The Breath of Water | Neteyam

56 • Some Truths Revealed

Neteyam had managed to balance his dates with Liyanin and practices with Masanai nicely, but he kind of forgot to tell Liyanin the part where he was currently learning Taronsäwem from Masanai. It had been three days since they first started going out to dates, so he felt like he should probably tell her by now.

Today, they were playing in a waterfall that Tuk had found. Neteyam brought Liyanin back there, thinking it would be a perfect date spot. As she stood under the waterfall, Neteyam was slowly building up the courage to tell her.

"...Liya...?" He began, using her nickname to try and coax her. But she couldn't hear him, she was standing under a waterfall.

Does that not hurt?

He got closer, trying to see what she was doing, but as soon as he got within a talking distance for her to hear him, she fell to her knees. He quickly rushed and caught her so she wouldn't hit her head on the ground. He began to get paranoid, his mind going back to when she had her off-day. Oh man, not again!

"Liya! Oh, Liya, come on—"

Her eyes opened; she looked fine.

She then sat up, rubbing her head. She was fine.

But Neteyam was not. In fact, he was rightfully scared. "What the hell was that, Liya??!"

"...hmm? What? What did I do?"

"Are you making fun of me? You know how scared I get whenever you faint like that! Why would you fake one?" He exclaimed, feeling his heartbeat rising. She could sense his fear, and realized that seeing her have an off-day affected him more than she thought. She slowly got up, shaking her head. She walked over to him, placing her hand over his heart. His facial features were stressed, and he was breathing fast.

"...I actually did faint." She whispered, closing her eyes. She could feel his heartbeat slowly going back to normal. "...it is just that this one was different..."

"Different how?" He asked, his mood now calming down.

"Never mind that, you wanted to tell me something, what was it?" She now opened her eyes, softly gazing into his. Her look made him feel at ease, and he couldn't speak for a second.

"I...I wanted to tell you that...that Masanai has been training me for Taronsäwem."

Her smile dropped at this. Neteyam braced for a reaction, but surprisingly...nothing came. Instead, Liyanin took her hand of his chest and began to ponder. He grew confused, wondering if she was okay with the arrangement or not.

"...Liya...?"

"...I actually...don't mind that..." she muttered to herself. She now turned to Neteyam. "I do not mind that you went behind my back and found another teacher...!" She said, a hint of passive-aggressiveness present in the words.

"Are you just saying that or are you actually for real?" He asked for clarification.

"...both."

"Really? You're good with her teaching me?"

"...yes. Taronsäwem...is such a headache to explain...I am glad she offered to teach you." She put her hands behind her back. "At least this way, this leaves more room for you and me to enjoy ourselves, and not just work all the time on something. Also, she is a good friend of mine."

He sighed out of relief, glad that he got that out of the way. But when he opened his eyes, he saw Liyanin suddenly very close in his face. This rightfully frightened him, and he gave out a little scream.

"The water tells me you have something else you wish to ask..." she murmured.

"Really? You...can do that?"