The Breath of Water | Neteyam

32 • A Subtle Change

Liyanin's ears sprung out of surprise, and her cheeks began to feel hot.

What?? He picked the shell??

She looked at the shell, then back towards him. "You did?"

He nodded, smiling softly. In turn, Liyanin smiled back. "You indeed did make a great choice." she laughed.

Soon after this, Kiri and Lo'ak walked into the pod, shocked to see the both of them awake.

"Brother!" Kiri exclaimed, rushing over to him. She grabbed his face, looking at it for any injuries.

"Aghh, stop it, Kiri...!" he whisper-shouted, not wanting to wake Tuk. "I am fine...!"

Lo'ak walked over to Liyanin, kneeling down since she was in her hammock. "How are you?" he asked her.

"I have been through this before. Nothing is new." she replied, a small smile on her face.

Lo'ak glanced over at his brother, who was currently being attacked by Kiri with hugs. "Did he see you? Flying, I mean."

"No, I do not think so. He did not bring it up..."

"That's good..."

"Kiri, please...!" Neteyam pleaded.

"You have no idea how scared I was...!" she shouted softly, lightly hitting his arm. He winced in pain, since his entire body was still in pain.

"Oh, Kiri! Do not hit him, the poison had travelled a lot through his body so he is still kind of sore...!" Liyanin said, worry in her voice. This kind of caught Lo'ak off guard; Liyanin was kind of sudden with how she said it, and he was in the middle of conversation with her.

"He will be fine." Kiri responded, grabbing her brother's shoulder. "My brother is very tough."

"How long will he be like this?" Lo'ak asked Liyanin.

"...I cannot say for sure, since I was not the one who performed the ritual on him, and I was not awake during it either...it will be best for you to ask my sister. But if I had to say, maybe around 3 days." she explained, still sitting in her hammock.

"I do not think I will be able to sit up." Neteyam sighed.

"You will be able to by the sun's dawn." she said, smiling, receiving one from Neteyam in return. Lo'ak saw this exchange, and immediately grew suspicious. He looked at his sister to see if she saw this as well, but she was smiling too.

Okay...Kiri definitely knows what's going on between them..., he thought to himself, making a mental note to bring it up to her later.

"Haa...what time is it...?" a now-awake Tuk asked, yawning. All the teens in the room turned to look at her.

"Ah, Tuktirey, how is your head?" Liyanin asked her, wanting to go over to her, but her migraine restrained her to her hammock.

"Liyanin...~" the little girl said, happy to see one of her favorite people. "...my head still hurts..."

"Oh, Tuk," Kiri said, now embracing her younger sister. "...you and Neteyam both had me so worried."

"I can't remember what happened...why is my head bandaged?"

"...Tsireya did say temporary memory loss would be normal..." Lo'ak said.

"...It will all come back to you, little sister. Do not worry." Kiri told her sister, kissing the top of her head, careful not to be to rough.

"If you do not shake her off now, Tuk, she will stick to you like a reyptswik (wolf tick)." Neteyam quipped. Kiri told him to shut up jokingly, Tuk and Lo'ak laughing. Liyanin wanted to laugh, but just smiled instead since she felt that if she did laugh, it would make her migraine worse.

Neytiri, Jake, Ronal, and Tonowari had now walked into the pod, surprised to see the kids who were previously sleep, now awake. Ronal couldn't contain her relief, immediately going over to her daughter after setting down the food she had brought. She wrapped her daughter in her arms; her grip could make one think that she was never going to let go.

"Mother, haha." Liyanin chuckled, her head pain seeming to dissipate now that she was with Ronal.

"Oh, thank you, Great Mother...thank you for protecting my daughter." she chanted, holding Liyanin tightly. Tonowari walked over too, smiling brightly. He wrapped his arms around his mate and child, sighing out of relief. He doesn't show it much, but he was undoubtedly worried when he saw his passed out daughter.

"You guys had me so worried." Jake told Neteyam and Tuk. Neytiri was now holding her in her arms, caressing the back of her head. "How you doin', bud?" he asked his oldest.

"Never been better." he popped, holding up a shaky thumbs up.

"...Father," Liyanin started, her voice kind of muffled from her mom's hair covering her face. She moved her mouth out from under the covering so she could speak more clearly. "...with what happened...could you think about postponing the second phase...?"

"You are not even in it, why are you worried about that?" Ronal questioned, now moving the stray strands of hair out of her daughter's face. Liyanin's eyes settled subtly on Neteyam, indicating her reasoning, but no one noticed.

"No, no, my love. Liyanin has a point. It would be irresponsible of us as leaders to just continue the Hunt even though people got hurt. Even Tiluway got hurt. We will have to address this situation." Tonowari explained. Ronal sighed, but nodded, acknowledging her mate's words.

Neteyam got the feeling Liyanin asked of this because of him, but shook the thought away. It was kind of pretentious, even though he was right.

Aonung and Tsireya now entered but had stopped near the doorway due to how many people there were inside.

"...It is...getting a bit crowded in here," Kiri noted, laughing sheepishly. "Perhaps we should go to our pod now, Mom and Dad."

"Oh, yes," Neytiri held Tuk as she stood up, not wanting to let go of her just yet. Her eyes glanced at Neteyam, then Ronal.

"He will have to remain here for the night," she said, now getting up from her daughter's hammock. "...his body is much too sore to be moved."

"I understand." Neytiri said while bowing a little, indicating her gratefulness. "...thank you for helping my children."

"It is the Great Mother's way. Your children were not meant to pass on yet." Ronal replied. Jake proceeded to thank her and Tonowari, and as he and his family (minus Neteyam) walked out, he stopped in front of Tsireya, thanking her as well, for he knew that she assisted in helping with healing his kids. She bowed slightly to him, as he walked away, indicating her respect.

Now it was just Liyanin's family and Neteyam in the pod. Aonung, exhausted from carrying five, huge, 'e'insey filled to the brim of txampay'weya, directly just went to his hammock, plopping on it.

"We will talk about your situation tomorrow, Liyanin." Ronal stated, staring at her. "...and yours too, Aonung. Do not think you are off the hook."

Aonung was too tired, so he just hummed an 'okay', then got relaxed and ready for slumber. Tsireya shook her head, knowing that the impact of him having to have a talk with their mom would hit him tomorrow once he was fully awake.

Tonowari and Ronal and lied in their hammock, getting ready to go to bed as well, their youngest daughter doing the same. Liyanin and Neteyam were the only ones awake after that, but the latter ended up falling back to sleep due to his constant idle position. Liyanin's headache was no longer as intense, and her mind kept thinking about the shell Neteyam had picked out.

She slept soundly that night.

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A/N: forgot to say this before but thank you for 1k votes!!! What a milestone 😄