Not the same

forgiveness

chapter nineteen.

It had been a week since Lo'ak and Za'nara's night together. Also a week since Za'nara and Neteyam's fight. As happy as Za'nara was recently, she couldn't bear the thought of Neteyam hating her. She cared deeply for him, and she broke his heart. He hadn't spoken to her since. He was also mad at the fact that she chose Lo'ak over him but he knew there was nothing he could do about that.

Za'nara couldn't take it anymore, she knew she needed to apologise sincerely to Neteyam and clear the air once and for all because she couldn't deal with not being on speaking terms. No matter what, Neteyam was still her friend. She saw him as family even.

She knew she had to make things right.

(On the shore)

"I just don't know how to get him to talk to me again, I tried apologising." Za'nara confessed to Tsireya.

"He still won't talk to you?" Tsireya asked.

"Nope, he barely even looks at me." Za'nara replied. "Which is worse because he doesn't even know me and Lo'ak did... that. He's just mad because I yelled at him for no reason and broke his heart."

"I find food is always the way to a man's heart." Tsireya suggested. "Have you tried feeding him?"

"Is that a joke?" Za'nara asked.

"No."

"Oh."

"Or maybe a present?" Tsireya suggested.

"Like what?" Za'nara asked, intrigued by the suggestion.

"I don't know, a bracelet?" Tsireya suggested.

"Tsireya, your a genius." Za'nara said out of excitement.

She stood up and smiled before running down the beach to gather materials. She spent hours, all day finding the perfect materials for the bracelet. Until she finally perfected it and it was time to give it to him.

She ran up to him as he prepared for training.

"Hey!" Za'nara yelled. "Can we talk?"

"I'm busy." Neteyam replied, not making eye contact with her.

Za'nara knew that she was going to have to work harder to gain his attention as he clearly wouldn't talk to her.

She grabbed one of the bow and arrows and shot three targets, hitting the X on all three. Neteyam was shocked and he turned and laughed, forgetting he was mad at her for a brief second.

"Can we please talk?" Za'nara spoke sincerely, in a gentle tone.

Neteyam looked at her and nodded once before placing his bow down and taking his visor off of his head and holding it in his hand.

"Look, I know an apology is probably the last thing you want to hear from me right now. I get it. I was a terrible friend to you, I shouldn't of yelled at you and I also... shouldn't of lead you on. I want you to know that I did have feelings for you and I do still care for you so much, your my friend. I consider you one of the only people I can really trust and I'm not going to blame all the shit I went through in the past on this. No, this was all me and I'm taking responsibility for my actions." Za'nara apologised sincerely. "Okay I'm rambling on now but, I do care about you, Neteyam, and I am sorry. I just want us to be friends again?"

"I appreciate your apology, it meant a lot." Neteyam replied. "I'm not mad at you, I tried really hard to be but I honestly missed you too and I admit, part of me was just being a jealous dick but honestly I rather have you as my friend then not have you at all."

"So we're friends again?" Za'nara asked.

"Come here." Neteyam replied to her, pulling her in for a hug into his chest.

It felt good for her to be close to him again, she missed his comfort. When they broke the hug, Za'nara suddenly remembered the one thing she came here to give him.

"I made this for you." Za'nara said to him, pulling out a bracelet she made. "It has some of the beads from your song cord, and some added pearls and shells I found, plus the Metkayina symbols."

"I love it, Za. Thankyou." Neteyam replied.

They both stood there together in silence for a few seconds just smiling. Za'nara was happy that she had rekindled her friendship with Neteyam. She allowed Neteyam to get back to training and was off to find Lo'ak who she surprisingly hadn't seen all day.

She found him sitting down by the shore, staring at the stars.

"Hey stranger!" Za'nara greeted him.

"Hi." Lo'ak greeted her back.

"Why you sitting out here all alone?" Za'nara asked.

"Needed to clear my head." Lo'ak replied.

"I missed you." Za'nara confessed.

Lo'ak turned to her and smiled.

"I missed you." Lo'ak replied.

Lo'ak gestured his arm out and allowed Za'nara to crawl under it and snuggle up into him, whilst watching the stars in the night sky.

"The sea of stars." Za'nara whispered as she stared at the star's reflection bouncing off the water.

"I don't think there's anything quite like it." Lo'ak explained.

"Nothing at all." Za'nara replied.

The two sat there for hours just staring up at the sky and talking about the beauty of it all. They all embraced their life in the Metkayina, they considered themselves sea people now.

They began to walk back to their hammocks when the felt the a drop of water land on their noses. The first rain of the season was falling. It started of slowly and then before you knew it, rain was pouring down.

"Come on we should get inside!" Lo'ak yelled, in the rain.

"A little rain never hurt anyone!" Za'nara yelled back.

"Dance with me!" Za'nara yelled, grabbing Lo'ak's arm and twirling them around.

"There's no song." Lo'ak told her.

"We don't need a song to dance, we just need each other." Za'nara replied.

Lo'ak took her hands and began spinning around in the rain and thunder. They practised traditional dances they were taught when they were little. It brought back happy memories from their childhood, before all the bad stuff and the sadness. Before the rain.

"Did I mention I love you!" Lo'ak yelled whilst dancing.

"What, I can't hear you!" Za'nara yelled.

"I LOVE YOU." Lo'ak yelled.

"I LOVE YOU LO'AK SULLY." Za'nara yelled ten times louder.

Lo'ak ran up to her and kissed her in the rain. They were cold and drenched but that didn't stop it from making that moment any less perfect.

"I want us forever." Za'nara confessed.

"Me and you?" Lo'ak asked.

"You and I." Za'nara replied grabbing Lo'ak's hand and twirling herself around.

end of chapter nineteen.

oh the end of this chapter is so cute to me.
let me know what you guys think 🤍

feedback is always helpful 💓