a couple of weeks went by, the sully's had almost mastered the metkayinan ways. jake had managed to ride a tsurak without falling off and the kids had managed to breathe for longer periods of time. i was very proud of them. ao'nung and neteyam had been getting closer, always together at training, and if they weren't at training they were sitting outside the marui talking or walking along the beach together.
i was happy for them, i thought they'd make a great pair. however lo'ak did not share that sentiment. he resented the light skinned boy for the teasing of him and kiri. ao'nung and some of his other friends, bad influences i thought, had found kiri on the beach, body face down in the water. the teased her about being a freak, her tail and five fingers. then lo'ak came along and in an attempt to stop the boys, they ganged up on him. pulled his tail and teased him about his own fingers.
of course neteyam swooped in to save the two. he was totally pissed at ao'nung. "leave them alone. now." he backed up, and called his friends off too. but lo'ak couldn't leave it there. he walked back up to the boys and it broke into a fist fight. i stood with kiri, just watching as the chaos ensued. neteyam had to go in and help his younger counterpart from the boys against him.
it was a mess of tails, arms and flailing legs. it got to the point where i had to go in and drag the boys off eachother. "skxawngs! that was too far. ao'nung, apologise." he almost screeched at my words. "what? why me? he started this fight." "you teased his sister. what did you think he was going to do?" the boy grumbled out an apology and i turned to lo'ak. "don't do that again." he looked down with slight embarrassment. "yes, mum." his voice was almost that quiet i couldn't hear what he said.
choosing to disregard it, i sent the other boys home and took lo'ak and neteyam with me. when we got to my marui, i filled jake in on what happened. he was almost disappointed in his youngest son. the boy got a scolding anyway. "he's the chiefs son, lo'ak. we can't have you running around beating him up. go apologise." "but dad, ao'nung bullied kiri-" he was cut off again. "i don't wanna hear it. i know he was a dick to you and your sister. but you need to apologise."
i stood back the entire time, watching on. jake's gravelly 'dad voice' sounded so good it gave me chills. lo'ak gave an angry huff and stomped out, hopefully following his fathers orders. neteyam was still with us, standing. jake turned to him. "how'd the other guys look?" "worse." jake gave a small grin. "that's good. now get outta here." the child left and jake slumped down on the floor.
i sat down next to him. "they're so tiring sometimes." he muttered. i hummed in response. "i don't think i could have my own. i don't know how you had four." jake barked out a laugh then. "without much sleep, that's for sure." we spoke about the kids for a while, their funny moments and their sad, how kiri and lo'ak had a fight over a toy and kiri called him a 'penis face'. i had most definitely grown attached to this family as much as i was to ao'nung and tsireya.
time passed quickly while we were sat together, reminiscing on memories. it was evening soon so we all went down to eat dinner from the feast, easier than catching it myself each night. lo'ak still wasn't here yet, he hadn't arrived back with the others earlier. i thought nothing of it and ate with jake as per usual. we went back to my marui after to prepare for bed; it was almost eclipse. i found kiri sitting outside on the edge of the path, looking downcast. i put the bowl i had down and went to sit with her. "hey kiri." she lifted her head only to glance at me then looked back down again. "ayla." her voice was quiet, her demeanour was depressed.
"what is wrong?" "nothing is wrong. why should it not be?" her voice was louder now, defensive even. "kiri. do i need to talk to ao'nung?" her head snapped up to mine. i had my answer. "what did he do?" she sighed quietly and turned to face me. "him and his friends. they teased me about being a freak. then lo'ak came in trying to help but only made things worse." i held her hand as she spoke. "oh kiri. i will speak to him tomorrow. you are not a freak." i pulled her into a hug. "you are special, more connected to eywa than anyone i know. probably more so than ronal, but don't say i said that." i lowered my voice for the last part.
she smiled lightly at my words. "thankyou ayla." i got up then, moved back inside to the fireplace where i left the bowl. kiri stayed outside. jake was someplace else, asking if anyone had seen lo'ak; he'd practically disappeared after jake told him to apologise to ao'nung. jake came back then, inside, and looked upset. "he's still not back. no one in the clan has seen him. it's like he's gone!" i walked up to him. "i'm sure he's somewhere nearby, i'll go have a look soon after i put tuk to bed." jake's expression softened then. "thankyou ayla." he squeezed my hand, then went outside to sit with kiri.
