The Breath of Water | Neteyam

27 • The Plan

A/N: I am sorry guys that my updates have been kind of stagnant, I had been busy with schoolwork but now that most of the heavy stuff is out of the way, hopefully things should be back to normal.

•-•-•

Masanai had secretly slipped out when Neteyam had left; at this point, she knows that her and Neteyam would never be together, for his feelings for Liyanin were ever-present and obvious to anyone who really paid attention, but she still had an unwavering heart. She didn't follow him because that obviously would be creepy, but since he had left she didn't really see a point in staying there, so she decided to just go home.

----------------------------------------

"This is a disaster..." said Liyanin as the group stared at how much txampay'weya they saw in the water.

"This is practically the entire fleet...!" Aonung exclaimed.

"Liya, this is a catastrophe! Wha...how did this even..." Tsireya started.

The txampay'weya were littered throughout this small area, and they were fast. They were zooming through the water, practically bullying the other sea life that resided there. They were an invasive species, which is why they were in a restricted area, but somebody had set them free.

Liyanin had took a step closer to the edge to peer over it, but Aonung grabbed her arm.

"Sister be careful, what if you fall in?!" he shouted.

"I will be fine, I will not fall." Liyanin assured. He softened his grip on her, but still held on to her out of fear of her slipping off the edge and going into the water. As her eyes lingered on the water, an unwelcoming and bad feeling bubbled up in her chest. The idea of someone in their clan doing such a horrendous act—it didn't sit well with her, for this could mean a number of many things...but she had faith, faith in her people. So she decided to just write it off as it probably just being some mischievous kids who didn't realize the gravity of the poison of these creatures.

"Maybe I could help with this...?" Kiri suggested as she stepped forward. Lo'ak's ears sprung out of surprise, and immediately wanted to shut the idea down.

"Definitely not! You could get stung!" he protested.

"I can gather them all in one place! Liya knows what I am talking about." she replied, pointing at her. Liyanin nodded, agreeing that that was possible, but she still had her doubts.

"Yes, it is true that Kiri clearly has a deep connection with the creatures of our world, but there is still the risk of it not working on these ones." Liyanin explained. "I do not think you should do it."

"Oh, come on, Liya! You said yourself that this situation was a disaster, so let me help! There is no surefire way of knowing that you would be able to collect every single txampay'weya with your powers, so let us do it together." she exclaimed exasperatedly.

"But what if it does not work? What if you got hurt?" Liyanin mentioned, Lo'ak nodding along.

"This is my decision. I am going to use my gifts to help out." Kiri stated matter-of-factly, signaling that there was no changing of her mind. Liyanin noticed this, and sighed, stifling a laugh. Lo'ak attempted to protest, but Tsireya told him that there was no point—his sister was going to do this.

"Okay so the plan is that Kiri will dive in the water, and wait for all of the txampay'weya to surround her. Then once all of them have been collected, Liyanin will carry them back to the restricted area they were supposed to be locked up in," Aonung clarified, running down the plan. "...but first, we have to make sure no one comes over here."