The River Tree (Neteyam x Metkayina OC)

Chapter 24: Be Still (Act 2)

Five years earlier

She had always been still. Not motionless but still.

If you'd ask her to jump she'd jump three times. Ask her to go grab something for you, she'll bring you extra supplies to go with it. And if you had pain in your shoulder, she'd pop back into place with a loud snap.

But she was still.

A pale green blank face with dazed eyes. No emotion. No song. No gleam. Rarely a smile and seldom a giggle. She did all with a sunken monotonous expression.

I assumed she'd grow out of it and she did,

but she never really did.

I didn't fully understand why she was the way she was. Why she didn't like making friends. Why she didn't like talking to others. How she could spend hours just starting at people talking or working and playing. She just observed and sketched all the time. Why?

Frankly, I never thought to ask. Or rather I didn't want to ask. Although I cared for her, I suppose the fatherly instinct hadn't completely kicked in for a while. She was more of an estranged younger cousin sometimes. She felt far away for a while. Out of reach.

Yeah, I thought she was weird but she didn't cause trouble. Surely nothing could be wrong.

Big mistake. One I'd never be able to fix.

She came home one night, just shy of her ninth birthday. It wasn't unusual for her to come home when it was dark already. She'd spend the day floating in the reef pools or drawing trees and lose track of time.

But she would never come home bleeding.

I remember being really confused. Did she hit her head on a rock or something? No, nose was bleeding.

"Oh hey hey hey." I ushered "Sit down, Kaia."

Like always, she obeyed, and crossed her legs to slump on the floor. Face slightly scrunched.

I cupped her face and scanned her minty green cheeks until I saw her very precise crooked nose. It was broken.

"Kaia?" I had gasped "It's broken! How did you break your nose? No...who broke it!? Come on now! Who-"

"I'm not Metkayina...aren't I, Father?" She squeaked.

Kaia knew her parents had died. She knew I wasn't her real father. She knew she was an orphan. She knew how and when they died. She knew who she was named after.

But I never had the heart to tell her why her skin was so green.

I couldn't bring myself to tell her that the village she loved to watch so much

wasn't hers.

Kaia never usually answered so quickly. Her words were always limited, even with me. For her to interrupt me, was huge.

There I sat. Clutching my kids green face, clashing against my teal fingers with an empty mind. Unable to bring the words out.

Although I'm sure my silence was plenty loud enough of an answer for her.

I merely shook my head as I stroked her swollen cheek.

She stared with those same big eyes she had as a baby. I always thought they were empty, but now they really were. Like she was hoping she'd hear otherwise.

"Ok." She blankly responded, a slight quiver in her voice.

"Kaia..." I began "Who broke your nose?"

She hesitated and simply pursed her lips, her eyes deviating from my face.