just as i was about to leave, neteyam walked in holding ao'nung by the nape of his neck. "tell her what you told me!" he was angry, so angry. ao'nung looked ashamed and didn't speak for a bit. "ao'nung. what did you do?" my voice was hard. after what kiri said, i didn't have much patience for the boy. now it sounded like he'd done something worse. "i left lo'ak outside the reef." he muttered so i couldn't quite hear him. "ao'nung speak up please." he grimaced and looked at me again. "i left lo'ak outside the reef." his voice was clear now and my heart sunk.
"go back to your marui. neteyam, with me." i ran down to where kiri and jake were. "jake. jake, lo'ak is outside the reef. we have to go get him." jake was on his feet immediately. "okay, kids inside, now please. tayala, we go to tonowari." he ordered. "neteyam, can you look after the tuk until i'm back?" i asked the older boy. he nodded and took kiri's hand to go inside. we ran to tonowari's hut. "lo'ak is outside the reef. we have to go look for him." tonowari and ronal looked up at us with confusion and concern. "how..? never mind don't answer that, ayla you will take some other warriors on tsurak to look for the boy."
i nodded and ran down to the beach. i gathered a bunch of warriors and we headed out. i was so desperate to find the boy, adrenaline was coursing through my veins and i could feel it. we had searched the reef and spread further out along the stone wall that surrounded the village. i spotted a blue figure clambering onto the rocks and flew closer. "i've got him! i've got the boy!" the others heard me and we rejoined. "lo'ak! are you ok?" he nodded a bit breathlessly. "oh thank eywa. i was so scared." he climbed onto my tsurak behind me and we swam back to shore.
we both left the animal and went to jake. there was a crowd of villagers behind him, including ao'nung and his parents. "are you ok? i was so worried. don't ever do that again, boy. don't be stupid." jake shook his son a little after checking him over. then tonowari spoke. "ao'nung knows better to take him outside the reef. this blame is his." he pushed his son onto his knees. jake nodded, accepting his dictation. "okay, i'll deal with it." lo'ak hadn't moved from his spot. he looked at ao'nung. "no. this isn't his fault. it was my idea." jake was getting agitated, growling at his son. "come. on. let's go."
lo'ak relented and followed jake away from the crowd. i followed after them, after glancing at ao'nung. what the boy did was stupid, but lo'ak shouldn't be punished for it. jake had stopped away from everyone and was now telling his son that he should have made a better decision. "can i go now?" lo'ak's flat words reached my ears. "don't cause anymore trouble." "yes sir." and he walked off. i wanted to intervene, to speak up for lo'ak. but it wasn't my place. it wasn't my family.
lo'ak moped off down the beach after his father growled him for what had happened. i knew it wasn't his fault, ao'nung had lured him there and deserted him, but i wanted to know how he got back to the reef before we found him. jake turned to go back to the marui, while i went after lo'ak. i saw ao'nung already with him, talking. they weren't fighting, they looked like they were friends, in fact. i caught up to them.
"so are we friends now?" they both whipped around to face me. "yea. we're chill now." lo'ak spoke up. "that's good. ao'nung i gotta talk with lo'ak, can you head back up?" the kid nodded and left to go back to the village. "what did i do this time?" lo'ak sounded bored almost, like he knew this was going to come. "nothing, i just wanted to get your perspective. how did you get back to the reef from Three Brother's Rocks?" his head looked up slowly from his gaze on the sand below.
"i swam.." he spoke slowly, almost as if he sceptical of me. "the rocks are at least a days swim away from here. there's no way you could make it back before eclipse." i cocked an eyebrow at him and he sighed. "ok, i got attacked by an akula and passed out. then i woke up on the back of a tulkun. he saved me and gave me a lift back here." my forehead furrowed. "but the tulkun aren't back yet.." "he had a missing fin, on the left side." then the realisation hit me. "payakan. it is payakan.
