Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 14: Tag, You're It

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language

Tuk had woken up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to start her day. Out of everyone in the pod, she was the first to awake to the sun creeping through the curtain, which signified they were allowing visitors at this time. It was particularly unusual for the youngest child to be up before everyone else because she usually had to be dragged out of her bed by her mother.

However, the girl couldn't contain the excitement she held for the events that were yet to come. A couple of days ago, Tsireya told the Omatikaya kids that they would play a game that the Metkayina children often played to test their ability to hold their breath underwater.

Not only would they be playing a game, but Tsireya promised Tuk she would show her how to make a few bracelets out of the shells she had found a while ago. If anyone else in the pod were awake, they would be able to feel the energy bursting off of little Tuk in waves.

She was kind of disappointed that no one else in the Mauri pod was awake, though.

Lo'ak was sprawled out into a starfish position, his mouth wide open, softly snoring every once in a while. Neteyam was on his side, peacefully sleeping, and Marali and Kiri were snuggled up together, limbs intertwined.

Turning her attention to her parents, she saw that her mother's head was on her father's chest. Tuk quietly walked over to her parents and softly whispered to her mom, "Mama, wake up." Neytiri reluctantly opened her eyes and saw her youngest child staring straight into her soul.

The youngest child was so close to her mother's face that she jolted back against her mate in shock. When Tuk saw her mother's reaction, she giggled and went to Neytiri's side. Neytiri was confused as to why her daughter was up so early, and she looked to see the light shining through the curtain and realized that everyone slept later than they anticipated.

She stretched out her arms and let a yawn escape past her lips as she slowly sat up. At the sudden movement next to Jake, he groggily opened his eyes to see Neytiri and Tuk awake. He felt like he could sleep for another day as yesterday's events played in his head.

Both Jake and Neytiri looked over to see the teens still fast asleep. Neither of them wanted to wake them up, as they knew they probably needed the rest, but training was resuming today, and they had already slept in longer than they intended. Jake and Neytiri tiredly smiled at their youngest, who had made her way over to Neteyam to wake him up.

The eldest boy groaned at his sister, annoyed that she was disturbing his sleep. However, this didn't deter Tuk in her motives to make sure that she would wake him first. Instead, she whispered something ineligible into his ear that had him quickly, rubbing the sleep of his eyes and sitting up to let the girl know that she didn't need to follow through on her threat.

Then, she had to decide between waking the girls or Lo'ak next. Usually, she would choose to wake Lo'ak up last because he was more fun to tease, but something told her Marali would be more fun this morning.

So, she made her way over to Lo'ak and roughly shook him awake. This startled the boy as he quickly hopped out of bed and got into a fighting position. Neteyam, Jake, and Neytiri all tried to stifle their laughter as Lo'ak whined to Tuk about how she didn't have to wake him so roughly.

"Yes, I did." She stated as the boy glared at her. Tuk rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue teasingly out at her brother, who was still grumbling about how she so rudely woke him up. The youngest child walked over to Kiri and softly whispered in her ear that it was time to get up. Out of everyone, Kiri was always the easiest to wake up because she was a light sleeper.