiri ventured off onto her own path, marveled at the sights of the many types of fish and coral. She ended up falling behind the rest of the group since she occupied herself with the flora and fauna of the water, but the others did not notice how far away she was.

Meanwhile, Neteyam, Lo'ak, and Tuk were trying to follow after Tsireya and the others, but after a minute of swimming, they ran out of air and had to go back up to get more. When Tsireya, Aonung, and Rotxo turned to look at the group, they saw them back above the water, confused as to what they were doing. Lo'ak looked back underwater to see what the others were doing, so Tsireya had signed for them to swim together with her and her brother and Rotxo, but Lo'ak not understanding the language, was confused. She then realized he did not understand and just motioned for them to follow. They all dived back underwater in attempts to follow them, but after a while, once again they ran out of air. They swam back above the water to try to breathe.

''What's wrong with them?' Signed Aonung.

''Those guys are bad divers.'    Signed Rotxo.

''Stop. They are learning.'   Tsireya signed back. Aonung rolled his eyes at his sister, annoyed with her constant defense for them.

Tsireya and Rotxo swam back up above water in order to talk to the forest crew. She asked if they were okay, worried since they kept going back up.

"You're too fast, wait for us!" Tuk exclaimed.

"Just breathe, breathe..." Tsireya reassured.

Aonung came above the water and spoke. "You are not good divers. Maybe good at swinging through trees but—" Tsireya smacked his head lightly, causing him to stop teasing.

"C'mon bro," Lo'ak said.

"We don't speak this finger talk, guys. We don't know what you're saying." Neteyam mentioned.

"Me and my siblings will teach you." replied Tsireya.

"Hah, you and Liyanin can do that." Aonung said while scoffing, causing his sister to roll her eyes at his immaturity.